We have seen two colonial offensives, two peace agreements, civil wars and multiple foreign interventions. And yet, 1949 is the most deadly year of the entire Indonesian War of Independence. And, without spoiling the episode, stuff doesn't end in 1949. Indonesia will stay the stage of revolts, colonialism, civil war and ideological purges for decades to come. We won't get to cover that in these series, as these are exclusively about the Indonesian War of Independence from 1945 to 1949. We might revisit the area in the future though. If you want to support that, and share in the decision of what series to make next, you can support us on www.patreon.com/timeghosthistory or timeghot.tv. Cheers, Joram and Izzy *RULES OF CONDUCT* STAY CIVIL AND POLITE we will delete any comments with personal insults, or attacks. AVOID PARTISAN POLITICS AS FAR AS YOU CAN we reserve the right to cut off vitriolic debates. HATE SPEECH IN ANY DIRECTION will lead to a ban. RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, OR SLAMMING OF MINORITIES will lead to an immediate ban. PARTISAN REVISIONISM, ESPECIALLY HOLOCAUST AND HOLODOMOR DENIAL will lead to an immediate ban.
This was a really great series, and gave us a lot of insight into the reasons colonialism went into decline after WWII. No matter what specific events or conflicts you choose to cover in future series, I hope you keep providing the same context and level of information about where the events fit in to the larger picture. It's so much more interesting than a dry "X happened, then Y, then Z..." kind of show.
@@Healermain15 You mean it's not "decriminalized" 😉 Sanctioned would almost mean actively recommended, which it surely wouldn't, even if it were made completely legal 😅
As a Dutch person I find it almost unreal that this immensely big group of countless island once was considered part of the Netherlands. The independence war is a tragic episode that concluded this period of colonization. When travelling through the country I was pleasantly surprised that the Indonesians weren't grudgeful people and I encountered 0 negative responses when I said to them I was Dutch. They kinda laughed when I used the Indonesian slang word of 'Belanda'. Thanks for covering these events. I was more than happy to deliver some support. Take care.
Word "Belanda" is a official word in Indonesia for "Holland". Long before Indonesian language is formed, Indonesia was conquered by Portugese, Portugese called Dutch poeple is "Holanda", Javanese poeple heard that and implement it to their language by calling a Ducth a "Walanda" and slang it to "Londo". Indonesian language is formed and take that word and change it a bit to "Belanda".
@Loli4lyf Suharto did a really great job to inflame that sentiment, even though the chinese in Indonesia are already different than the communist mainlanders. Even more funny, he doesn't actually hate chinese, as there are chinese marrying into his family too. It was pure political tool for him.
Indonesia and Poland have almost the same national flags. Considering Polish history, our flag is often described as a bandage covered with blood. After this mini series I see that the flag of Indonesia can be sescribed in the same way. Greetings and a lot of respect from Poland to Indonesia.
@@TheDesta82 yeah but it has the same meaning tho, red represents blood and white is purity, even bung tomo (national hero) once speech "as long as Indonesian bull(warrior) still have the red blood that can make one piece of cloth red and white we will never surrender to anyone"
Awesome, as an Indonesian who has been following this series I can say that it is even more in-depth than what is taught in Indonesian schools. We never talked about the actions of pemuda, the killings of Indo (people with european ancestry) and just ignore it. As such, the majority of Indonesians don't even know the huge massacre that was done by the Pemuda, which is pretty sad actually. Anyway, thanks for the series! Keep it up and may you recover quickly, Indy!
Overhere in the Netherlands we also were not thought what happend during the war of independance. everything was swept under the rug. Soldiers who returned were ordered to be silent about what happend. There is still a big Christian Indonesian comunity living here. Both our countries are cultural merged but sadly enough we have very black pages in both of our history. Knowing history even the painfull parts is the only way to go healthy forward as a Nation.
@@obelic71 There are like 30 million christian living in Indonesia today. It's easy to forget about how many christian are here because there are 200 million muslim.
@Eisen Chao G'day, Yay Team ! I published a book of Poetry in 1996, containing a poem about the EuroPeons. "Well Euro means 'From Europe comes'..., and " Peon began as Latin, Still is a Spanish word... A Landless ignorant Peasant Who is lower than a turd..." Look in my "Warbles In The Wilderness..." Playlist, to find the whole poem. Another little gem, To colon-ise... In Nature a Colon is a long muscular Tube, lined with a Muccous Membrane and filled full of Faecal Material. EuroPeon Colon-ists set out to "find their fortunes" by travelling as far as they could go from their denuded overpopulated unemployed Homelands, and upon arival they emptied their Colons all over everything they failed to underconstumble. And they continued to shit all over everyone & everything, right up until they were thrown out, or they ran away from the Wastelands their rapacious pillaging had created. Just(ifiably ?) sayin', Take it easy, Such is Life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
@@ajirajend584 meanwhile those few Indonesian watching the intro: welp, I guess I'll be switching sides now Beli lotion pemutih sariayu abis nonton videonya
The ending gave me goosebumps as an Indonesian! It’s a travesty that this only had 33k viewers, more Indonesians should watch this miniseries to understand more and be proud of our own history!
Came here after seeeing Indy's update after being infected by the COVID, wishing him a rapid and full recovery. And as an Indonesian I thank you and Timeghost history's team for this series.
That 'merdeka' shout at the end by Indy gave me goosebumps and sense of proud as Indonesian for all the struggle that our Nation's founding fathers did! What a series! Well played guys!
If anyone is interested, I am doing a video series on the Dutch legacy in Indonesia, starting with architecture in Jakarta. I just uploaded a video about the colonial old town, Kota Tua.
@Katya Vogel... I hope you do not miss this Edinburgh University speech from Congressman (India) Shashi Tharoor on colonialism's evils, with focus on the British imperial rule on India. ruclips.net/video/OB5ykS-_-CI/видео.html
@@katvogel98 Well, you just have to wait for the outcome of the 4-year investigation in the Netherlands. (This was instigated after the publication of Rémy Limpach's dissertation.
As indonesian, i really appreciate your content with my nation independece war. You really hit me hard with your mini documentary, also thanks for the team who search these information and create this (For me) Powerful content. Cause in my nation culture, its just "Forbidden" To simply talk about war after the indepence. Once again, thank you from indonesia.
@@a1r0t7v in my opinion, it forbid because simply we as people don't wanna die or "vanish" In some cases. That the dark side of soeharto to keep people from knowing the truth. His made teror to Frighten the people or Warning for some people who really knows the truth about his "Kudeta". In fact, Indonesian people except Soeharto family and his allied doesnt really know about how "Really" Soekarno died.
As an indonesian who found this channel quite a week ago, this is kind of surprising that our history is being broadcasted, and i mean, by a new scope This deserves more attentions from us, especially our "kaum-kaum muda pelajar" (students), as one of the references to our history I will reccomend this to my colleagues, nice vid!
Well writen and narated history of Indonesian Independence War. This version is closer to the history taught in Indonesian schools than the version which I watch and read in a museum in Delft Netherlands.
I asked my grandfather (born in 1928, still alive) about the war in Indonesia once. He didn't have much good to say about the Dutch government back then. He himself was lucky, being the eldest son of a farmer he got dispensation from the draft because he was needed on the farm. His younger brother did get drafted at some point, but he refused and got locked up for it (I don't know if the war in Indonesia was still ongoing then). Apparently, when my grandfather and his father went to drop off his brother at the lock-up, they had stocked him up with bags full of sigarettes and chocolate. When they came in, the guys already inside were like "why did you bring all that stuff?" And they opened a cabinet which was packed so full of chocolate, sweets and sigarettes that half of it spilled over the floor. My grandfather has all kinds of interesting stories like this of the war and the rebuilding period right after and I feel lucky he is still around and of sound enough mind to tell these stories.
I never heard the story from my grandfather directly because he already passed away. But when I was a kid father passed me the story. He said that my grandfather was a trader back from the colonial era so he could still traveled in and out Jakarta when the time of the independence's war, and he said that most of the Dutch were decent, but the NICA's troops (mostly the indigenous Indonesian member) were bad and kinda ruthless. But the interesting part of the story was because he's a trader that still had access to move in and out, he could help the Republic by smuggling the weapons from Jakarta to TNI / Republican troops in West Java.
Im sure that Suharto guy will not be important later, I mean he is just some army commander right guys? wait why is all my family gone and why there is some guy with walkie talkie over there?
As a Filipino, Independence was given to us after the war by the Americans. This has a drawback though, we're not as united as the Indonesians. I always envy how the Indonesians had a successful revolution while all our revolutions are failures.
Thank you for this awesome series. We learn in the Netherlands about the atrocities performed in our country's name, but this is much more in depth. We must remember so that we don't repeat these things - ever.
Thanks for making these series. My grandfather fought in the war on the republican side. He has told me lots of interesting stories about the war and the events after the war. You should consider visiting Indonesia when you’re better, it’s a beautiful country.
Cherish those words from your grandfather... I was fortunate to hear first-hand my grandfather's stories from his WWI service in France in 1918, your grandfather's stories from the Indonesian War of Independence must be no less remarkable. Anything you can share would be invaluable.
