The Cultivation System 1830-1870
Source A: Extract from "Max Havelaar" by Multatuli. It was written in 1859 by former Dutch East Indies colonial civil servant Eduard Douwes Dekker who used the name “Multatuli”, meaning “I have suffered much.” Dekker wrote this fictional account based on his own experiences. It had a huge public impact when it was published in Holland."Take a look at the incredible quantity of Javanese products you see on the markets in the Netherlands, and you will be convinced that this policy has been very successful, even if you don't find it noble. For, if anyone asks whether the farmer himself obtains any reward, proportional to his labour, I must give a negative answer. The government requires him to cultivate on his soil what the government pleases, he is even punished if he sells his products to anyone else, and the government decides the price that will be paid. The cost of transport to Europe, with the intermediary of a privileged trade organisation, is high. The money paid to the chiefs to encourage them, make the price even higher and – because we want profits after all, this profit can only be found by paying the Javanese a minimum amount, lest he starve, for that would diminish the producing power of the nation." Source B: Extract from "Java; or, How to manage a colony" by James Money who wrote this in 1861. Money was British and admired how the Dutch had made a profit from their Java colony."A quarter of a century ago Java was, and had been for many years in a condition similar to the present chronic state of India. Poverty, crime, and dissatisfaction among the Natives, failing means and general discontent among the Europeans, a large debt and yearly deficit in the income of the country, both trade and revenue at the same low figure per head of the population, and absence of good feeling between European and Native existed in Java till 1832, as they now exist in India. A new system was then inaugurated, which, in twenty-five years, quadrupled the revenue, paid off the debt, changed the yearly deficit to a large yearly surplus, trebled the trade, improved the administration diminished crime and litigation, gave peace, security, and affluence to the people, combined the interests of European and Native, and, more wonderful still, nearly doubled an Oriental population, and gave contentment with the rule of their foreign conquerors to ten millions of a conquered Muslim race." Source C: Extract from "The Power of Prophecy" by Peter Carey. Carey is an Oxford Professor who has spent his academic career specialising in 19th Century Indonesia."The policies imposed by Van den Bosch may have been the saving of the Dutch state, but they spelt disaster for the Javanese. After 1830 a new world had been born. It was a turning point as significant as any in colonial history. But it would exact a terrible cost." |
What was the Cultivation System?The Cultivation System was a form of tax. It replaced land taxes owed to the Dutch in cash (which could be difficult to collect) with a requirement that one/fifth of village land was used to grow cash crops for the colonial government such as coffee or indigo for export instead. The important thing to note is that the colonial government fixed the price of the crops so that the Dutch were guaranteed a profit when they sold the produce in European markets.
Why did the Dutch bring in the Cultivation System?The costs of the Java War and political difficulties in Europe caused by the Belgian revolution left the Dutch with severe cash problems. The Cultivation System was designed to generate income for the Dutch, but it would also redefine the nature of Dutch rule in Indonesia.
Who developed the System?
Johannes Van den Bosch (it's his portrait on the left) was appointed governor-general of the Dutch colonies in Indonesia in 1830, and developed the 'System' but it was really more of a general principle that villages should pay taxes in the form of export crops such as Coffee. The 'System' was interpreted by local officials differently all over Java and the other parts of the Dutch East Indies where it was introduced.
How did the system operate?The cultivation system replaced land taxes and required that one/fifth of village land be used to grow crops eg: Coffee and Indigo for export. These crops were given to the colonial government at a fixed price so that they could be sold on at a large profit.
Why was the system abandoned?The Cultivation System led to mass exploitation of the villages. Dutch and Indonesian local officials abused their position and in the end the Cultivation System (while designed to benefit everybody) was really only the forced delivery of export crops such as coffee to the government by the villages.
Eventually this was noticed in Holland itself, and the system began to attract a great deal of criticism on ethical grounds. This criticism led to the System was eventually abandoned in 1870. One particularly important source of this criticism was the publication of the fictional "Max Havelaar", which was a bestseller and outlined the abuses of the Cultivation System. It generated mass public interest in Holland and led to the calls to abandon the system. What were the consequences of the Cultivation system?Amsterdam became a trade centre for commodities. The Dutch used their profits to pay for colonial administration in Java, military conquests in the outer islands and huge infrastructure developments in Holland itself such as railways. Dutch citizens also had to pay less tax because the government was able to run on its profits from Indonesia.
In Indonesia, only a very small amount of people benefited from the system (those who helped administer it!), and it does seem to have led to famine as well as environmental damage. There were rice shortages linked to the system but the main impact seems to have been that the system kept the countryside poor, and so villagers could not afford to buy rice when the price went up. |