1918 Kudus riot

Last updated

The 1918 Kudus riot was an anti-Chinese riot that took place in the city of Kudus, Semarang Regency, Dutch East Indies, on October 31, 1918. In the riot, Javanese townspeople burned and looted the Chinese district, resulting in roughly 10 deaths and dozens of injuries, and causing half of the Chinese population of the city to flee to Semarang and other cities in Java.

Contents

Context

The riot in Kudus was not an isolated incident, but happened in a context of anti-colonial resistance in the Dutch East Indies by organizations such as the Sarekat Islam, the rise of Chinese nationalism, rapid social change, and a breakdown of the traditional relationship between the Chinese Indonesians and the Javanese population. As the Chinese in the Indies often acted as middlemen between the Indonesians and the Dutch, they were also vulnerable to attacks and bullying which were aimed at the colonial economy or social injustice.

An Indonesian historian who wrote a thesis about the Kudus riot, Masyhuri, stated that the immediate factors that contributed to the riot were the particularly strong religious attitude of Muslims in Kudus, and the rise of far left radicalism which he believes primed the Muslim townspeople for radical action. He notes that most Dutch sources blamed the Sarekat Islam, which he rejected as an oversimplification that may have come from their dislike of that organization. [1] On the other hand, The Siauw Giap, who wrote a 1966 article on the Kudus riot, believed that there were systematic preconditions for anti-Chinese violence in Indonesian history which could spill over when conditions were right. In this case he partly blamed the very recent economic competition in the kretek cigarette industry between Chinese and Indonesian owners for the breakdown in relations in Kudus. [2]

The incident that precipitated the riot itself happened the day before. In late October 1918, the Kudus Chinese community had been holding ritual processions through the city to honour a folk religious figure Tua Pek Kong in the hopes of warding off the Influenza epidemic ravaging the city. On October 30, one of these processions where participants were wearing costumes of Arabs, Africans, Chinese kings, and so on, came face to face with Javanese townspeople who were repairing the Menara Kudus Mosque. The sight of the mock Hadji and Arab costumes angered some of the Muslims who were there. [3] The procession ground to a halt as wagons going in two opposite directions refused to make way; it turned into a brawl that was broken up by the police. [4]

Events of October 31

On the morning of October 31 a meeting was called at the office of the Kudus Sarekat Islam with the participation of the police superintendent, the Chinese Officer of Kudus, and others, to calm tensions over the brawl. [4] But at the same time, some people (who may or may not have been connected to the Sarekat Islam) were going around the nearby Javanese towns and districts, calling people to meet at the mosque tower at 6 pm. [5]

The police set up checkpoints in Kudus, but as nothing had happened by 8 pm, many of their officers headed home. [6] It was at that point that about 80 Javanese townspeople walked into the Chinese district and started trying to break down doors, while a crowd watched from a distance. [7] The police were still on site but were too few to stop the emerging riot. So the number of riots grew to a much larger number, possible 2000 people, and started burning down houses and businesses in the Chinese district. [8] At this point the Resident of Kudus called to the Regent of Semarang Regency to ask for military assistance.

What happened later in the night is disputed. According to the historian Masyhuri, by 10:30 pm many of the original rioters started to leave, carrying off valuables with them, and some of those who remained started to help the victims. [9] On the other hand, the Semarang newspaper Djawa Tengah said that the rioters suddenly turned and battled the police at around this time, with many wounded, including one who later died in the hospital. [3] Masyhuri emphasized that the Kudus Chinese did not attempt to resist the riot, and many hid in their homes and fled with nothing when those were being destroyed. [9] The riot finally ended in the early hours of the morning of November 1 as the troops arrived from Semarang.

Aftermath

The immediate consequence of the riot was the flight of nearly half the Chinese population of Kudus (roughly two out of four thousand) to Semarang and other cities. Newspapers on the following day reported the sight of the morning train arriving in Semarang with all 8 train cars completely full of Chinese families from Kudus. [3] The Dutch language newspaper De Locomotief from Semarang reported on that day that 9 Chinese people had been confirmed dead, 7 of whom died in fires, and that the number of dead on the Javanese side had not been released. [10] By November 1, the Dutch colonial police raided Javanese towns in and around Kudus and, after 3 weeks had arrested an estimated 159 people. [11] The Sarekat Islam denounced these arrests as indiscriminate and arbitrary, as many townspeople were arrested after the fact with little evidence. [12] They denied their organization's involvement in the riot and accused the Dutch of targeting their Kudus membership for political reasons in the middle of the mass arrests. [13]

The Chinese community of the Dutch East Indies, which was wealthy but did not have political power, organized to support the Kudus victims who they felt had been abandoned by the Dutch authorities. Some early fundraising happened in Semarang as labor organizations and merchants coordinated housing and supplies for the displaced Kudus Chinese. [14] It was in an Indies-wide meeting on November 16 that a formal organization was set up to coordinate the relief efforts, so that local organizations around the Indies could send money to single central committee. [15]

