Dutch conquest of South Bali (1906) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
![]() | Badung Kingdom Kingdom of Tabanan ![]() | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
3 infantry battalions 1 cavalry detachment 2 artillery batteries Navy fleet [1] | |||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Minimal | over 1,000 killed |
The Dutch conquest of South Bali in 1906 was a Dutch military intervention in Bali as part of the Dutch colonial conquest of the Indonesian islands, killing an estimated 1,000 people. It was part of the final takeover of the Netherlands East-Indies and the fifth Dutch military intervention in Bali. The campaign led to the deaths of the Balinese rulers of Badung and Tabanan kingdoms, their wives and children and followers. This conquest weakened the remaining independent kingdoms of Klungkung and Bangli, leading to their invasion two years later. [2]
The Netherlands had conquered north Bali in the middle of the 19th century after three military campaigns, although resistance there continued well into the 1860s. This conquest saw the integration of the kingdoms of Jembrana and Buleleng into the Dutch East Indies. Subsequently, the Dutch conquest of the neighbouring island of Lombok led to the surrender of its Balinese ruling house, the kingdom of Karangasem. In 1900 the kingdom of Gianyar ceded its sovereignty to the Netherlands. The southern kingdoms of Tabanan and Badung firmly resisted Dutch control, influenced by their close connection to the kingdom of Klungkung, which had the highest status of the Balinese kingdoms. [3] The Netherlands Indies government applied pressure to the independent kingdoms, including through disputes of trade and access rights to port areas. [4] One point of dispute was the practice of masatia termed suttee by Europeans, the ritual self-sacrifice of relatives upon the death of a ruler. The Dutch demanded its abolition, in keeping with European portrayals of indigenous rulers as despotic. The last recorded masatia took place in Tabanan in 1904, against Dutch protests. [2]
In 1900, the Dutch negotiated a relationship with Gianyar which amounted to establishing a protectorate, and established administrative control over the kingdom system through its ruler, which included collection of taxes. Bridges and roads and irrigation systems were improved and the justice system was brought into line with that of the Netherlands East Indies. [5] One result of the successes in Gianyar was an increase in refugees from neighboring kingdoms seeking to escape the control of other kingdoms, which the Dutch claimed was a response to slavery and tyranny in those kingdoms. [6] This effective takeover of Gianyar geographically split the alliance of Klungkung and its vassal Bangli from Badung and Tabanan. [6]
There were recurrent disputes between the Dutch and Balinese kings regarding the right to plunder ships that foundered off the reefs surrounding Bali. According to a Balinese tradition called tawang karang, the Balinese kings traditionally considered such wrecks as their property, which the Dutch claimed was a violation of European-based international law. On 27 May 1904, a Chinese schooner named Sri Kumala struck the reef near Sanur, in Badung, and was plundered by the Balinese. Upon request for compensation by the Dutch, the king of Badung refused to pay anything, blaming his relative the ruler of Kesiman. [2] [6] [5] In June 1906, the Dutch started a blockade of the southern coasts and sent various ultimata. [2]
On 14 September 1906, the Sixth Military Expedition of the Dutch colonial army, landed at the northern part of Sanur beach. It was under the command of Major General M.B. Rost van Tonningen. [2] [7] Badung soldiers made some attacks on the bivouacs of the Dutch at Padang Galak in the northern part of Sanur on 15 September, and there was some resistance again at Intaran village just to the south of Padang Galak. [8]
Overall, the force managed to move inland without much resistance, and arrived in the palace of Kesiman on 20 September 1906. There, the local king, a member of the extended royal family of Badung, had already been killed by his own priest, as he had refused to lead an armed resistance against the Dutch. The palace was in flames and the resistance had fallen back to Denpasar, the site of the main palace of Badung. [2]
The force marched to Denpasar, described by Dutch participants as if they were in a dress parade. [2] They approached the royal palace or puri , noting smoke rising from it and hearing a frantic beating of signal drums (slit wooden gongs) coming from within the palace walls.
