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Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Vol. 168, no. 4 (2012), pp. 420-444 URL: http://www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-113836 Copyright: content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License ISSN: 0006-2294 FARABI FAKIH Conservative corporatist: Nationalist thoughts of aristocrats The ideas of Soetatmo Soeriokoesoemo and Noto Soeroto Javanese aristocrats represented an anomaly in the history of the Indonesian nationalist movement. Javanese nationalism was one of the earliest national- isms thought to have arisen in the colony. In fact, Indonesia’s first national or- ganization, the Boedi Oetomo, was a Javanese aristocratic organization. This would later bifurcate into an Indisch and a Javanese strain (Shiraishi 1981:93- 108). While the leftist-inspired Indisch movement would gradually rise to be- come an important pillar of present day Indonesian nationalism, the conser- vative-culturalist side would lose its legitimacy in the nationalist pantheon. Many nationalists, including Soekarno, considered Javanese nationalists to be tainted with the blemish of feudalism and pro-colonialism. This contradicted the modern, leftist-inspired thoughts that became the bedrock of much of In- donesian nationalism. Herbert Feith and Lance Castles count five ideological structures around which Indonesia’s political life in the 1950s pivoted: radical nationalism, Javanese traditionalism, Islam, Democratic Socialism and Communism. They contend that Javanese traditionalism and Democratic Socialism stem from the same ‘nationalism pure and simple’ which became the main source for radical nationalism (Feith and Castles 1970:151). But labelling Javanese aris- tocratic thoughts within Javanese traditionalism is problematic due to the inherently conservative beliefs of many of Java’s aristocratic intellectuals. The purpose of this article is to question and engage in the political discourse of Javanese aristocrats. Engaging with such a discourse allows us to broaden the composite origin of modern Indonesian nationalism. Since many aristocrats were in favour of continued Dutch rule, their presence within Indonesia’s national discourse has been camouflaged under the banner of an anti-conser- vative ideology. FARABI FAKIH is a PhD student in the History Department, Leiden University. Specializing in history of state institutions and political thoughts of Indonesia, he is the author of Membayangkan ibukota Jakarta dibawah Soekarno, Yogyakarta: Ombak, 2005, and ‘Rumah Indonesia indah: Imajina- si posmodern dan iklan rumah real estat Indonesia’, in: Budi Susanto (ed.), Masih(kah) Indonesia, Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 2007. Farabi Fakih may be reached at [email protected]. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (BKI) 168-4 (2012):420-444 © 2012 Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Downloaded from Brill.com10/06/2021 08:12:46AM via free access Conservative corporatist: Nationalist thoughts of aristocrats 421 I will look into the written texts of two important Javanese nationalists: Soetatmo Soeriokoesoemo (1888-1924) and Noto Soeroto (1888-1951). Their prolific writing and importance within the discussion of nationalism allow us to take a glimpse into the thoughts and ideas surrounding some of the aristocratic members on Indonesian state-society relations. Understanding this would allow us to position them within the various ideological streams of Indonesian nationalism and see the extent of their contribution to state- society relations that would develop during later independence period. Although born during the same year, both men contributed their voice to the discourse at different times. Soetatmo Soeriokoesomo died in 1924, long before Indonesia attained its independence, but his thought is important in understanding the early period of Javanese aristocratic nationalism. Noto Soeroto is an ideal candidate as he also experienced the early 1950s Indonesia. Noto Soeroto has been subject to several academic works, which includes Madelon Djajadiningrat-Nieuwenhuis’s article (1993) on his biography and ideas, Roelie H. Koning’s thesis (1968) on his involvement within the Dutch literary scene during the period, and René B. Karels’s complete biography (2010) of Noto Soeroto, including his political ideas in Mijn aardse leven vol moeite en strijd. Raden Mas Noto Soeroto. I will look into both Soetatmo’s and Noto’s writings although I will, due to both his prodigious writing and long life span, heavily focus on Noto Soeroto’s work. Soetatmo’s inclusion is necessary in order to frame early Javanese nationalism. I will then look into continuity of Noto Soeroto’s ideas during the colonial and the early 1950s period. By reading these texts, I wish to get an initial sense of the extent of their effect on the post-colonial state-society relations. This article approaches nationalism as a discourse and will not try to engage in the structural debate of its rise, since Benedict Anderson (1991) has already elucidated how it hinged on technological progress and the modern feeling of leaving behind traditional spaces. Eugen Weber’s study (1976) of French nationalism and Thongchai Winichakul’s study (1994) of Thai nationalism have also mined this territory. More in line with Gellner’s theory of nationalism, this article looks at the possible construction of legiti- macy based on an ethnic or cultural distinction within a political bound- ary that incorporated the particular ethnicity within a larger multicultural patchwork of a colonial empire.1 It is a discourse that existed within a small elite of Indonesia, but whose ramifications, exemplified especially within ideologically-driven states like the later Guided Democracy or New Order state, became significant for a large portion of the population. 