The Volksraad — the People’s Council — was the advisory representative body for the Nederlandsch-Indische archipelago whose installation was proclaimed in the Staatsblad of 1916 and which was actually installed in May 1918. The Volksraad is, in the Vermeulen retrospective, the type-specimen of the ethische politiek state’s chronic lateness — its proclamation in 1916 and its installation in 1918 came too late to anchor moderate opinion in the Sarekat Islam and to contain the radical wing of Indonesian nationalism.
The 1916 proclamation
By the end of 1916 the institution of the Volksraad was proclaimed in the Staatsblad of the Nederlandsch-Indische government. The instrument was, however, not actually implemented until May 1918 — an eighteen-month delay that, in Vermeulen’s verdict, made it harder for the moderate leadership of the Sarekat Islam to keep its radical wing in check.
The 1918 installation
The Volksraad was finally installed in May 1918. The delay was a recurrent pattern of Dutch colonial governance in the ethical-policy era: political concessions came too late to capture the “psychologisch ogenblik” — psychological moment — at which they could have anchored moderate opinion. The colonial state “bijna steeds iets te laat [kwam], zodat het psychologisch ogenblik gemist werd” — almost always came a little too late, so that the psychological moment was missed.
The Pleyte defence
Pleyte (lib.), minister of Colonies 1913-1918, defended the Volksraad as a step in the political education of the Indies population. The political awakening of the Indies — even after the outbreak of the First World War — was, in his judgement, “een veel aangenamer en veel grootser taak” — a much more pleasant and much greater task — for a ruler “dan een slapend volk er onder te houden” — than to keep a sleeping people under. He ventured, despite the political difficulties of the past year, to make possible a greater freedom of association and assembly (vereniging en vergadering) — a measure that his predecessor Fock had already discussed with governor-general Van Heutsz.
The Sarekat Islam context
The slowness of Volksraad implementation made it difficult for the moderate leadership of the Sarekat Islam to keep its radical wing in check. The Sarekat Islam — the major indigenous political association of the period — had pressed for the Volksraad; the colonial state’s slow tempo in implementing it did half the work of the radical wing. The post-1918 radicalisation of the Sarekat Islam is, in part, the consequence of the Volksraad delay.
The Bergsma counter-current
The Volksraad had its critics. Bergsma (lib.) — minister of Colonies 1897-1901 — had posed the thought-experiment: if one were to ask 20 million inlanders whether they wished for municipal councils and regional councils, they would reply “och, geef ons geen nieuwe bevelen … laat ons dan verder ons zelf kalm ontwikkelen en tot rust komen” — oh, give us no new orders … let us then further calmly develop ourselves and come to rest. The Bergsma counter-argument is, in the Vermeulen retrospective, the type-specimen of the ethische politiek counter-current that doubted whether the indigenous population actually desired the representative institutions that the colonial state was constructing for it.
Significance
The Volksraad is, in the Vermeulen retrospective, the type-specimen of the ethische politiek state’s chronic lateness. Its proclamation in 1916 and installation in 1918 came too late to anchor the moderate wing of the Sarekat Islam; the post-1918 radicalisation of Indonesian nationalism is, in part, the consequence.
Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)
Van Heutsz “is not afraid of the representative system; he wants a People’s Council,” said J. W. Meijer Ranneft, chairman of the Volksraad, at the unveiling of the Van Heutsz Monument. De Locomotief had objected in 1918 that “now, however, that the People’s Council has ushered in a new era for colonial development,” the daily leadership of the Council of the Indies would better have been entrusted to a man more familiar with the political currents in the colony. Three years later the Java-Bode recorded: “For many, the interest he always showed in the People’s Council has been surprising; he was often an attentive visitor at its sittings. A man who, after a career through the autocratic schools of the Outer Possessions, followed the rise of parliamentarism with so much interest proved that he understood the voice of the times.”
See Also
- Ethische Politiek
- Sarekat Islam
- Th. B. Pleyte
- D. Fock
- J. B. van Heutsz
- Mr J. H. Bergsma
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- 1916
- 1918
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Atjeh
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Where the 1931 protest against the introduction of Atjehsch as a school language found resonance.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 306.
Source
Schets eener parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland van 1849 tot 1901, by Mr W. J. van Welderen baron Rengers, 4th rev. ed., Vol. IV: Oost-Indië 1891-1918 by Dr W. H. Vermeulen (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1955), pp. 340, 344, 351-355.
Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter I, XVII.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 306.