Trial

A mass trial was held for those arrested after the Kudus riot. It took place at the courthouse (Landraad) in Semarang and was a front-page news story in many local newspapers on a daily basis from December 1919 to February 1920. The final sentencing took place on February 25, 1920, where a significant number of the arrested were sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison, although some were released due to lack of evidence. [16]

Cultural references

The journalist and novelist Tan Boen Kim wrote a fictionalized account of the Kudus riot, which he published in 1920, called Riot in Kudus: A true story which happened in Central Java not long ago. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surakarta</span> City in Central Java, Indonesia

Surakarta, known colloquially as Solo, is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoharjo Regency to the east and west, and Sukoharjo Regency to the south. On the eastern side of Solo lies Solo River. Its built-up area, consisting of Surakarta City and 59 districts spread over seven regencies, was home to 3,649,254 inhabitants as of 2010 census, around half million of which reside in the city proper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semarang</span> Capital of Central Java, Indonesia

Semarang is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. The city has been named as the cleanest tourist destination in Southeast Asia by the ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard (ACTCS) for 2020–2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glodok</span> Administrative village in Jakarta, Indonesia

Glodok is an urban village of Taman Sari, West Jakarta, Indonesia. The area is also known as Pecinan or Chinatown since the Dutch colonial era, and is considered the biggest in Indonesia. Majority of the traders and residents of Glodok are Chinese descent. The area dates back to colonial times when in November 1740, Dutch East Indies Company designated Glodok as a residential area for ethnic Chinese. Administratively, the area is a kelurahan under the Taman Sari district, West Jakarta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legislation on Chinese Indonesians</span> Laws oppressing people of Chinese background

Indonesian law affecting Chinese-Indonesians were conducted through a series of laws, directives, or constitutions enacted by the Government of Indonesia that affected the lives of Chinese Indonesians or Chinese nationals living in Indonesia since the nation's independence. The laws were made against Chinese Indonesians. Most of these laws are revoked following Reformation era under president Abdurrahman Wahid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indonesians</span> Citizens or people of Indonesia

Indonesians are citizens or people who are identified with the country of Indonesia, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. There are more than 1,300 ethnicities in Indonesia, making it a multicultural archipelagic country with a diversity of languages, culture and religious beliefs. The population of Indonesia according to the 2020 national census was 270.2 million. 56% live on the island of Java, the world's most populous island. Around 95% of Indonesians are Native Indonesians, with 40% Javanese and 15% Sundanese forming the majority, while the other 5% are Indonesians with ancestry from foreign origin, such as Arab Indonesians, Chinese Indonesians, Indian Indonesians, and Indos.

Javanese Mennonite Church Indonesian injili di Tanah Jawa is one of three Mennonite-related church synods in Indonesia

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benteng people</span>

Benteng people are a Chinese Indonesian community of 'Peranakan' or mixed descent, native to the historic Tangerang area in the modern-day Indonesian provinces of Jakarta, Banten and West Java.

Discrimination against people of Chinese descent in Indonesia has been carried out since the time of the Dutch East India Company. Serious violence against Chinese people has occurred at irregular intervals since 1740, when the soldiers of the Dutch East India Company and other ethnic groups from Batavia killed up to 10,000 people of Chinese descent during the Chinezenmoord. The worst outbreaks took place in 1946-49 during the Indonesian National Revolution against Dutch rule. There were significant outbreaks in the early 1960s. Violence against Chinese also took place in 1965 after the failed coup attempt during anti-communist purges; the main target of the killings were Native Indonesian communists. In May of 1998, many Chinese businesses were burned down and many Chinese girls and women were brutally raped and murdered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Party (Indonesia)</span> Political party in Indonesia

Catholic Party was a political party for Indonesia's Catholics from colonial times to the 1970s. In 1967 members were involved in debates concerning religious freedom in the New Order and the influence of missionaries on the nation. In the following decade it merged with other parties to form the Indonesian Democratic Party, which has since been renamed the Indonesian Democratic Vanguard Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marco Kartodikromo</span> Indonesian journalist and writer

Marco Kartodikromo, also known by his pen name Mas Marco, was an Indonesian journalist and writer.

<i>Djawa Tengah</i>

Djawa Tengah was a major Malay-language peranakan Chinese daily newspaper in Semarang, Dutch East Indies from 1909 to 1938. It is said to have been the first Chinese newspaper in Semarang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tjhoen Tjhioe</span>

Tjhoen Tjhioe was a Malay language Peranakan Chinese newspaper from Surabaya, Dutch East Indies catering mainly to the Chinese population. The full title of the paper was Tjhoen Tjhioe: Soerat kabar dagang bahasa Melajoe jang moeat roepa kabar penting bagi bangsa Tionghoa. Although the paper only existed for a short time, during that time it was recognized as one of the top Chinese newspapers in the Indies, alongside Sin Po and Perniagaan.

Letnan Cina Oey Thai Lo was a notable Chinese-Indonesian tycoon who acted as a pachter for tobacco in the early 19th century.

