David Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesien und die Entstehung der modernen Welt. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2022. (Revolution: Indonesia and the emergence of the modern world.) Translated by Andreas Ecke from Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesië en het ontstaan van de moderne wereld. Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2020. Bibliographic note, bibliography, index. ISBN 978-3-518-43092-7.
David Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesien und die Entstehung der modernen Welt. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2022. (Revolution: Indonesia and the emergence of the modern world.) Translated by Andreas Ecke from Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesië en het ontstaan van de moderne wereld. Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2020. Bibliographic note, bibliography, index. ISBN 978-3-518-43092-7.
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1Van Reybrouck, an experienced Belgian journalist, published this book in Amsterdam amidst a number of Dutch publications dealing seriously and critically with the colonial experience and the independence war in the East Indies. Nevertheless, and in contrast to public opinion about colonial histories in Great Britain or France, many people in the Netherlands still retain a nostalgia for its imperial past. Perhaps not surprisingly, an adherent of a right-wing party, angered by the negative picture the book paints of Dutch colonial policies, insisted that Van Reybrouck should first examine his own Belgian colonial past. The reproach was too late: the author’s prizewinning volume on the Congo had appeared almost a decade earlier.
2This mammoth volume (751 pages) goes far beyond the Indonesian Revolution itself in its wide-ranging history of modern Indonesia. Only in the last chapters does it really explore its title: how Indonesia and its revolution gave birth to the modern world. It devotes nearly 200 pages to colonial times before turning to the pivotal experience of the Japanese Occupation. Intriguing is the author´s comparison of colonial society to a steamship; it uses the example of the passenger ship Van Wijck, which capsized near Surabaya in 1936, to illustrate how the different races/classes were largely confined to their own “deck” in the Netherlands East Indies. Obviously, Europeans occupied the top deck. Mobility between classes was strictly limited.
3Japan’s rapid conquest of the Dutch East Indies in early 1942 owed much to the expectant welcome native Indonesians gave to the occupiers. Native nationalists, many still in prison or exile, had new but limited chances for leadership and political experience. Later, disillusionment set in as Japan’s forced recruitment of labor and requisition of rice devastated the populace. Yet, Japan was still in near-full control of the Archipelago when the war ended, and the expectation of the Netherlands that colonial authority would be restored with the help of the British proved unrealistic. Indonesia was free. Its leaders had declared their independence. In the next years, one outside force after another attempted to gain control and restore some form of Dutch sovereignty—1946 was the brief “British Year,” the “Dutch Year” lasted from November 1946, when the Netherlands had enough forces on the ground to attempt control, until July 1947. Then followed a forceful “American Year” of diplomatic interventions, with the USA increasingly leaning to the Indonesian side but maintaining its own interests, from August 1947 to December 1948. The final year, from December 1948, was a “Year of the United Nations” that drew the intervention of a wider circle of nations, including India. The “Transfer of Sovereignty” ended the fighting, but left Indonesia in a union with the Netherlands and deprived, initially, of control over its easternmost territory, West New Guinea.
4The story is well-known to readers of Archipel; the account is devoted to facts but never dense. The bibliography cites several hundred well-qualified but secondary sources, while a bibliographic note reviews the most important ones; the author spent years assembling them. Special to this work, however, are the oral history interviews with historical witnesses—not, for the most part prominent ones, but participants and witnesses nevertheless, who at the age of 90 and 100 or more still recollect their experiences. They include Dutch and Indonesian soldiers, minor political figures, victims of camps and even former Gurkhas in Nepal, who had fought for the British military, or Indonesian communists who, stranded in wartime Holland, contributed to the Dutch Résistance against Germany. For these, Van Reybrouck employed an entire corps of translators, and they add to the immediacy of this eminently readable account. Many informants have since died, but, when they spoke to him, their memories remained surprisingly vivid.
5In general, the author takes the Republic’s side and centers on Java. He is extremely critical of Dutch policy during most of these years, especially of the decisions of conservative politicians and military to torpedo the Linggajati agreement and others for cessation of hostilities. These figures led the turn to military intervention with the excuse of Republican violations of the agreements. The two euphemistically-named “Police Actions” initiated by Dutch General Spoor were textbook examples of Pyrrhic victories, as they expanded Dutch territory but left it indefensible. The book also discusses military atrocities on the Dutch side that a later official investigation vaguely called “excesses”, but says little about the violence on the Indonesian side. Although recent studies have been more critical of the Netherlands’ side, the later issue remains a controversial one in domestic politics.
6How did Indonesia’s Revolution give birth to the modern world? The author’s answer is largely at the end of the book. Did the Revolution of 1945-1949 drive independence movements (but how about Vietnam’s revolution of 1945)? Instead, Van Reybrouck attributes Indonesia’s greatest influence to the Asian-African Conference in Bandung in 1955. The independence of African countries followed and the non-aligned movement became an important third factor in the Cold War rivalry between the USA and the Soviet Union. The composition of the United Nations changed greatly, with dozens of new nations admitted. Colonialism in its old form became unthinkable, whether through violent revolutions or non-violent political transitions. The author insists that the Indonesian Revolution was not merely a sideshow of World War II, or an exceptional outbreak of violence, but the beginning of a new world balance of power.
7Even experienced Indonesia hands will appreciate this overview, if not all the author’s arguments. In such a monumental study, one or two minor mistakes may creep in. Taufik Abdullah, an eminent historian, has become “Abdullah Taufik.” In all, Van Reybrouck has performed a monumental task, producing an informative, readable volume. From its original Dutch edition, this work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, and Italian; translations in English and other languages are in planning.
References
Bibliographical reference
Mary Somers Heidhues, “David Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesien und die Entstehung der modernen Welt. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2022. (Revolution: Indonesia and the emergence of the modern world.) Translated by Andreas Ecke from Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesië en het ontstaan van de moderne wereld. Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2020. Bibliographic note, bibliography, index. ISBN 978-3-518-43092-7.”, Archipel, 105 | 2023, 182-184.
Electronic reference
Mary Somers Heidhues, “David Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesien und die Entstehung der modernen Welt. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2022. (Revolution: Indonesia and the emergence of the modern world.) Translated by Andreas Ecke from Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesië en het ontstaan van de moderne wereld. Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2020. Bibliographic note, bibliography, index. ISBN 978-3-518-43092-7.”, Archipel [Online], 105 | 2023, Online since 01 July 2023, connection on 12 February 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/archipel/3534; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/archipel.3534
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