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The Importance of Indonesianisasi during the Transition from the 1930s to the 1960s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2010

J. Thomas Lindblad
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Extract

The term indonesianisasi stands for the removal of Dutch tutelage and a subsequent fundamental reorientation of the economy of Indonesia at the time of decolonisation and during the years immediately after Dutch acknowledgement of Indonesian independence in December 1949. The term was initially used in a narrow sense designating the replacement of Dutch officials and managers by Indonesian nationals in the government bureaucracy and private firms in Indonesia during the years leading up to the nationalisation of remaining Dutch business assets in Indonesia in December 1957. There is a growing appreciation that the term needs to be applied i n a broader sense as the transfer of economic leadership in newly independent Indonesia with profound consequences for future economic development. This article forms a first exploration of the application of the term indonesianisasi in such a broad sense. It should be emphasised, therefore, that this is a starting-point of new research rather than the outcome of a completed undertaking.

Type
Conference: ‘Economic Growth and Institutional Change in Indonesia in the 19th and 20th Centuries’
Information
Itinerario , Volume 26 , Issue 3-4 , November 2002 , pp. 51 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 2002

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References

Notes

1 Dick, Howard, Houben, Vincent, Lindblad, J. Thomas and Wie, Thee Kian, The Emergence ofa National Economy: An Economic History of Indonesia, 1800–2000 (Crows Nest, NSW 2002) 153–154Google Scholar.

2 Ibid., 174.

3 Sutter, John O., Indonesianisasi: A Historical Survey of the Role of Politics in the Institutions of a Changing Economy from the Second World War to the Eve of the General Election, 1940–1955 (PhD dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca 1959) 2Google Scholar.

4 Kompas, 24 March 1976.

5 Post, Peter, ‘The Formation of the Pribumi Business Elite in Indonesia, 1830s–1940s’ in: Post, Peter and Touwen-Bouwsma, Elly eds, Japan, Indonesia and the War: Myths and Realities (Leiden 1997) 87–110Google Scholar.

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7 Muhaimin, , Bisnis, 227–233.Google Scholar Significantly, the assets of the Dasaad concern passed over to the Indonesian-Chinese Ciputra conglomerate after Agus Muchsin Dasaad's death in 1972.

8 Dick, et al., The Emergence, 178Google Scholar.

9 Such a dilemm a was faced not only by the Indonesian government under Sukarno but also by the Malaysian and Philippine governments at the same time. The three neighbours all chose different solutions and it is interesting to compare the outcomes.

10 ‘Ali’ stands for the Indonesian partner who sold his license, ‘Baba’ for th e Chinese buyer (it is actually Babah from die Chinese Wa Wa Sze, used in a derogative manner by Chinese born in China against Chinese born in Indonesia). ‘Ali’ may possibly also refer to the (first) cabinet of Ali Sastroamidjojo when corruption of this type became rampant.

11 Berita Ekonomi, 10 September 1954.

12 Muhaimin, , Bisnis, 34–38Google Scholar.

13 Ibid., 78, 81, 156–157. See also Feith, Herbert, The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia (Ithaca 1962) 364–375;Google ScholarKanumoyoso, Bondan, Nasionalisasi persusahaan Belanda di Indonesia (Jakarta 2001) 9Google Scholar.

14 Sutter, , Indonesianisasi, 1018–1022Google Scholar.

15 Castles, Lance, Religion, Politics and Economic Behaviour in Java (New Haven 1976) 11.Google Scholar For consequences during die early years of the New Orde r period, see KuntjoroJakti, Dorodjatun, The Political Economy of Development: Indonesia under the New Order Government, 1966–1978 (PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley)Google Scholar; Hay, Liem Gio, An Historical Approach to Indonesian Economic Nationalism: The Evolution of Government Economic Policy (PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh)Google Scholar; Robison, R., Capitalism and the Bureaucratic State in Indonesia, 1965–1975 (PhD dissertation, University of Sydney)Google Scholar; Robison, R., Indonesia: The Rise of Capital (Sydney 1986)Google Scholar.

