dMAC Digest Vol 6 No 1a Jakarta Journal #2 Amended

By Duncan MacDonald

The recorded history of Indonesia dates back over two thousand years. This is the 2nd Journal, covering events from the British invasion of Batavia in 1811 CE, up to the granting of Indonesian Independence in 1945-49. We look at the impact of some of the larger than life players who dominated in this fascinating period, who were; involved in the discovery of Borobudur; the take-over by the dutch again; the Diponegoro War; the rise of Nationalism in the 20th century; the Japanese invasion in 1942, and the events leading up to Independence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Duncan MacDonald
• Release date: Aug 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463756362

Duncan MacDonald

Duncan is an Australian currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is married to Shinta Dewi Sanawiya, muse, mate, motivator and President Director of the business he founded in 1993, dMAC Group in Asia, now PT Daya MACro Dinamika.Duncan has had a passion for history since childhood. He travelled alone to Turkey in 1975 to visit ANZAC Cove, scene of Australia and New Zealand’s entry to World War I. He then worked for 5 years in London, enabling him to research the Roman Empire’s occupation of Britain and question the Arthurian legends. He has published his illustrated historical e-novels set in Ireland and Britain in the 1st-7th centuries on Smashwords. Search for 'Culann - Celtic Warrior Monk'.Duncan has also published an illustrated account of his private pilgrimage to 'Anzac Cove and Lone Pine in 1975' - Search for 'Anzac'Those interested in obtaining the latest historical information on the Battle of Waterloo, (detailing who actually defeated Napoleon) can download Duncan's illustrated version in dMAC Digest Vol 4 No 6 'Waterloo'. Also the Jakarta Journals, tracing Indonesian history over the past 2,000 years, up to granting of Independence in December 1949.Any one of Duncan's 12 'dMAC Digest Health & History' magazines, or 5 illustrated historical novels can be downloaded at Smashwords.'Britannia Bulletin #1 and #2' are the latest illustrated historical novel published by Duncan. Set in the 1st & 2nd century CE we follow the adventures of a Roman Legionary in Europe & Britain. He records the lives of the early Roman Emperors and Governors of Britannia, their initial rise to power and occasional fall from grace. Major battles are dealt with in detail.

Book preview

The recorded history of Jakarta – at times under the influence of India, Portugal, Netherlands, Britain and Japan, dates back over two thousand years. This is the second journal, covering the main events from the British invasion of Batavia in 1811, and leading up to the granting of Indonesian Independence in 1949.

The Dutch East Indies size – compared to Europe

The Dutch East Indies

Background: In 732 CE (Common Era) a local King Sanjaya raised an inscribed stone on a hilltop south of the angriest volcano in central Java, Merapi. It told of his rule over ‘a wonderful island beyond compare called Yava’. The area of Java over which he controlled was called Mataram.

Most of Java then embraced the Hindu religion, but from the middle of the 8th century a fully formed clan of orthodox Mahayana Buddhist known as Sailendras, materialized in Kedu, and established supremacy over all Mataram. They used Malay instead of Javanese on some of their inscriptions, an indication they may have originally come from Palembang in South Sumatra.

Within a few years of establishing themselves in Kedu, the Sailendras embarked on the most ambitious building project that Java had ever seen. The structure – standing at the junction of the Progo and Elo rivers – when finished would be the largest Buddhist temple on earth. Its name was Borobudur. Construction commenced in 750 CE and took over 70 years to complete.

Cambodia’s Buddhist temple, Angkor Wat was built later, in the 12th century.

Borobudur Buddhist Temple 35 m (115 ft.) high, after renovation ~ Prambanan Hindu Temple 47 m (154 ft.)

The Sailendras vanished almost as abruptly as they had appeared. Following aggressive action by Sanjaya prince Rakai Pikatan, the last Sailendra king, Balaputra, fled to Sumatra around 850 CE.

No doubt rankled by the spectacular architectural legacy of the now departed Buddhist overlords, the Sailendras also decided to build something remarkable. Candi Prambanan is a 9th century Hindu temple compound, located 17 km northeast of Yogyakarta. It is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Sunda Kalapa: The earliest mention of what is now Jakarta comes in the 12th century, when referred to as Sunda Kelapa, because of its export of coconut, or kalapa. It was the principal harbor for the Javanese Hindu kingdom of Sunda, the capital of which, Pakuan, was located 60 km upstream at what is now Bogor (which gets its name from the now extinct palm – Bagor).

Jayakarta: The first European fleet, comprising four Portuguese ships from Malacca, arrived in 1513. The Portuguese, after conquering Malacca in 1511, saw Sunda Kalapa as an ideal relay port from the ‘Spice Islands’ as the Malaccas were known.

