Centre-Periphery Tensions in Dominant Javanese Culture - Essay Example

Name Professor Course Date Introduction Centre-periphery tensions amid the dominant Javanese culture and minority groups in outlying areas have been origins of political strife and instability for the Indonesian nation. The country has in the recent years adapted its approach to such discord and has done much to lessen secessionist or autonomous tensions. This comparatively judicious perspective has reached to a point where other efforts to control Indonesia’s centrifugal tendencies are ineffective. The major Indonesian security threats are considered to be within. Conventionally, power has broadened from Java to the outlying areas of Indonesia and this has been practised during the Dutch rule and in the modern Indonesian State. Throughout history, there has been resistance in marginal areas to this centralised rule. Each region in Indonesia including East Timor, West Papua, Aceh and other regions hold powerful cultural, religious and ethnic identities diverse from those of java. Such diversity instigates the debate whether Indonesia is an artificial creation of Dutch colonial rule or an organic state. According to Vaughn (2010)1, analysis of early Indonesian history disclosed a level of integration with respect to trade and economics. While early indigenous empires were precursors of the state of Indonesia, political utility is considered to have been a product of Dutch colonial rule2. A key lesson of Indonesia history is that uniting the archipelago managerially is only achievable through application of force. Forces of economic incorporation or the establishment of a national identity stemming from the nationalist movement of 1908 could be considered as other integrative forces. Between 1750 and 1914, the Dutch extended its power in the Indonesian archipelago. Dutch had already taken control of Spice Island of northeast Indonesia and Java Island which were areas that supplied them with considerable wealth3. In 1799, the Dutch government abolished the Dutch East Indies firm which controlled the Dutch holdings replacing it with a formal colonial government tasked with reenergising the governance of the scattered Dutch-controlled areas. This made Java Island more profitable. In 1830, Dutch administrators established the cultivation systems that compelled Java farmers to grow sugar instead of rice4. The government gain profits through setting reduced fixed price to pay peasants for sugar even during times when the world sugar prices were high. The cultivation system impoverished scores of peasants and enriched the Dutch. Later in 1800s, the Dutch shifted its attention to obtaining control and taking full advantage of the Indonesian Island resources. In some regions, the Dutch used violence to suppress resistance and impose their rule. For instance, amid 1906 and 1908, the Dutch sent armed forces to crush small kingdoms. The biggest Balinese kingdom royal family committed collective suicide shaming the Dutch and denying them victory. The Dutch formed Indonesia as a nation through bringing together thousands of scattered societies and numerous states of archipelago into the Dutch East Indies5.The Dutch made use of Indonesian resources and labour force. The Dutch wanted to gain high capital profits from the resources and labour they got from Indonesia. To gain increased profits, the Dutch introduced the cultivation systems where farmers grew crops for the local government and the Dutch. The Dutch introduced products within an example of coffee to the Java Island. Coffee and sugar accounted for 70% of the Indonesian exports. During the 19th century and 20th century, the Dutch transformed Indonesia. The Dutch took its colonial administration and put in place a systematic campaign of annexation and conquest of their rivals. The Dutch administration integrated the spread archipelagic possessions. It strengthened the internal administrative organisations and made them more equal and similar6. The Dutch Indies internally and externally took shape in the 19th century. The borders with Spanish, German, Portuguese and British colonies were ultimately settled and archipelago independent states were introduced into the Dutch hegemony through diplomatic and military means. An intricate administrative organisation bound the possessions of the Dutch in hierarchy consequently forming the offices of governor-general in java. The Dutch Indies surfaced as a unique political entity. Within the colonial blueprint, indigenous society was considerably changed through novel economic forms and shifting forms of awareness. The Dutch rule strengthened and created the villages as the fundamental administration unit in the Javanese7. The colonial policies had a sharp and apparent effect on the lives of people while education started to develop novel skills and expose individuals to novel ideas. These shifts instigated the development of a nationalist movement aimed at the establishment of independent Indonesia Indonesia is the globe’s most popular Muslim-majority states and a successful democracy. Indonesia is a complex place to comprehend and astonishing development of the past numerous years have made it even more complex to understand. It is a nation scattered across numerous Islands with numerous major languages and ethnic groups. The country is best comprehended with respect to dualities, and dualism is embodied in the Indonesian phrase for fatherhood8. The sea sets apart the Island and it unites them. Dualism also juxtaposes Java Island that is home for most Indonesians. Dualism also represents obvious chaos and an extent of coherence. Apparent chaos comes from the intricacy of the country’s diversity and the linked messiness of the country’s politics. The extent of coherence comes from a common past forged in resistance to Dutch colonialism. Trade brought together the archipelago and in some instances, portions of trade functioned under combined politic rule9. The nation is blessed through linguistic unity. Most of the country’s languages belong to one prominent family, including the Indonesian. Indonesian is a contemporary Malay version, a conventional language for regional business. The Dutch