Upon their reaching the palace, a silent procession emerged, led by the Raja borne by four bearers on a palanquin. The Raja was dressed in traditional white cremation garments, wore magnificent jewellery, and carried a ceremonial kris. The other people in the procession consisted of the Raja's officials, guards, priests, wives, children and retainers, all of whom were similarly attired. [2] They had received the rites of death, were dressed in white, and had had their ritual kris blessed. [9]
When the procession was a hundred paces from the Dutch force, they halted and the Raja stepped down from the palanquin and signalled a priest, who plunged his dagger into the Raja's breast. The rest of the procession began killing themselves and others, in a rite known as Puputan ("Fight to the death"). [2] Women mockingly threw jewellery and gold coins at the troops. [2]
What they claimed was a 'stray gunshot' and an 'attack by lance and spear' prompted the Dutch to open fire with rifles and artillery. As more people emerged from the palace, the mounds of corpses rose higher and higher as they were mown down by gunfire. [2] Balinese accounts describe that the Dutch first opened fire on the Balinese people moving outside of the palace gate, only equipped with traditional krises, spears and shields, and that survivors killed themselves, or had themselves killed by their followers according to the dictates of the puputan. [10] The whole procession led to a death toll of at least 1,000, although that figure was not officially released by the Dutch. [9] The soldiers stripped the corpses of the valuables and sacked the ruins of the burned palace. The palace of Denpasar was razed to the ground. [10]
The same afternoon, similar events occurred in the nearby palace of Pemecutan, where the co-ruler Gusti Gede Ngurah resided. The Dutch let the nobility at Pemecutan kill themselves, and proceeded with the looting.
The massacre is remembered locally as the "Badung Puputan" and is glorified as an example of resistance to foreign aggression. A huge bronze monument was elevated on the central square of Denpasar, where the royal palace used to stand, glorifying Balinese resistance in the Puputan.
The Dutch force continued to the kingdom of Tabanan, where the king Gusti Ngurah Agung and his son retreated, then surrendered to the Dutch, and attempted to negotiate a settlement to become a regency of the Netherlands East Indies. The Dutch only offered them exile to nearby Madura or Lombok, and they preferred to kill themselves (puputan) in prison two days later. [9] [11] Their palace was also plundered and razed by the Dutch. [12]
The Dutch also moved troops to Klungkung and considered an attack on king Dewa Agung, the nominal ruler of all Bali, but eventually held off as Dewa Agung refrained from military action against the Dutch and signed agreements to destroy his fortifications, deliver his firearms and renounce import and export taxes. [13]
A pretext for the Dutch to attack Klungkung occurred in 1901, leading to the puputan there 1908 Dutch intervention in Bali, which would put a final end to autochthonous rule in Bali.
In the short term, the 1906 Dutch invasion in Bali, and its sequel in 1908, sealed the Dutch control of the island.
The Dutch invasion however was followed closely by media coverage, and reports of the bloody conquest of the southern part of the island filtered to the West. The punitive actions of the Netherlands Indies government were considered harsh by European critics. The image of the Netherlands as a benevolent and responsible colonial power was seriously affected as a consequence. [14]
The harshness of these and other military actions contrasted with the "Ethical policy" announced the Queen of the Netherlands in 1901 that emphasised benevolent rule. [15] As a result of the Ethical Policy, efforts were made at preserving Bali culture and at making it a "living museum" of classical culture,. [9] In 1914, Bali was opened to tourism. [16]
Vicki Baum's 1937 historical novel Love and Death in Bali (Liebe und Tod auf Bali) tells of a family caught up in the 1906 events. The book was written after Baum's visit to Bali in 1935, when she became close friends with Walter Spies, a German painter who lived on the island for many years and who provided her with much information on these events - at the time still well within living memory.
Denpasar is the capital city of the province of Bali, Indonesia. Denpasar is the main gateway to the Bali island, the city is also a hub for other cities in the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Klungkung Regency is the smallest regency (kabupaten) in the island province of Bali, Indonesia. It has an area of 315 km2 and had a population at the 2010 Census of 170,543 which increased to 206,925 at the Census of 2020; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 214,012. The administrative centre for the regency is in the town of Semarapura.
The Klungkung Palace, officially Puri Agung Semarapura, is a historical building complex situated in Semarapura, the capital of the Klungkung Regency (kabupaten) on Bali, Indonesia.
Puputan is a Balinese term for a mass ritual suicide in preference to facing the humiliation of surrender. It originally seems to have meant a last desperate attack against a numerically superior enemy. Notable puputans in the history of Bali occurred in 1906 and 1908, when the Balinese were being subjugated by the Dutch.
Gelgel is a village (desa) in the regency (kabupaten) of Klungkung, on Bali, Indonesia. The village, near the coast four kilometers south of the regency capital Semarapura, contains some structures of cultural interest and is known for its pottery and handwoven ceremonial songket cloth.
