De Indische Courant was the name of a number of Dutch language newspapers published on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia).
The first paper under this name was published in 1870 (in the classification of the International Institute of Social History, De Indische Courant I), in Batavia. [1] A newspaper of the same name was published in Batavia from 1896 to 1900 (De Indische Courant II); [1] this paper, one of whose contributors was Dutch author and critic of the colonial system Multatuli, [2] was continued as the Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië . [3] The most important paper published as De Indische Courant ran from 1921 to 1942: an East-Java edition was published in Surabaya (Indische Courant III, 1921–1942), and a West-Java edition, published in Weltevreden, ran from 1922 to 1939 (Indische Courant IV). The last paper under this name ran from 1949 to 1952 (Indische Courant V), again from Batavia. [1]
In 1921 the Suikerbond, a conservative trade union representing the interests of "European workers in the sugar industry", [4] founded De Indische Courant, published first in Surabaya, East-Java, and then also from Weltevreden, West-Java. From the beginning, the publishers were in conflict with Aneta, the Dutch news agency (partly financed by the Dutch government) which brought international news to the islands via telegraph and thus greatly improved and simplified the news gathering done up to that point by the local papers themselves. The contracts (wurgcontracten, or "strangle contracts") Aneta signed with these papers, however, were frequently seen as restrictive; for example, the agency required papers to buy and distribute its own newsletter, De Zweep ("The Whip"), in which Aneta's founder settled personal scores by fulminating under the pseudonym Jan Karwats ("John the Scourge"). In addition, embedded conflicts of interest between the agency and the Dutch government meant that criticism was frequently stifled. De Indische Courant refused to bundle its paper with De Zweep, and was cut out of the telegraph service, a problem solved by the paper's owner, W. Burger (also president of the Suikerbond), through the acquisition of a radio. [5] When the government imposed severe restriction on the freedom of the press (1927–1931) citing the threat of Communist uprisings, such as the one in 1926, De Indische Courant was one of the measure's most vocal opponents. [6]
Like other Dutch newspapers in the colonies, its function was to amuse rather than opine, and its content consisted for a large part of gossip, rumor, and sensationalist news items (sometimes bordering on libel). Critique of the Dutch government was rarely printed. [7] While the paper leaned social-democratic in the 1920s, under pressure from union members editor in chief Koch was replaced by Willem Belonje and became much more conservative. [8] Economist J. C. van Leur published a number of articles on financial and economical policies in the 1930s, strongly supportive of economic intervention by the colonial government. [9] By 1938 De Indische Courant (then published from Surabaya) tied The Java-Bode (published in Batavia) for the largest circulation in the colonies, 7000 copies. [7]
Freemasonry was introduced by the Dutch to what is today Indonesia during the VOC era in the 18th century, and spread throughout the Dutch East Indies during a wave of westernisation in the 19th century. Freemasons originally only included Europeans and Indo-Europeans, but later also indigenous people with a Western education.
The Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad was one of the leading and largest daily newspapers in the Dutch East Indies. It was based in Batavia on Java, but read throughout the archipelago. It was founded by the famous Dutch newspaperman and author P. A. Daum in 1885 and existed to 1957.
Victor Ido is the main alias of the Indo (Eurasian) Dutch language writer and journalist Hans van de Wall. Born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies from a Dutch father and Indo (Eurasian) mother. Ido was the Art Editor of P.A.Daum's Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad and later the Chief Editor of newspaper Batavia's Handelsblad as well as an accomplished musician (organist).
De Stem des Bloeds, also known as Njai Siti, is a 1930 film from the Dutch East Indies. It was directed by Ph. Carli and starred Annie Krohn, Sylvain Boekebinder, Vally Lank, and Jan Kruyt. The film follows a man and his mistress who reunite after their son and step-daughter unwittingly fall in love. The black-and-white film, which may now be lost, was tinted different colours for certain scenes. It was released in early 1930 to commercial success, although critical opinion was mixed.
Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië was a Dutch-language newspaper published on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. Originally called De Indische Courant, it was published in Batavia from 1895 or 1896 to 1900 until it was renamed. One of the paper's contributors was Dutch author and critic of the colonial system Multatuli.
