Netherlands-Indonesia Union
Netherlands-Indonesia Union Nederlands-Indonesische Unie (Dutch) Uni Indonesia–Belanda (Indonesian) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949–1956 | |||||||||||||
 Location of the Netherlands, its territories, and Indonesia | |||||||||||||
| Status | Confederation between the Netherlands and Indonesia | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Amsterdam Jakarta | ||||||||||||
| Secretariat | The Hague | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Indonesian Dutch Indigenous languages | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam Christianity Hinduism Buddhism | ||||||||||||
| Hoofd der Unie (Head of the Union) | |||||||||||||
• 1949–1956 | Juliana | ||||||||||||
| Director General | |||||||||||||
• 1949‒1956 | P. J. A. Idenburg | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| 27 December 1949 | |||||||||||||
• Union dissolved (in Indonesia) | 17 August 1954 | ||||||||||||
| 15 December 1954 | |||||||||||||
• Union dissolved (in the Netherlands) | February 1956 | ||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
| 2,111,219 km2 (815,146 sq mi) | |||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
• 1949 estimate | 84,000,000[1] | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
The Netherlands-Indonesia Union (Dutch: Nederlands-Indonesische Unie, NIU; Indonesian: Uni Indonesia–Belanda, UIB), also called the two-state solution (Dutch: tweestaten-oplossing) by the Dutch,[2] was a confederal relationship between the Netherlands and Indonesia that existed between 1949 and 1956.[3][4] Agreed in 1949, It was an attempt by the Netherlands to continue to bind its former colony of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) to the Netherlands in a confederal manner, at least within the framework of a personal union, even after independence had been granted. However, it was less effective than the French Union of around the same time and less enduring than the British Commonwealth. The loose union failed primarily due to the dispute over Dutch New Guinea and was cancelled by Indonesia in 1954.
Initial situation
In the Indonesian War of Independence, which broke out after the withdrawal of the Japanese occupying forces in 1945, the Dutch policy of constantly alternating between rounds of negotiations and repeated counter-offensives led to a military stalemate; in terms of foreign policy, the Netherlands became increasingly isolated. The nationalists of the Republic of Indonesia controlled the majority of the most populous islands of Java, Sumatra and Madura, while the Netherlands wanted to establish a federal republic of the United States of Indonesia on the remaining islands with the help of collaborators, which in turn was to remain confederately linked to the Dutch Kingdom (consisting of the Netherlands, Suriname/Guayana and the Antilles). In this way, the Dutch government wanted to retain control over Indonesia's security, foreign and economic policy.
On 15 November 1946 the Linggadjati Agreement was signed between the Netherlands and the soon-to-be independent Dutch East Indies, which stated that the Dutch colonies would become an independent nation called 'the United States of Indonesia'. A Netherlands-Indonesian Union was established "to promote their common interests." Due to a military dispute, the execution of the agreement did not take place. After the Netherlands had signed a truce with the Republic of Indonesia, the transfer of sovereignty took place on 27 December 1949, and the Netherlands-Indonesia Union was founded.
Problems within the union
In December 1949, Indonesia became independent and the union with the Netherlands came into force. However, Indonesia was very poorly prepared for independence. The Dutch school system had only educated a very small, European-educated elite; of a population of well over 70 million at the time, just 591 had a university degree.[5][6] There was a lack of both managers and civil servants. Without enough local managers and local capital, it was not possible to nationalise the Dutch plantations, factories, oil fields and banks, so that even after independence the most important economic sectors remained in Dutch (and in some cases British, Australian and US) hands. In order to keep the administrative apparatus operational, 17,000 Dutch civil servants and advisors remained in the country.[7] The joint Union bodies agreed in the Linggadjati Agreement of 1946, which were to coordinate foreign policy, foreign trade and monetary policy during the transition period, were no longer provided for in the Union Treaty of 1949. The Union only had a secretariat. The director of this secretariat (Secretary-General) was the Dutchman Petrus Johannes Abraham Idenburg, whose father Alexander Willem Frederik Idenburg had once been Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies.[8]
Unlike in the French Union, for example, no common citizenship of the Union was created, but it was agreed that citizens of the Netherlands and Indonesia would be treated equally in the other country.[9] In the medium and long term, this could have led to the problem of immigration of millions of Indonesians for the Netherlands, who would also have the right to vote. In 1949, the Netherlands had barely 10 million inhabitants, while Indonesia already had over 76 million.[10]
Theoretically, Queen Juliana was to be the joint head of state of both the Netherlands and Indonesia - similar to the Commonwealth - but Indonesia emphasised its sovereignty and republican character, and Sukarno had himself elected President of Indonesia in 1949. Within the federal republic of the United States of Indonesia, the nationalist Republic of Indonesia dominated, and as early as 1950, President Sukarno transformed the federation into a unitary state. However, after the collapse of the Indonesian federation, the Netherlands was not prepared to hand over West New Guinea, which had initially been excluded from the Hague Agreement of 1949 (to be settled within a year), to the Indonesian unitary state and only offered to place West New Guinea under the jurisdiction of the Union, which would have effectively meant the continuation of Dutch rule. No solution could be reached by negotiation, and the Union gradually collapsed over the dispute about West New Guinea. The Union was abolished when Indonesia left in 1956.[11]
End and dissolution
In a speech on August 17, 1954, celebrating the 9th anniversary of Indonesian Independence, President Sukarno unilaterally dissolved the Union, citing it as a hindrance to Indonesian progress. He further stated that,[12]
"For a fighting nation there is no journey's end,"
In September 1955, Queen Juliana also announced the imminent end of the Union in a speech from the throne. The Dutch government (Cabinet Drees II) made its agreement to the dissolution of the Union dependent on the settlement of certain economic and financial matters, such as the debt issue and continued investment protection for Dutch companies. Until February 1956, negotiations on this issue and on an amendment to the Union Treaty continued, but were unsuccessful in view of the unresolved dispute over West New Guinea.[13] The Indonesian parliament then formally proclaimed the end of the Union and the expiry of all bilateral agreements with the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, the General Secretariat was dissolved in 1956 and the Union was removed from the constitution,[11] and with it, the financial and economic parts of the Hague Agreement. The debts accepted at the Hague Agreement were no longer repaid. The same applied to the (partial) pension payments that Indonesia had to make.[14] After the dissolution, the relationship with the Netherlands deteriorated rapidly within months.