1 Gellner 2006:1. Gellner defined nationalism as ‘a theory of political legitimacy, which re- quires that ethnic boundaries should not cut across political ones, and, in particular, that ethnic boundaries within a given state should not separate the power holders from the rest’. Downloaded from Brill.com10/06/2021 08:12:46AM via free access 422 Farabi Fakih The roots of Javanese nationalism Instead of becoming Indonesian nationalists, many Javanese aristocrats began to develop a form of Javanese nationalism that focused on the rebirth of Java- nese civilization. If we consider people like Raden Adjeng Kartini or the Boedi Oetomo students as the first nationalist icons to appear on the colonial land- scape, it is striking that both aimed at the cultural rejuvenation of the Javanese nation through European modernity. Becoming modern, more than anything else, pushed for the process of reform that characterized early Indonesian na- tionalist thoughts. Not only did Kartini see it as a modern process, but she also saw the position of the Dutch as essential toward that modernization process. The Europeans are irritated by many of the characteristics of the Javanese, for in- stance by our indifference, laziness, etc. Well now Dutchmen, if you are so irritated by these characteristics, why do you then do nothing to drive away these vices? Why don’t you put an effort in order to raise your brown brothers? Believe me, all that evil can be exterminated. Take away that veil that covers his brain, open his eyes, and you will see that in him there is also something different than the inclina- tion toward evil, which mainly springs forth from stupidity and ignorance.2 Kartini shared with many of her Dutch friends a popular vision of what the Javanese were and where they should be going: their childlike qualities, po- tentiality for civilizational renaissance, distrust of Islam, and the need to make the Javanese Javanese again. Turning them into an echt Javaan: a real Java- nese, a modern Javanese, a person who had national feelings toward his fel- low Javanese that resembled those of modern Europeans. The way to do this was for the Javanese to be ‘Europeanized’. With the liberal education, we above all intend to turn the Javanese into real Ja- vanese; Javanese with love and enthusiasm for their country and people, with an open eye and heart to their virtues and –needs! We want to give them the beauty of European civilization, not so as to push aside and replace their own beauty, but in order to ennoble it.3 2 Kartini 1976:36. ‘De Europeanen ergert zich aan vele eigenschappen van den Javaan, bijv. hunne onverschilligheid, gemakzucht enz. Welnu Nederlanders, als gij u zoo daaraan ergert, waarom doet gij dan niets om die ondeugden te verjagen? Waarom steekt gij geen vinger uit, om den bruinen broeder op te heffen? Geloof me, al dat kwaad is uit te roeien. Neem hem den dich- ten sluier van zijn hersens weg, open hem de oogen, en gij zult zien, dat in hem ook nog iets an- ders zit dan de neiging tot het kwade, die in hoofdzaak voortspruit uit dom- en onwetendheid.’ 3 Kartini, in Door duisternis tot licht, quoted by Soeroto 1912:19. ‘Met de vrije opvoeding beoo- gen wij voor alles om van de Javanen, echte Javanen te maken, Javanen, bezield met liefde en geestdrift voor hun land en volk, met een open oog en hart voor hunne schoonheden en – nooden! Wij willen ze geven ’t mooie der Europeesche beschaving, niet om hun eigen mooi te verdringen of te vervangen, maar om ’t te veredelen.’ Downloaded from Brill.com10/06/2021 08:12:46AM via free access Conservative corporatist: Nationalist thoughts of aristocrats 423 The effort for rejuvenation was related to the debasement of Javanese civiliza- tion after a century of European scientific research on the Javanese. The rise of comparative linguistics in British India with the research of Sir William Jones in the late eighteenth century elevated the position of Sanskrit within the Indo- European family (Ballantyne 2002:18-43). This study of language family result- ed in the formation of a racial rank-order, based on language families, which implied a racial ordering of people. What was important was that the rise of this racial picture elevated the Aryan Indian and relegated Javanese culture and civilization as a bad Indian copy.4 The position of the Javanese as mere Malayo-Polynesian people meant that their racial and civilizational position be- came problematic.