Islam and the Dutch in the East Indies: Oppression or Opportunity?

ABSTRACT

Dutch colonial ambitions in the East Indies had to contend with Islam, and this contention intensified as colonisation progressed and Islamisation deepened. The Dutch made pragmatic alliances with Muslim leaders and sultans in pursuit of trade dominance and profits. This, combined with protestant reformation in the Netherlands, allowed for significant religious freedom in the East Indies. The Dutch did proselytize Christianity, with most success in the Outer Islands to the east, mostly because of an absence of a major established religion in those areas. They favoured coexistence over religious wars. In order to improve the lives of locals, Islamic movements were permitted to establish enduring institutions. In the early twentieth century, this included the two largest Muslims groups in the world, the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama and the reformist Muhammadiyah, which coincided with the emergence of political Islam in the form of the Islamic Traders Party. These formed important socio-religious structures that influenced political thought and modern state institutions, including the state ideology, the Pancasila, and the constitution, which obliged the state to accommodate religion.

KEYWORDS:

• colonialism
• Dutch East Indies
• Indonesia
• Islamisation
• Muslim groups

Notes

1. The first clause of Pancasila requires the “Belief in the One and Only God,” though this applied loosely as Hinduism has many gods, and Buddhism has none. The 1945 Constitution included the following clause: “The State shall be based upon the belief in the One and Only God” (Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, 1945, Chapter 11, Article 29, Clause 1).

2. The Ethical Policy was intended to help the locals as a kind of ‘debt of honour’ (eereschuld) of the colonial government, and was actually a part of the Christian motivation to empower the people to live a better life (quoted in Aritonang and Steenbrink, 719).

3. Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 253; Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 139.

4. (Legge, Sukarno: a Political Biography, 26-7)

5. Ricklefs, History of Modern Indonesia since c.1200, 4.

6. Ricklefs,“Balance and Military Innovation,” 42; Pigeaud and Graaf, Islamic States in Java, 15.

7. Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 254.

8. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 60 and 67; Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 254–45.

9. Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 255.

10. Ibid.

11. Milton, Nathaniel’s Nutmeg, 3.

12. The importance and value of the Spice Islands should not be understated. On 31 July 1667, under the Treaty of Breda, which ended the second Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now New York, Manhattan Island, was traded by the Dutch to the British, in exchange for the island of Run in the Banda Islands. New Amsterdam had already been seized by the British and renamed New York in 1664, similarly Run had been seized by the Dutch much earlier in 1620, so the treaty basically reflected the reality on the ground to maintain the status quo. As Milton aptly summarises the above, although the English had been robbed of her Nutmeg, she got the greatest of Apples (Milton, Nathaniel’s Nutmeg, 365).

13. Lape, “Political Dynamics and Religious Change,” 145–46; Loth, “Pioneers and Perkeniers,” 18–29. According to Niemeijer, the Javanese also had a sizeable diaspora in Banda, accounting for about ten percent of the local population in 1600 (Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 257).

14. Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 257–59.

15. Ibid., 259.

16. The first Dutch expedition to the East Indies was in 1595–97. On 2 April 1595, four Dutch ships under the command of Cornelis de Houtman set sail for the East Indies. They arrived in Bantam, West Java, on 23 June 1596, and returned to the Netherlands on 14 August 1597. Their principal mission was to bring back as many spices as the ships could carry. Three ships returned, one was torched due to a bad leak, and only 89 of the initial 248 men survived, and seven more died of sickness shortly after arriving home. Due to poor leadership, infighting, and other setbacks, they brought back only 245 bags of pepper, 45 tons of nutmeg, 30 bales of mace, and some porcelain plates. This was well below their cargo capacity, but enough to be profitable (Coolhaas, Critical Survey of Studies, 12; Masselman, Cradle of Colonialism, 91–97; Milton, Nathaniel’s Nutmeg, 59–65; Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 67).

17. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 71.

18. Octrooi 20 March 1602.

19. Carel Wessel Theodorus Boetzelaer van Dubbeldam, De Protestantsche Kerk in Nederlandsch-Indië: haar ontwikkeling van 1620-1939 (The Protestant Church in the Dutch East Indies: Its development from 1620–1939), 1947, quoted in Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 99.

20. Coolhaas, Critical Survey of Studies, 36.

21. Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 100.

22. Octrooi 20 March 1602.

23. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 77.

24. Ibid., 71–77; Boland and Farjon, Islam in Indonesia, 2–3; Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 18–19.

25. Boland and Farjon, Islam in Indonesia, 2

26. Unger, De Oudste reizen van de Zeeuwen naar Oost-Indie, quoted in Boland and Farjon, Islam in Indonesia, 2.

27. Milton, Nathaniel’s Nutmeg, 5 and 20–21.

28. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 77.

29. Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 259.

30. J. E. Heeres and F. W. Stapel, Corpus dipmoaticum neerlando-indicum (1596–1650), in ibid., 278–79.

31. Van Ittersum, “Debating Natural Law in the Banda Islands.”

32. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 77–78.

33. Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 260.

34. Ibid.

35. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 80.

36. Ibid., 81.

37. Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 43.