who started to colonise Indonesia in the seventeenth century made Malay into a formal administrative language to evade instructing the natives Dutch which they thought would instigate risky ideas of equality10. Following emergence of the Indonesian nationalists in the 20th century, Indonesian realised that they had been given a national language on a sliver platter and they evaded the plague of numerous tongues that would trouble nation builders in the developing nation11. At present, Indonesian is spoken by most majorities of the Indonesian populace although as a second language. Islam in Indonesia was brought by Indians Muslims who were involved in nutmeg and cloves business with Spice Islands people. Even though Islam slowly became the country’s majority religion, the archipelago did not completely accept it. Hinduism was practised in Bali Island12. The Dutch introduced Christianity which was founded among the economically crucial Chinese minority and animist13.During the three hundred and fifty years that the Dutch colonial rule operated in Indonesia, the Dutch established an education system that formed a cultural and educational gap among the natives and amid the Dutch people. In colonial Indonesia, access to learning institutions controlled by the Dutch was open to Europeans only and Islamic learning institutions operated by Muslim Scholars were open to local Indonesians14. I believe that the colony that created the contemporary Indonesia is the Dutch colony after the Second World War. The Dutch hegemony and possessions were extended attaining their utmost territorial extended in the twentieth century. This colony created the contemporary Indonesia and it was one of the most worth European colonies. It added to the Dutch worldwide reputation in cash crop and spice trade15. The social order of the Dutch was founded on social and racial structures with the colonialists separating themselves from the natives. When Indonesia attained its independence in 1949, Java had been the centre of the Dutch colonial rule and it retained its central role even after independence. Given that there had been no Indonesian nation before the colonial period, a general Indonesian identity had to created. Since independent the term Indonesia referred to the territory of the Dutch colony Nederlandsch Indie. Indonesian adopted this phrase for their country and themselves towards the end of the 19th century16. Much of Indonesian cultural, education, political and law systems were influenced by the Dutch. The Dutch colonial thinking conceptualised its rule in Netherlands Indies particularly outside Java. These ideas were materialised in the fields of law, education and economy. With respect to law, the Dutch established the corpus of knowledge regarding local customs and instigated sharp divisions’ among indigenous groups. There was a genuine concept to protect and respect local cultures against ambitions of penetrating colonial nation to establish uniform rule17. The Indonesian legal system is a complex integration of numerous diverse legal systems mainly because of the Dutch colonial plural legal model adopted in 1945. To this extent, Indonesian justice systems mirrors its history which has been categorised by successive waves of influence from abroad and ability of the people to absorb those influence and absorb them in their culture18. Conclusion The Indonesian stated was created in 1945 from a Dutch-established territory that holds hundreds of ethnic groups on numerous islands. For three hundred and fifty years, the Dutch controlled huge parts of these islands via the Dutch East Indies Company. Following establishment of the Indonesian states and nationalisation of plantations belonging to the Dutch, the presence of the Dutch in Indonesia was spectacularly lowered. However, the Dutch legacy of legal and political institutions is continues to be formative. During the early years on the novel state located ideologically and physically on Java Island, considerable rebellion and unrest was experienced in other islands mirroring the intricacies of establishing a postcolonial state out the distinct entities. The vast majority of the Indonesian archipelago Islands are an apparent reflection of political tensions and divisions experienced during the Dutch era. The Dutch shaped the concepts of the Indonesian national identity, the legal system, administrative systems, culture and education system and religious system. The modern Indonesia has been moulded through dynamic interaction of indigenous cultures with external influences particularly the Dutch colonial rule besides Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Therefore, Indonesia is a creation of the Dutch. Work Cited Berkmoes, Ryan and Skolnick, Adam. Lonely planet Indonesia. UK: Lonely Planet, 2010. Cribb, Robert. Historical Atlas of Indonesia. UK: Routledge, 2013. Dertrand, Jacques. Nationalism and ethnic conflict in Indonesia. UK: Cambridge University Press. Elson, R. The idea of Indonesia: A history. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Joseph, Cynthia, Mathews, Julie . Equity, opportunity and education in post colonial southeast Asia. UK: Routledge, 2014. Kimura, Ehito, Political change and territoriality in Indonesia: Provincial proliferation. UK: Routledge, 2013. Knorr, Jacqueline. Creole identity in postcolonial Indonesia. UK: Berghahn Books, 2014. Krancher, Jan. The defining years of the Dutch East Indies, 1942-1949: Survivors’ account of Japanese invasion and enslavement of Europeans and the revolution that created free Indonesia. UK: McFarland, 2003. Lindsey, Timothy. Indonesia, law and society. Sydney: Federation Press, 2008. Lockard, Craig. Societies, networks and transitions: Volume II: A global history. UK: Cengage Learning, 2010. Pringle, Robert. Indonesia’s moment. The Wilson Quarterly, 35.1 (2011):26-33. Ricklefs, Merle. A history of modern Indonesia since C.1200. USA: Stanford University Pres, 2001. Smith, Virginia . Richard Wright’s travel writings. USA: University Press of Mississippi, 2012. Taylor, Jean. Global Indonesia. UK: Routledge, 2012. Vaughn, Bruce. Indonesia: Domestic politics, strategic dynamics, and American interests. UK: DIANE Publishing, 2010. Read More