16 Anspach, R., ‘Indonesia’ in: Golay, F. ed., Underdevelopment and Economic Nationalism in Southeast Asia (Ithaca 1969) 169Google Scholar.

17 Berita Ekonomi, 10 March, 1 August, 20 August 1954; Warta Niaga dan Perusahaan, 18 October 1958.

18 Dick, et al., The Emergence, 144–145.Google Scholar Further research will have to disclose whether such insights played an important role in the public discourse on national economic development during the early Sukarno years.

19 Booth, Anne, The Indonesian Economy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A History of Missed Opportunities (London 1998) 88CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dick, et al., The Emergence, 159–162Google Scholar.

20 The statistical survey of manufacturing carried out by the BPS (Biro Pusat Statistik, Central Bureau of Statistics) in 1954 in principle covered large an d medium-size manufacturing firms that eidier had at least ten employees each or made use of mechanised power. However, there appears to be some inconsistency in the application of the selection criteria, notably with regard to a large number of small firms in Footwear.

21 BPS, , Perusahaan-perusahaan industri (Manufacturing Industries) 1954 (Jakarta 1956) 10–11Google Scholar.

22 Dick, et al., The Emergence, 199Google Scholar.

23 This high figure may include some firms with less than ten employees.

24 Footwear is left out in order to avoid distortions.

25 Footwear is again left out in order to avoid distortions. A suspiciously high number of the many supposedly medium-size firms in this branch were located in Central Java.

26 BPS, Perusahaan-perusahaan. Examples can only be given for branches where the output is homogenous.

27 Sutter, , Indonesianisasi, 1228Google Scholar.

28 Ibid., 1307. Sutter makes use of a separate category for mixed Indonesian-Chinese firms but numbers are negligible in both years.

29 This also applies to individual businessmen, especially after the 1960s when the government began urging Indonesian nationals of Chinese descent to choose Indonesian names.

30 Business Directory of Indonesia (Jakarta 1953). This directory also contains a list of 880 agricultural estates but only names, locations and crops are givenGoogle Scholar.

31 The impact of the ‘Ali Baba’ factor on these results largely depends on whether the information on individual companies reflects the situation at the beginning or the end of the year 1953. The fact that the date of printing of the directory is given as 1953 lends support to the former alternative.

32 Lindblad, J. Thomas, Foreign Investment in Southeast Asia in the Twentieth Century(London 1998) 74, 78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 International shipping (twelve companies) an d aviation (seven airlines) are special cases as an international label would probably be preferred here regardless of the ethnic origin of the owners or managers.

34 For instance in a speech given by Prime Minister Ali Sastroamidjojo in February 1954; Berita Ekonomi, 20 February 1954.

35 Meijer, Hans, Den Haag-Djakarta: De Nederlands-Indonesische betrekkingen, 1950–1962 (Utrecht 1962) 529Google Scholar.

36 Dick, et al., The Emergence, 170–171Google Scholar.

37 Pikiran Rakyat, 7 February 1957 The full interview was not published. It is likely that Hatta's criticism was more outspoken in the complete version.

38 Conboy, K.J. and Morrison, J., Feet to the Fire: CIA Covert Operations in Indonesia, 1957–1958 (Annapolis, MD 1999)Google Scholar.

39 Indonesia Raya, 29 October, 7 and 18 November 1957.

40 Ibid., 5 December 1957.

41 Pikiran Rakyat, 6 December 1957.

42 Bondan, , Nasionalisasi, 106Google Scholar.

43 Masashi, Nishihara, The Japanese and Sukarno's Indonesia: Tokyo-Jakarta Relations, 1951–1966 (Kyoto 1976) 51–54Google Scholar.

44 Warta Niaga dan Perusahaan, 28 March 1959; Bondan Nasionalisasi, 93–94.