Indonesia | Netherlands |
---|---|
Diplomatic mission | |
Embassy of Indonesia, The Hague | Embassy of the Netherlands, Jakarta |
Envoy | |
Ambassador Mayerfas | Ambassador Lambert Grijns |
Indonesia and the Netherlands share a special relationship, [1] embedded in their shared history of colonial interactions for centuries. It began during the spice trade as the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) trading post in what is now Indonesia, before colonising it as the Dutch East Indies until the mid-20th century. Indonesia was the largest former Dutch colony. In the early 21st century, the Dutch government has committed to boosting its relationship with Indonesia, noting that economic, political, and interpersonal contacts should be further strengthened. [2]
Cornelis de Houtman and Frederick de Houtman (a.k.a de Houtman brothers), [3] were Dutch explorers who discovered shipping routes from Europe to Indonesia and successfully started the Dutch spice trade. In 1592, Cornelis de Houtman was sent by the merchants of Amsterdam to Lisboa to find as much information as possible about the Spice Islands (today in Maluku). By the time de Houtman returned to Amsterdam, the traders confirmed that Banten was the most appropriate place to buy spices. In 1594, they established the Compagnie van Verre (a.k.a long distance company), and on 2 April 1595, four ships left Amsterdam: Amsterdam , Hollandia , Mauritius and Duyfken .
Cornelis de Houtman and his fleet arrived on 27 June 1596 in Banten waters, then returned on 14 August 1597 brought 240 bags of pepper, 45 tonnes of nutmeg, and 30 bales of mace. [4]
In 1603, the VOC commenced operations in what is now Indonesia where it fought wars to expand its domain. [5] Though Indonesian history featured other European colonial powers, it was the Dutch who solidified their hold on the archipelago. After VOC's bankruptcy in 1800, the Netherlands took control of the archipelago in 1826. [6] Following this, they also fought against the natives and then enforced a period of forced labour and indentured servitude until 1870 when, in 1901, they adopted the "Dutch Ethical Policy and Indonesian National Revival," which included a somewhat increased investment in indigenous education and modest political reforms. Only in the 20th century, however, was Dutch rule enhanced to what would become Indonesia. Following Japanese occupation during World War II, the Netherlands tried to re-establish their rule, [7] amid a bitter armed and diplomatic struggle that ended in December 1949. International pressure then forced the Dutch to formally recognise Indonesian independence. [8] In 1960, the government of Indonesia, led by Sukarno, cut off all diplomatic ties with the Netherlands, ties that were restored only in 1968 by the New Order government.
In 1970, Indonesian President Soeharto paid an official visit to the Netherlands, which was reciprocated by Dutch Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard royal visit to Indonesia in 1971. [9] Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus also paid a royal visit to Indonesia in 1995. [10] On 22 April 2016, President Joko Widodo paid an official visit to the Netherlands. [11] On 10 March 2020, King Willem-Alexander paid a royal visit to Indonesia and made surprise apologies for excessive violence used during the early years of Indonesian independence. [12] [13]
In the past, relations between the two have been marred by the separatist intentions of the Free Papua Movement [14] and the Republic of South Maluku. In this vein, they have attacked targets [15] in the Netherlands in the 1970s and 1980s, seeking to force the country to pressure Indonesia into allowing for the secession of their nation. Political ties were then strained as Indonesian officials refused to visit the Netherlands while the group was allowed to bring cases to court against them. [16] However, the visit of the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Bot to Indonesia in 2005 to celebrate its 60th independence day anniversary was claimed by the Netherlands to have "marked a[n] historic moment in the relations between the two countries. After this visit, the relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands was further intensified and strengthened by the extension of the cooperation in a wide range of fields." [17]
In 2010, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cancelled a visit to the Netherlands after the group's activists asked a Dutch court to issue an arrest warrant for him. [18] The move was condemned by pro-Indonesia Moluccan activists in Jakarta. [19]
The Netherlands is one of Indonesia's most important trade partners in Europe. Trade between the two countries between January and September 2012 reached US$3.314 billion, while efforts are currently underway to further boost that figure. [2] The Port of Rotterdam and Schiphol Airport have been the main entry points for Indonesian products into the European Union.[ citation needed ] Similarly, Dutch companies have seen Indonesia as their gateway to the larger ASEAN market, which is home to more than 500 million people.[ citation needed ]
For over 25 years, from 1966 to 1992, development assistance was provided by the Netherlands to Indonesia within the arrangements of the Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI). [20] IGGI had been established in the late 1960s to help coordinate the flow of foreign aid to Indonesia, and was convened and chaired by the Dutch government for over two decades throughout the 1970s and 1980s. However, in the early 1990s, the then-Minister for Development Cooperation in the Netherlands, Jan Pronk, became increasingly critical of domestic policy in Indonesia. In response, in early 1992, the Indonesian government indicated that it no longer wished to participate in the annual IGGI meetings in The Hague and preferred that a new donor consultative group, the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), be established and be chaired by the World Bank. [21] Initially, the Netherlands was not invited to attend CGI meetings. Later, the Netherlands became a member of the group.
