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Moving towards a National Economy in Late Colonial Indonesia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2011

Jeroen Touwen
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Extract

In Tapanuli, a province in western Sumatra, economic expansion in the late colonial period was frustrated by the problems of transportation in its mountainous and inaccessible terrain. In 1921, Resident F.C. Vorstman of Tapanuli stated in his succession report: ‘The construction of main roads is one of the most powerful means to improve economically backward regions’. This statement is not very surprising in itself, but it does reveal that some government officials had a clear idea of the impediments of economic development in the Outer Islands of colonial Indonesia, and how these obstacles could be overcome. As I will argue in this contribution, the development of infrastructure was one of the major factors in a process of increasing economic integration in Indonesia in the late colonial period. Moreover, infrastructural improvements were more significant in stimulating national economic development than the government policies under the Ethical Policy.

Type
The Late Colonial State
Information
Itinerario , Volume 23 , Issue 3-4 , November 1999 , pp. 145 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 1999

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References

Notes

1 Rijksarchief, Algemeen, Ministerie van Koloniën 1901-1963, Memories van Overgave 174Google Scholar, F.C. Vorstman 1921:8-9.

2 The emergence of a national economy is the central theme in a new handbook on economic history of Indonesia between 1800 and 2000: H.W. Dick, VJ.H. Houben, J.Th. Lindblad, and Thee Kian Wie, The Emergence of a National Economy: An Economic History of Indonesia, 1800-2000 (forthcoming).

3 Cribb, Robert, ‘Introduction: The Late Colonial State in Indonesia’ in: Cribb, Robert ed., The Late Colonial State in Indonesia: Political and Economic Foundations of the Netherlands Indies, 1880-1942 (Leiden 1994) 1–9Google Scholar , in particular 1-5.

4 See also the contribution by John Darwin in this issue, pp. 73-82.

5 Dick, H.W., ‘The Emergence of a National Economy, 1808-1990s’ in: Lindblad, J.Th. ed., Historical Foundations of a National Economy in Indonesia, 1890s-1990s (Amsterdam 1996) 21–51Google Scholar , in particular 21-22. See also H.W. Dick, VJ.H. Houben, J.Th. Lindblad, and Thee Kian Wie, The Emergence of a National Economy.

6 To gain more insight in the exten t to which the late colonial economy displayed the characteristics of a national economy, it would be useful to develop ‘historical national accounts’ for Indonesia in the twentieth century, as has been done for several Western countries. The statistical series Changing Economy in Indonesia provides a good basis for such an exercise.

7 Particularly concerning pre-colonial and early colonial times. Bulbeck, David, Reid, Anthony, Tan, Lay Cheng and Wu, Yiqi, Southeast Asian Exports Since the 14th Century: Cloves, Pepper, Coffee and Sugar (Leiden/Singapore 1998) 8Google Scholar .

8 J.N.F.M., à Campo, De Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij: Stoomvaart en Staatsvorming in de Indonesische Archipel, 1888-1914 (Hilversum 1992).Google Scholar

9 This argument is more extensively discussed in my dissertation. Touwen, L.J., Extremes in the Archipelago: Trade and Economic Development in the Outer Islands of Indonesia, 1900-1942 (PhD Thesis Leiden University 1997) 242–247Google Scholar .

10 J.Th. Lindblad, ‘The Contribution of Foreign Trade to Colonial State Formation in Indonesia, 1900-1930’ in: Cribb, , The Late Colonial State, 93–116, in particular 93Google Scholar .

11 Booth, Anne, ‘The Economic Development of Southeast Asia, 1870-1985’ in: Snooks, G.D., Reid, A.J.S. and Pincus, J.J. eds, Exploring Southeast Asia's Economic Past (Melbourne 1991) 20–52Google Scholar , in particular 33, 49. Booth, Anne, The Indonesian Economy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A History of Missed Opportunities (London 1998) 328CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

12 Graaff, B. de, ‘Kalrn, Temidden van Woedende Golven’: Het Ministerie van Kolonien en zijn Taakomgeving, 1912-1940 ('s-Gravenhage 1997) 613–618Google Scholar .

13 Booth, , The Indonesian Economy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 328.Google Scholar

14 Cf. Wesseling, H.L., Indie Verloren, Rampspoed Geboren, en Andere Opstellen over de Geschiedenis van de Europese Expansie (Second edition, Amsterdam 1995) 42, 295Google Scholar .

15 See C. Fasseur, ‘Cornerstone and Stumbling Block: Racial Classification and the Late Colonial State in Indonesia’ in: Cribb, , The Late Colonial State, 31–56.Google Scholar

16 Creutzberg, P., National Income: ChangingEconomy in Indonesia. A Selection ofStatistical Source Materialfrom the Early 19th Century up to 1940, Vol. 5 (The Hague 1979) 70–71Google Scholar .

17 See also H.W. Dick, VJ.H. Houben, J.Th. Lindblad, and Thee Kian Wie, The Emergence of a National Economy, Chapter V.

18 Touwen, , Extremes in the Archipelago, 55–90.Google Scholar

19 Ibidem, 238-242.

20 Statistisch Jaaroverzicht 1929 (Indisch Verslag 1930) 470–471Google Scholar ; Statistisch Jaaroverzicht 1930 (Indisch Verslag 1931) 460-461, 494–506Google Scholar .

21 Cf. Clemens, A.H.P., Lindblad, J.Th. and Touwen, L.J., Regional Patterns in Foreign Trade 1911-1940: Changing Economy in Indonesia. A Selection of Statistical Source Material from the Early 19th Century up to 1940, Vol. 12B (Amsterdam 1992).Google Scholar

22 J.Th. Lindblad, ‘The Contribution of Foreign Trade to Colonial State Formation’ in: Cribb, , The Late Colonial State, 93–115, in particular 105Google Scholar .

23 The part of domestic trade which took place in the inner regions of the islands, the internal trade, went unrecorded since it escaped official registration. Occasionally, government reports such as the Memories van Overgave did comment upon this trade. This unrecorded internal trade was mainly in food crops, other basic subsistence commodities and handicraft products.

24 The price-index figure is taken from Ark, B. van, ‘The Volume and Price of Indonesian Exports, 1823 to 1940: The Long-term Trend and its Measurement’, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 24/3 (1988) 87–120CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

25 Statistiek van de Intergewestelijke Handelsbeweging der Buitengewesten over hetjaar 1921-1939 (Buitenzorg 1922-1940).Google Scholar

26 Since long before colonial times the Java Sea has formed the centre of Indonesia's maritime world. It is surrounded by four groups of dynamic ports: (a) those on the northern coast ofJava (Pasisir), including in particular Tanjung Priok (Batavia), Cirebon, Semarang, Tanjung Perak (Surabaya), Panarukan, and Banyuwangi; (b) the ports in and around south-eastern Sumatra, for example Palembang, and Mentok (on Bangka); (c) the ports in southern and western Borneo, of which the two largest were Pontianak (WestKalimantan) and Banjarmasin (Southeast Kalimantan); (d) the ports in the Eastern archipelago, particularly Macassar (Ujungpandang) in South Sulawesi, which formed the main trading centre of the eastern part of the Outer Islands. These twelve ports form the basis of the analysis below.

27 The construction of the database took place in the context of the project ‘The Java Sea Region in an Age of Transition’, which was financed by the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW). More detailed results will be published in Touwen, L.J., Shipping and Trade in theJava Sea region, 1870-1940: A Collection of Statistics on the MajorJava Sea Ports (Semarang, forthcoming).Google Scholar

28 The great jump in coastal shipping in 1912 (see Figure 4) was the consequence of improved methods of registration. Before 1912, the coastal shipping statistics concerned inter-island or inter-regional traffic (that is, between the different provinces), added to the data on the steam packet network, of which ports of first embarkation and final destinations were stated. From 1912 onwards, shipping movements within the provinces were included in the coastal shipping statistics, as well as the intermediate stops of the packet boats. Knaap, G.J., Transport 1819-1940: Changing Economy in Indonesia. A Selection of Statistical Source Materialfrom the Early 19th Century up to 1940, Vol. 9 (Amsterdam 1989) 56.Google Scholar