Jo Ta WW1? That’s amazing man. Our elders are basically living relics from a totally different time. Even though both world wars and the cold war played out only in the past 100 years or so... From what I hear from my grandfather is that facing death and extreme suffering was just a basic part of (everyday) life for people in that time. I find it remarkable when I visit and see what it has become, since he made his way to the rank of general after the war and helped build the country. The country has a bloody history, also after the war. Ofcourse it’s not perfect and it has its flaws as any developing country, but they’re for a large part free now and a key player in the region (250 mil. People, large economy, secular democracy, etc) Not here to brag or some shit but it’s always fascinating to see countries fight their way to freedom and pursue their place in the world
"What is Holland" "What do you mean, what is it?" It's a country, right next to Belgium" "No, that's the Netherlands" "Holland is the Netherlands" "Then who are the Dutch???"
Everyone is making this so difficult! The country is Nederland, its people are Nederlanders, which means that I am Nederlands. And Holland is only about 1/6th of the country, currently divided into the 2 provences of North- and South-Holland (it used to be one big provence).
Thank you. A Brief Concise 5 Part Series of The Indonesian War of Independence. I learned so much in 5 episodes. Now is to Dive into History Books for the Details. A Job Well Done. Many Thanks.
Huh, I was teached in secondary school that we had a firm grip on Indonesia in 1949 and that we only gave up Indonesia after threats of the USA to withdraw Marshall Help money. But it seems that we only controlled very small urban centres. It was fascinating to learn more about this period.
Yes, the Dutch held a firm grip op the key economic and strategic locations. But there was no way they would pacify the entire island without a lot more force, a lot more financial investment and a lot more international outcry - all while not being able to utilise the islands economically. I don't know what the Dutch would have done without the International Anger (and the American threat to discontinue Marshall Aid) - they might have tried, they might have left after a while anyway. But in 1949 - the Dutch leaving was largely due to internal unrest and international pressure.
Interesting. For this particular of history Indonesia actually taught it as it was, that the countryside are basically free for all, not under Dutch control, which is why guerilla warfare was causing them so much problem. Because you can't control the entire archipelago if they're hostile to you with only 150,00 troops.
At the same time, colonialism has always been almost exclusively the matter of urban centers. Most Indonesians living in the countryside would have never seen a white man in their lives and I expect that some of them would think the "Dutch" was the name for some ruling native tribe or something.
On the other hand, Indonesians weren't taught much about the complicated parts of the struggle (like the 'battle royale'ish part in 1948). Basically, you can sum them up like 'Dutch invaded twice despite of the previous two agreements. We launched this awesome counterattack in Jogjakarta that impressed the world, thus resulting in world pressure and Dutch finally gave up'. Moreover, there's even less (or basically no) mention of different international angles. Especially in that point where US was impressed by how Indonesian managed to quell communist rebellion, and how US pressured Dutch by using Marshall Aid as a leverage. So basically the total inverse of your education lol.
Indy i love your serie. Must say as a dutchman whos grandfather ran for the bersiap and greatgrandfather died in an japcamp my opinion was kind of pro dutch. After seeing this part my mind has been changed. I hold your truth rather high and shall use this as new base of information.
Indy, please continue making videos about Indonesia’s history after the 1949. There are plenty of worthy stories from the history of Indonesia that people should learn. As Our founding father Soekarno said “Jangan sekali-kali melupakan sejarah” or translated as “never ever forget the history”.
as an Indonesian i would like to say i love this series, thank you for explaining to us our national history of independence , can you make a video about how indonesia got west papua
As an Indonesian, I now realize that in total years, Dutch has never colonized us for 350 years. We were not ruled by Dutch. They had to make consessions with the Java kings, the Sumatran kings, rulers of Borneo, Sulawesi and Bali, in order to survive living in the archipelago. If we are truly colonized, then we should be able to speak the Dutch language. Fact is: we cannot. We only speak one language the Bahasa Indonesia and the secondary language of native Java, or Bali or Bugis, or Madura, Sunda, Banjar, and others. The kingdom of Netherland only manage to pacify Aceh in 1905. De facto, the Sultan of Yogya had his sovereignity, the taxes were still paid to the King of Surakarta. So, being naive, the governor general of the Dutch East Indies, who quickly surrendered to Japan in 1942, should have realized that they were in no position to return to their seat, after the Japanese surrender. It is just overwhelming to fight 120,000 strong PETA, Heiho, and other Pemuda paramilitary volunteers, which were already galvanized by the training of Japanese military. Dutch should have just surrendered in 1945, making friends with Sukarno, and preventing unnecessary bloodshed. If that happens, the transfer of power would have been smooth, and cooperation between two countries excel to a position giving Indonesia and Netherlands prestigious and distinguished place among the nations of the world. Because of the revolution between 1945-1949, we failed to use the academic knowledge pioneered by the Dutch academics in Indonesia, we did not achieve self reliance on food harvest, and corruption thrives as a by-product of the military rule and meddling of the Indonesian civil administration. We had to reinvent our education system, keep changing the curriculum, and mostly talented young people are brain-drained to western or developed nations. The Chinese plundered our nickel mines, our gold and copper mine taken by the US, and God knows where all those oil, gas and coal mine profits go to. The greed of the Dutch administration and the weak character of the Javanese people leads us to this point in time today. Anyway, thank you for the series since 1945 to 1949. It is good summary of our independence struggle since 1945.
That's interesting, I like the evidence of language especially. I'm not a fan of the dutch here, so I hope you don't see my question as a defense of them. Do you think there would be an Indonesia without the Dutch?
Thank you for the this series Indy! As an Indonesian that have love to history, I can say that what you have tell here is mostly accurate. This is a great series. Even you mentioned the turbulence time in Bersiap. I only got that story not so long ago, and not in school lol. I knew you from your time in WW1 channel, and I am glad that I also got subscribe to this channel when you moved from WW1. This channel can cover much more and more. Keep up the good work man.
Enjoyed watching your excellent series. Born in Batavia in 1936 I lived through the whole thing. First Japanese occupation, father in POW camp followed by the bersiap period and finally forced to leave Djakarta in 1954, to start a new life in my fatherland. The Netherlands was great but missed warm and sunny Java. Moved to California in 1960.
Our textbook tend to simpliflying the story. Like, they never really told us the real motives why Westerling doing a coup. Why they burned Bandung (BLA). Just told us the simplest thing so we get the idea
@@marshalniel the simplification often erased the spirit of the revolution to a bunch of "events". everything is told in a boring chronological timeline. no wonder most indonesian students sleep through history classes
@@askkedladd Oh it's shit everywhere. In Germany we learned basically nothing about the first World War and only about the european theatres in WW2. History class in school is a joke.
I complete watching all Indonesian Independence War Series. Big Suprise, i didn't think before, that the foreigner would be objective about Indonesian History. 👍
The independence of Indonesia from the Dutch was achieved at a great cost; however it generally did not improve much of the lives of the majority of the Indonesian people in the years ahead. This probably isn't really the end of the line here, but rather the end of the beginning. Guided Democracy beckons ahead... 4:10 Now that is a name that becomes more familiar and well known once Konfrontasi and the 30 September Movement happens between 1963 and 1966, and 1965 respectively. He may be a lesser known figure for now in the Indonesian War of Independence, but things will change soon between Sukarno and Suharto.
Well, as with many revolutions, transition from the war and establishing a new government is going to be slow. The United States didn’t become a mighty country in one night. Same with Rome, China, Japan, France, Britain, Russia, etc. And the same can be said with Indonesia.
Well.... indonesia is a nation consist of 17,000 island 1300 tribes 700 languages sure it's not just going smooth all the time. Which is why indonesia spend almost 20 years after it's independence busy fighting rebellion and separatist group, indonesia will finally achieve it's "Peaceful and stability" period under the military dictatorship from 1967-1998, after the fall of the military dictatorship after 30 years in power, sure there is instability but again we solve it and manage to keep our country united untill this day, now we become one of the most stable nation and have $ 1,2 trillion economy which is sure will be even grow bigger in near future we have passed our bloody past and now keep our head straight to the future.
For me as indonesian, Sovereignity was achieved at one point during 1945-1949. But true independence is yet to come. economic, social & political stability is the goal
Suharto is surprisingly good tactician and strategies. Him and Sukarno were fallen heroes in Indonesian history. Once a great mighty man consumed by the power they held.
