Indonesia and the Origins of Dutch Colonial Sovereignty

Abstract

The Major steps taken in the settlement of the Indonesian dispute on November 1, 1949, at the Hague and the subsequent transformation of the East Indian Archipelago into a modern national state have thrown into even sharper focus the recent significant changes in the political constitution of the once great colonial powers. The solution of the Indonesian problem has in no small measure been based on a recognition of the mutual economic and cultural interdependence of the two disputants. With this recognition the political factors of the problem have lost much of their controversial nature. The future of the Netherlands Commonwealth, on the basis of a harmonious co-operation in the realms of trade, agriculture, industry, and cultural exchange between the various partners, seems assured. Although the period of armed conflict between Indonesians and Dutch would justify the assumption that the Dutch wished to continue exclusive political control over the Indies it now seems that Dutch recognition of Indonesian national sovereignty might eliminate any lingering suspicion in the minds of Indonesian nationalists. The question of political liberty, once regarded, even by the United Nations mediators, as the nub of a possible settlement of the conflict has lost much if not all of its meaning. Colonial sovereignty, and all that it entails, has now come to an end.