After the Napoleonic Wars, the Netherlands needed the Indies to transform into a cash cow. The extent that it did so meant that Liberals could then afford to reevaluate their position regarding natives. What about the natives themselves? Well, it was a different world then. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp is a bulk mail issue featuring then Queen Wilhelmina. There is no effort to display the colony on any Netherland Indies stamp prior to 1938. This is perhaps a consequence of decisions for the place being a conversation between Dutchmen alone.
Todays stamp is issue A9, a 10 Cent stamp issued by the Netherland Indies colony of Holland in modern day Indonesia starting in 1903. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
Indonesia had been under Dutch control for hundreds of years, first as a for profit company and then as a colony. It had been a consistent money loser. After the Napoleonic Wars and with continued troubles in Belgium it became critical the colony begin to turn a profit. A cultivation system was put in place that required either 20 % of a villages land or 2 months of labor on the part of peasants go toward crops for export. In reality this moved the vast bulk of land from food production for locals or non use to export crops. Large, efficient rubber plantations began to generate much revenue both in the Indies and for the Netherlands. The Dutch did a slightly better job than the British in Ireland preventing such an economy leading to famines.
With the financial crisis past, the Dutch began to wonder if enough was being done for natives. In 1903, Queen Wilhelmina announced a new “ethical policy” that intended to open up more educational opportunities at local Dutch schools for natives and much spending on irrigation, roads, and water systems to deal with the rapidly growing population. All this was done very paternalistically but when a nationalistic organization was formed by newly educated natives, the Budi Utomo, it was welcomed by the Dutch.
It was also the Dutch that began the more threatening moves against the colony. Dutch communist activist Henk Sneevliet spent much time in the Indies forming a local communist party open to both left leaning Dutch and natives. It’s goal was Indonesian independence under communism. Sneevliet had much success among seaman and many ships were manned by mixed crews. His work culminated in the mutiny of the Heavy Cruiser HNLMS De Zeven Provincien in 1933. The Dutch naval ship with a mutinous crew of 450 was then bombed by the Dutch air force killing 23. This was quite a story and the ship was renamed to improve its reputation. Still in the Far East, Snievliet worked toward the forming of the mainland Chinese communist party. Later back in Holland, he was arrested during the German occupation. He walked to his 1942 execution singing “The Internationale”.
Well my drink is empty and I am left with no one to toast. The Dutch never found the ideal formula and the Indonesians themselves in this period seemed largely no shows to the debate. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.