And after all this bloodshed, the Netherlands arguably ended up better off without. Economic growth and standards of living skyrocketed in the Netherlands after 1950. This whole war was about a small elite maintaining their own wealth and increasing it, using false rhetoric to "sell" it to the nation. No real benefit for the common people, in both countries, will be had from this. That is how colonialism and imperialism works. Nearly every European colony started as a private enterprise to obtain wealth. Just about every time it turned out that maintaining the colony would only sap the expected revenues, thus the colony would be handed over to the national government who would pay for it, but the profits would go to the individuals. This is a very misunderstood dynamic about European overseas expansion. Rarely where the states the ones pushing for colonisation. They instead got presented the bill under the nomenclatures of "national prestige". As for the colonised? Well profits have to be made and costs are very high, so "screw them". Such a great system... But my grandfather was one of the conscripts sent to Indonesia after WW2. He was liberated around Market Garden in 1944, volunteered to fight the Germans and after basic training in England, did fight the Germans during WW2. Then he was shipped off to this colonial war. He came back in 1950 and spend a year in a mental institute, a place he would go back to multiple times during his life. He never told my mother what happened, but it created serious mental health issues. After his death we learned some details about what might have happened. It turns out that he dragged a fellow soldier to safety under fire, probably an ambush. The now old man he saved was sitting at the funeral, crying all the time. It did push me a bit more towards becoming a military historian, which is hopefully coming a reality in the coming months seeing as I am working on a PHD proposal. Not about this war, but still.
Were it not for the post-war economic boom, Western Europeans would never have lived down losing the colonies. Hell, even now the nostalgia for these empires runs strong. I used to think that most Europeans perceive their former colonial possessions in the same way that the Germans do the Holocaust, that they are incredibly embarassed about it to the point of self-loathing but it turns out not to be the case at all.
Yes. The Dutch's presence is still in Indonesia as a company. It's the Unilever. It is in our milk (Frisian Flag), our soap (Lux), our Meses (Ceres), our butter (Blueband).
@@yarpen26 Maybe for the English who still seem in utter denial about their decline. In the Netherlands there is barely any mention of Indonesia. It was a colony, some people got really rich of it, the VOC was "amazing" and some bad stuff happened. It just is barely mentioned to the point that barely any guilt can even exist, because it is unknown. Only recently did some understanding start with a published PHD thesis called: De brandende kampongs van Generaal Spoor or the burning kampongs of general Spoor. An 900+ long book about just how much excessive violence was used and that it was structural. That one made some impact, but just how bad it was is only slowly being realised.
@@boringbreaker And that is exactly what the Dutch economic elite discovered again. You don't need to occupy a country, you just need to dominate its economy. Kinda ironic seeing as capitalism originated in the Netherlands, not Great Britain or the USA as they like to think. It was a logical consequence of Dutch history. The country got unified by the dukes of Burgundy, a line that started with a brother to the French Valois dynasty. Through marriage they obtained ever more territory and ended up in possession of one of the richest parts of Europe and started introducing state structures. Then they died out in 1477, the last female of the line married a Habsburg and in the 1560's onwards a full rebellion started against the Spanish Habsburg branch because of ever reducing privileges of the Dutch elite, both low ranking landed nobility and wealthy merchants and bankers. Now deprived of any monarch or even high nobility, the people with money started calling the shots. That is how you get accumulation of wealth, strong private property rights, free market ideas and unlimited pursued of self interest. Those merchants where making such a huge amount of money. A lot of them where richer than most nobles or even kings. For them, Indonesia was just one of many investment opportunities. They created a state structure where their interests would be defended. That has not changed. Make no illusion that company's like Unilever or Shell actually pay taxes. No, the profits are all for the shareholders. The Dutch state facilitates this with a very wide system of tax treaties to allow these company's to dodge taxes all over the world under the understanding that taxing profits twice would be unfair, and then also dodge them over here with more tax treaties that allows them to sent the funds to tax havens. Some of those merchants actively funded European wars, others did the same for the US war of independence. The US got a lot of weapons from the Netherlands, credit to pay for them etc. The Dollar is not an US invention, it is Czech/Bohemian in origin, but it was really circulated around the world by the Dutch. The same who controlled US finances for the years after independence. All that support had to be paid off. US decentralised state structures is also very much modelled after the Dutch Republic. Not so much in the details, bit the general idea of individual state freedoms and only arranging at a national level what can only be arranged there. Even the US declaration of independence was written on Dutch paper. To some degree the current USA is really the Dutch Republic, but much larger and more extreme. For all the great, slavery, genocide and suffering that was acceptable for profit, there always has been some sort of unspoken understanding that you need to give the common Dutch citizen some part of the wealth. Party because of the danger of revolution, but also party out of a moral sense of decency. That however only applies if you are also Dutch. The rest seems to be "fair game"...
@@DanielWW2 Someone said that this nostalgia for empire is one of the causes for the Brexit vote. Ironically, they found themselves unable to exit after all.
Who me? Yes, i am dutch. As a dutchman i feel a few things. I grew up with people around me whk wouldnt have been there without history. My best friend was indonesian, my lover for years in my early twenties was indonesian and I cannot fathom my world without these people, i cannot live without them. I wish we had a better relationship with indonesia, i didnt live through this time im living now. Love from the netherlands to all, indonesia too. Our king said we are sorry, but its djem karet. Seriously we have a shared history and shared culture a lot, we need to become friends as equals.
ayyy, hello neighbor I still cant get over the fact that the Prawirotaman area that used to be the hotbed for resistance fighters is now the tourist area of the city, and yet still run by the same family that wielded bambu runcing
My grandpa always say what Indonesian want is that sovereignty is not given. But acknowledged, that's the main issue that republican government always say to Indonesian army. And yes I'm Indonesian my grandpa fight in Independence war. And my mother is militia in new Guinea conflict. My grandpa never told me about Dutch warcrime for him all was forgiven as long as Dutch acknowledged that Indonesian Independence in 1945. Which is only happen recently. For we strive to build our nation, and have peace with our past. His last word to me is Forgiven but not Forgotten. And stay true to what your forefathers fight for. MERDEKA ATOE MATI
I'm interested in making Indonesian subtitles for your 1945-1949 and other videos in the future about Indonesia. It needs to be shared with people who don't go frequently to RUclips.
Thank you for this series on one of the most overlooked events of the 20th Century. Indonesia is like the sleeping giant of the world, a colossal nation yet always somehow forgotten.
Awesome stuff as always, but I've a minor point, dependent on interpretation. Technically, the Dutch held on to the western part of Papua New Guinea until 1962, when they had to transfer the administration to the UN. In the months before, Sukarno declared that Indonesia would take "this remnant of colonialism", even by force if necessary. Some naval skirmishes between the Dutch and the Indonesian fleet even involved (nuclear) submarines of the Soviet Union while the US tried to intervene by the UN, making the clashes a prelude to the Cuban Missile Crisis later that year. Once more a totally ignored subject in Dutch history and history classes, perhaps you guys of TGH could make something awesomeness about it...
Me as an indonesian POV, yeah i agree, this history arc is kinda ignored, although by formal education in indonesia, we learn our entire history for 6 years (history class), and 1 semester focused on the post 1945 independence declaration Maybe if you guys have some spare time it will be a cool choice to discuss this again, contributing history knowledge of the indonesians once more
I am Dutch born 1/4 Indonesian In bloodline. As a school going kid in the early 70’ I wondered why in the Netherlands there was silence on what had happened in the transition years to a free Indonesia. I felt that things had gotten ugly, and ex-militaire man where very quiet. Late 70’s there was a train kidnapping in the north of the Netherlands by disgruntled south Moluccan resistance fighters or their descendants. We nearly lost our dad, he was meant to take that train, but that day he chose the car. As a Indonesian born halve cast, he would have been targeted. Some people got shot on that train. Thank you Indy Neidell for your program’s . It helps me to understand my past and that of my parents and grandparents.
In Malay(Malaysia) we have a proverb which says "Seperti Belanda meminta tanah" (worse than the English equivalent of give a man an inch, and he'll take a mile) which signify the hatred felt towards Dutch colonialism that was felt far beyond Indonesia. To an extent naming a primate species unique to Borneo island as "Orang Belanda". The name stuck till this day. Google it up.
Samuel Pasche Only if you were born before WW2 and the Japanese occupation. Which isn’t a lot of people nowadays in 2020. And the number of Indonesians that lived that long to be commenting in RUclips is even smaller.
wow,, thanx for the great video,,, its very rare to see western historian tell our independence history in intact story, most of western historian tell our independence history with jump from one history event point to another point, without telling what's between, which imply that they try to hide general spoors failure to pacified the area that he had been captured and resulting dutch military position became vulnerable spot for a guerrilla blow... and this only to complete your amazing video: the decision of gen.spoor to undertook opreation kraai, was a great suicide, Instead of turning the conflict into a smaller scale.. general spoor make it even bigger... now he has to pacified a whole java island.. because all of indonesian soldiers who were already withdrawn because of renville agreement were sent back to their original post... in consideration that gen spoor failed to pacified a smaller area which they got from operation product.. let alone with the additional area which they got from operation kraai even until now there are a debate about general Spoors decision in operation kraai, because its impossible for such an experience general like spoor make a careless decision like that... Btw the aftermath of operation kraai was a peak point for indonesian and dutch military casualties. if i may say it,, it wasn't international community or Indonesian Guerrilla fighter what make dutch failed in indonesia, it was GENERAL SPOORS DECISION at Operation kraai ..
Thank you indy thats good job. You make another perspektif for Indonesia War Independent but still keep the original story of those struggles. As we learn it from our history lesson.
