The Ministerie van Koloniën — the Dutch Ministry of Colonies — was the central administrative organ of the Dutch colonial state in the Vermeulen-period 1891-1918. The ministry was headed by a minister who was, in turn, responsible to the Tweede Kamer for the conduct of colonial affairs — including the Atjeh-oorlog ([[1873-1904)|Atjeh-oorlog]], the pacificatie and the ethical-policy program.
The ministerial succession
The ministers of Colonies of the Vermeulen period comprised, in chronological order: Keuchenius (1888-1893), Pijnacker Hordijk (1890-1891), Mackay (1891-1894), Van Dedem (1893-1899), Van der Wijck (1894-1897), Bergsma (1897-1901), Cremer (1899-1904), Rooseboom (1901-1902), Van Asch van Wijck (1902-1905), Idenburg (1904-1909), Van Heutsz (1905-1908 in parallel), Fock (1908-1909), Idenburg (1909-1913), De Waal Malefijt (1913-1918) and Pleyte (1916-1921).
The advisory role of Snouck Hurgronje
The most consequential single advisor to the Ministry in the Vermeulen period was Snouck Hurgronje. The lectures he gave to future colonial civil servants were published in 1911 as Nederland en de Islam ([[1911)|Nederland en de Islam]], and the 1911 begrotingsdebat “concentreerde zich vooral om de door deze adviseur van het ministerie van Koloniën ontvouwde denkbeelden” — concentrated especially on the ideas unfolded by this advisor of the Ministry of Colonies. The Snouckian view of Islam — set out in his 1893-1894 De Atjehers and elaborated in 1911 — was the basis of the Idenburg-Van Heutsz argument that the Atjehnese resistance was religiously motivated and could be broken only by a demonstration of Dutch “onwrikbare overmacht” — unshakeable superiority.
The ambtelijke adviezen complaint
A persistent complaint of the Tweede Kamer was that the minister of Colonies “zich er achter verschool” — hid behind — the ambtelijke adviezen (official advices) from the governor-general, the residents, the directors, the Raad van Indië, the Hooggerechtshof, the generals, the staatscommissies. The complaint is, in the Vermeulen retrospective, the procedural expression of the colonial-parliamentary dilemma: that the chambermembers, lacking first-hand knowledge of the Indies, were dependent on the very official communications whose candour they suspected.
The publications
The Ministry was responsible, alongside its political and administrative functions, for a series of official publications. The commissie tot onderzoek van de mindere welvaart was installed by the Ministry in 1902; the Bijdragen tot de kennis van het inlandsch bedrijf of 1904 were edited, under the Ministry’s aegis, by Van Deventer, Fock and Kielstra.
Significance
The Ministry of Colonies is the central administrative organ of the Dutch colonial state in the Vermeulen period. Its ministers — Cremer, Van Asch van Wijck, Idenburg, Van Heutsz, Fock, De Waal Malefijt, Pleyte — are the principal political figures of the Atjehnese-war and pacificatie period.
See Also
- Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (colonial business)
- Raad van Indië
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Nederland en de Islam (Snouck Hurgronje, 1911)
- Atjeh-oorlog (1873-1904)
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Ethische Politiek
- Commissie tot onderzoek van de mindere welvaart (1902)
- Bijdragen tot de kennis van het inlandsch bedrijf (1904)
- J. T. Cremer
- Jhr T. A. J. van Asch van Wijck
- A. W. F. Idenburg
- J. B. van Heutsz
- D. Fock
- J. H. de Waal Malefijt
- Th. B. Pleyte
- 1891
- 1918
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. 263-355, and “Overzicht van de ministers van Koloniën en de gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlandsch-Indië 1848-1918”, p. 375.