The term ‘British interregnum’, in relation to Indonesia, refers to two short periods in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when the British took control of most of the Netherlands Indies from the Dutch, only to hand it back a few years later. The British did this as a result of their wars with France. The first occupation occurred in 1795-1797 after a pro-France regime had been established in Holland. After peace was declared in 1802, the occupied territories were returned to the Dutch. Hostilities soon resumed, however, and with the annexation of Holland by the French in 1810, the British once more moved into the Netherlands Indies. Following France’s defeat in Europe, the Dutch territories were restored once again in 1816. This paper deals with British rule in Timor, one of the far-flung outposts of the Netherlands Indies, and the central role played by a native of that island, Jacobus Arnoldus Hazaart, in helping the British administer the territory.
Many political policies of Soekarno-era Indonesia were celebrated in popular song. By far the most referenced policy was Indonesia's Confrontation with Malaysia. This article examines the contents of many of those songs and discusses the reasons for their creation and popularity. At the time, the creation of an 'Indonesian identity' based on cultural practices was a matter considered of the utmost importance by Soekarno and his left-wing supporters. This led to frequent public statements against the perils of Western 'cultural imperialism' , especially through rock and roll. It is argued, however, that the Left by no means had a monopoly on the propagation of national pride. The Left supported Confrontation, but so did the majority of the Indonesian public; many also liked Western-influenced music and a number of Confrontation songs are not so dissimilar to the popular Western music of the day. Through an examination of some of these songs, referencing popular culture theorists and Indonesian popular culture specialists (both in the fields of music and other areas), it is shown how popular music reflected what was happening in the political arena, and also how songwriters and performers endeavoured to use music to articulate their own social meaning.
This paper examines the aftermath in West Timor and elsewhere in the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), of the 30 September 1965 ‘coup’ in Jakarta that resulted in the banning of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the large-scale killing of its members and associates. An assessment is given of PKI strength in NTT in 1965, along with an analysis of the killings, including the numbers killed, who carried out the killings, who was targeted, and the fate of those captured, but not killed. Consideration is also given to the ongoing effects in NTT of accusations of PKI membership.
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