The Indonesian military procures naval vessels from the Dutch, such as Van Speijk-class frigates and Sigma-class corvettes. [22]
Traces of Dutch influences in Indonesia include Dutch origin loanwords in Indonesian and cuisine. Some Indonesian dishes have been adopted and, in turn, influenced Dutch cuisine. Though cultural relations are no longer strong, Christianity in Indonesia was a result of proselytisation by mainly Dutch missionaries. [23] There is also a sizable Indonesian population in the Netherlands. Many have set up their own churches in what has been termed as a "reverse mission," referring to the Dutch missionaries in the colonies. [24]
Another legacy of colonial rule in Indonesia is the legal system that was inherited from the Dutch. In 2009, the Dutch Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin visited Indonesia in what some considered a stepping stone to reforming its legal system. [25]
Through centuries of colonial relations, numbers of cultural institutions in the Netherlands—such as Tropenmuseum and Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden—have extensive collections of Indonesian archaeology and ethnology artefacts. Both are the leading centres of Indonesian studies in Europe, specialised in its culture, history, archaeology and ethnography. The Erasmus Huis—the Netherlands' cultural centre—was established in 1970 in Jakarta. It was meant as cultural cooperation to promote art and cultural exchanges between Indonesia and the Netherlands. Besides many exhibitions, music performances and films screenings, some lectures on Dutch and Indonesian culture are being held on a regular basis in their auditorium and gallery. [26]
The United East India Company and commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered trading company and the first joint-stock company in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands existing companies, it was granted a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia. Shares in the company could be bought by any resident of the United Provinces and then subsequently bought and sold in open-air secondary markets. The company possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies. Also, because it traded across multiple colonies and countries from both the East and the West, the VOC is sometimes considered to have been the world's first multinational corporation.
Cornelis de Houtman was a Dutch merchant seaman who commanded the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies. Although the voyage was difficult and yielded only a modest profit, Houtman showed that the Portuguese monopoly on the spice trade was vulnerable. A flurry of Dutch trading voyages followed, eventually leading to the displacement of the Portuguese and the establishment of a Dutch monopoly on spice trading in the East Indies.
Jan Pieterszoon Coen was an officer of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early 17th century, holding two terms as governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. He was the founder of Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies. Renowned for providing the impulse that set the VOC on the path to dominance in the Dutch East Indies, he was long considered a national hero in the Netherlands. Since the 19th century, his legacy has become controversial due to the brutal violence he employed in order to secure a trade monopoly on nutmeg, mace and clove. During the last stage of the Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands, Coen depopulated the islands to such a degree he massacred about 14.400 people in Banda, about 800 of whom were transferred to Batavia.
Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much larger area of the Residency of Batavia in the present-day Indonesian provinces of Jakarta, Banten and West Java.
The Netherlands Trading Society was a Dutch trading and financial company, established in 1824, in The Hague by King William I to promote and develop trade, shipping and agriculture. For the next 140 years the NHM developed a large international branch network and increasingly engaged in banking operations. In 1964, it merged with Twentsche Bank to form Algemene Bank Nederland, itself a predecessor of ABN AMRO.
