Book Review: The Indonesian Story: The Birth, Growth and Structure of the Indonesian Republic
| Published date | 01 March 1950 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205000500120 |
| Author | Robert Holland |
| Date | 01 March 1950 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
International Journal
recognizable
as such by
other
people
and
not
the
result
of
so-called
"missionary"
activity.
Professor
Leonid
I.
Strakhovsky
of
Harvard
is
to
be
congratulated for
his
able
editing
of
the
volume.
University
of
Bridgeport.
Joseph
S.
Roucek
THE
INDONESIAN
STORY:
THE
BIRTH,
GROWTH
AND
STRUCTURE
OF THE
INDONESIAN
REPUBLIC.
By
Charles
Wolf,
Jr.
1948.
(New
York:
The
John
Day
Company
for
the American
Institute
of
Pacific
Relations.
xii,
201pp.
$3.00
U.S.)
The
author,
who
was
American
Vice-Consul
at
Batavia
for
more
than
a
year,
until
February,
1947,
set
himself
the
task
of
describing
objectively
and
dispassionately
the
development
of
the
Republic
of
Indonesia from
its
proclamation
in
August,
1945
down
to
the
conclusion
of
the
Renville Agreement,
under
Security
Council auspices,
in
January,
1948.
Much
has happened
since
then,
but
Mr. Wolf's
lucid
and
detailed
account
of
the
early
phases
of
the
Dutch-Indonesian
struggle
is
a
valuable
introduction
to
a
study
of
constitutional
developments in
Southeast
Asia
which
are
now
of
international
importance.
His
views
on
some
issues
which
have
been
much
obscured
by
partisanship
and
prejudice
may
be
summarized
briefly.
As
regards the
collaborationist
charges
directed
against
the
Republic
and many
of
its
leaders,
public opinion in
Indonesia
holds Soekarno
and
Hatta
not
as
having
been
pro-Japanese,
but
as
the
leaders
who
cheated
the
Japanese
by
political cunning
and
who
brought
the
Republic
to
life
as
a
result.
Once
the
Republic
was
established
all
nationalists were
solidly
united behind
the
Republic.
After
the
British
occupied
the Indies
with
meagre
forces,
various groups,
irresponsible
as
well
as
responsible,
were
able
to
secure
large stocks
of
Japanese arms
and
ammunition.
This
explains
the outbreak
of
violence
and
looting
which
soon
followed,
and
also
later
widespread lawlessness.
The
official
Dutch
policy
at
first
had
no
place
for,
and
took
no
account
of,
the
revolutionary
Republic. This
was
the
reason
for
much
basic
ill-feeling
and
animosity.
After
a
Dutch
mission
to
the
interior
of
Java
in
September,
1946
revealed
the order,
peace,
friendliness,
and
relative
prosperity
which
prevailed
there,
the
way was paved
for
the
Cheribon
Agreement
which
was
signed
in March,
1947.
But
it
really
represented
only
a
somewhat
premature
agreement
to agree, because
both
signatories
clung to
different
interpretations
of
the
terms
"co-
operation"
and
"federal."
There
was
also
a
mutual
distrust
of
motives
and
intentions.
The Republican
government
is
not
a
democratic
one
in
the
pure
sense
of
the
word,
because
the
delegates
to
the
representative
body
are
not
elected
by
the
people
but
selected
by
the
President.
The
people
un-
doubtedly support
the
government
but
do
not
as
yet
seem to
have
reached
the
stage
at
which
they
either
wish
or
are
able
to
take
part
in
it.
Until
the
masses
of
the
people
have
been
uplifted
economically
82
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