I really want to see Korean war series from you guys maybe week by week style but Indy kinda busy so is there another fella who can do korean war week by week? Lol
At 8:44 - is that a volcano erupting in the background? Seems far too big a cloud for arson, e.g. destruction of Dutch assets. I visited a number of Indonesian volcanoes in 2003 including Anak Krakatau but didn't see anything go off. Back to topic - it seems extraordinary that the Dutch should have clung on for so long knowing, surely that keeping hold of Indonesia was a lost cause.
I totaly agree that it makes no sense to hold on for so long on Indonesia. However, i think that our poeple still glorified the good old days when the Dutch dominated the spice trade, while ignoring all the bad things such as slave trade, and the brutal murder of our leader Johan de Witt and his brother who were cut into pieces and aledgedly eaten by the people. Anyhow, I think the Dutch holding on to the good old days is comparable to sovjets holding on their nostalgic beliefs of their empire.
Dude, the Queen's speech which you play a part of in this episode is of Queen Juliana, NOT Wilhelmina. Transfer of sovereignty was established during the rule of Queen Juliana. Nice episode though ;-)
So exciting to see my nation's story of independence from another perspective, despite all bloodshed happen, after much of misery happen, both realize is time to move on, now the two nations have turned direction to common mutual benefit and keeps building and grown together as very very 'Best Friend Forever'.
What really interests me is that we indonesian really effective in crushing the insurgents, be it radical islam separatist, regional separatist like RMS, or that time where we purge " cough.. genocide... Cough..." entire nation because of pki.
I am dutchman born in 1974 , I had an uncle that served as a conscript in that war. his sister has married to a mollucan . and it pains me to see that the plaid of the mollucans is not mentioned
Thank you for making this informative documentary that is rarely understood outside Indonesia in such detail and with local perspectives. Also, you chose a very cool narrator, but where is his awesome jacket?
so the dutch did actually retake yogyakarta by force, and not found the city was empty of republican army after six hours? my history books said that the republican army plan was to take the capital temporarily to show its people that the republican army is still exist and then leave. as always, great research by Isabel and Joram. and thank you to TimeGhost History for providing a new perspective about my country's history. feels like going back to high school again :D also hope Indy get full recovery from covid soon
Thank you very much for this series. Colonialism still casts a long shadow over this archipelago. I have lived and worked here as a legal expat for 10 years now, but still have no real property rights because of a lingering fear that allowing foreigners to own land or buildings will somehow result in re-collonization. In elections, the only viable parties basically fall into two categories: Islamist vs. Nationalist; there is no rational cosmopolitan alternative. Of course, as a foreign permanent resident, I have no say in Electoral politics - and to be frank, I am fine with that. Indonesia is a beautiful country with layer upon layer of nuance, and I deeply appreciate your unbiased exploration of the republic's origins.
Actually the two candidate want the republic to stay a republic, the other candidate accepted the "islamist" into his ranks because he needed the votes form them. The 2 candidate's ideas are basically 70% the same. He's not not a sympathizer with those people that wanted to create an islamic caliphate here. The fact that he's willing to work within the same gov shows that he's not really in bed with the "islamist". I'm not worried about it though, most people here reject the idea of a caliphate here. It goes against the founding of the republic and the constitution to pander so greatly to just one religion. It's just that they seemed so big because they are very loud with their opinion.
Imo the foreigner not allowed to own land is harsh, but looking at australia and canada, i think it was a right move. We dont want mainlander to buy our land and be the landlord overseas.
@@ericbosken3114 Yep, foreigners might look down because it's not always practiced well, but it is the greatest protector of the republic for it to stay as as united republic and not split into many different kingdoms again or even a therocracy.
@@getleetonwe fair point. However, I still see myself as a person who legitimately tries to foster the intellectual growth of the country rather than a potential foreign landlord, though.
We would have to change our entire workflow for series about pre-modern topics. Lack of photo and video material means that we would have to work with animations - something we don't have the crew or budget for at the moment.
MERDEKAAAAA!!! as an indonesian , this video series bring another perspective about the Indonesia war of independence . Before , i only know it from the history lesson at school and it's from the Indonesian point of view . Some detail , event & geopilitic are missing . thank you , good vid .
We have seen two colonial offensives, two peace agreements, civil wars and multiple foreign interventions. And yet, 1949 is the most deadly year of the entire Indonesian War of Independence. And, without spoiling the episode, stuff doesn't end in 1949. Indonesia will stay the stage of revolts, colonialism, civil war and ideological purges for decades to come. We won't get to cover that in these series, as these are exclusively about the Indonesian War of Independence from 1945 to 1949. We might revisit the area in the future though. If you want to support that, and share in the decision of what series to make next, you can support us on www.patreon.com/timeghosthistory or timeghot.tv.
Cheers, Joram and Izzy
*RULES OF CONDUCT*
STAY CIVIL AND POLITE we will delete any comments with personal insults, or attacks.
AVOID PARTISAN POLITICS AS FAR AS YOU CAN we reserve the right to cut off vitriolic debates.
HATE SPEECH IN ANY DIRECTION will lead to a ban.
RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, OR SLAMMING OF MINORITIES will lead to an immediate ban.
PARTISAN REVISIONISM, ESPECIALLY HOLOCAUST AND HOLODOMOR DENIAL will lead to an immediate ban.
Just a small thing: what's up with the thumbnail? ;-)
Again, I love these miniseries! Job well done, and I'm looking forward to the next.
@Mileen Z We were too late with producing the thumbnail but wanted to get the content online for the Patrons. We will add it today!
How about 1950? Papua was still contested until 1950
What is Holodomor denial?
This was a really great series, and gave us a lot of insight into the reasons colonialism went into decline after WWII. No matter what specific events or conflicts you choose to cover in future series, I hope you keep providing the same context and level of information about where the events fit in to the larger picture. It's so much more interesting than a dry "X happened, then Y, then Z..." kind of show.
Indy: "You are the Dutch."
Me, a Dutchman: **Stops bycicle and raises hands.** "You've done it now, yank. You've captured me."
Where is the weed joke
Nice bands of brothers reference there hahahaha
@@andrewj3177 It's being tolerated but not officially sanctioned.
@@Healermain15
You mean it's not "decriminalized" 😉
Sanctioned would almost mean actively recommended, which it surely wouldn't, even if it were made completely legal 😅
And Sobel is still lost
"You are a Dutch"
Me, a Indonesian: "Well..."
Me, an Indo: "Ah shit, here we go again"
Me, a Indonesian: "but, we're merdeka already"
Me, Dutch, what.. how do you know?
Me: "Bersiap 2: Electric Boogaloo"
Crack down and smith up some bambu runcing with the boys again
As a Dutch person I find it almost unreal that this immensely big group of countless island once was considered part of the Netherlands. The independence war is a tragic episode that concluded this period of colonization. When travelling through the country I was pleasantly surprised that the Indonesians weren't grudgeful people and I encountered 0 negative responses when I said to them I was Dutch. They kinda laughed when I used the Indonesian slang word of 'Belanda'. Thanks for covering these events. I was more than happy to deliver some support. Take care.
Belanda means dutch in Indonesian and Malay lol
Belanda isn’t really slang tho. Londo is the slang version of Belanda
Word "Belanda" is a official word in Indonesia for "Holland". Long before Indonesian language is formed, Indonesia was conquered by Portugese, Portugese called Dutch poeple is "Holanda", Javanese poeple heard that and implement it to their language by calling a Ducth a "Walanda" and slang it to "Londo". Indonesian language is formed and take that word and change it a bit to "Belanda".
@Loli4lyf you can blame Suharto for all of that
@Loli4lyf Suharto did a really great job to inflame that sentiment, even though the chinese in Indonesia are already different than the communist mainlanders. Even more funny, he doesn't actually hate chinese, as there are chinese marrying into his family too. It was pure political tool for him.
Indy : MERDEKA !
Me : MERDEKA !!
My Grandma in next room : Are you watching "Janur Kuning" again ?
Wow!! Old Movie References.
Mandi mandi mandiii
TAR: MERDEKA!!!
Indonesia and Poland have almost the same national flags. Considering Polish history, our flag is often described as a bandage covered with blood. After this mini series I see that the flag of Indonesia can be sescribed in the same way. Greetings and a lot of respect from Poland to Indonesia.
Indonesian flag red white taken from Majapahit empire flag
@@TheDesta82 yeah but it has the same meaning tho, red represents blood and white is purity, even bung tomo (national hero) once speech "as long as Indonesian bull(warrior) still have the red blood that can make one piece of cloth red and white we will never surrender to anyone"
@@mataratriaglanie3660 The white actually means “Bones”
Poland and Indonesia are not yet lost !
Awesome, as an Indonesian who has been following this series I can say that it is even more in-depth than what is taught in Indonesian schools. We never talked about the actions of pemuda, the killings of Indo (people with european ancestry) and just ignore it. As such, the majority of Indonesians don't even know the huge massacre that was done by the Pemuda, which is pretty sad actually. Anyway, thanks for the series! Keep it up and may you recover quickly, Indy!
