Even after Indonesia gained independence, Dutch companies picked up where they left off
There is increasing attention being paid to Dutch war crimes in Indonesia. But less is known about the Dutch companies that resumed their activities during the Indonesian revolution. Dutch publishers also saw an opportunity, according to the thesis by UvA PhD candidate Eline Kortekaas.
Eline, you delved into the past of W. van Hoeve. Who was he?
“A Dutch publisher, Wilhelmus van Hoeve, who bought a bookshop in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1945. He bought the bookshop in October, whilst Indonesian independence had been declared in August. Thanks to his Indonesian advisers, Sumarto Djojodihardjo and Silitonga, who knew which books were in demand through their connections in politics and education, he published more than a hundred books in just a few years. Many were for the Indonesian education system, a tourist guide and the first encyclopaedia of Indonesia.”
Why did Van Hoeve buy a bookshop in Indonesia at that particular time?
“In the second half of the 1940s, there was an enormous demand for Indonesian printed matter, particularly in education. Indonesian bookshops were unable to meet the demand at that time, and various Dutch publishers capitalised on this; W. Van Hoeve was one of them. It wasn’t just publishers; shortly after the Second World War, many Dutch firms resumed their activities in Indonesia.”
Was the Indonesian population keen to see those Dutch companies return?
“That was indeed a sensitive issue. This story is one of shades of grey, and the Indonesian perspective was not black and white either. There were Indonesians who sought complete independence and wanted nothing more to do with the Netherlands, but there were also Indonesians who wanted to use Dutch knowledge and companies to help Indonesia move forward as an independent country.”
What role did W. Van Hoeve play in this?
“I ultimately characterised him as a pragmatic mediator. It is difficult, because Van Hoeve left no personal diaries and I have based my work mainly on business archive material. So we know very little about Van Hoeve as a private individual and his ideals.”
“At that time, there were also other publishers who did attach importance to the book business eventually coming into Indonesian hands. That is how I came across the story of Klaas Jan Bas, a Dutchman who, in the second half of the 1940s, distributed educational and school books across Java using a book train. He set up that company together with Indonesians and eventually handed it over to them.”
What happened after 1965?
“At the end of 1957, all remaining Dutch companies in Indonesia were nationalised and thus became the property of the Indonesian state. This included Maatschappij Vorkink, W. van Hoeve’s bookshop in Bandung. All Dutch nationals were then required to leave the country. The W. van Hoeve publishing house, however, remained active. His second Indonesian adviser, Silitonga, did not want to give up the collaboration. He wrote to W. van Hoeve stating that they shared a common culture, and that his nationality was not the issue. They then attempted to publish books through the Belgian publishing house Angèle Manteau. Ultimately, W. van Hoeve transferred his publishing house to the Dutch publisher Van Goor.”
Your PhD is part of an NWO project on the decolonisation of Indonesian knowledge culture. How does your thesis contribute to this?
“That is a very ambitious goal; we know next to nothing about the decolonisation of knowledge in Indonesia. Indonesia was a Dutch colony for centuries: it is about the reorganisation of an entire society.”
“A great deal of research has been done into the Indonesian revolution and the violence. But what my thesis shows is that even after Indonesia gained independence, Dutch companies simply picked up where they left off. Dutch influence in Indonesia therefore did not end after the transfer of sovereignty in 1949, when Indonesia became independent on paper. W. van Hoeve’s story is a mere pinprick on that stage.”
