Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T00:33:27.469Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indonesian Opposition in the Colonial Municipality: A Minahasser in Bandung

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2015

Jan Michiel OTTO
Jan Michiel OTTO*
Affiliation:
Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development, Leiden Law School, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses politico-legal relations and actual decision-making in urban government in late colonial Indonesia, notably in the municipality of Bandung. On the basis of verbatim reports of council meetings in the early 1920s,1 the article catches the atmosphere of hot debates touching upon the core problem of colonial rule, namely inequality between racial groups. Decentralization and democratization in the colony had made such discussions unavoidable. The 1923 budgetary debate shows how eloquently elected representatives of the native population used the municipal council as a forum to plea for the interests of Indonesians. The colonial government referred to autonomy of urban desas to justify laissez-faire approaches to natives’ interests. The municipality was in doubt for, at the same time, colonial administration was transitioning from a minimalist to a welfare state model. Hence, notwithstanding their differences, the common ambition to develop Bandung, albeit in a colonial context and led by the mayor, contributed to co-operative attitudes.

Keywords

Indonesiacolonial municipalitylocal councilBandung towndecentralizationindigenous population
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , May 2015 , pp. 169 - 193
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Professor of Law and Governance in Developing Countries; Director of the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development. This article is based on an earlier publication in Dutch, see Otto (1991). The author thanks Hannah Mason for her support in translating. Correspondence to Jan Michiel Otto, Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development, Leiden Law School, Leiden University, PO Box 9520, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail address: j.m.otto@law.leidenuniv.nl.

References

Abeyasekere, S. (1984) “Colonial Urban Politics: The Municipal Council of Batavia.” 13/14 Kabar Seberang 17–24.Google Scholar
De Groot, Alexandra Herman (1991) “De rol van de inlandse en Chinese gemeenteraadsleden te Bandoeng, gedurende de periode 1906–1915” [“The Role of Native and Chinese Council Members in Bandoeng during the Period of 1906–1915”], paper on law and governance in developing countries, Leiden University.Google Scholar
Kleintjes, Ph. (1931) Wette n en verordeningen betreffende de staatsinrichting van Nederlandsch-Indië [Laws and Regulations Regarding the Constitutional System of the Netherlands-Indies], 2nd edn, Amsterdam: De Bussy.Google Scholar
Kleintjes, Ph. (1933) Staatsinstellingen van Nederlandsch-Indië [National Institutions of the Netherlands-Indies], 6th edn (two parts), Amsterdam: De Bussy.Google Scholar
Logemann, J.H.A. (1947) Staatsrecht van Nederlands-Indië, Gravenhage: Van Hoeve; Bandung: Vorkink.Google Scholar
Masjkuri, (1985) Dr. GSSJ. Rat ulangi, 2nd edn (1st edn 1982), Jakarta: Ministry of Education and Culture. Directorate of History and Traditional Values, Project for the Inventarisation and Documentation of National History.Google Scholar
Nas, Peter J.M. (1986) “Introduction.” in Peter J.M. Nas, ed., The Indonesian City, Dordrecht/Providence: Foris (KITLV, Verhandelingen 117), 1–17.Google Scholar
Notulen, (1906–27) “Notulen van de openbare vergaderingen van den gemeenteraad van Bandoeng in de jaren 1906 tot en met 1927” [“Minutes of the Public Meetings of the Municipal Council of Bandoeng in the Years 1906 up until 1927”], unpublished handwritten and printed volumes, accessed at the Library of Bandung Municipality in 1989, and copied at the National Archive, Jakarta, on microfiches, which are kept at Van Vollenhoven Institute, Leiden University, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Otto, J.M. (1991) “Een Minahasser in Bandoeng: Indonesische oppositie in de koloniale gemeente” [“A Minahasser in Bandoeng: Indonesian Opposition in the Colonial Municipality”], in H.A. Poeze & P. Schoorl, eds., Excursies in Celebes [Excursions in Celebes], Leiden: KITLV Uitgeverij, 185–215.Google Scholar
Poeze, H.A. (1986) In h et land van de overheerser I: Indonesiërs in Nederland 1600–1950 [In the Land of the Ruler 1: Indonesians in the Netherlands 1600–1950], Dordrecht/Cinnaminson: Foris (KITLV, Verhandelingen 100).Google Scholar
Ricklefs, M.C. (1981) A History of Modern Indonesia, London/Basingstoke: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Tichelman, F. (1985) Socialisme in Indonesië: De lndische Sociaal-Democratische Vereeniging 1897–1917. Deel I. Bronnenpublikatie [Socialism in Indonesia: The Netherlands-Indies Social-Democratic Association 1897–1917. Part I. Publication of Sources], Dordrecht/Cinnaminson: Foris.Google Scholar
Verslag, (1919) Verslag van den toestand der gemeente Bandoeng over de jaren 1906/1918 [Report of the Condition of the Municipality of Bandoeng in the Years 1906–1918], Bandung: Visser.Google Scholar
Vollenhoven, C. van (1931) Het adatrecht van Nederlandsch Indië [The Adat Law of the Netherlands-Indies], second part, Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar