British Naval Power and its Influence on Indonesia, 1795–1942: An Historical Analysis

In Indonesian history, Britain has never been considered a prominent player in the politics of the archipelago. From an Indonesian perspective, the British presence only lasted a brief five years (1811–1816) during short-lived interregnum regime led by Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826). This began with the British seizure of Java from the Franco-Dutch administration of Marshal Daendels (1808-11) and his successor, General Janssens (May-September 1811), and ended with the formal return of the colony to the Netherlands on 19 August 1816. However, as this article demonstrates, Britain has had a long-lasting and decisive influence on modern Indonesian history, dating from the time when the archipelago entered the vortex of global conflict between Britain and Republican France in the 1790s. The presence of the British navy in Indonesian waters throughout the century and a half which followed Britain’s involvement in the War of the First Coalition (1792-97) dictated inter alia the foundation of new cities like Bandung which grew up along Daendels’ celebrated postweg (military postroad), the development of modern Javanese cartography, and even the fate of the exiled Java War leader, Prince Diponegoro. in distant Sulawesi (1830-55). This British naval presence had pluses and minuses for the Dutch. On the one hand, it was a guarantor of Dutch security from foreign seaborne invasion. On the other, it opened the possibility for British interference in the domestic politics of Holland’s vast Asian colony. As witnessed in the 20th-century, the existence of the Dutch as colonial masters in the Indonesian Archipelago was critically dependent on the naval defence screen provided by the British. When the British lost their major battleships (Prince of Wales and Repulse) to Japanese attack off the east coast of Malaya on 10 December 1941 and Singapore fell on 15 February 1942, the fate of the Dutch East Indies was sealed. Today, the vital role played by the Royal Navy in guaranteeing the archipelago’s security up to February 1942 has been replaced by that of the Honolulu-based US Seventh Fleet but the paradoxes of such protection have continued.

The Administration of Hajj in Brunei under the British Residency (1906 – 1954): A Historical Perspective

This article explores the historical perspective of the administration of hajj in Brunei under the British Residency from 1906 until 1954. The pilgrimage reports were initially issued by the British and the British-Indian Officers. Malaysian pilgrims were previously misclassified as Javanese due to oversimplification of the officers in charge before the 1920s. Nevertheless, Bruneian pilgrims might interrelate with the same problem as they shared the same hajj routes. Eventually in the 1920s, the pilgrimage reports were mainly handled by the Malay Pilgrimage officer who was also known as the Malayan Pilgrimage Commissioner in 1948. The Malayan Pilgrimage Commissioner was responsible in handling the pilgrims from Brunei, Federation of Malaya, Sarawak, North Borneo, and Singapore during the pilgrimage season in Mecca at the time. Even though the Malayan Pilgrimage Commissioner eliminated the misclassification of Malaysian pilgrims, Bruneian pilgrims continued to be enumerated together with pilgrims from Malaysia under the rubric of ‘Malay Pilgrims’. Primary and secondary research method are conducted for this article where various primary and secondary sources related to the administration of hajj in Brunei from 1906 until 1954 are used. This article discusses the roles and duties of the British Residents, local officers, Malayan Pilgrimage Commissioner, Medical Officers, and Sheikh Haji (Hajj Sheikh) in the hajj administration of the pilgrims from Brunei. This article further analyses British interests behind their involvements in the hajj administration.

The Role of Parepare Port in Trading and Shipping of Rice Commodities in South Sulawesi, 1930−1942

The economic historiography in trading and shipping activity during the 20th century often linked up to the role of Makassar as the main port in Sulawesi supported the exchange of beneficial commodities, such as copra which was -deemed as the “green gold” of the archipelago. In terms of becoming the most prominent entrepot for international trading and shipping, there were also several ports in South Sulawesi that played a vital role in establishing a connection to the outside world with much more variety of commodities. It could find other commodities, such as rice, which was transported all across the archipelago. Thus, this article argues that the Port of Parepare had a significant role in the trading and shipping of rice commodities in South Sulawesi, during the age of colonial administration (1930-1942). Through the historical method, the findings show that the Port of Parepare, throughout the 1930s, the Port of Parepare was not just a collecting port for Makassar, but also became the supplier of rice from the coastal area to the hinterland. Such synergistic collaboration, between the economic potential of the hinterland, agricultural intensification program, and colonial government regulation, encouraged the Port of Parepare to become the most imminent rice exporter in South Sulawesi during the 1930s. Moreover, within the same period, Parepare was also establishing interisland networks

Trade and Ethnicity: Business Ethics and the Glory of Maritime Trade of The Makassar’s Wajorese in the 18th Century

This article aims to trace the role of the book Amanna Gappa, also known as Ade Alopping-loping Bicarana Pabalue, as a set of business ethics practiced by the Wajo ethnic group in the city of Makassar in the 18th century. The Wajo people of Makassar at that time were one of the tribes that lost the war between the Goa-Tallo Sultanate and the alliance of the Sultanate of Bone and the Dutch trading company VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) in the 1660s. The Wajo people were famous as great traders in Southeast Asia and their communities are scattered across the Indonesian archipelago. This article argues that one of the factors for their success in maritime trade is their ability to create business rules and ethics in maritime navigation and trade. Some scholars refer to this set of rules as the law of navigation or the law of commerce. However, this research seeks to explain that this set of rules was a set of maritime business ethics practiced by the Wajorese as traders and sailors. The Wajo people were not rulers of a sovereign state and were unlikely to have been able to enforce their business ethics as a law.

