December 21, 1949 – The Netherlands recognizes the sovereignty of Indonesia
On July 6, 1949, upon their release, Indonesian nationalistleaders Sukarno and Hatta restored the revolutionary government in Yogyakarta, and one week later, they ratified theRoem-van Roijen Agreement. In mid-August1949, a ceasefire came into effect. In aseries of meetings, called the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference held atThe Hague, Netherlands in August-November 1949, the Netherlands, the IndonesianRepublic, and the Federal Consultative Assembly (Dutch: Bijeenkomst voorFederaal Overleg, which represented the six states and nine autonomousterritories created by the Dutch under USI) agreed that USI be grantedindependence under the Indonesian government, with Sukarno and Hatta as itsPresident and Vice-President, respectively. The Netherlandsand USI would form a loose association called the Netherlands-Indonesian Unionunder the Dutch monarchy. A stipulationwas that the Dutch military would leave USI, with security functions to beturned over to the Indonesian Armed Forces. Two other difficult issues were settled: 1. the responsibility forpaying off the Dutch East Indies debt totaling 4.3 billion guilders was to beborne by USI, and 2. that West New Guinea, which formed part of the Dutch EastIndies and claimed by the Indonesian Republic as belonging to USI by way ofstate succession, was agreed to remain with the Netherlands until futurenegotiations regarding its future could be held within one year after USI’sindependence. On December 27, 1949, the Netherlandsformally relinquished authority over USI, which also became a fully sovereign,independent state.
Aftermath of theIndonesian War of Independence Indonesia’sindependence war caused some 50,000-100,000 Indonesian deaths. The Dutch military lost over 5,000 soldierskilled. Some 1,200 British soldiers(mainly British Indians) also were killed in action. Several million people were displaced. Also in the 1950s, a diaspora of took place,with some 300,000 Dutch nationals leaving Indonesiafor the Netherlands.
Indonesia in Southeast Asia.(Taken from Indonesian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)
Sukarno’s proclamation of Indonesia’s independence de factoproduced a state of war with the Allied powers, which were determined to gaincontrol of the territory and reinstate the pre-war Dutch government. However, one month would pass before theAllied forces would arrive. Meanwhile,the Japanese East Indies command, awaiting the arrival of the Allies torepatriate Japanese forces back to Japan, was ordered by the Alliedhigh command to stand down and carry out policing duties to maintain law andorder in the islands. The Japanesestance toward the Indonesian Republic varied:disinterested Japanese commanders withdrew their units to avoid confrontationwith Indonesian forces, while those sympathetic to or supportive of therevolution provided weapons to Indonesians, or allowed areas to be occupied byIndonesians. However, other Japanesecommanders complied with the Allied orders and fought the Indonesianrevolutionaries, thus becoming involved in the independence war.
In the chaotic period immediately after Indonesia’sindependence and continuing for several months, widespread violence and anarchyprevailed (this period is known as “Bersiap”, an Indonesian word meaning “beprepared”), with armed bands called “Pemuda” (Indonesian meaning “youth”)carrying out murders, robberies, abductions, and other criminal acts against groupsassociated with the Dutch regime, i.e. local nobilities, civilian leaders,Christians such as Menadonese and Ambones, ethnic Chinese, Europeans, andIndo-Europeans. Other armed bands werecomposed of local communists or Islamists, who carried out attacks for the samereasons. Christian and nobility-alignedmilitias also were organized, which led to clashes between pro-Dutch andpro-Indonesian armed groups. Theseso-called “social revolutions” by anti-Dutch militias, which occurred mainly inJava and Sumatra, were motivated by variousreasons, including political, economic, religious, social, and ethniccauses. Subsequently when the Indonesiangovernment began to exert greater control, the number of violent incidents fell,and Bersiap soon came to an end. Thenumber of fatalities during the Bersiap period runs into the tens of thousands,including some 3,600 identified and 20,000 missing Indo-Europeans.
The first major clashes of the war occurred in late August1945, when Indonesian revolutionary forces clashed with Japanese Army units,when the latter tried to regain previously vacated areas. The Japanese would be involved in the earlystages of Indonesia’sindependence war, but were repatriated to Japan by the end of 1946.
In mid-September 1945, the first Allied forces consisting ofAustralian units arrived in the eastern regions of Indonesia (where revolutionaryactivity was minimal), peacefully taking over authority from the commander ofthe Japanese naval forces there. Alliedcontrol also was established in Sulawesi, withthe provincial revolutionary government offering no resistance. These areas were then returned to Dutchcolonial control.
In late September 1945, British forces also arrived in theislands, the following month taking control of key areas in Sumatra, including Medan, Padang, and Palembang, and inJava. The British also occupied Jakarta (then still known, until 1949, as Batavia),with Sukarno and his government moving the Republic’s capital to Yogyakarta in Central Java. InOctober 1945, Japanese forces also regained control of Bandungand Semarangfor the Allies, which they turned over to the British. In Semarang, the intense fighting claimed thelives of some 500 Japanese and 2,000 Indonesian soldiers.
