Suchergebnisse

This book explores a phase in the history of both Indonesia and Singapore that is little known. It is a narrative analysis of how the dynamics of the Indonesian revolution (1945-1949) overflowed into Singapore. In turn, Singapore was a base for the Indonesian nationalists, the British, the Dutch, and Chinese traders, with each group exploiting prevailing circumstances for their own interests. Indeed, the author argues that the success of Indonesia's struggle against the Dutch was due in no small measure to the opportunities available in Singapore to advance Indonesia's strategic aims. The Singapore connection during these years was a vital link

Of all the non-indigenous groups resident in Indonesia, the Chinese have attracted the greatest attention in every respect. Their economic success has aroused both admiration and jealousy. Their clannishness has led to questions about their social organizations and, especially in the post–1945 period, their integration into the national matrix. Problems of assimilation have spawned numerous scholarly studies in the English language, while there have been no lack of studies on Chinese political movements in Indonesia and their relations with indigenous ones. In short, there is an exciting ongoing research on the Chinese in Indonesia that bodes well for the future and beckons greater participation from newcomers in the field.

In recent years, there has been an increase in attention devoted to the study of the Indonesian Revolution from the perspective of the various parts of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago rather than from the national stage at Jakarta. Such studies are of course very feasible. Many of the participants in the Revolution are still alive in their fifties or sixties or even older. Regional studies of the Revolution have also been given a further boost when most of the Dutch archival records for the period till 1950 were declared open in 1969. I believe that in addition to field work in Indonesia itself, a research stint in the Dutch archives will be of tremendous assistance. However most researchers cannot afford to stay in the Netherlands for months on end for one reason or the other. To ease the researchers' task of having to spend time exploring the archives themselves, I thought it would be useful to highlight some of the archival collections that would be relevant for the study of the Indonesian Revolution.