Soetitah was a Sarekat Islam and Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) propagandist, activist, and schoolteacher in Semarang, Dutch East Indies in the 1910s and 1920s. She was a close ally of Semaun, Tan Malaka, and other Semarang communists of the time and was chair of the women's section of the party in the early 1920s. She was exiled by the Dutch to the Boven-Digoel concentration camp from 1927 to 1930.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soekaesih</span>

Soekaesih was a Communist Party of Indonesia activist known for being one of only a handful of female political prisoners exiled by the Netherlands government to Boven-Digoel concentration camp. After being released she traveled to the Netherlands in the late 1930s and campaigned for the camp to be shut down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jong Java</span>

Jong Java, 'Young Java', was a Dutch East Indies youth organization founded on March 7, 1915 by Satiman Wirjosandjojo at the STOVIA building under the name Tri Koro Dharmo. It was founded in response to the perceived elitism of the Budi Utomo movement by many young people at the time.

The Hōkōkai were associations formed by the Empire of Japan on 8 January 1944 to replace the Pusat Tenaga Rakyat during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies in World War II. The original incarnation of the Hōkōkai was formed on Java by the commander of the Sixteenth Army, General Kumakichi Harada, after the Japanese realized that the Putera had exacerbated the desire for Indonesian independence rather than promote Japan's local interests in its war against the Allies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoa Tjoen Hoat</span> Chinese Indonesian journalist and editor

Phoa Tjoen Hoat, who also published under the name Th. H. Phoa Sr., was a Chinese Indonesian, Malay language journalist, translator and newspaper editor active in the Dutch East Indies in the early twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoa Tjoen Hoay</span> Chinese Indonesian journalist and translator

Phoa Tjoen Hoay, who sometimes published as T. H. Phoa Jr., was a Chinese Indonesian, Malay language journalist, translator, and newspaper editor active in the Dutch East Indies in the early twentieth century. He translated a number of Chinese and European works into Malay, including seven volumes of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

<i>Sinar Sumatra</i> Defunct newspaper from the Dutch East Indies

Sinar Sumatra was a Malay-language newspaper published in Padang, Dutch East Indies from 1905 to around 1941 or 1942. It is generally considered a Peranakan Chinese publication, although it had European publishers and Minangkabau editors as well. During the pre-World War II period it was one of the most widely-read Malay language newspapers in Sumatra.

References

  1. ↑ Masyhuri (1981). Konflik Sosial Di Kudus 1918: Terlibatnya SI Kudus dalam Konflik Sosial Ekonomi. Yogyakarta: Universitas Gadjah Mada (thesis).
  2. ↑ The, Siauw Giap (1966). "Group Conflict in a Plural Society, Anti-Chinese Riots in Indonesia: The Sukabumi (1963) and Kudus (1918) Incidents". Revue du Sud-est Asiatique. 1: 3.
  3. 1 2 3 "Hoeroe hara besar di Koedoes". Djawa Tengah. November 1, 1918.
  4. 1 2 Asy'ari, Hasyim (2006). Bakar pecinan!: konflik pribumi vs Cina di Kudus tahun 1918. Jakarta: CëRMIN. pp. 68–69.
  5. ↑ Asy'ari, Hasyim (2006). Bakar pecinan!: konflik pribumi vs Cina di Kudus tahun 1918. Jakarta: CëRMIN. p. 69.
  6. ↑ Asy'ari, Hasyim (2006). Bakar pecinan!: konflik pribumi vs Cina di Kudus tahun 1918. Jakarta: CëRMIN. p. 70.
  7. ↑ Asy'ari, Hasyim (2006). Bakar pecinan!: konflik pribumi vs Cina di Kudus tahun 1918. Jakarta: CëRMIN. pp. 70–71.
  8. ↑ Asy'ari, Hasyim (2006). Bakar pecinan!: konflik pribumi vs Cina di Kudus tahun 1918. Jakarta: CëRMIN. pp. 72–73.
  9. 1 2 Asy'ari, Hasyim (2006). Bakar pecinan!: konflik pribumi vs Cina di Kudus tahun 1918. Jakarta: CëRMIN. p. 74.
  10. ↑ "De onlusten te Koedoes". De Locomotief. November 1, 1918.
  11. ↑ "Koedoes". Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad. November 21, 1918.
  12. ↑ Semaoen (November 9, 1918). "O, Koedoes!". Sinar Hindia.
  13. ↑ Semaoen (November 9, 1918). "Perang ketjil di Koedoes". Sinar Hindia.
  14. ↑ "Perkelaian orang Tionghoa dan Boemipoetra di Koedoes". Tjahaja Timoer. November 4, 1918.
  15. ↑ "Verslag vergadering besar di gedong T.H.H.K. Semarang hal perampokan di Koedoes". Djawa Tengah. November 18, 1918.
  16. ↑ "Poetoesan perkara rampok besar di Koedoes-Toea". Djawa Tengah. February 27, 1920.
  17. ↑ Tan, Boen Kim (1920). Peroesoehan Di Koedoes: Soeatoe Tjerita Jang Betoel Telah Terdjadi Di Djawa Tenga Pada Waktoe Jang Belon Sabrapa Lama. Jakarta: Tjiong Koen Liong.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.