The Dutch colonial empire comprised the overseas territories and trading posts controlled and administered by Dutch chartered companies—mainly the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company—and subsequently by the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), and by the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands after 1815. It was initially a trade-based system which derived most of its influence from merchant enterprise and from Dutch control of international maritime shipping routes through strategically placed outposts, rather than from expansive territorial ventures. The Dutch were among the earliest empire-builders of Europe, following Spain and Portugal and one of the wealthiest nations of that time.
Pieter de Carpentier was a Dutch administrator of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) who served as Governor-General there from 1623 to 1627. The Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia is named after him.
The Catholic Church in Indonesia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. Catholicism is one of the six approved religions in Indonesia, the others being Islam, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. According to official figures, Catholics made up 3.12 percent of the population in 2018. The number of Catholics is, therefore, more than 8.3 million. Indonesia is primarily Muslim, but Catholicism is the dominant faith in certain areas of the country.
Kota Tua Jakarta, officially known as Kota Tua, is a neighborhood comprising the original downtown area of Jakarta, Indonesia. It is also known as Oud Batavia, Benedenstad, or Kota Lama.
Relations between the Netherlands and the United States are described as "excellent" by the United States Department of State and "close" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Official relations were established in 1782 and, as the two were never at war or in serious conflict, were referred to by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1982 as "the longest unbroken, peaceful relationship that we have had with any other nation." The two countries have cooperated much in recent decades in anti-terrorism, anti-piracy and peacekeeping missions in the European, Middle Eastern and Central American regions. They are also the third largest and largest direct foreign investors in each other's economies.
Japan–Netherlands relations are the bilateral relations between Japan and the Netherlands. Relations between Japan and the Netherlands date back to 1609, when the first formal trade relations were established.
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies, was a Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which declared independence on 17 August 1945. Following the Indonesian War of Independence, Indonesia and the Netherlands made peace in 1949. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, the Dutch ceded the governorate of Dutch Malacca to Britain, leading to its eventual incorporation into Malacca (state) of modern Malaysia.
The First Dutch Expedition to the East Indies was an expedition that took place from 1595 to 1597. It was instrumental in opening up the Indonesian spice trade to the merchants that eventually formed the Dutch East India Company, and marked the end of the Portuguese Empire's dominance in the region.
Willem Anthony Engelbrecht, also known as Willem Anthonie Engelbrecht, was a Dutch jurist and colonial administrator. He was one of the originators of the so-called "Dutch Ethical Policy" in the Dutch East Indies.
Indos are a Eurasian people of mixed Indonesian and European descent. The earliest evidence of Eurasian communities in the East Indies coincides with the arrival of Portuguese traders in the 16th century. Eurasian communities, often with distinct, specific names, also appeared following the arrival of Dutch (VOC) traders in the 17th and 18th century.
The colonial architecture of Indonesia refers to the buildings that were created across Indonesia during the Dutch colonial period, during that time, this region was known as the Dutch East Indies. These types of colonial era structures are more prevalent in Java and Sumatra, as those islands were considered more economically significant during the Dutch imperial period. As a result of this, there is a large number of well preserved colonial era buildings that are still densely concentrated within Indonesian cities in Java and Sumatra to this day.
The governor-general of the Dutch East Indies represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949.
The Netherlands–Pakistan relations refers to the bilateral, economic, cultural and historical relations between the Netherlands and Pakistan. The Netherlands maintains a permanent embassy in Islamabad and honorary consulates in Karachi and Lahore. Pakistan has an embassy in The Hague.
The Indo people are Eurasian people living in or connected with Indonesia. In its narrowest sense, the term refers to people in the former Dutch East Indies who held European legal status but were of mixed Dutch and indigenous Indonesian descent as well as their descendants today.
Bilateral relations exist between Australia and the Netherlands. Australia has an embassy in The Hague. The Netherlands has an embassy in Canberra. The two countries communicate and cooperate on a range of issues, including counterterrorism, climate change, human rights, and the Millennium Development Goals. In 2001 the countries signed an agreement on social security for those who have lived or worked in both countries.
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