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The Arrival Process of Western Countries in Indonesia
The leader of Portuguese trading company in India, d'Albuquerque wished to make relationship with Malacca. To make his intention real, he sent a messenger to Malacca in 1509. The messenger was not welcomed by Sultan Mahmud Syah. It was because Sultan Mahmud Syah had heard the bad behaviour of Portuguese. Therefore, Portuguese sent their army to attack Malacca and succeeded to occupy Malacca in 1511.
In 1512, d'Albuquerque sent some his ships to the eastern Indonesia and landed on Ternate, Moluccas. When Portuguese arrived in Ternate, Ternate Empire had been in conflict with Tidore Empire. Portuguese was welcomed by Sultan Ternate in order to Portuguese could be their ally in fighting against Tidore. On the other side, the arrival of Portuguese in Moluccas was followed by Spanish. Spanish made relationship with Tidore whereas Tidore was Ternate's enemy. Finally, the enmity involved two white countries, Portuguese and Spanish.
To solve the conflict between Portuguese and Spanish, they held a peace agreement on April 22, 1529. The peace agreement was called Treaty of Saragosa. Actually, Treaty of Saragosa was the follow up of Treaty of Tordesillas on June 7, 1494. The content of Treaty of Saragosa were.
- The earth was divided into two influences, Spanish influence and Portuguese influence.
- The Spanish territory was from Mexico to the west until Philippines. Meanwhile the Portuguese territory was from Brazil to the east until Moluccas Archipelago.
So, after the treaty was agreed by both sides, Spanish must be back to Philippines. Meanwhile Portuguese conquered Moluccas Archipelago and its surroundings.
In the late of 16th century and the beginning of 17th century, Dutch, British, and French came into Indonesia. They have same motivation with Portuguese to come into Indonesia.
In 1595, four Dutch ships sailed to Indonesia led by Cornelis de Houtman and Pieter de Kaizer. The sailed along the west coast of Africa to reach Cape of Hope. Then, they crossed Hindia Ocean and arrived in Indonesia through Sunda Strait.
In 1596, four Dutch ships landed in Banten. At that time, Banten was the centre for white pepper trading. Dutch could not get sympathy from the people and the authority of Banten because of their unfriendly behaviour. Then, Dutch moved to Moluccas to buy spices. This effort failed, too. Finally, they came back to their country.
Even though, they failed on the first expedition, Dutch succeeded to open up the way for the next expedition. In the next expedition, Dutch was nice and respect to the people they met. The consequences, some Dutch companies which sent their trading expeditions to Indonesia could make relationship with native authorities. Dutch could get their big profit from the trading with the native of Indonesia.
The Establishment of VOC
So many Dutch merchants who came into Indonesia made the fight trading competition among them. As a result, the spices price in Indonesia tended to increase whereas in Europe the spices price tended ti decrease. This condition made Portuguese was in advantageous as Dutch competitor. Moreover, Portuguese firstly applied monopoly in Indonesia and Asia in general. To avoid that competition, drom the idea of Dutch parliament member, Johan van Oldebarnevelt, formed collective trading association. The idea had good response and on March 20, 1602, they established Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC) or The East Hindia Trading Association.
The purpose of VOC establishment were
- avoiding the trading competition among Dutch merchants;
- making Dutch position stringer to face competition with Europe or Asian countries;
- helping Dutch government in fighting against the power of Spain.
To run their activities, VOC had special right from the government of Dutch Empire. Those special right, such as
- right to form army squad and make fortress;
- right to make their own currency;
- right to promote and demote officers from low level until governor general;
- right to war, peace, and make agreement with kings in foreign countries;
- monopolistic rights.
The special rights had promoted VOC as government institution and autonomous commercial authority. To make their activities run well, VOC was led by a governor general. The first governor general was Pieter Both. Under his authority, VOC started to run commercial monopoly and expand their colonies.
The first VOC headquarter was in Ambon. The reason VOC made Ambon as their headquarter because Ambon was the central of spices producer. This choice was correct to make their spices commercial monopoly smooth and run well.
VOC was allowed by Prince Jayakarta to build their headquarter in Jayakarta eventhough that territory belong to Banten. A few years later, VOC had a competitor, EIC (British East Indies Company), that was permitted to build their trading office in there. As consequences, there was a rivalry between VOC and EIC.
Those things were done with following reasons.
- Jayakarta was strategic, in the line of Asian trading;
- From Jayakarta, VOC could easier to put away portuguese from Moluccas.
The Form of the Dutch Indies Colonial Government in Indonesia
After occupying Indonesia for more than 200 years, finally VOC was bankrupt. This was because
- they expended more cost to overcome people struggle in many regions of Indonesia;
- there were many corruptions in VOC;
- there were others trading companies as competitors, such as British, French, and Portuguese;
- The change of politics situation in Europe.
The declining VOC was supported by the condition of Netherlands. Since 1795, the Netherlands was occupied by France, King Willem V as the ruler of Netherlands had to evacuate to England. The Netherlands under France authority was changed into Republic of Bataaf.
The new government of Netherlands soon took required action toward VOC. On 31st December 1799, VOC was formally liquidated. All debt and credit matters of VOC and its business were taken over by new government of Netherlands, Therefore, Indonesia was formally colonized by Netherlands government which at that time Netherlands was occupied by France.
Napoleon Bonaparte as France ruler sent his brother, Louis Napoleon to run government in Netherlands. Louis Napoleon was promoted to be the king of Netherlands Kingdom. Louis Napoleon promoted a governor general to run government in Indonesia in the name of the government of Netherlands Kingdom. That governor general was Herman Willem Daendels.
The main task of Daendels was to defend Java Island from the British attack and organize government system in Indonesia, including to overcome financial matter.
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