A SURVEY OF INDONESIA

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30478, 27 June 1964, Page 4

A SURVEY OF INDONESIA

Indonesia. By Bruce Grant Melbourne University Press. 190 pp, four pp of plates and - paper map.

This is a most timely book of particular interest to New Zealand readers. The author is an historian with wide practical experience of the Indonesian people and events in that country and has produced in this book a succinct and balanced account of the past, present and future of Indonesia. Bruce Grant traces the beginnings of civilisation in this area from Java man through the relatively peaceful impacts of Hinduism, Buddism and later Islam, to the uneasy European domination, first by the Portuguese and then the Dutch. He believes that the beginning of Indonesian nationalism. dates from the turn of the century when the Dutch finally “pacified” the entire archipelago. At first nationalism was organised around education, social rather than political equality being desired, but the birth of several political groups, including the P.K.I. (Partai Kommunist. Indonesia), followed soon after. The multiplicity of political groups that were formed in the 1920’s and 30's makes complicated reading; suffice to say that Sukarno made his appearance in 1927 as chairman of the Indonesian Nationalist Party but later joined the Partai Indonesia because of the latter’s greater mass following. Although Sukarno, in the company of Hatta and Sjakrir, spent much of this period in goal his ’influence was felt and the foundations for his later leadership of an independent Indonesia laid. The author is rather scathing on the subject Of the 350

years of Dutch rule of Indonesia. Colonisation of the archipelago followed the African pattern with some quarter of a million settlers. The bond, claims the author, was that of money: “It has been said that no colonial power developed its economy to rely on colonial possessions to the extent that the Dutch did in.the case of the East Indies.” The pre-war trading peak provided an income for one out Of every seven Dutchmen and little was given in return with respect to social and political development of the Indonesians. “Moneymaking aside, the Dutch in the Indies seem to have been noted mostly, for their consumption of food and Dutch gin.” Dutch repression of the nationist movement was relieved in 1942 with the Japanese occupation. Internment of Dutch administrators allowed for the rapid promotion of educated Indonesians. Politically, the Japanese were more flexible than the Dutch. The nationalist leaders spilt forces, Sukarno and Hatta worked above ground in collaboration with the Japanese. Others, including Sjakrir, led various underground groups. The combination saw the rapid growth of the nationalist movement and resulted, on the Japanese surrender, in a declared independence with Sukarno as President and Hatta as Vice-President. Western military power was used to try and reinstate Dutch authority and intermittent war and political bargaining lasted until the recognition of the Republic of the United States of Indonesia in 1949. Throughout this lattfer period Sukarno’s personal

power and stature was greatly increased. Unity of dissident fractions in a complex community maintained originally through a common urge for independence was continued by external confrontations, first of West Irian and currently of Malaysia, largely by Sukarno’s influence;

Mr Grant devotes an illuminating chapter to the refmarkable’ character, in its many facets, of President Sukarno. Many of his contradictions are plausibly explained. His is an intricate web of authority. He is not a dictator in the sense that he has a party behind him to force in the name of the leader. “He dictates through a persuasion of conflicting forces, and his rule has been relatively free of the brutality and bloodshed of conventional dictatorships.” Two strong opposing forces in the Indonesian political scene between which Sukarno acts as a buffer are the Communists and the military. How long this balance will be maintained is a matter of speculation in which the author engages to some extent, believing this to be one of the cornerstones of Indonesian policy.

While most of this book is concerned with an understanding of Indonesian politics, the author delves also into economy, culture, the balance of land and people, and social patterns and relations. Of particular interest is a chapter of verbatim conversations with Indonesians from a wide variety of walks of life.

As to the future, Mr Grant believes that unless there is a radical change in the style of political leadership, the chances of the Indonesians being represented in the world by a nation which is peaceful and productive is remote. The gap between the affluent societies and the underprivileged societies is widening. Consequent unrest among the underprivileged, since Indonesians do not live by rice alone, is most likely to be directed against other people and other nations rather than the country's leaders, the. latter having all the power in their own hands. “As long as Sukarno and his successors know that they can unite the country by external confrontations, the temptation in such a diversified and troubled nation as Indonesia is likely to be constant.” Not all of Mr Grant’s conclusions may be accepted without argument; but he has certainly compiled a mass of facts concerning Indonesia, past and present, in a form that is as readable as It is instructive.