The Modernist Making of Indonesia: Germinal Context for Philosophical Reflections

Herry-Priyono, B. (2019) The Modernist Making of Indonesia: Germinal Context for Philosophical Reflections. In: Filsafat [Di] Indonesia. POLITIK dan HUKUM. Simposium Internasional Filsafat Indonesia . Penerbit Buku KOMPAS, Jakarta, pp. 11-46. ISBN 978-623-241-065-7

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Abstract

The name "Indonesia" was first used about 1850 by British scholars who proposed it as a geographical designationfor a vast group of islands between the Indian sub-continent and Australia, loosely united by the bond of Dutch colonial sovereignty. Apart from sharing certain elements of social behaviour and material culture with other inhabitants in Southeast Asia, its population had no sense of belonging to a larger whole, let alone a political unity or solidarity. There were only highly diverse ethnic groups and people with similar notion of customary laws and native religions, and kingdoms or royal houses succeeding each other in extending their rule beyond their original territories. The Dutch came to Java in 1596, but it was only after the formation of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) or the Dutch East India Company in 1602 that the Dutch conducted territorial expansion in concerted ventures The collapse of the vOC at the end of the eighteenth century brought the Dutch Crown into direct control of the VOC's territory, and enforcement of various policies gradually set the Dutch power in the course of becoming a colonial state. It was this colonial state that historically brought the scattered islands and culturally heterogeneous population in the archipelago into one suzerainty, and it was only when this suzerainty was organised into some form of a colonial state that the first sign of nationalist movement appeared in the archipelago. This study is an attempt to show that the rise of nationalist movement in Indonesia is best understood as an outcome of the novel definition of "politics" flowing from a specific development of the Dutch colonial state in the early twentieth century. It is recognised that the focus of this study has some theoretical implications. Firstly, the modern character of the Indonesian nation is affirmed. Second, the rise of nationalism in Indonesia is conceived of as having a close relationship with state-creating and state-produced forces brought along by the colonising power, such as modern bureaucracy and western-style education. Third, in terms of agency, the above argument implies the key role of modernising social actors, such as the intelligentsia.

Item Type: Book Section
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
A General Works > B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Divisions: Program Pascasarjana > Program Pascasarjana Filsafat
Depositing User: ThM .-
Date Deposited: 20 Sep 2021 02:04
Last Modified: 20 Sep 2021 02:04
URI: http://repo.driyarkara.ac.id/id/eprint/340

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