International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 165

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
total re-invasion of the Dutch military and its ally between 1945 until 1950. Indonesia was
faced with great misery during its struggle either from the financial exploitation of the debts
and the re-invasion from the Dutch until 1949 when the Dutch finally accepted officially the
state of Indonesia. The economic colonization in the young Indonesia nation has been
succinctly summed up by an Australian historian, Ricklefs, as follows:
In the economy generally non-Indonesian interests remained important. Shell and
the American companies Stanvac and Caltex were strong in the oil industry, and
most inter-island shipping was in the hands of the Dutch KPM line. Banking was
dominated by Dutch, British and Chinese interests, and Chinese also controlled much
of the rural credit. It was clear to informed observers that Indonesians were not
independent economically, a fact which was to contribute to the radicalism of the
late 1950s.59
Alongside the contested field in the economic sector, Indonesia’s education sector also
suffered the same struggle whereby foreign forces strove to establish their foothold within
the curriculum formation of the new Indonesian education system. The new government led
by Sukarno regime gave priority to fostering the education sector. The number of
elementary school entrants had increased from 1.7 million to 2.5 million between 1953 and
1960 although 60 percent dropped out before completing the school. By 1961 the adult
literacy rate had been 56.7 percent for those over the age of ten compared to the poor rate
of the Dutch Ethical Policy on Education reform in 1930 which had been a mere 7.4%. Many
schools were set up and teachers were enforced in in-training service to meet the demands
of the school entrants. The onset of the Dutch Ethical Policy in 1930 had heralded the
nationalist schools which were called ‘wild schools’ by the Dutch. In these classes,
nationalist teachers rejected teaching the History of the Netherlands and promoted the
History of the People of Indonesia as an effective way to counter the colonial ruler.
Curricular reform had provided a different perspective in cultivating an indigenous-modern
school system. The notable influence of western-modern teaching was the work of Karl
Marx which was introduced by a German teacher and then absorbed by the first Indonesian
President Sukarno when he attended Surabaya schools. Marxist influences among
Indonesian independent insurgents were strong. One of emerging political leaders Sutan
Sahrir even married a Dutch Marxist, Maria Duchateau who compounded Sutan’s defiance
of Dutch authority. He denounced the inferiority complex that threatened the Indonesian
people under Dutch colonization. Many of their movements were joined by other young
insurgents from the Islamic front. One notable figure was Haji Ahmad Dahlan who then
established Muhammadiyah. Muhammadiyah, as the leading national ‘modernist’ social
Islamic organization, formed branches throughout the country and approximately 30 million
followers today. Founded in 1912, Muhammadiyah runs mosques, prayer houses, clinics,
orphanages, poorhouses, schools, public libraries, and universities. Muhammadiyah was set
59

Ricklefs, Op. Cit., 291.

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