Shared Authority Local cooperation in the construction of colonial governance on Java in the early 1830s Maarten Manse Universiteit Leiden 1 Shared authority: Local cooperation in the construction of colonial governance on Java in the early 1830s. Thesis submitted for the degree Research Masters in Colonial and Global History, Department of History, Leiden University Maarten Manse s0950912 [email protected] Supervisor: Mw. Dr. A.F. Schrikker 24-11-2014 1 …gij zult daarenboven leeren inzien, dat insgelijks de Javaan, sedert wij hem naar billijke wetten regeeren, sedert zijn persoonlijke rechten, zijn eigendom werden gewaarborgd, veel gelukkiger en meer welvarend is dan vroeger; en dit vooral omdat men hem wijselijk het genot blijft schenken: de bevelen rechtstreeks van zijn eigen hoofden te ontvangen. F.W. Junghuhn, Licht- en schaduwbeelden uit de binnenlanden van Java (Amsterdam: F. Günst, 1867): 324-5. 3 Table of Contents List Maps and of Illustrations .................................................................................................................. 5 Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 7 1. From Company to state ..................................................................................................................... 16 1.1 The cultivation system: ideology and practice ............................................................................ 17 1.2 Moving beyond the cultivation system ....................................................................................... 21 2. Sources of authority .......................................................................................................................... 24 2.1 Modes of authority ...................................................................................................................... 24 2.2 Differences in statecraft .............................................................................................................. 27 2.3 The base for cooperation ............................................................................................................ 36 3. Knowledge for power: the settlement of a symbiotic relation ......................................................... 40 3.1 The information network ............................................................................................................ 41 3.2 Direct encounters: methods of rule ............................................................................................ 50 3.3 The resident as local king ............................................................................................................ 62 4. Obstinacy of allies .............................................................................................................................. 66 4.1 Evildoer or scapegoat? The case of the revolt in Pasuruan, 1833 .............................................. 67 4.2 Disruptions in Cirebon ................................................................................................................. 73 4.3. Improvements in control? Murder on Sumatra ......................................................................... 75 4.4 The paradoxes of shared authority ............................................................................................. 77 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 79 Appendix 1: Javanese titles and ranks................................................................................................... 82 Appendix 2: Explanatory list of persons ................................................................................................ 84 1. Governor-Generals of the Dutch East Indies (1808-1844) ............................................................ 84 2. Dutch colonial officials .................................................................................................................. 85 3. Javanese rulers, chiefs and other native servants......................................................................... 90 Maps ...................................................................................................................................................... 92 Glossary ................................................................................................................................................. 96 List of references ................................................................................................................................. 109 4 List of Maps and Illustrations Maps Map 1: Java’s administrative divisions at the conclusion of Daendels’ term, 1811. ............................ 92 Map 2: Java’s administrative divisions, 1832-1866............................................................................... 92 Map 3: The Dutch East Indies, 1840. ..................................................................................................... 93 Map 4: The principalities: Surakarta, Yogyakarta and Mangkunegaran on Central Java. .................... 94 Map 5: Overview of the administrative divisions in the residency of Semarang. ................................ 95 Map 6: Overview of the administrative divisions in the residency of Pasuruan................................... 95 Illustrations Figure 1: Johannes van den Bosch ........................................................................................................ 18 Figure 2: The regent of Pekalongan receives members of the Binnenlands Bestuur ........................... 54 Figure 3: P. Sijthoff, resident of Semarang, and his golden payong ..................................................... 56 Figure 4: Pangeran Adipati Arya Mangkunegara IV .............................................................................. 63 Cover image: An assistant-resident with regent Raden Adipati Aryo Tjondroadinegara of Kudus and a controleur. Source: 3517 (foto, albuminedruk), Nederlands-Indië in foto's, 1860-1940, Koninklijk Instituut voor taal-, land- en volkenkunde (KITLV). 5 Preface In the prevalent image of colonialism, the biased depiction of European artists, writers, scientists and eventually colonizers of non-European cultures created the stereotypes of the colonized domains and people that for these Europeans legitimized European rule over their colonies. Typical colonial thinking comprised a feeling of superiority, expressed in the relations the European dominators enforced and maintained in the areas they controlled in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To a modern-day historian, this attitude obviously seems conceited, complacent, and, most of all, outdated. But even half a century after colonial domination, the traces of orientalist thinking remain vivid in academic and non-academic debates, (re)creating rigorous distance between West and East. Very clear boundaries in the roles of the colonizer and colonized state were persistently maintained in historiography, giving each historical figure a strictly delineated task in history. That the distance between east and west is not as obvious as alleged in current historiography becomes very clear when studying precolonial, colonial, and post-colonial societies without focussing merely on differences and demarcations. Though cross-cultural differences have been a constant obstacle in the fluent mutual understanding of all parties in colonial systems, the borders in the relation between colonizer and colonized became much vaguer and more hybrid than we usually imagine. Studying the colonial relationship of Europeans and Asians shows remarkable similarities in the historic perception of different peoples and different cultures, and makes us reconsider or own biases and perceptions of the societies and cultures of the areas we travel and explore. This thesis is the product of archival research conducted in Jakarta. More than once, I cursed this city and the country of which it is the capital for its bureaucracy, complicated and incomprehensible unwritten rules, or lack of tranquillity and air-conditioning. But being biased may have been a major contributing factor in my frustrations. For me, not only history, but also the environment where I studied helped me to overcome my biases. I am very grateful to staff of the ANRI for helping me in conducting my research, but also for providing me with great insight into Indonesian culture, bureaucracy and all other puzzling peculiarities a naive European student encounters when visiting the insane metropolis that surrounds the National Archives of Indonesia for the first time. My research and stay in Jakarta were made considerably easier by working closely together with the archivists of ANRI. Thanks to the hospitable people working at ANRI, I learned a lot about Indonesian history, but perhaps even more about modern day Indonesia. 6 Introduction At the end of the eighteenth century, Dutch presence in Asia had been rooted for two centuries on a commercially driven trading company-system. The VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie), the Dutch East India Trading Company, had become the largest actor in the Indian Ocean trading zone, shipping tons of various