indonesian economic decolonization in regional and ... - kitlv

J. Thomas Lindblad and Peter Post
Indonesian economic decolonization in
regional and international perspective
An introduction
The decolonization of Asia and Africa in the mid-twentieth century was a
watershed in recent world history. After decades of formal and informal
integration in the Western and Japanese empires the subordination of the
peoples of both continents came to an end and in a relatively short period,
the new nation-states became independent players in the global political
arena. Freeing themselves from the yoke of Western imperialism sometimes
led to bitter struggles for Independence, as in Algeria, French Indochina and
Indonesia. Elsewhere, the process of decolonization went relatively smoothly,
for example in India and the Philippines. However, achieving political independence
and obtaining administrative and judicial control over one’s territory
did not automatically mean gaining control over economic institutions
and the economic assets of the former colonizing power. Economic decolonization
generally lagged behind political decolonization.
In the historiography on decolonization, economic aspects are on occasion
mentioned but tend to remain subordinated to politics. Much of the literature
assumes a political perspective and is concerned with questions of power and
authority and military issues as well as the relationship of decolonization to
the Cold War. The lack of interest in the economic side of the process may
come as a surprise given the fact that economic exploitation had formed one
of the major reasons behind colonial expansion, and that in building up their
national economies the newly sovereign nations badly needed the institutions,
capital, know-how and management capabilities that in the past had
been supplied by the colonizer.
Most former colonies were strikingly ill-prepared to manage a modern
banking system, a smooth working industrial and trading sector and an
export-oriented estate agriculture. Indonesia is a case in point. When Sukarno
and Moh. Hatta declared Indonesia independent in 1945 and when the
Netherlands in 1949 formally acknowledged Indonesian sovereignty, hopes