In 1522, the Sunda kingdom gave the Portuguese permission to build a godown (warehouse), mainly as protection against the growing aggression from the Muslim Sultan of Demak, in central Java.

However, a Malay warrior from the Sultanate of Demak, Fatahillah, conquered Hindu Sunda Kelapa on 27th June 1527 – the day Jakarta now celebrates as its birthday.

Fatahillah renamed the port Jayakarta, which means ‘glorious victory’ in Sanskrit.

Fatahillah conquered Sunda Kelapa [now Jakarta]

Islam: Arab traders had been sailing to Java from Arabia, well before the advent of Islam. According to some historians, Islam may have originally come to Indonesia from southern India, whose Muslim traders arrived in this region before Gujarat came under Muslim rule in the 13th century. The ships brought not only Islam to Indonesia, but also the Malay language, which was to become the lingua franca (common language) in coastal areas.

As it developed in Indonesia, Islam became a unifying vehicle for the people of the Archipelago. In the end, it became a powerful political force.

After the mainly Protestant Netherlands gained independence in 1648 from Catholic Spain, it became known among many Anglicans, Protestants and Jews for its religious tolerance. We can infer that, because of the religious wars in the Netherlands, the separation of Church from State was imposed in its outlying colonial dominions ~ that is why Indonesia remains mainly Muslim, instead of Protestant.

Trading among the Arabs, Chinese, Indians and Indonesians was peaceful. The products traded were diverse and in small volumes. It was only the intervention of European privateers; Portuguese, Dutch and English, who introduced the element of monopoly which led to aggression and war.

Asian and Dutch ships off Fort Batavia

Batavia: The first Dutch ships arrived in Bantam in June 1596 after a voyage of 13 months. The Dutch were ready to fight and more skilled in maritime warfare due to their protracted conflict with Spain (1568 to 1648). The individual small ‘tramp trading’ companies eventually amalgamated under one banner – The VOC (Vereenigde Oostandische Compagnie ~ East India Trade Association) on 20th March 1602.

The British East India Company’s first ships arrived in Bantam in 1602 and was given approval to build a trading post, which became the centre of British trade in Indonesia until 1682. The British were also allowed to build houses directly across from the Dutch in Jayakarta in 1615 by the Sultan of Banten.

The VOC Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen had been making great efforts to eliminate the British outpost, and in May 1612 returned to Jayakarta with a fully armed fleet. ~ The British bolted.

Coen was now in sole possession of a location which had acquired a new name for the Dutch grand East Indies capital – Batavia – named in honour of a Roman era Germanic tribe, called the Batavi, ancestors of the Dutch people.

The Dutch-Napoleonic Era: Following the French Revolution, a French army invaded the Netherlands in 1794, unseating the ruling Prince William of Orange, who fled to his royalist friends in England. A Napoleonic government was put in place. The first thing the new administration did was cast a critical eye over the books of the VOC. The company had been cooking its books for 200 years. On the first day of January 1800, the VOC was declared bankrupt and formally dissolved.

The Napoleonic wars were in full swing and the Netherlands had become a de facto enemy of Britain, meaning its overseas territories were fair game for English attack.

In 1806 Napoleon installed his third brother Louis Napoleon on the throne of the Netherlands. One of the first things the new King Louis did was dispatch a new Governor-General to the Dutch East Indies – Herman Willem Daendels.

Daendels began to enforce anti-graft measures and treat high-ranking Javanese aristocrats as what they were technically were – government employed civil servants. Daendels went so far as to regard the post-Mataram courts of Surakarta and Yogyakarta in a similar light.

Unsurprisingly, all this went down disastrously in central Java. For a long period the Dutch and Javanese teetered on the brink of outright hostilities.

Daendels also presided over the building of an 870 mile (1,400 km) modern highway from one end of Java to the other. It was called the ‘Great Post Road’. The road was completed in less than a year, but the death toll among the Javanese labourers was enormous. However, when word of his apparent delusions of power reached Europe, his masters became rather nervous. In 1810 he was recalled, on the official grounds of ‘ill-health’.

Another Napoleonic officer, Jan Willem Janssens, would replace Daendels in 1811. But he would survive little more than three months, before the arrival of the British.

Back to top

* * * * *

Batavia Castle

Batavia Castle 1619-1809

Batavia Castle was the administrative center of the VOC in Asia [Dutch East India Company]. It was a fort located at the mouth of the Ciliwung River in Batavia [Jakarta]. Batavia Castle was also the residence of the Governor General, the highest VOC official in the East Indies.

