> Research & Reports Indonesia 1937-1942: prelude to Japanese occupation World War II is widely regarded as a turning point in modern Indonesian history. The

Research > existing research focuses on military operations, Indonesian nationalism and victims of the p.195 , Indonesia Japanese regime. Insufficient attention has thus far been paid to the geographical and historical background of the war’s impact on local livelihoods.

By Shigeru Sato eras. The war, however, began earlier exports dropped sharply. Newspapers with the Japanese invasion of China in reported mass dismissals of workers s is well known, Indonesians expe- and the German invasion of from export industries; shortages of Arienced a catastrophic lowering of Poland in September 1939. Global eco- many imported items were acute. living standards during the war. It is nomic changes were affecting the At this juncture, the Dutch authori- also well known that this was in large Indonesian economy well before the ties accelerated the move towards self- part due to the greed and cruelty of the Japanese invaded in 1942. sufficiency in industrial goods and Japanese army. Though further studies foodstuffs. The number of power looms are warranted, a continuous search for Towards autarky for weaving textiles quadrupled in the crimes may not lead to a qualitative Studies of the Indonesian economy two years following September 1939. improvement in our knowledge. Mono- in the late Dutch era generally focus on Experiments in cotton cultivation also causal explanations have long blinded the decade up to the outbreak of war in began in this period.

us to other important factors; living Europe and ignore the following two The systematic reform of agriculture Shakai Nipponnjin no Indoneshia Senzenki Hanseiki: Seikatsu Ranin Tsuzuru de Shashin standards during the War cannot be and a half years, thus creating the began in 1938. The ‘forced cultivation explained solely in terms of exploita- image of a sharp break in early 1942. A ordinance’ (teeltdwang-ordinantie) was tion. new focus on the pre-invasion years will drafted and implemented within two reveal significant continuities in eco- weeks of the German invasion of Japanese government representative Kobayashi visiting Dutch counterpart Van Mook in Batavia to Jagatara Tomonokai, Jagatara The big picture nomic policy throughout the war Poland. The plantation belt on the east negotiate trade, The Indonesian economy was despite the change of regime. The coast of Sumatra, for instance, had pre- enmeshed in global trading networks; Japanese, knowing little about the eco- viously imported large quantities of vesting and pounding had been impor- increased American demand until the the wartime alteration of trade affected nomic administration of Indonesia, food from continental Southeast Asia. tant sources of income for peasant Japanese invasion. Those in copra pro- every aspect of daily life – food, cloth- studied Dutch policies and continued Food imports were now sharply women. With the development of large ducing areas faced hardship because ing and employment. For clothing, them whenever possible. Many so- reduced; Aceh in North Sumatra was motorized mills, rice brokers came to markets were mostly in Europe. Within Southeast Asia in the pre-war years called ‘Japanese occupation policies’ designated the main food supplier for villages, brought in gangs of harvesters, the same community, large rice farmers relied almost entirely on imports. With were copies of Dutch policies formu- the plantation belt. Aceh had been a and took the rice away. Now small farm- benefited from the rapid commoditisa- the advent of war, this supply was cut. lated a few years earlier. food importing area; plans were made ers had fewer employment opportuni- tion of rice whereas small farmers and to convert it into a food exporting area, ties and less rice to buy. landless peasants lost much of their ‘mono-causal explanations have long blinded us by introducing new strands of rice and The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese livelihood. The war presented opportu- cultivation methods, and accelerating war, by severing trade between South- nities for some to consolidate their eco- to other important factors; living standards existing irrigation extension projects. ern China and Indonesia, weakened the nomic or political positions. Some lost during the war cannot be explained solely in During the occupation the Japanese position of ethnic Chinese traders in their livelihood or their lives. conducted a large-scale campaign to Indonesia. They seized the opportuni- Our understanding of these social terms of exploitation’ increase agricultural production. ty brought by the commoditisation of and economic dynamics during World Observers have characterized it as the rice and established a virtual monopoly War II, 1937-1945, is still partial, hazy Consequently clothing became so Continuity also derived from the fact ‘Japanisation’ of Indonesian agricul- on the rice milling industry. Dutch and simplistic. It will remain so unless scarce that many people had to wear that both Dutch and Japanese admin- ture, but the Dutch formulated its authorities utilized these mills and Chi- we introduce broader perspectives and modified jute bags or nothing at all. istrators worked within the broader broad outline years earlier. nese trading networks to control rice document these dynamics through To deal with this and other shortages, structural changes of the world econo- distribution. This aggravated ethnic local studies. < the Japanese embarked on economic my. Dutch authorities, with lessons Social consequences enmities. When the Japanese invaded, reorganization projects, including pro- learnt from World War I and the Great Dutch food policies affected social many Indonesians destroyed and loot- Shigeru Sato is lecturer at the University of duction of cotton and textiles in the Depression, began preparations for the relations. Traditionally, domestically ed Chinese-owned rice-mills and shops. Newcastle, Australia. As a visiting fellow in occupied territories. These projects colony’s survival in economic isolation grown rice was processed by farmers The Japanese, however, continued the the historical research programme Japan required vast stretches of farmland and when political tensions rose in 1938. and consumed in the countryside, while Dutch policy of using Chinese eco- and the Netherlands he spent three months massive labour mobilization, and The outbreak of war in Europe ini- the urban population and plantation nomic power to implement the con- researching the archives of the Netherlands undermined local food production. The tially fuelled a boom in the export of workers consumed imported rice. The trolled economy. Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) reorganization of the economy, more kapok, tin, tapioca and sugar. From government’s policy to curtail rice The war differentially impacted upon and the National Archive in The Hague. His than the criminality of the Japanese around , exports fell due to imports and establish self-sufficiency in variegated and stratified local commu- seminar The Netherlands East Indies Army, affected the livelihoods of local the closure of European markets and food necessitated the flow of Indonesian nities; local studies are therefore essen- 1937-1942: A Prelude to the Japanese populations. shipping difficulties. Demands from rice from the countryside to the cities tial. Rubber and copra, for instance, Occupation was held at NIOD in February Those who equate World War II with the United States for strategic resources and plantation areas. This change to the were important export commodities for 2004. Please see: www.japan.niod.nl the Japanese occupation see a sharp such as rubber soared, compensating distribution pattern favoured the emer- indigenous smallholders: those in rub- [email protected] break between the Dutch and Japanese losses to some extent, but overall gence of a rice milling industry. Har- ber producing regions benefited from

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IIAS Newsletter | #34 | July 2004 21