Independence of Indonesia
Decolonization in Indonesia
Reynaldi Gunawan
Grade 12
Indonesia started their decolonization process at 1820. It took them about 130 years to successfully decolonized themselves from the Dutch, which happened in 1950. They Dutch already colonized Indonesia even way before 1820, but Indonesia started the struggle in the year 1820. Even though Indonesia gained independence in 1945, they haven’t get rid of the Dutch until 1950, so the process of decolonization ended at 1950 instead of 1945. It happened in Jakarta, but at that time it was called as Batavia. Some war even took place in big cities such as Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, etc. It wasn’t called as Indonesia at that time, it was called Dutch East Indies until Indonesia gained independence and finally changed their name into Indonesia. There are many factors that helped Indonesia gained independence, like the Indonesian leaders such as Soekarno, Hatta, Diponegoro, Anusapati, I Gusti Ngurah Rai, etc. The Surabaya battle was also one of the event that helped Indonesia gained independence and also the impact of Japan’s lost in 1944 which lead to decolonization in Indonesia and the independence of Indonesia which happened in 17 August 1945.
In the very beginning, the main reason why the Dutch colonized Indonesia for over 400 years ago was because of only one thing; they want to achieve high economical goal. Why they chose Indonesia to be the country they want to colonize is because Indonesia have a lot of spices like sugar, coffee that they can take benefit from. Other reasons included agricultural development in the country was high and their international trade was making the country rich. So basically, the Dutch wants human and natural resources from Indonesia, which was very rich at both resources. So they want to take the benefit from it.
The Surabaya war was also known as the fight of 10 November, because it occurred in 10 November 1945. It was also recorded as one of the toughest fight
Reynaldi Gunawan
Grade 12
Indonesia started their decolonization process at 1820. It took them about 130 years to successfully decolonized themselves from the Dutch, which happened in 1950. They Dutch already colonized Indonesia even way before 1820, but Indonesia started the struggle in the year 1820. Even though Indonesia gained independence in 1945, they haven’t get rid of the Dutch until 1950, so the process of decolonization ended at 1950 instead of 1945. It happened in Jakarta, but at that time it was called as Batavia. Some war even took place in big cities such as Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, etc. It wasn’t called as Indonesia at that time, it was called Dutch East Indies until Indonesia gained independence and finally changed their name into Indonesia. There are many factors that helped Indonesia gained independence, like the Indonesian leaders such as Soekarno, Hatta, Diponegoro, Anusapati, I Gusti Ngurah Rai, etc. The Surabaya battle was also one of the event that helped Indonesia gained independence and also the impact of Japan’s lost in 1944 which lead to decolonization in Indonesia and the independence of Indonesia which happened in 17 August 1945.
In the very beginning, the main reason why the Dutch colonized Indonesia for over 400 years ago was because of only one thing; they want to achieve high economical goal. Why they chose Indonesia to be the country they want to colonize is because Indonesia have a lot of spices like sugar, coffee that they can take benefit from. Other reasons included agricultural development in the country was high and their international trade was making the country rich. So basically, the Dutch wants human and natural resources from Indonesia, which was very rich at both resources. So they want to take the benefit from it.
The Surabaya war was also known as the fight of 10 November, because it occurred in 10 November 1945. It was also recorded as one of the toughest fight
References: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/explore-the-collection/timeline-dutch-history/1820-1950-indonesia-and-decolonisation http://www.ask.com/question/why-did-the-dutch-colonize-indonesia August 2012, Ratna Widihastuti, Sejarah Singkat Kemerdekaan Indonesia, sejarah.kompasiana.com, http://sejarah.kompasiana.com/2012/08/17/sejarah-singkat-kemerdekaan-indonesia-486324.html [accessed date: 14 September 2013] 14 April 2011, Vina Yudittia, Sejarah Kemerdekaan Indonesia, vinayudittia.blogspot.com, http://vinayudittia.blogspot.com/2013/06/sejarah-kemerdekaan-indonesia.html [accessed date: 14 September 2013]