As they entered the nineteenth century, the “clerisy” of the “land below the winds” stood at a crossroads. The knowledge road to Mecca inherited from previous centuries through the international networks of ulama remained. At the same time, the deepening penetration of Dutch colonialism and capitalism inescapably brought its own regime of knowledge that paved the new intellectual road to the West.

It was the Liberal-capitalist penetration of the second half of the nineteenth century Dutch colonial era that was responsible for the government' introduction of a Western-style education system to the East Indies. The introduction of the Netherlands right-wing “Ethical” colonial policy in the early decades of the twentieth century brought this educational transformation to a further stage.

Electrified by the pulsing wave of liberal movements and democratic revolution in Europe around the 1840s (Stromberg 1968, pp. 72–78), the Liberal wing in the Netherlands led by Jan Rudolf Thorbecke quickly responded to the political momentum by successfully shifting the course of Fundamental Law [grondwetsherziening] from conservatism towards liberalism. With this Fundamental Law of 1848, the Netherlands became a constitutional monarchy, and the Queen had to be responsible to the parliament. Consequently, the Dutch moved from the rule of absolute authority to the rule of law. Under the provisions of this law, the Liberal wing was able to intervene in colonial matters through parliament. In the educational realm, the Fundamental Law of 1848 guaranteed free education to everyone in the Netherlands and had a trickle down effect, which gradually led to a new attitude towards public education in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) (Simbolon 1995, pp. 126–27).

Supported by private entrepreneurs and a politically conscious Liberal middle class, this Liberal force became increasingly dissatisfied with financial administration, first in the homeland and then in the colony. The Liberals aimed originally to wield power at home and, later, to have access to, or control over, colonial profits (Furnivall 1944, p. 148).