The Suikerbond was a trade union for European workers in the sugar industry in the Dutch East Indies. The organization was founded on 14 March 1907 in Surabaya, as the Bond van Geëmployeerden in de Suikerindustrie in Nederlandsch-Indië. One of the two strongest unions for Europeans, in the early 1920s, during a wave of strikes by factory workers, the Suikerbond had been "bought off" by the sugar industry which had raised wages for European workers. In 1921 the organization founded its own newspaper, De Indische Courant, which was run by the union's president, W. Burger, and appears in two editions on the island of Java; initially leaning social-democratic, under pressure from union members a more conservative editor in chief was installed. By 1922 the organization numbered over 3800 members and had a strike fund of a half a million guilders.
Soeara Berbisa is a 1941 film from the Dutch East Indies. Produced by Ang Hock Liem for Union Films and directed by R Hu, this black-and-white film stars Raden Soekarno, Ratna Djoewita, Oedjang, and Soehaena. The story, written by Djojopranoto, follows two young men who compete for the affections of a woman before learning that they are long-lost brothers.
Louis Victor Wijnhamer, better known as Pah Wongso, was an Indo social worker popular within the ethnic Chinese community of the Dutch East Indies, and subsequently Indonesia. Educated in Semarang and Surabaya, Pah Wongso began his social work in the early 1930s, using traditional arts such as wayang golek to promote such causes as monogamy and abstinence. By 1938, he had established a school for the poor, and was raising money for the Red Cross to send aid to China.
The Bank of Java was a note-issuing bank in the Dutch East Indies, founded in 1828, and nationalized in 1951 by the government of Indonesia to become the newly independent country’s central bank, later renamed Bank Indonesia. For more than a century, the Bank of Java was the central institution of the Dutch East Indies’ financial system, alongside the “big three” commercial banks. It was both a note-issuing bank and a commercial bank.
Petrus Hendrik Willem "Peter" Sitsen was a military officer, building contractor and public servant in colonial Indonesia. He was the architect of Indonesia's industralisation policies during 1937–1942 and 1946–1950.
Tjahaja Timoer was a Malay-language Peranakan newspaper printed in Malang, Dutch East Indies, from 1907 to 1942.
Parada Harahap was an important journalist and writer from the late colonial period and early independence era in Indonesia. In the 1930s, he was called the "king of the Java press". He pioneered a new kind of politically neutral Malay language newspaper in the 1930s which would cater to the rising middle class of the Indies.
Algemeen handelsblad voor Nederlandsch-Indië was a Dutch language newspaper which was published in Semarang, Dutch East Indies from 1924 to 1942.
Evert Jansen was a newspaper editor, journalist and politician from the Dutch East Indies. From the 1910s to the 1940s, he was editor of a number of major papers including De Locomotief, Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad, Algemeen handelsblad voor Nederlandsch-Indië, and De Indische Courant.
Selompret Melajoe was one of the first Malay language newspapers to publish in the Dutch East Indies. It was printed in Semarang, Central Java from 1860 to 1920.
Louis Johan Alexander Schoonheyt (1903-1986), commonly known as L. J. A. Schoonheyt, was a Dutch medical doctor, writer, and supporter of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands before World War II. From 1935 to 1936 he was the camp doctor at the Boven-Digoel concentration camp in New Guinea, Dutch East Indies, and is mostly known today for the book he wrote about his experiences there, Boven-Digoel: Het land van communisten en kannibalen (1936). His praise for the conditions in the camp earned him the ire of the internees, Indonesian nationalists, and Dutch human rights advocates; E. du Perron called him a 'colonial bandit', while many internees burned his book after reading it in the camp.
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.
Paul Alex Blaauw, usually known as P. A. Blaauw, was an Indo politician, lawyer, and member of the Dutch East Indies Volksraad representing the Indo Europeesch Verbond from the 1920s to the 1940s. During the period of transition to Indonesian independence and the 1949 Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference he was a leader of the largest faction advocating for the rights of Indos.
Censorship in the Dutch East Indies was significantly stricter than in the Netherlands, as the freedom of the press guaranteed in the Constitution of the Netherlands did not apply in the country's overseas colonies. Before the twentieth century, official censorship focused mainly on Dutch-language materials, aiming at protecting the trade and business interests of the colony and the reputation of colonial officials. In the early twentieth century, with the rise of Indonesian nationalism, censorship also encompassed materials printed in local languages such as Malay and Javanese, and enacted a repressive system of arrests, surveillance and deportations to combat anti-colonial sentiment.
The Nederlandsch-Indische Escompto Maatschappij was a significant Dutch bank, founded in 1857 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies. In the first half of the 20th century, it was the smallest of the “big three” commercial banks, behind the Netherlands Trading Society and the Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank, that dominated the Dutch East Indies’ financial system alongside the note-issuing Bank of Java.