The castle forms the north boundary of the eastern division of the city. It is a regular square fortress with four bastions (a projecting part of the fortification built at an angle to the wall so as to allow defensive fire in several directions). The walls and ramparts were built of coral rock about twenty-four feet high. It had no ditch but a canal surrounded it at some distance. The length of the exterior side was about 700 feet. [Captain Parish’s account of this fortress, in Macartney’s Embassy to China, 1793]

Jan Pieterszoon Coen was appointed Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 30 September 1627 until his death, aged 42, on 21 September 1629. Coen was known for his strict governance and was merciless towards his opponents.

In 1618 Coen built a hospital, plus two lodges supplemented with war cannons on the island of Onrust. Later Coen fortified the two houses into a square fortress, surrounded by a solid stone wall. This new fort building was known as Fort Jacatra.

The VOC planned a new castle on 12 March 1619 to be named Batavia Castle. It was nine times larger than Fort Jacatra and engulfed the eastern part of the original Fort . On 30 May 1619 Coen destroyed Jayakarta and expelled its population, the area becoming part of what would become Batavia.

On the 4th March 1621 the city was renamed ‘Batavia’. It was the center of the VOC trade empire which extended from the Cape of Good Hope to Japan.

Lack of building materials resulted in a long period for the completion of the Castle. Construction was not completed until the end of the governorship of Antonio van Diemen in 1645.

The coastline of Batavia, however, changed constantly. Since Batavia Castle was situated on a low-lying coastal plain with swamps on either side, its canals hardly flowed and sediment from the mud-filled Ciliwung River caused severe silting. At the end of the 18th century Batavia Castle, initially built on the seashore, lay more than two kilometres inland. The silted-up coast caused extreme health problems in Batavia; at high tide this area was washed by the sea and covered with the refuse of the town and poisonous jellyfish. At low tide the seawater stayed behind in many puddles and pools.

Batavians believed that illness was caused by ‘evil vapours’ rising from the soil. Other features which contributed to the decline of Batavia were; the polluted canals; the graveyards in church grounds; the quality of drinking water and the digging of waterways.

Around 1756 Batavia had become so diseased that people started to abandon the city in favour of the much cleaner area to the south. The complete dismantling of the Castle started in 1809 when Governor Daendels decided to move the administrative center south to Weltevreden.

Batavia Castle was slowly demolished and its stones were reused to build the new Palace of Daendels [now the Indonesian Ministry of Finance]. In the area where the Castle once stood, factories and warehouses were built.

Palace of Daendels, Central Jakarta ~ ~ ~ ~ Governor Herman Willem Daendels [1808-1811] by Raden Saleh

The Palace is the 2nd oldest surviving building in Central Jakarta [1809 -1828]

Back to top

* * * * *

The British

In 1797, Dutch outposts in Malaysia and Maluku were seized by British fleets. That same year the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, stressed to the Governor-General in India, the need for attacking Java itself. Almost nothing was known about the place, beyond it was green, fertile, Muslim, and woefully mismanaged by the Dutch. But still, Pitt felt that Java had potential, and would make a useful staging post on trade routes into the South China Sea and beyond.

Nine tiny pinheads of land, the Banda Islands amount to no more than twenty-three square miles (sixty square kilometres) of solid ground. And yet this clutch of miniscule islands, was once the ultimate hub of the spice trade - the only place on earth where nutmeg trees grew. It was only when the Portuguese turned up in 1511 that a direct trade link to Europe was forged.

~ Portuguese dominance gave way to a protracted tussle for control between the Dutch and the English. Eventually the Dutch got the upper hand, but the English doggedly maintained their grip on the islet of Run.

~ However, in 1667 upon signing the Treaty of Breda, the English swapped Run for a Dutch outpost called New Amsterdam, nine thousand miles (14,480 km) away on the eastern seaboard of North America.

~ The English renamed it New York.

Run island ~ Indonesia ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ New York city ~ USA~ ~ ~ ~ ~

However, more pressing distractions in India saw the Prime Minister’s plea politely ignored. That is until 1810, when back in Europe Napoleon had annexed Holland and placed his brother, Louis on the throne.

There could be no more delaying. The Secret Committee of Britain’s East India Company gave urgent orders to Governor-General Lord Minto, for the Dutch to be driven out from Java.

Gilbert Elliot, the First Lord of Minto, had arrived in Calcutta in 1807, as the most powerful British man in Asia; the East India Company’s Governor-General. A middle-aged Scotsman with a busy but exemplary career behind him, he had a touchingly sincere long-distance relationship with his wife (who had remained at home in Scotland).

One of Minto’s earliest initiatives on arrival in India, was to encourage the learning of local languages amongst British administrators. Now the British were to head for Batavia, in Java.

Captain James Cook ~ ~ ~ Gilbert Elliot 1st Lord of Minto ~ Major-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty ~ ~ ~

Four decades earlier, in 1770, the renowned Captain James Cook had come limping through the Archipelago aboard the Endeavour, at the end of his first successful round-the-world voyage. He had crossed the Pacific, mapped New Zealand and made first contact with the East Coast of Australia.