Dont wanna show the bad side of of the republics
Overhere in the Netherlands we also were not thought what happend during the war of independance.
everything was swept under the rug.
Soldiers who returned were ordered to be silent about what happend.
There is still a big Christian Indonesian comunity living here.
Both our countries are cultural merged but sadly enough we have very black pages in both of our history.
Knowing history even the painfull parts is the only way to go healthy forward as a Nation.
aduh bahasa inggris nya lancar ;-; im so jealous
@@obelic71
Not just "big christian community" there is 30+ million of them and i are one of them :)
@@obelic71 There are like 30 million christian living in Indonesia today. It's easy to forget about how many christian are here because there are 200 million muslim.
Small mistake at 10:45 : you hear queen juliana speaking, the daughter of wilhelmina. She became queen a year before.
Yes, there's an error in the fragment's source note.
Yes, it's a captioning error.
Another great afford from the research dept. I would say.
I'm glad it's the last episode.
Indy: You are the Dutch
Me, a Dutch person: *How did you know!? D:*
"What took you so long, copper?"
The chair of infinite wisdom?
Anying ada bule
@Eisen Chao
G'day,
Yay Team !
I published a book of Poetry in 1996, containing a poem about the EuroPeons.
"Well Euro means
'From Europe comes'...,
and
" Peon began as Latin,
Still is a Spanish word...
A Landless ignorant Peasant
Who is lower than a turd..."
Look in my "Warbles In The Wilderness..." Playlist, to find the whole poem.
Another little gem,
To colon-ise...
In Nature a Colon is a long muscular Tube, lined with a Muccous Membrane and filled full of Faecal Material.
EuroPeon Colon-ists set out to "find their fortunes" by travelling as far as they could go from their denuded overpopulated unemployed Homelands, and upon arival they emptied their Colons all over everything they failed to underconstumble.
And they continued to shit all over everyone & everything, right up until they were thrown out, or they ran away from the Wastelands their rapacious pillaging had created.
Just(ifiably ?) sayin',
Take it easy,
Such is Life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
@@ajirajend584 meanwhile those few Indonesian watching the intro: welp, I guess I'll be switching sides now
Beli lotion pemutih sariayu abis nonton videonya
"Senile and inefectual colonialism"
Thats a sickburn right there
When even the US describes your acts as senile and ineffectual imperialism, you should probably stop.
colonialism is the greatest human invention
The ending gave me goosebumps as an Indonesian! It’s a travesty that this only had 33k viewers, more Indonesians should watch this miniseries to understand more and be proud of our own history!
Spread the word!
@@TimeGhost please put indo sub for this video
Another gorgeous tie, Indy. The 'rona doesn't stand a chance against so much swagger. 5/5 for all of you, stay safe guys
A much better tie jacket combo than last week
Thanks Gianni!
@@TimeGhost can you give us another corona update mate? Much love from aus
Hi Dutch, i hate you. You have made my Grandfather deaf
4:10 When you meet the villain from season 2 in season 1
Don't spoil it
this made my day
spoiler alert
Hahahaha lucu sekal..
Oi, it's a spoiler.
Came here after seeeing Indy's update after being infected by the COVID, wishing him a rapid and full recovery. And as an Indonesian I thank you and Timeghost history's team for this series.
Cheers!
"You are the Dutch". Allright allright, keep going, this guy knows his stuff... Good job.
I am....how does he know?!
Indy: "You are the Dutch!"
Me: I am indeed 😨
TAHITI
I GOT A PLAN ARTHUR
Can you imagin him starting a video with "Hello Jonathan". It would freak out some people
You kill more of them !
ALL IS KNOWN!
FLEE AT ONCE!
That 'merdeka' shout at the end by Indy gave me goosebumps and sense of proud as Indonesian for all the struggle that our Nation's founding fathers did! What a series! Well played guys!
Yes, but he mispronounced it haha
Yeahh it gave me goosebumps too, and told me quit enough about the bias of @TimeGhost History.
9:25 My friends: "Dude can I see your answer?"
me: "Sure, but don't make it so similar."
my friends: "yeah, yeah, sure. don't worry."
LoL
Awesome series, impressive level of information, never seen in any other channel before. Congrats guys.
4:09 when you meet the villain from season 2 in season 1 but hes not a villain yet
Yea.. 😆
Definitely know that guy.
YOU ARE THE DUTCH
That’s an intro right there
If anyone is interested, I am doing a video series on the Dutch legacy in Indonesia, starting with architecture in Jakarta. I just uploaded a video about the colonial old town, Kota Tua.
ooh nice, I remember my art teacher mentioning Corbusier being one of the influence for colonial architecture's open lorong/teras/koridor.
I appreciate this series SO much as someone who is writing their thesis on the colonial ghost and memory!
@Katya Vogel... I hope you do not miss this Edinburgh University speech from Congressman (India) Shashi Tharoor on colonialism's evils, with focus on the British imperial rule on India. ruclips.net/video/OB5ykS-_-CI/видео.html
@@essm4179 My focus is on Indonesia and the Netherlands but I will check this out! Thank you so much!
Good luck with that!
@@katvogel98 Well, you just have to wait for the outcome of the 4-year investigation in the Netherlands. (This was instigated after the publication of Rémy Limpach's dissertation.
"You are Dutch!"
*Confused French screaming*
Lol, oui oui
And with that name, your french screaming confuses me.... but hey, whatever haha
LOL funny stuff!! Never pass an opportunity to make a joke about the French.
Well if you rotate your flag 90 degrees counter-clockwise....
As indonesian, i really appreciate your content with my nation independece war. You really hit me hard with your mini documentary, also thanks for the team who search these information and create this (For me) Powerful content. Cause in my nation culture, its just "Forbidden" To simply talk about war after the indepence. Once again, thank you from indonesia.
@@a1r0t7v in my opinion, it forbid because simply we as people don't wanna die or "vanish" In some cases. That the dark side of soeharto to keep people from knowing the truth. His made teror to Frighten the people or Warning for some people who really knows the truth about his "Kudeta". In fact, Indonesian people except Soeharto family and his allied doesnt really know about how "Really" Soekarno died.
As an indonesian who found this channel quite a week ago, this is kind of surprising that our history is being broadcasted, and i mean, by a new scope
This deserves more attentions from us, especially our "kaum-kaum muda pelajar" (students), as one of the references to our history
I will reccomend this to my colleagues, nice vid!
Thanks for spreading the word! Cheers!
Well writen and narated history of Indonesian Independence War.
This version is closer to the history taught in Indonesian schools than the version which I watch and read in a museum in Delft Netherlands.
Thanks!
What did they tell at Nusantara in Delft?
I asked my grandfather (born in 1928, still alive) about the war in Indonesia once. He didn't have much good to say about the Dutch government back then. He himself was lucky, being the eldest son of a farmer he got dispensation from the draft because he was needed on the farm. His younger brother did get drafted at some point, but he refused and got locked up for it (I don't know if the war in Indonesia was still ongoing then).
Apparently, when my grandfather and his father went to drop off his brother at the lock-up, they had stocked him up with bags full of sigarettes and chocolate. When they came in, the guys already inside were like "why did you bring all that stuff?" And they opened a cabinet which was packed so full of chocolate, sweets and sigarettes that half of it spilled over the floor.
My grandfather has all kinds of interesting stories like this of the war and the rebuilding period right after and I feel lucky he is still around and of sound enough mind to tell these stories.
I never heard the story from my grandfather directly because he already passed away. But when I was a kid father passed me the story. He said that my grandfather was a trader back from the colonial era so he could still traveled in and out Jakarta when the time of the independence's war, and he said that most of the Dutch were decent, but the NICA's troops (mostly the indigenous Indonesian member) were bad and kinda ruthless.
But the interesting part of the story was because he's a trader that still had access to move in and out, he could help the Republic by smuggling the weapons from Jakarta to TNI / Republican troops in West Java.
Im sure that Suharto guy will not be important later, I mean he is just some army commander right guys? wait why is all my family gone and why there is some guy with walkie talkie over there?
Why there is green car near my house and who knocking on my door.
Le Soeharto: Amankeun Dia!
Maybe he is just a meatballs vendor?
Gotta love them -dictators- _TOTALLY LEGITIMATE HEROES OF THE PEOPLE, REPORT ALL LIARS IMMEDIATELY_
Caution guys, you will get mis-
As a Filipino, Independence was given to us after the war by the Americans. This has a drawback though, we're not as united as the Indonesians. I always envy how the Indonesians had a successful revolution while all our revolutions are failures.
11:43 "The future, whatever that may hold, is wide open"
*_Soeharto enters the chat_*
Thank you for this awesome series. We learn in the Netherlands about the atrocities performed in our country's name, but this is much more in depth. We must remember so that we don't repeat these things - ever.
Thanks for making these series. My grandfather fought in the war on the republican side. He has told me lots of interesting stories about the war and the events after the war. You should consider visiting Indonesia when you’re better, it’s a beautiful country.
Cherish those words from your grandfather... I was fortunate to hear first-hand my grandfather's stories from his WWI service in France in 1918, your grandfather's stories from the Indonesian War of Independence must be no less remarkable. Anything you can share would be invaluable.
