"COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Indonesische jongens tijdens hun soldatentraining door de Japanners TMnr 10001989" by unknown - Tropenmuseum Native nameTropenmuseumLocationAmsterdamCoordinates52° 21′ 45.69″ N, 4° 55′ 21.06″ E Established1864Websitehttp://www.tropenmuseum.nl/Tropenmuseum. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Impact of World War Two on Indonesia
Overview: How did World War Two in the Pacific affect Indonesia?
The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 triggered a lightening wave of virtually simultaneous attacks all over the Asia Pacific region. In quick succession the British Empire in South East Asia would lose Malaya and their 'fortress' of Singapore. The Japanese military machine also struck at American forces in The Philippines and soon had conquered there as well. The Dutch East Indies did not escape as the Japanese war machine wanted to control Indonesia's immense natural resources. The Japanese secured naval and aerial dominance and occupied all of the major islands of the archipelago. It is important to remember that as early as 1942 the Pacific War did begin to turn against the Japanese, but that their occupation of Indonesia had various important effects on the prospects for full Indonesian Independence after the war was over.
How (and why) did the Japanese attempt to use Indonesian nationalism? |
Source A: Professor Merle Ricklefs "A Modern History of Indonesia" |
The Japanese did provide some limited support for Indonesian nationalism, and as it became apparent they were losing the war by 1944, the Japanese even began discussions about granting full Indonesian independence.
|
"Vice-Admiral Maeda Tadashi was in charge of the army–navy liaison office in Jakarta, and was a man of progressive views regarding Indonesian nationalism. He now began to use naval money to finance speaking tours by Sukarno and Hatta, sending them even to Makasar in April 1945 and to Bali and Banjarmasin in June." Source B: Indonesian Writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer recalling the Japanese occupation"The days of Japanese military rule were days of severe hardship. I went to school during the day and worked at Domei (the Japanese news service) at night. Once in a few days, on the road between school and work, I saw a person who had died of starvation. No one touched that body all the while. That's how hard people's lives were at that time. On the contrary, there would be fights over a dead chicken floating in the river. I had three meals a day, but usually two of those meals were just vegetables, while for dinner I had thin rice gruel. It was very difficult to get food." |
What was the Japanese occupation like?
The Japanese occupation was incredibly brutal and created an angry and desperate population across the archipelago who would not be keen to welcome back the Dutch with open arms.
- Romusha: The Japanese forced labourers to leave their villages and work for the Japanese in Indonesia and all over South East Asia. These labourers worked in terrible conditions far from home and a great many died or never returned.
- "Comfort women": The Japanese military occupation forced many young women and girls into sexual slavery both in Indonesia or other locations in their wider South East Asian empire. Survivor Jan Ruff O'Hearne's story, who told her story of life in internment in Java after 50 Years of Silence.
- Kempeitai: The Kempeitai were the brutal Japanese military police who savagely put down any village uprisings against Japanese rule.
- Terror Tactics: The Japanese occupiers often used violence to control the population.
- Internment: European citizens who had been captured by the Japanese were kept in prison under terrible conditions. Many would die in captivity.
- Famine: The Japanese occupiers would requisition rice crops for their military, and there was a severe drought in 1944. These factors allied with the fact that many agricultural workers had been taken to work as Romusha meant that there was a lack of rice for the Indonesian population and a terrible famine resulted in 1944-45.
- Inflation: The Japanese printed a new occupation currency, but it lost its value very quickly due to rapid inflation. This worsened the already bad economic conditions of World War Two Indonesia.
How did the Japanese occupation influence Indonesian youth?
The Japanese occupation and example had a very powerful effect on Indonesian youth (Pemuda) which helped radicalise them, and prepared the conditions for Indonesian post-war independence.
- Defeat of the Europeans: The sheer speed of the Japanese conquest of South East Asia made Indonesian feel that they too could fight and defeat the Europeans when they returned after the war.
- Organisation: The Japanese created a great many youth organisations from military groups to sporting groups. These helped create a strong sense of group identity which would be the backbone of the Indonesian Revolution.
- Militarisation: Many of these groups for young people provided military training for Indonesians. These troops would go on to fight for independence.
Tasks and questions |
Links |
You may also want to try this assessment. |
|