Jhr T. A. J. van Asch van Wijck — Jonkheer Theo Alexander Adriaan van Asch van Wijck (1849-1902) — was a Dutch Anti-Revolutionary politician who served as minister of Colonies from 1902 to 1905 in the Kuyper cabinet. His ministry covered the 1904 Gajoe-Alas-Batak expedition of Van Daalen and the Indische Comptabiliteitswet amendment of 26 June 1903 that abolished the bijdrage of Nederlandsch-Indië to the finances of the realm.
The Comptabiliteitswet amendment
The wetsontwerp amending the Indische Comptabiliteitswet so as to abolish the bijdrage (contribution) of Nederlandsch-Indië to the finances of the realm had been submitted by Cremer, minister of Colonies in the kabinet Pierson. It came into force, however, only in the sittings-year 1902/3 under his successor Van Asch van Wijck, with enactment on 26 June 1903 (S. 172). Neither Cremer nor Van Asch van Wijck would hear of an ereschuld: “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 1904 inheritance
Van Asch van Wijck’s ministry covered the Gajoe-Alas-Batak expedition of Van Daalen of 1904. The expedition — formally under the responsibility of Idenburg (a.r.), minister of Colonies 1902-1905 in the Kuyper cabinet — was an inheritance from the Cremer liberal ministry that had launched the post-Toekoe Oemar’s defection ([[1896)|Oemar]] pursuit of the resistance leaders to Pedir and the Gajoland interior.
Significance
Van Asch van Wijck’s brief ministry closes the batig-slot era and bridges the Cremer liberal and Idenburg anti-revolutionary colonial administrations. The Comptabiliteitswet amendment of 26 June 1903 is one of the foundation acts of the ethical-policy state.
See Also
- Indische Comptabiliteitswet amendment (26 June 1903)
- Batig Slot
- Ereschuld
- Ethische Politiek
- Van Daalen’s Gajo-Alas-Batak expedition (1904)
- J. T. Cremer
- A. W. F. Idenburg
- Abraham Kuyper
- 1902
- 1903
- 1904
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, and “Overzicht van de ministers van Koloniën en de gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlandsch-Indië 1848-1918”, p. 375.