Jo Ta WW1? That’s amazing man. Our elders are basically living relics from a totally different time. Even though both world wars and the cold war played out only in the past 100 years or so...
From what I hear from my grandfather is that facing death and extreme suffering was just a basic part of (everyday) life for people in that time. I find it remarkable when I visit and see what it has become, since he made his way to the rank of general after the war and helped build the country. The country has a bloody history, also after the war. Ofcourse it’s not perfect and it has its flaws as any developing country, but they’re for a large part free now and a key player in the region (250 mil. People, large economy, secular democracy, etc)
Not here to brag or some shit but it’s always fascinating to see countries fight their way to freedom and pursue their place in the world
Indy: "you're the Dutch"
Me, a Dutch sympathisant: "oh shi- I've been founded!"
Pemoeda: *brak!*"samlekom!"
Samlekom mamank !!!!! 😂
joko widodol anu
"What is Holland"
"What do you mean, what is it?" It's a country, right next to Belgium"
"No, that's the Netherlands"
"Holland is the Netherlands"
"Then who are the Dutch???"
You, are Dutch.
Welp, that's what I call an identity crisis
LOL
No, "holland" is just the most loudmouth-est 2 parts of the total of 12. No more.
Everyone is making this so difficult! The country is Nederland, its people are Nederlanders, which means that I am Nederlands.
And Holland is only about 1/6th of the country, currently divided into the 2 provences of North- and South-Holland (it used to be one big provence).
Thank you. A Brief Concise 5 Part Series of The Indonesian War of Independence. I learned so much in 5 episodes. Now is to Dive into History Books for the Details. A Job Well Done. Many Thanks.
Thanks for watching with us @Yat Choy Chu!
Next : *TRIKORA OPERATION*
final fight for colonialism
This guy is clear concise & well spoken. He also has a very good fashion sense! Well done,Sir.
Huh, I was teached in secondary school that we had a firm grip on Indonesia in 1949 and that we only gave up Indonesia after threats of the USA to withdraw Marshall Help money. But it seems that we only controlled very small urban centres. It was fascinating to learn more about this period.
Yes, the Dutch held a firm grip op the key economic and strategic locations. But there was no way they would pacify the entire island without a lot more force, a lot more financial investment and a lot more international outcry - all while not being able to utilise the islands economically.
I don't know what the Dutch would have done without the International Anger (and the American threat to discontinue Marshall Aid) - they might have tried, they might have left after a while anyway. But in 1949 - the Dutch leaving was largely due to internal unrest and international pressure.
Interesting. For this particular of history Indonesia actually taught it as it was, that the countryside are basically free for all, not under Dutch control, which is why guerilla warfare was causing them so much problem. Because you can't control the entire archipelago if they're hostile to you with only 150,00 troops.
Thanks for responding! I love your videos
At the same time, colonialism has always been almost exclusively the matter of urban centers. Most Indonesians living in the countryside would have never seen a white man in their lives and I expect that some of them would think the "Dutch" was the name for some ruling native tribe or something.
On the other hand, Indonesians weren't taught much about the complicated parts of the struggle (like the 'battle royale'ish part in 1948). Basically, you can sum them up like 'Dutch invaded twice despite of the previous two agreements. We launched this awesome counterattack in Jogjakarta that impressed the world, thus resulting in world pressure and Dutch finally gave up'.
Moreover, there's even less (or basically no) mention of different international angles. Especially in that point where US was impressed by how Indonesian managed to quell communist rebellion, and how US pressured Dutch by using Marshall Aid as a leverage. So basically the total inverse of your education lol.
A great series summarising a complicated conflict in a short but comprehensive way.
Thanks!
Indy i love your serie. Must say as a dutchman whos grandfather ran for the bersiap and greatgrandfather died in an japcamp my opinion was kind of pro dutch. After seeing this part my mind has been changed. I hold your truth rather high and shall use this as new base of information.
Indy, please continue making videos about Indonesia’s history after the 1949. There are plenty of worthy stories from the history of Indonesia that people should learn. As Our founding father Soekarno said “Jangan sekali-kali melupakan sejarah” or translated as “never ever forget the history”.
We might return there at some point. But for now the series is finished.
" _You_ are the Dutch..."
Whoa, slow down there, sheriff! I'm just living in a very, very Dutch part of Michigan. XD
Michigan has Dutch parts?
10:50 It's not queen wilhelmina you hear, she abdicated in 1948. It's queen Juliana.
as an Indonesian i would like to say i love this series, thank you for explaining to us our national history of independence , can you make a video about how indonesia got west papua
As an Indonesian, I now realize that in total years, Dutch has never colonized us for 350 years. We were not ruled by Dutch. They had to make consessions with the Java kings, the Sumatran kings, rulers of Borneo, Sulawesi and Bali, in order to survive living in the archipelago. If we are truly colonized, then we should be able to speak the Dutch language. Fact is: we cannot. We only speak one language the Bahasa Indonesia and the secondary language of native Java, or Bali or Bugis, or Madura, Sunda, Banjar, and others. The kingdom of Netherland only manage to pacify Aceh in 1905. De facto, the Sultan of Yogya had his sovereignity, the taxes were still paid to the King of Surakarta. So, being naive, the governor general of the Dutch East Indies, who quickly surrendered to Japan in 1942, should have realized that they were in no position to return to their seat, after the Japanese surrender. It is just overwhelming to fight 120,000 strong PETA, Heiho, and other Pemuda paramilitary volunteers, which were already galvanized by the training of Japanese military. Dutch should have just surrendered in 1945, making friends with Sukarno, and preventing unnecessary bloodshed. If that happens, the transfer of power would have been smooth, and cooperation between two countries excel to a position giving Indonesia and Netherlands prestigious and distinguished place among the nations of the world. Because of the revolution between 1945-1949, we failed to use the academic knowledge pioneered by the Dutch academics in Indonesia, we did not achieve self reliance on food harvest, and corruption thrives as a by-product of the military rule and meddling of the Indonesian civil administration. We had to reinvent our education system, keep changing the curriculum, and mostly talented young people are brain-drained to western or developed nations. The Chinese plundered our nickel mines, our gold and copper mine taken by the US, and God knows where all those oil, gas and coal mine profits go to. The greed of the Dutch administration and the weak character of the Javanese people leads us to this point in time today. Anyway, thank you for the series since 1945 to 1949. It is good summary of our independence struggle since 1945.
That's interesting, I like the evidence of language especially.
I'm not a fan of the dutch here, so I hope you don't see my question as a defense of them. Do you think there would be an Indonesia without the Dutch?
Hey man, I'm Dutch and in that intro I had the feeling I wasn't really having a say in this :(
Well, bike to The Hague and kick your prime minister off his bike as he travels to his tower-tje 😆
Young educated Indonesian should learn from these series to understand what it really took to reach independence from long Dutch Colonisation.
Please promote Indy in twitter then. He is a good story teller. He deserves that.
Every new viewer is welcome! Spread the word!
Thank you for the this series Indy! As an Indonesian that have love to history, I can say that what you have tell here is mostly accurate. This is a great series. Even you mentioned the turbulence time in Bersiap. I only got that story not so long ago, and not in school lol.
I knew you from your time in WW1 channel, and I am glad that I also got subscribe to this channel when you moved from WW1. This channel can cover much more and more. Keep up the good work man.
"if one should perished, a thousand will flourish" - "mati satu, tumbuh seribu"
Detail explanation and absolutely well done! I subscribe to your channel!
Love from Indonesia 🇮🇩
Thanks! Spread the word!
Enjoyed watching your excellent series. Born in Batavia in 1936 I lived through the whole thing. First Japanese occupation, father in POW camp followed by the bersiap period and finally forced to leave Djakarta in 1954, to start a new life in my fatherland. The Netherlands was great but missed warm and sunny Java.
Moved to California in 1960.
Many Indonesians would learn more about the war of Independence from this series than from school textbooks.
To be fair the education quality here tend to be quite shit.
Our textbook tend to simpliflying the story. Like, they never really told us the real motives why Westerling doing a coup. Why they burned Bandung (BLA). Just told us the simplest thing so we get the idea
@@marshalniel the simplification often erased the spirit of the revolution to a bunch of "events". everything is told in a boring chronological timeline. no wonder most indonesian students sleep through history classes
Alilolo Well, I’m probably one of those that don’t.
Then again, I love history, so maybe that’s why.
@@askkedladd Oh it's shit everywhere. In Germany we learned basically nothing about the first World War and only about the european theatres in WW2. History class in school is a joke.
I complete watching all Indonesian Independence War Series.
Big Suprise, i didn't think before, that the foreigner would be objective about Indonesian History. 👍
The independence of Indonesia from the Dutch was achieved at a great cost; however it generally did not improve much of the lives of the majority of the Indonesian people in the years ahead. This probably isn't really the end of the line here, but rather the end of the beginning. Guided Democracy beckons ahead...