Structure
The Netherlands-Indonesia Union would be a Dutch equivalent of the French Union or the British Commonwealth. The Union would consist of two independent and sovereign partners:
- the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of
- the United States of Indonesia (later Republic of Indonesia), comprising seven federal states.
The status of Netherlands New Guinea should be discussed further. Preliminarily, New Guinea remained under Dutch rule. And, where Suriname and the Antilles would be equal partners (federated states) in the Kingdom, New Guinea would remain a colony. The Head of the Union (Hoofd der Unie) would be Queen Juliana. The collaboration would take place in the following areas:
- Defense
- Foreign relations
- Finance
- Economic relations
- Cultural relations
To accomplish this, various organs would be created. Firstly, a conference of ministers had to be held every six months. Secondly, a permanent secretariat was established in The Hague. Each partner would choose a Secretary-General, who would each year take the leadership of the Secretariat. (From 1950 this was P. J. A. Idenburg for the Netherlands, who would remain such until the arrangement was dissolved in 1956.) Finally, there was a Union-Court of Arbitration set up to judge disputes between the Netherlands and Indonesia.[15]
References
- ^ Günter, Pahl (1950). Knaurs Welt-Atlas. Droemersche Verlagsanstalt München. p. 123 (Netherlands), p. 122 (West New Guinea) and p. 204 (Indonesia).
- ^ "Opzet Nederlands-Indonesische Unie | Nationaal Archief". www.nationaalarchief.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-01-25.
- ^ S. Pompe (26 May 1992). "3.5.3". Indonesian Law 1949-1989: A Bibliography of Foreign-Language Materials With Brief Commentaries on the Law (Van Vollenhoven Institute For Law and Administration in Non-Western Countries ed.). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 65–. ISBN 0-7923-1744-0.
- ^ Frederik Mari Asbeck (Baron van.) (28 July 1976). SIJTHHOFF (ed.). International Society in Search of a Transnational Legal Order: Selected Writings and Bibliography. BRILL. pp. 286–. ISBN 90-286-0016-7.
- ^ Dahm, Bernhard (2021-12-06), "Indonesien: Geschichte eines Entwicklungslandes, 1945-1971", Indonesien (in German), Leiden/Cologne: Brill (published 1978), p. 70, ISBN 978-90-04-48276-0, retrieved 2024-01-25
- ^ Fremerey, Michael (1992). Handbuch der Dritten Welt. Vol. 7 (3rd revised ed.). Bonn: Bonn : J.H.W. Dietz Nachf. (published 1994). pp. 384–416. ISBN 978-3-8012-0181-4.
- ^ Frey, Marc (2014-12-15), "Dekolonisierung in Südostasien: Die Vereinigten Staaten und die Auflösung der europäischen Kolonialreiche", Dekolonisierung in Südostasien (in German), Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, doi:10.1524/9783486713787, ISBN 978-3-486-71378-7, retrieved 2024-01-25
- ^ Fasseur (2013-11-12). "Idenburg, Petrus Johannes Abram (1896-1976)". huygens instituut – via Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands.
- ^ Schönberger, Christoph (2005). Unionsbürger: Europas föderales Bürgerrecht in vergleichender Sicht (in German). Mohr Siebeck. p. 222. doi:10.1628/978-3-16-157998-1. ISBN 978-3-16-157998-1.
- ^ Günter, Pahl (1950). Knaurs Welt-Atlas. Droemersche Verlagsanstalt München. p. 123 (Netherlands), p. 122 (West New Guinea) and p. 204 (Indonesia).
- ^ a b Ricklefs, M.C. (2008) [1981], A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1200 (4th ed.), Palgrave MacMillan, p. 288, ISBN 978-0-230-54686-8
- ^ antaranews.com (2016-08-17). "Antara doeloe : Presiden Sukarno sampaikan pidato "Berirama dengan Kodrat"". Antara News (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ Burgers, Herman (2010-01-01), "Hoofdstuk IX: Het conflict tussen Nederland en de Republiek Indonesië: Laatste fase Het geschil over Nieuw-Guinea", De garoeda en de ooievaar, Brill, pp. 685–760, ISBN 978-90-04-25374-2, retrieved 2024-02-04
- ^ JJP de Jong; DME Lessing-Sutherland (June 2004). "Nederland, Indonesië en de financiële overeenkomst van 1966. Onderhandelingen, regeling, uitvoering". Nederlands regeringsrapport. Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken – via Histori Bersama.
- ^ Kahin, George McTurnan (1961) [1952]. Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 435–436.
Sources
Nijhoffs Geschiedenislexicon Nederland en België, compiled by H.W.J. Volmuller in collaboration with the editors of De Grote Oosthoek, The Hague‑Antwerp 1981.
