THE DUTCH POLITICAL CONFLICT

WITH THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA, 1945-1949

PART 3: THE GENERAL-COMMISSION

(COMMISSIE-GENERAAL) FOR THE

NETHERLANDS INDIES, 1946-1947

Parts 3.1.-3.3. Papers of the Members

National Archives of the Netherlands, The Hague

on microfiche

(Note: for a general introduction to the series, see Part 1)

Illustration from Part 3.1. Papers of W. Schermerhorn

"The long-awaited solution coming?" The arrival of Schermerhorn and the Commission in Indonesia, met by Sjahir and Van Mook

Background

The Commissie-Generaal voor Nederlandsch-Indië was set up by act of Parliament in September 1946 and charged with the temporary exercise of government power in the Netherlands Indies and more specifically with preparing a new (federal) political structure for the colony. The Commission was chaired by former prime minister Willem Schermerhorn, with P. Sanders as secretary and M. van Poll as member. The highest Dutch official in the Indies, Lieutenant-Governor-General Dr. H.J. van Mook joined the Commission ex officio. The Commission sat in Batavia, capital of the Netherlands Indies.

To achieve its purpose the Commission reopened negotiations with the Republic of Indonesia that had been proclaimed by Sukarno and Hatta on 17 August 1945 but not recognized by the Dutch although it held power in many areas of Java, Madura and Sumatra. These talks soon led to a draft agreement between the parties signed at Linggajati in the mountains near Cirebon on Java’s north coast on 15 November 1946. The agreement recognized the Republic’s authority de facto, but not yet de jure in the areas it held and called for the founding of a democratic, sovereign United States of Indonesia, of which the Republic would be one of the states, alongside others such as “East Indonesia” and Borneo (significantly and ominously for the future New Guinea was not mentioned). This federal system would form a union with the Netherlands under the Dutch queen. The agreement would soon prove impossible to implement.

In the Netherlands the Commission’s swift and resolute action in search of a solution to the colonial dilemma aroused a great deal of suspicion and resistance. Schermerhorn and Van Mook were seen as being far too progressive, even anticolonial “wreckers of the kingdom”. Among the Indonesian Republicans as well there were many who believed that Linggajati gave away far too much. They regarded it as at most a way-station on the road to complete independence and refused to accept a federal Indonesia. Moderates under the leadership of Sutan Sjahir were sidetracked. The struggle continued for a unitary republic extending from “Sabang to Merauke”, that is from the western tip of Sumatra all the way through the archipelago to New Guinea. The de facto recognition in Linggajati was used by the Republic to win international sympathy. Differences of interpretation of this accord therefore remained very great and it and the Commission were effectively repudiated by the Dutch government, which turned to military action against the Republic in July 1947 (first “Police action”). Although it had been overtaken by events, the Commission was only officially disbanded and its members honorably discharged on 15 November 1947, a year after Linggajati had been initialled.

Papers of Commission members micropublished

The Commissie-Generaal and the Linggajati agreement represented an important moment in the process of decolonization. The persistent virulence of colonial sentiments in the Netherlands and the strength of the Republican ideal in Indonesia were revealed. The federalist approach and proposed union with the Netherlands were shown to be problematic, although the Dutch continued down that road up to and including the transfer of sovereignty on 27 December 1949 to a federal Republic of the United States of Indonesia, which was swept aside and replaced by the unitary Republic of Indonesia on the fifth anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence on 17 August 1950. It took many years for the Dutch to come to terms with the tumultuous developments of the years 1945-1950. At the 60th anniversary ceremonies of the Proclamation in August 2005, the Dutch foreign minister finally conceded that Indonesian sovereignty in effect should date, de jure as well as de facto, from 17 August 1945 and not from December 1949. The present publication in microform of the papers of the Commission’s members will benefit research into this pivotal period in the history of decolonization.