~ Cook and his crew had experienced every hostile climate from depressing doldrums to the gales of Cape Horn; they had dodged crocodiles and poisoned arrows; and coped with scurvy and shipboard dysentery. But they decided that Batavia, with its mosquito-ridden canals and cloying humidity, was the unhealthiest place they had ever seen.

But now, an army of Englishmen and Indians were on their way down the Straits of Melaka with every intention of making this disease-ridden place their own.

On 4 August 1811, a fleet of eighty-one British warships, dropped anchor in the murky waters of Batavia Bay. A massed force of 12,000 English redcoats and Indian sepoy soldiers, under the command of Lord Minto and Major-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty, splashed ashore through the shallows.

Records show the British did not actually want to take control of the proto-colony itself. Colonialism, they recognised was a costly business. The instructions issued to Lord Minto were to overwhelm the Dutch forces, destroy their fortifications, distribute their guns to the locals and ‘hand the island back to the Javanese’

At this crucial moment, the Archipelago came within a whisker of being freed from European colonialism altogether. That things transpired very differently was entirely down to a spectacular piece of disobedience: Lord Minto decided to ignore his orders. He reasoned that the Power Brokers in far-off London could not comprehend what was at stake.

He would therefore embark on ‘the modification of all their orders’.

The idea of invading Java had been battered around by Old India Hands since Thomas Stamford Raffles was in short trousers. Even when Raffles was actually in India, in 1810, offering his suggestions and plotting with John Leyden, Lord Minto received a detailed memo from the Company’s Secret Committee. Napoleon had now completed the total annexation of Holland and Minto was to ‘proceed with the conquest of Java at the earliest possible opportunity’.

Any penetrating glance Minto caste at Raffles on the mention of Java, was not that of a man hearing a novel idea for the very first time, but that of a well-informed politician recognising a sparky young talent, who might have a key role in a project that had been whispered about for years.

Batavia c1780

Back to top

* * * * *

Thomas Stamford Raffles

Thomas Stamford Raffles was born in 1781 aboard a slave ship named Ann, sailing north from Jamaica. His father was captain of the ship, owned by Hibberts & Co, a firm of Glasgow slave traders. Raffles was the eldest of six children. A younger brother died in infancy and all other siblings were girls. Captain Raffles made no great fortune in the slave trade and died in the last years of the century. He provided for his wife and children, a life of lower middle class. In all his subsequent writings, Raffles does not mention his father once.

Raffles grew up in a ‘genteel substantial dwelling’ in Islington and was schooled at a ‘respectable academy at Hammersmith’. When he was fourteen, a maternal uncle pulled some strings and got him a job as a junior clerk in the offices of the British East India Company. The position brought his formal schooling to a halt, but for a middle-class youth in the late 18th century, an entry into the world of commerce at fourteen was nothing unusual. A post in the ranks of the British East India Company, no matter how lowly, had definite future potential. It would be the first stop on a long accelerating journey eastwards ~ to Java and Singapore.

The British East India Company, formed in 1600 to trade in spice, had grown enormously (and earned a little more respectability), since the early days of pillage and piracy. Like the Dutch VOC, it had gained overseas territories, more by accident than design. But by the end of the 18th century the Company had turned into an imitation empire, with the Leadenhall Street headquarters in London, home to a legion of pretend civil servants and an army of underpaid clerks.

East India House – Leadenhall Street London – 1817

Raffles spent a decade at his desk at Leadenhall Street, coming of age in the department of the Company’s secretary, William Ramsay. At night he studied subjects he had failed to learn in his two-year academic career. By day he poured over account books and reports, totting up incomes and expenses for obscure outposts in Indian backwaters. These years, earning £70 per annum, served as Raffles apprenticeship.

As a clerk and junior administrator, he was certainly energetic. No doubt Raffles employers were pleased with his hard work, but his sudden meteoric rise from obscurity in East India House, has never been satisfactorily explained. In 1805 he was plucked from the ranks, and with a salary increase of two thousand percent, shipped off for a position as Assistant Secretary to the newly appointed Governor of Penang, a British outpost off the Malay west coast.

There are two stories explaining his sudden appointment; neither which we can confirm.

The first; that Company Secretary, William Ramsay was so impressed by the young man’s pen-pushing abilities, he felt compelled to offer him an almighty leg-up.

The second is more slanderous; just six days after official notice of Raffles new appointment came through, a low-key wedding took place in the London suburb of Bloomsbury, between a twenty-four-year-old clerk, with suddenly improved prospects and a thirty-four-year-old widow, with a tarnished past.

Regarding his first marriage to Olivia Mariamne Raffles (ex Fancourt, née Devenish), Raffles was never able to shake off the rumours