4:10 Now that is a name that becomes more familiar and well known once Konfrontasi and the 30 September Movement happens between 1963 and 1966, and 1965 respectively. He may be a lesser known figure for now in the Indonesian War of Independence, but things will change soon between Sukarno and Suharto.
Well, as with many revolutions, transition from the war and establishing a new government is going to be slow.
The United States didn’t become a mighty country in one night. Same with Rome, China, Japan, France, Britain, Russia, etc. And the same can be said with Indonesia.
Well that's a foreshadowing
Well.... indonesia is a nation consist of 17,000 island 1300 tribes 700 languages sure it's not just going smooth all the time.
Which is why indonesia spend almost 20 years after it's independence busy fighting rebellion and separatist group, indonesia will finally achieve it's "Peaceful and stability" period under the military dictatorship from 1967-1998, after the fall of the military dictatorship after 30 years in power, sure there is instability but again we solve it and manage to keep our country united untill this day, now we become one of the most stable nation and have $ 1,2 trillion economy which is sure will be even grow bigger in near future we have passed our bloody past and now keep our head straight to the future.
For me as indonesian, Sovereignity was achieved at one point during 1945-1949. But true independence is yet to come. economic, social & political stability is the goal
Suharto is surprisingly good tactician and strategies. Him and Sukarno were fallen heroes in Indonesian history. Once a great mighty man consumed by the power they held.
Gw merasa lebih bangga jadi wni, setelaj dengar apa yang Sukarno Hatta dkk lakukan untuk RI. Dari bangsa bodo ke mandiri.
Welldone Timeghost series.
And after all this bloodshed, the Netherlands arguably ended up better off without. Economic growth and standards of living skyrocketed in the Netherlands after 1950. This whole war was about a small elite maintaining their own wealth and increasing it, using false rhetoric to "sell" it to the nation. No real benefit for the common people, in both countries, will be had from this. That is how colonialism and imperialism works. Nearly every European colony started as a private enterprise to obtain wealth. Just about every time it turned out that maintaining the colony would only sap the expected revenues, thus the colony would be handed over to the national government who would pay for it, but the profits would go to the individuals. This is a very misunderstood dynamic about European overseas expansion. Rarely where the states the ones pushing for colonisation. They instead got presented the bill under the nomenclatures of "national prestige". As for the colonised? Well profits have to be made and costs are very high, so "screw them". Such a great system...
But my grandfather was one of the conscripts sent to Indonesia after WW2. He was liberated around Market Garden in 1944, volunteered to fight the Germans and after basic training in England, did fight the Germans during WW2. Then he was shipped off to this colonial war. He came back in 1950 and spend a year in a mental institute, a place he would go back to multiple times during his life. He never told my mother what happened, but it created serious mental health issues. After his death we learned some details about what might have happened. It turns out that he dragged a fellow soldier to safety under fire, probably an ambush. The now old man he saved was sitting at the funeral, crying all the time. It did push me a bit more towards becoming a military historian, which is hopefully coming a reality in the coming months seeing as I am working on a PHD proposal. Not about this war, but still.
Were it not for the post-war economic boom, Western Europeans would never have lived down losing the colonies. Hell, even now the nostalgia for these empires runs strong. I used to think that most Europeans perceive their former colonial possessions in the same way that the Germans do the Holocaust, that they are incredibly embarassed about it to the point of self-loathing but it turns out not to be the case at all.
Yes. The Dutch's presence is still in Indonesia as a company. It's the Unilever. It is in our milk (Frisian Flag), our soap (Lux), our Meses (Ceres), our butter (Blueband).
@@yarpen26 Maybe for the English who still seem in utter denial about their decline. In the Netherlands there is barely any mention of Indonesia. It was a colony, some people got really rich of it, the VOC was "amazing" and some bad stuff happened.
It just is barely mentioned to the point that barely any guilt can even exist, because it is unknown. Only recently did some understanding start with a published PHD thesis called: De brandende kampongs van Generaal Spoor or the burning kampongs of general Spoor. An 900+ long book about just how much excessive violence was used and that it was structural. That one made some impact, but just how bad it was is only slowly being realised.
@@boringbreaker And that is exactly what the Dutch economic elite discovered again. You don't need to occupy a country, you just need to dominate its economy. Kinda ironic seeing as capitalism originated in the Netherlands, not Great Britain or the USA as they like to think. It was a logical consequence of Dutch history. The country got unified by the dukes of Burgundy, a line that started with a brother to the French Valois dynasty. Through marriage they obtained ever more territory and ended up in possession of one of the richest parts of Europe and started introducing state structures. Then they died out in 1477, the last female of the line married a Habsburg and in the 1560's onwards a full rebellion started against the Spanish Habsburg branch because of ever reducing privileges of the Dutch elite, both low ranking landed nobility and wealthy merchants and bankers.
Now deprived of any monarch or even high nobility, the people with money started calling the shots. That is how you get accumulation of wealth, strong private property rights, free market ideas and unlimited pursued of self interest. Those merchants where making such a huge amount of money. A lot of them where richer than most nobles or even kings. For them, Indonesia was just one of many investment opportunities. They created a state structure where their interests would be defended. That has not changed. Make no illusion that company's like Unilever or Shell actually pay taxes. No, the profits are all for the shareholders. The Dutch state facilitates this with a very wide system of tax treaties to allow these company's to dodge taxes all over the world under the understanding that taxing profits twice would be unfair, and then also dodge them over here with more tax treaties that allows them to sent the funds to tax havens.
Some of those merchants actively funded European wars, others did the same for the US war of independence. The US got a lot of weapons from the Netherlands, credit to pay for them etc. The Dollar is not an US invention, it is Czech/Bohemian in origin, but it was really circulated around the world by the Dutch. The same who controlled US finances for the years after independence. All that support had to be paid off. US decentralised state structures is also very much modelled after the Dutch Republic. Not so much in the details, bit the general idea of individual state freedoms and only arranging at a national level what can only be arranged there. Even the US declaration of independence was written on Dutch paper. To some degree the current USA is really the Dutch Republic, but much larger and more extreme. For all the great, slavery, genocide and suffering that was acceptable for profit, there always has been some sort of unspoken understanding that you need to give the common Dutch citizen some part of the wealth. Party because of the danger of revolution, but also party out of a moral sense of decency. That however only applies if you are also Dutch. The rest seems to be "fair game"...
@@DanielWW2 Someone said that this nostalgia for empire is one of the causes for the Brexit vote. Ironically, they found themselves unable to exit after all.
Who me? Yes, i am dutch.
As a dutchman i feel a few things. I grew up with people around me whk wouldnt have been there without history. My best friend was indonesian, my lover for years in my early twenties was indonesian and I cannot fathom my world without these people, i cannot live without them. I wish we had a better relationship with indonesia, i didnt live through this time im living now.
Love from the netherlands to all, indonesia too. Our king said we are sorry, but its djem karet. Seriously we have a shared history and shared culture a lot, we need to become friends as equals.
I live in Yogyakarta. Still can't believed my grandpa live during this time in this town
ayyy, hello neighbor
I still cant get over the fact that the Prawirotaman area that used to be the hotbed for resistance fighters is now the tourist area of the city, and yet still run by the same family that wielded bambu runcing
My grandad fought this war in Sumatra. Glad to see you back. Stay healthy! Cheers mate! Merdeka!
great series man, hope you doing well stay safe mate!
My grandpa always say what Indonesian want is that sovereignty is not given. But acknowledged, that's the main issue that republican government always say to Indonesian army.
And yes I'm Indonesian my grandpa fight in Independence war. And my mother is militia in new Guinea conflict.
My grandpa never told me about Dutch warcrime for him all was forgiven as long as Dutch acknowledged that Indonesian Independence in 1945. Which is only happen recently. For we strive to build our nation, and have peace with our past.
His last word to me is Forgiven but not Forgotten. And stay true to what your forefathers fight for.
MERDEKA ATOE MATI
I'm interested in making Indonesian subtitles for your 1945-1949 and other videos in the future about Indonesia. It needs to be shared with people who don't go frequently to RUclips.
The first episode already have Bahasa Indonesia subs! But the remaining ones would be amazing! Cheers!
@@TimeGhost Cool! But I meant hard subs though not CC so it can be shared anywhere without losing the captions.
I hope you can cover Malaysian-indonesian confrontation next
We might meet that Suharto guy again
We won't in the next series. We might get there at some point though!
Gotta love our ancestors are way more determined that our text books describe them, good naration as always, TimeGhost History!
Thanks!
thanks for indy and team for covering this story.
You're welcome!
Thank you for this series on one of the most overlooked events of the 20th Century. Indonesia is like the sleeping giant of the world, a colossal nation yet always somehow forgotten.
You're welcome!
Amazing video, appreciate it
Love from Indonesia
God bless Indy and his closing style
Awesome stuff as always, but I've a minor point, dependent on interpretation. Technically, the Dutch held on to the western part of Papua New Guinea until 1962, when they had to transfer the administration to the UN. In the months before, Sukarno declared that Indonesia would take "this remnant of colonialism", even by force if necessary. Some naval skirmishes between the Dutch and the Indonesian fleet even involved (nuclear) submarines of the Soviet Union while the US tried to intervene by the UN, making the clashes a prelude to the Cuban Missile Crisis later that year. Once more a totally ignored subject in Dutch history and history classes, perhaps you guys of TGH could make something awesomeness about it...