Dewa Agung or Deva Agung was the title of the kings of Klungkung, the foremost in rank among the nine kingdoms of Bali, Indonesia. It was also borne by other high-ranking members of the dynasty. The term Dewa means "god" and was also a general title for members of the Ksatria caste. Agung translates as "high" or "great". Literally, the title therefore means Great God.
The Dutch conquest of Klungkung, Bali in 1908 marked the final phase of Dutch colonial control over the island of Bali in Indonesia. It was the seventh and last military intervention in Bali, following the Dutch invasion of South (1906).
The History of Bali covers a period from the Paleolithic to the present, and is characterized by migrations of people and cultures from other parts of Asia. In the 16th century, the history of Bali started to be marked by Western influence with the arrival of Europeans, to become, after a long and difficult colonial period under the Dutch, an example of the preservation of traditional cultures and a key tourist destination.
Dalem Di Made was a king of Bali who may have reigned in the period 1623–1642. He belonged to a dynasty that claimed descent from the Majapahit Empire of Java, and kept residence in Gelgel, close to Bali's south coast.
The Dutch intervention in Bali in 1849 was a major Dutch military intervention in Northern and Southern Bali, following two failed interventions, the 1846 intervention and the 1848 intervention. The Dutch used as a pretext Balinese salvage claims over shipwrecks, which were customary to the Balinese, but unacceptable under International law.
The Dutch intervention in Lombok and Karangasem took place in 1894, and is part of the string of Dutch interventions in and around Bali that led to complete colonization of both Bali and Lombok by the early 20th century.
Badung is a regency of Bali, Indonesia. Its regency seat is in the upland town of Mangupura. It covers districts to the west of the provincial capital of Denpasar, and it has a land area of 418.52 km2.
Karangasem Regency is a regency (kabupaten) of the island and province of Bali, Indonesia. It covers the east part of Bali, has an area of 839.54 km2 and had a population of 396,487 at the 2010 Census which rose to 492,402 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 511,300. Its regency seat is the town of Amlapura. Karangasem was devastated when Mount Agung erupted in 1963, killing 1,900 people. Karangasem was a kingdom before Bali was conquered by the Dutch.
The Kingdomship of Bali was a series of Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms that once ruled some parts of the volcanic island of Bali, in Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. With a history of native Balinese kingship spanning from the early 10th to early 20th centuries, Balinese kingdoms demonstrated sophisticated Balinese court culture where native elements of spirit and ancestral reverence combined with Hindu influences—adopted from India through ancient Java intermediary—flourished, enriched and shaped Balinese culture.
I Gusti Ngurah Madé Agung was the king of Badung Kingdom, Bali who died in battle during the Dutch intervention in Bali (1906). He was declared a National Hero of Indonesia by President Joko Widodo in 2015.
The Badung Kingdom was one part of Kingdomship of Bali in the southern part of Bali Island. The center of government of the Badung Kingdom was at Puri Agung Denpasar until finally the Dutch troops defeated the Badung Kingdom through the Puputan Badung War in 1906 and Badung became colony of Dutch Empire in the Dutch East Indies as part of the Bali and Lombok Residency..
Bali and Lombok Residency was an administrative subdivision of Dutch East Indies as part of Great East after the complete Dutch conquest of the Bangli and Klungkung kingdom in 1908. This residency located in western half of Lesser Sunda Islands east of Sumbawa and Eastern Java. This residency covers Bali, Lombok and surrounding small islands including Gili Islands and Nusa Penida.The capital is located in Singaradja now Singaraja, Buleleng, Bali.
The Karangasem Kingdom is one part of the Kingdomship of Bali that found in 1600 to 1849 on the eastern part of Bali Island. This kingdom was founded by Gusti Nyoman Karang by conquering the eastern part of Bali which was called Karang Semadi. During its peak, Karangasem had a vast territory up to the island of Lombok and finally succeeded in conquering the entire island in 1839. After losing the war with the Netherlands in 1894, Karangasem came under the control of the Dutch East Indies government and become part of Great East in Bali and Lombok Residency.
Hannah, Willard A. (2016). A brief history of Bali: piracy, slavery, opium and guns: the story of an island paradise (Third ed.). Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle. ISBN 978-1-4629-1875-1. OCLC 960638749.