38. Parker, “Origins of the Dutch Revolt,” 17. Even before independence, there was a greater battle at home: the religious upheaval in the Netherlands may explain the lack of proselytizing efforts, with Protestant Christianity and Calvinism spreading through northern Holland, and weakening Catholicism in other parts the country.

39. Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 100.

40. Niel, Java’s Northeast Coast, 2.

41. Ibid.

42. Ibid., 6–7; Ricklefs, Jogjakarta Under Sultan Mangkubumi, 39.

43. Niel, Java’s Northeast Coast, 5–6; Ricklefs, Jogjakarta Under Sultan Mangkubumi, 37–39; Ricklefs, History of Modern Indonesia since c.1200, 120.

44. Ricklefs, History of Modern Indonesia since c.1300, 110.

45. Ibid., 112.

46. Ibid., 110.

47. Boland and Farjon, Islam in Indonesia, 5; Ricklefs, History of Modern Indonesia since c.1300, 112–13.

48. Boland and Farjon, Islam in Indonesia, 4, 5.

49. Ibid., 6, 8.

50. Veth, “Een Kritisch Klaverblad,” 555, as quoted in Boland and Farjon, Islam in Indonesia, 15.

51. Boland, “Een Kritisch Klaverblad,” 15.

52. Burhanudin, “Dutch Colonial Policy on Islam,” 35; Boland, “Een Kritisch Klaverblad,” 16.

53. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 170.

54. Ibid., 171.

55. Burhanudin, “Dutch Colonial Policy on Islam,” 35.

56. Elson and Formichi, “Why Did Kartosuwiryo Start Shooting.”

57. Drewes, Snouck Hurgronje, 11.

58. Burhanudin, “Dutch Colonial Policy on Islam,” 26–29; Benda, “Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje,” 38; Reid, “War, Peace and the Burden of History,” 304.

59. Vickers, History of Modern Indonesia, 13.

60. Ibid.

61. Kartodirdjo, Peasants’ Revolt of Banten, 180.

62. Ibid., 180–81.

63. Ibid., 1–2.

64. Burhanudin, “Dutch Colonial Policy on Islam,” 32.

65. Ibid., 33.

66. Niemeijer, “Dividing the Islands,” 253, Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 163.

67. The Ethical Policy was intended to help the locals as a kind of “debt of honour” (eereschuld) of the colonial government, and was actually a part of the Christian motivation to empower the people to live a better life (quoted in Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 719.

68. Aritonang and Steenbrink, “History of Christianity in Indonesia,” 163.

69. Ricklefs, History of Modern Indonesia since c.1200, 206–18.

70. Bruinessen, “Muslims of the Dutch East Indies,” 119.

71. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, 183–84.

72. Ricklefs, History of Modern Indonesia, 201.

73. Ibid.

74. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society, 226.

75. Ibid.

76. Ibid., 49.

77. Geertz, Religion of Java, 127–30.

78. Bruinessen, “Muslims of the Dutch East Indies,” 121.

79. Ricklefs, History of Modern Indonesia since c.1200, 205.

80. Franklin, “Reproducing Political Islam in Java,” 7–8.

81. Fealy, “Wahab Chasbullah,”12–13; Ricklefs, History of Modern Indonesia, 212.

82. Fealy and Bush, “Political Decline,” 539.

83. Political Islam derives inspiration from its holy texts, the Qur’an and Hadiths (verified prophetic stories of Muhammad), and a millennium and a half of Islamic history. However, history has shown that what constitute Muslim aspirations and agendas varies. In Indonesia today, because all political parties accommodate Islam to varying degrees, this complicates the process of defining them. Islamic political ambitions range from: changing the state’s foundation, introducing shari’ah (Islamic) law, and making Islam the national religion, to pressing for government policies that deepen Islamisation while combating immoral behaviour and outlawing blasphemy and heresy. On the fringe of political Islam, extremist groups resort to violence to achieve their objectives, including the establishment of a theocratic state, or Caliphate, and the enforcement of shari’ah law. Although violent religious struggle is sometimes associated with political Islam, this can be somewhat misleading, as it does not define its core political characteristics. Perhaps “terrorism” or “militant jihadism” might be a more appropriate terms when religious-based violence is involved (Franklin, “Reproducing Political Islam in Java,” xxiii and 57).

84. BPS, Statistik Indonesia, 2.

85. Maussen, “Dutch Colonialism, Islam and Mosques”; Gouda, Dutch Culture Overseas.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nathan John Franklin

Nathan John Franklin, PhD, is Lecturer in Indonesian Studies at Charles Darwin University, Australia. His research interests include Indonesian politics and culture, mainstream Islamic movements and radical jihadi movements. His current research centres on decentralisation and service delivery in deficient areas in Eastern Indonesia and projects on political Islam and politics more broadly in Indonesia. His publications include “An Evening with Abu Bakar Ba’asyir” and “Ahmadiyah Dispute Intensifies” (Inside Indonesia, 2008, 2009); and Book Review “Islam in Indonesia: The Contest for Society, Ideas and Values” (Asian Studies Review, 2017).