The Indian Dimension of Aceh and Sumatra History

Indonesia’s maritime boundary with India, lying barely 100km from Banda Aceh, appears quiet and of little interest to policy-makers, in contrast to almost all the other contested boundaries with Malaysia, China, the Philippines, and Australia. India’s historical relations with Sumatra have also drawn less scholarly or popular attention than those with the Arab, Persian, and Turkish worlds, or with Java, the Peninsula, and China. It is one of the imbalances and justifying the “Indian Ocean’ in the title of International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies. It is also supported by arguing that northern Sumatra’s most important historical relationship outside Sumatra itself was for long with India. The time must come when this neighbourly maritime relationship is normalised in the context of improving Indonesia-India ties.

Local Wisdom Values of Maritime Community in Preserving Marine Resources in Indonesia

This study identifies and describes the local wisdom carried out by the coastal communities, especially the people of North Seram, Maluku in preserving the island and marine environment as well as the customary institutions in determining and guarding local wisdom of coastal communities to manage marine resources. The marine resource is started to weaken along with the development of modern technology. This paper provides contemporary phenomena regarding the weakness of customary laws and traditional institutions that regulate marine resources, including social values in the form of rituals, representing the relationship between humans and their environment. The protection of marine resources around them will be an important discussion to see the role of government and society in preserving marine and coastal resources. This study used a qualitative approach to produce descriptive explanations from reports, book reviews, and documents that describe theories and information of both past and present. The result is that the local wisdom maintained as superior cultural practices that are beneficial to human survival, especially in maintaining the sustainability and balance between humans and living objects.

Mobility of Goods and People at the Port of Murhum Baubau, 1988-2012

This paper discusses the mobility of goods and people at the Port of Murhum Baubau during 1988-2012. This port has an important role in the process of mobility of goods and people in Southeast Sulawesi. This paper also addresses the issue of how the mobility of goods and people both in Southeast Sulawesi, national, and international through the Murhum Baubau Port in the period 1988-2012. To analyze these problems, the author applied historical to proof the major development of the Post of Murhum that functiones as mobility of goods and people passing the port of Murhum Baubau in regional, national, and international could be studied comprehensively, especially exploring some primary sources that coming from the oficials and other institution. In addition, the Port of Murhum is also considered important because it is a gateway for sea transportation, loading and unloading of goods, and transit points for passengers from various regions in Indonesia, both from eastern and western Indonesia. The term of Southeast Sulawesi used in this paper refers to the region between east and south of Sulawesi Island. This region has a strategic position in connecting eastern and western regions of Indonesia. The market commodities from the Baubau region are nickel, asphalt, bitumen, chrome, and fish. In addition, the mobility of goods and people from the Southeast Sulawesi region has a fluctuating increase periodicly.

ASEAN- Australia Trade Relations by Stages of Processing: Comparative Research

ASEAN and Australia became the dialogue partner in 1974. Over 46 years of cooperation and development, ASEAN- Australia relations have achieved many good results, especially in recent years when two sides participate in several free trade agreements (FTAs) at bilateral levels and multilateral levels. In 2014, Australia and ASEAN formally became strategic partners, recognizing the importance of the relationship in building mutual benefits. Participation in FTAs and relationship upgrading has helped bilateral trade growth. In 2018-2019, Australia was the seventh-largest trading partner of ASEAN and ASEAN was one of Australia's top three trading partner, however, the two sides face many challenges such as the difficulties after the global crisis since 2009, the "spaghetti bowl" phenomenon of joining many agreements at the same time. Thus, to solve these problems, the production and exporting of comparative advantage goods by the stages of processing to participate in an ideal regional supply chain are very important. Based on the comparative theory and supply chain perspectives The paper compared revealed comparative advantage indexes of ASEAN countries and Australia from 2009 through 2018 to find which country in ASEAN is Australia's suitable partner from which provided the ideal effective supply chain distribution. After that, through trade value comparison, the paper examed if ASEAN countries and Australia specialized in production by stages of processing. From the results, appropriate recommendations were provided to enhance the trade relations between ASEAN and Australia.

Penetration of Dutch Colonial Power Against the Sultanate of Jambi, 1615-1904

The arrival of the Dutch in Jambi gave the impression of almost coincidence because Jambi was not familiar and not a large sultanate in Sumatra compared to Aceh. Even Jambi as a relatively small and unimportant kingdom in the 19th century. However, during the colonial era, some penetrations made to the Sultanate of Jambi. This study examines several factors that caused resistance from the rulers and local people of Jambi against the Dutch colonial power. By using a historical method that emphasized on the secondary sources, this study identifies those factors to make penetration. It shows that economic factors in which the Dutch monopoly trading system is not acceptable to the rulers and local people. It is detrimental and contrary to freedom of trade. Meanwhile, colonial expansion is contrary to the ethical principles they profess. In addition, the failure of the Jambi sultanate had the weakness of their political institutions in facing Dutch colonial penetration. The weakness of their political institutions is influenced by the poor main foundation of the empire and the values of the royal tradition.

Establishing the Intimate Link: 20th Century Tropical Agriculture and the Establishment of the Coconut Zone

This paper examines the role of colonial science institutions in imagining and developing the Coconut Zone, an area of intense coconut production that extends from the small Pacific island chains encompassing the Caroline and the Marshall Islands, all the way to northern Papua, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Southern India. Through an examination of European colonial science institutions, as well as the Philippine Bureau of Science, and Agriculture, this paper establishes the intimate connection between western consumers and tropical producers. Here, within the agricultural institutions, we are able to see the burgeoning demand for copra production and a formation of a distinct Coconut Zone. This paper builds upon Sydney Mintz’s theoretical articulation of sugar production to situate copra, the dried meat of the coconut, in conversation with other global, colonial commodities.