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N. Bootsma The discovery of Indonesia; Western (non-Dutch) historiography on the decolonization of Indonesia In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 151 (1995), no: 1, Leiden, 1-22 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:20:47AM via free access N. BOOTSMA The Discovery of Indonesia Western (non-Dutch) Historiography on the Decolonization of Indonesia 'Independence from the Netherlands' was the name of a conference organized by the VGTE (Society for Twentieth-Century History) in The Hague on 19 November 1993. This name is open to two different inter- pretations. Firstly, it echoes a Dutch Communist Party slogan that was widely popularized between the two World Wars ('Indies independence from the Netherlands now'), which summarized the party's standpoint on the status of the then Dutch East Indies in rather a provocative way. Taken in this sense, the name should be viewed as a programme inviting reflec- tion, half a century after its implementation, on how precisely this former communist programme was realized. Thus interpreted, the name would require a revised review of the decolonization of Indonesia. However, the name may also allude to a publicly established fact, referring to a point in time at which the colonial ties had already been severed, or in other words, to Indonesia as an independent state. If the name is taken in this sense, a number of possible subjects for historical reflection present themselves. This essay is intended to explore the reactions of Western, non-Dutch, historiography to the foundation of the Republik Indonesia and the events leading up to and following it.
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