Dutch Proposals for Indonesian Settlement 6
November 1945
A. TEXT OF DUTCH GOVERNMENT NINE POINT PROPOSAL
of 6 November 1945
(1) A Central Indies Government consisting of a democratic representative body with a substantial majority of
Indonesian members, and a Council of Ministers under a Governor-General as a
representative of the Netherlands Crown. That body will govern internal
affairs.
(2) Indonesia is to become a full partner in the
Commonwealth, and the machinery for
the Commonwealth is to be decided at a round table conference to
be held as soon as possible.
(3) Suffrage will be a subject of consultation, but
it will rest on adequate representation of all groups.
(4) An increase of Indonesian and other
non-Netherlands citizens in the general
service of the Kingdom. Regulations based on racial
discrimination shall be abrogated, along with the distinction between the
Netherlands and Indonesian civil service.
(5) No separate penal laws.
(6) A reform of the educational system to cut down
illiteracy to a minimum.
(7)
Recognition of the
Indonesian language as official along with the Dutch.
(8) Encouragement of increased industrial effort by all racial groups; increased production and improved
distribution of income.
(9) A strong armed force built upon militia defense, with all groups
participating.
"The
reconstruction of Indonesia will have to be quickly taken in hand;
otherwise the general impoverishment and lawlessness will have
grown to such an extent that recovery may be hardly possible," the statement said.
New York Times,
November 7, 1945
B.
Background – see http://www.houseofdavid.ca/queen.htm
C. Critique
On November 6,
1945, Lieutenant Governor-General van Mook obtained permission from his government to publish a statement on the
Netherlands policy and its objectives
with regard to Indonesia. These objectives were based on principles of policy laid down in Queen Wilhelmina's speech of December, 1942. The Queen's statement was interpreted to mean that
in the restored pre-war Volksraad (People's Council) the Indonesians
would be given a "substantial majority." Before the Japanese invasion the Indonesians were allowed to
hold 30 out of a total of 61 seats.
Van Mook expressed the opinion that there would be no objection for the Indonesians to have even four-fifths of the votes. He was willing to go further. The
directors of departments would
henceforth be "ministers." Ministries would be created, but
they would remain under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General. This in
effect meant that there would be no ministerial
responsibility. The "Volksraad" would remain a pseudo-parliament, and the Governor-General the actual
ruler in Indonesia.
These
were the maximum concessions which the Dutch were willing to offer. The Dutch
policy completely ignored the reality of the
Republic as the embodiment of the will of the Indonesian people to be independent.
In point of fact the Dutch statement was an invitation to return to the old
colonial relationship.
Regarding
van Mook's statement President Sukarno declared in a
press conference that he was not in the least impressed by it. "It is only a
going-over of the old familiar statement of the Queen." For the Republican
position he referred to the Political Manifesto.
As van Mook himself admits on p. 106 in his book Indonesië, Nederland en de Wereld, the
Netherlands proposal was handicapped by its vagueness "in the cardinal
points on the formation of an Indonesian state."
The
absolute rejection of the proposals contained in the Dutch statement of
November 6, was a foregone conclusion.
Quoted from Djajadiningrat, Idrus
Nasir, The
beginnings of the Indonesian-Dutch negotiations and the Hoge Veluwe talks (Cornell University.
Modern Indonesia Project. Monograph series),
Modern Indonesia Project, Southeast Asia Program, Dept. of Far Eastern
Studies, Cornell University (1958), ASIN: B0007EG4B8 pp. 41-42
See also
- Text
and Comments on the Radio
address by Queen Wilhelmina on 7 December 1942
- Dutch Proposals for Indonesian
Settlement 10 March 1946
- Text
and critique of the Linggadjati Agreement
- Text
and Comments on the Renville
Political Principles