The Indische Comptabiliteitswet amendment (26 June 1903) — the amendment of the Indische Comptabiliteitswet enacted on 26 June 1903 as Wet S. 172 — is the law by which the bijdrage (annual contribution) of Nederlandsch-Indië to the finances of the Dutch realm was formally abolished. The amendment is one of the foundation acts of the ethical-policy state and the legislative closure of the batig-slot era.
The proposal
The wetsontwerp amending the Indische Comptabiliteitswet so as to abolish the bijdrage of Nederlandsch-Indië to the finances of the realm was submitted by Cremer — minister of Colonies in the kabinet Pierson — with the explanatory formula: “ten einde te doen vervallen de bepalingen omtrent de bijdrage van Nederlands-Indië aan de middelen van het Rijk” — in order to cause to lapse the provisions concerning the contribution of the Netherlands Indies to the means of the Realm.
The legislative trajectory
The bill came into force only in the sittings-year 1902/3, under Cremer’s successor Van Asch van Wijck (a.r.). The amendment was finally enacted on 26 June 1903 (S. 172). In the same year, the bijdrage of the West-Indies to the Realm was likewise abolished.
The “ereschuld” refusal
Neither Cremer nor Van Asch van Wijck would hear of an ereschuld — debt of honour: “geen terugtrede in hetgeen door de daartoe volkomen bevoegde macht vroeger in wettige vorm is geschied” — no retreat from what was done in lawful form by the authority fully competent to do so. The existing state of affairs was to be the starting-point for financial policy; the past could only strengthen the conviction that, when the Indies were in need, the motherland must support them according to its ability. The ground of the new policy was, accordingly, not the recognition of an obligation to restitution but the recognition of a moral vocation (zedelijke roeping) of the motherland towards the colonies and of the significance of the colonial condition for the entire Realm.
Significance for Atjeh
The amendment of 26 June 1903 bears directly on Atjeh because the Atjeh-oorlog ([[1873-1904)|Atjeh-oorlog]] was one of the principal charges on the Nederlandsch-Indische budget that the batig slot had been used to defray. The abolition of the bijdrage — alongside the ethical-policy proclamation of 1901 — re-framed the Atjehnese war as a charge to be borne by the Indies itself, with motherland subvention in case of need.
See Also
- J. T. Cremer
- Jhr T. A. J. van Asch van Wijck
- Indische Comptabiliteitswet
- Batig Slot
- Ereschuld
- Ethische Politiek
- Atjeh-oorlog (1873-1904)
- 26 June
- 1902
- 1903
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), p. 284.