There have been countless studies of the Japanese influence towards Indonesia population. Japan invaded indonesia in 1942 and surrendered in 1945 and yet Japanese wanted to be allies with Indonesia and helped with their independence (Lambert). The main reason of Japanese coming to Indonesia was actually because “in 1942, Soekarno and Hatta agreed to cooperate with the Japanese, as this seemed to be the best opportunity to secure independence”(Struggle). Japanese came in the beginning of World War II, and the Indonesian welcomed them. However, it turned out that Japanese was very brutal and heartless towards the Indonesian. They became very greedy to Indonesia’s resources, and eventually they invaded Indonesia. So “as the fortunes of war turned, the occupiers began organizing Indonesians into military and paramilitary units whose numbers were added by the Japanese to romusha statistics” (Struggle). Romusha means manual laborers, so in this case the Indonesian population become less than Dutch colonialism (Struggle). Japanese mostly influence Indonesia in historical, political ties and also economical during the World War II (Lambert). In historical point of view, Japanese controlled the construction of the roads, forced people to work in farms and formed the military system. The roads were very helpful for people to go from a city to other city (Frei). But when the productions of the roads begin, it was romusha that had to work and made the roads, though the sacrifice pays the happiness to travel from one city to another city. Japanese made and also taught the Indonesian how to grow crops and how to pick fruits when it’s mature. There were a lot of rules that Japanese made for being a farmer, and Japanese taught the population about it (Frei). In an economical side, Indonesia is a large export towards Japan; most of the goods that were spread from Indonesia were natural resources. Actually before japan came to Indonesia, Indonesians economy
Cited: Frei, Henry. "Indonesia 's History, Culture, Economy, Geography." Indonesia 's History, Culture, Economy, Geography. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://indonesia-ok.com/history.htm>. "Indonesia-The Japanese Occupation, 1942-45 WORLD WAR II AND THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE, 1942-50." Mangobay.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://www.mongabay.com/history/indonesia/indonesia-the_japanese_occupation%2C_1942-45_world_war_ii_and_the_struggle_for_independence%2C_1942-50.html>. Lambert, Tim. "A Brief History of Indonesia." A Brief History of Indonesia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://www.localhistories.org/indonesia.html>. Yang, Edwin. "Indonesia - The Japanese Occupation, 1942-45." Indonesia - The Japanese Occupation, 1942-45. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://countrystudies.us/indonesia/15.htm>.