We would love to - although the current series end here i'm afraid. Maybe at some point!
Me as an indonesian POV, yeah i agree, this history arc is kinda ignored, although by formal education in indonesia, we learn our entire history for 6 years (history class), and 1 semester focused on the post 1945 independence declaration
Maybe if you guys have some spare time it will be a cool choice to discuss this again, contributing history knowledge of the indonesians once more
I am Dutch born 1/4 Indonesian In bloodline. As a school going kid in the early 70’ I wondered why in the Netherlands there was silence on what had happened in the transition years to a free Indonesia.
I felt that things had gotten ugly, and ex-militaire man where very quiet. Late 70’s there was a train kidnapping in the north of the Netherlands by disgruntled south Moluccan resistance fighters or their descendants. We nearly lost our dad, he was meant to take that train, but that day he chose the car. As a Indonesian born halve cast, he would have been targeted. Some people got shot on that train.
Thank you Indy Neidell for your program’s . It helps me to understand my past and that of my parents and grandparents.
Thanks for this series! Very informative like always:)
You're welcome! Thanks!
In Malay(Malaysia) we have a proverb which says "Seperti Belanda meminta tanah" (worse than the English equivalent of give a man an inch, and he'll take a mile) which signify the hatred felt towards Dutch colonialism that was felt far beyond Indonesia. To an extent naming a primate species unique to Borneo island as "Orang Belanda". The name stuck till this day. Google it up.
I didn't know. Thanks
Really hope you continue the series on east Timor. Just having some continuity from there
"You are the Dutch!"
Sorry Indy, I'm Indonesian
Well technicaly, you where the Dutch then
Samuel Pasche Only if you were born before WW2 and the Japanese occupation.
Which isn’t a lot of people nowadays in 2020. And the number of Indonesians that lived that long to be commenting in RUclips is even smaller.
You are just going through a phase. We will welcome you back any time you want.
@@JeroenDoes And by "welcome back" they presumably mean "Put back under my jackboot where you belong".
You know, like a big happy family.
Lol
Excellent work as always. All hail the algorithm.
It would be interesting to see a mini-series like this on the American war to subdue the Philippines.
wow,, thanx for the great video,,, its very rare to see western historian tell our independence history in intact story, most of western historian tell our independence history with jump from one history event point to another point, without telling what's between, which imply that they try to hide general spoors failure to pacified the area that he had been captured and resulting dutch military position became vulnerable spot for a guerrilla blow...
and this only to complete your amazing video:
the decision of gen.spoor to undertook opreation kraai, was a great suicide, Instead of turning the conflict into a smaller scale.. general spoor make it even bigger... now he has to pacified a whole java island.. because all of indonesian soldiers who were already withdrawn because of renville agreement were sent back to their original post... in consideration that gen spoor failed to pacified a smaller area which they got from operation product.. let alone with the additional area which they got from operation kraai
even until now there are a debate about general Spoors decision in operation kraai, because its impossible for such an experience general like spoor make a careless decision like that...
Btw the aftermath of operation kraai was a peak point for indonesian and dutch military casualties.
if i may say it,, it wasn't international community or Indonesian Guerrilla fighter what make dutch failed in indonesia, it was GENERAL SPOORS DECISION at Operation kraai ..
Awesome as always, hope you recover from COVID-19 soon!
Thanks!
Thank you indy thats good job.
You make another perspektif for Indonesia War Independent but still keep the original story of those struggles.
As we learn it from our history lesson.
The Netherlands the biggest islamic country to have ever existed
Well somehow that's a fact
That's a fact if we include Indonesia or their former name, Dutch East Indie
XD
ehh,, i never realized before, haha
You know that's not true. 5% of the Dutch population identifies as a muslim. Which has remained stable from 2010 to 2018.
I have shared this video to every person that interest in history of my country, I need to support channel like this :)
I really want to see Korean war series from you guys maybe week by week style but Indy kinda busy so is there another fella who can do korean war week by week? Lol
This mini series taught me more than school did, and that says a lot since I'm dutch
At 8:44 - is that a volcano erupting in the background? Seems far too big a cloud for arson, e.g. destruction of Dutch assets. I visited a number of Indonesian volcanoes in 2003 including Anak Krakatau but didn't see anything go off. Back to topic - it seems extraordinary that the Dutch should have clung on for so long knowing, surely that keeping hold of Indonesia was a lost cause.
I totaly agree that it makes no sense to hold on for so long on Indonesia. However, i think that our poeple still glorified the good old days when the Dutch dominated the spice trade, while ignoring all the bad things such as slave trade, and the brutal murder of our leader Johan de Witt and his brother who were cut into pieces and aledgedly eaten by the people. Anyhow, I think the Dutch holding on to the good old days is comparable to sovjets holding on their nostalgic beliefs of their empire.
I cannot recall seeing such gorgeous sets REMOTELY rivaling what Timeghost, WW2, and so forth, anywhere else online..
Dude, the Queen's speech which you play a part of in this episode is of Queen Juliana, NOT Wilhelmina. Transfer of sovereignty was established during the rule of Queen Juliana. Nice episode though ;-)
You're right - the caption is wrong
So exciting to see my nation's story of independence from another perspective, despite all bloodshed happen, after much of misery happen, both realize is time to move on, now the two nations have turned direction to common mutual benefit and keeps building and grown together as very very 'Best Friend Forever'.
What really interests me is that we indonesian really effective in crushing the insurgents, be it radical islam
separatist, regional separatist like RMS, or that time where we purge " cough.. genocide... Cough..." entire nation because of pki.
Didn’t expect to be so interested in this series, but here I am. Hope all the crew are staying safe in these trying times!
I’m the Dutch?!
I am dutchman born in 1974 , I had an uncle that served as a conscript in that war. his sister has married to a mollucan . and it pains me to see that the plaid of the mollucans is not mentioned
So next episode would be: "1950: The Beginning of Indonesian Liberal Democracy"?
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Thank you for making this informative documentary that is rarely understood outside Indonesia in such detail and with local perspectives. Also, you chose a very cool narrator, but where is his awesome jacket?
thanks a lot!
Get well soon, Indy!
so the dutch did actually retake yogyakarta by force, and not found the city was empty of republican army after six hours? my history books said that the republican army plan was to take the capital temporarily to show its people that the republican army is still exist and then leave.
as always, great research by Isabel and Joram. and thank you to TimeGhost History for providing a new perspective about my country's history. feels like going back to high school again :D
also hope Indy get full recovery from covid soon
Thank you very much for this series. Colonialism still casts a long shadow over this archipelago. I have lived and worked here as a legal expat for 10 years now, but still have no real property rights because of a lingering fear that allowing foreigners to own land or buildings will somehow result in re-collonization. In elections, the only viable parties basically fall into two categories: Islamist vs. Nationalist; there is no rational cosmopolitan alternative. Of course, as a foreign permanent resident, I have no say in Electoral politics - and to be frank, I am fine with that. Indonesia is a beautiful country with layer upon layer of nuance, and I deeply appreciate your unbiased exploration of the republic's origins.
Actually the two candidate want the republic to stay a republic, the other candidate accepted the "islamist" into his ranks because he needed the votes form them. The 2 candidate's ideas are basically 70% the same. He's not not a sympathizer with those people that wanted to create an islamic caliphate here. The fact that he's willing to work within the same gov shows that he's not really in bed with the "islamist". I'm not worried about it though, most people here reject the idea of a caliphate here. It goes against the founding of the republic and the constitution to pander so greatly to just one religion. It's just that they seemed so big because they are very loud with their opinion.
@@askkedladd You make a good point, and the relavence of Pancasila as a political philosophy probably deserves more attention in this miniseries.
Imo the foreigner not allowed to own land is harsh, but looking at australia and canada, i think it was a right move.
We dont want mainlander to buy our land and be the landlord overseas.
@@ericbosken3114 Yep, foreigners might look down because it's not always practiced well, but it is the greatest protector of the republic for it to stay as as united republic and not split into many different kingdoms again or even a therocracy.
@@getleetonwe fair point. However, I still see myself as a person who legitimately tries to foster the intellectual growth of the country rather than a potential foreign landlord, though.
I enjoyed this mini-series and hope to see more! I hope you all consider making series like this for events in the 1800s as well.
We would have to change our entire workflow for series about pre-modern topics. Lack of photo and video material means that we would have to work with animations - something we don't have the crew or budget for at the moment.
You guys better remember that no name lieutenant Soeharto.
in case if this series going to cold war period.
MERDEKAAAAA!!!
as an indonesian , this video series bring another perspective about the Indonesia war of independence . Before , i only know it from the history lesson at school and it's from the Indonesian point of view . Some detail , event & geopilitic are missing .
thank you , good vid .
Thanks!
"The future is wide open"
Uuuhhhmmmm *Remembers G30 Movement incident and what follows* Uh-oh