Japanese Occupation

March 6th, 2007, in News, by Patung

A memoir of the Japanese occupation of Java.

The Way of a Boy is a gentle story of a young Dutch boy, Ernest Hillen, during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, 1942-45.

The Way of a Boy.

At the Battle of the Java Sea and the Battle of the Sunda Straits in February-March 1942 the Japanese navy pulverised a combined British, Dutch, Australian, and United States fleet. This paved the way for a Japanese land invasion of Java and the Dutch colonial army in Indonesia quickly surrendered to the Japanese in March 1942. Thereafter most Dutch citizens in the country were imprisoned in camps, and Ernest’s story is focused on his time in these places.

Internment Camps

Ernest, along with his mother and older brother were put in a camp for women and children - Bloemenkamp (Camp of Flowers) in Bandung, really a fenced-off section of the city, while his father was sent to a higher security mens’ camp. Later the family were moved to several other places, Tjihapit, also in Bandung, and finally Kampung Makasar, in or near Jakarta.

The prisoners make valiant attempts to keep some of their culture and customs alive - a big effort is put into secretly celebrating Christmas of 1942. In later years of imprisonment one gets the impression the inmates are too worn down and weak for such things.

Some effort is made to instruct Ernest in the religion of his people, although it is not stated whether it is Calvinism or Catholicism - likely the former. Ernest seems to be non-plussed about these efforts. Jesus loves all men Ernest is told, but he finds it hard to believe that He would love the Japanese.

When Ernest’s brother Jerry turns 13 he is sent to another camp, the one where his father is it turns out, because he has now become “a danger to the Japanese Empire”. Later the Japanese seem to become increasingly afraid of young boys, they keep lowering the age, from 13 to 12 to 11, when a boy becomes a danger to them and has to be separated from his wailing mother.

Ernest has a best friend, Hubie, but Hubie dies of disease a few weeks before the Japanese surrender. Hubie’s mother is an upper class, snobbish woman who will not talk to those of inferior status - including Ernest’s mother. But when Hubie dies she whispers to Ernest that she is terribly afraid of meeting her husband again someday, because he will be so sad that Hubie is gone.

Japanese

The Japanese are portrayed by Ernest as invariably bestial creatures, wilfully cruel. He cannot understand why they always yell, hit, and become apoplectically angry so easily. Do they have mothers? Do their mothers yell too? Do they yell back? Maybe they are just annoyed at having the lowly job of guarding women and children, he guesses.

Indonesians

Indonesians figure only marginally in the story. At the tea plantation where Ernest’s father worked, pre-internment time, the groundskeeper Manang is described in some detail and affectionately. Manang believes there are spirits everywhere, in the air, mountains, and in people and animals. One animal, the family dog Leo, a fierce beast, petrifies Manang and whenever it breaks loose Manang goes missing. Ernest envies Manang for his tough, well-worn feet.

When the family are being transported by truck to Bloemenkamp Ernest catches sight of a young girl, 13 or 14, sitting beside the road, wearing a sarong and with long, wet hair. Their eyes meet, Ernest feels as if the girl is pulling him towards her with her eyes, she has an incredible warmth the feeling of which stays in Ernest’s mind for many months afterwards.

Inside the camps there are “Indo” boys, half-breeds, said to be wild and rough, they like fighting, and Ernest is no match for them.

Liberation

When the news gets out in the camp that the Japanese have surrendered the prisoners are urged to celebrate very quietly - outside the camp the Indonesians are in rebellion, and the newly-freed Dutch don’t want to attract their attention. Later British soldiers arrive and distribute food, etc, but carefully avoid looking the ex-prisoners in the eye - they are in a pathetic, half-starved state.

Return

Decades later, likely in the 1980’s, Ernest returns to Indonesia. First he revisits Kampung Makasar, now an army garrison, and meets Haji Mohammed Nur, who had been a village official in the 1940’s. The camp was known at the time as an evil place, said Nur, and some people even today are still superstitious about the entrance gate to it - many people have been killed in car/motorbike accidents there since 1945 even though there are no crossroads.

The tea plantation where he had grown up near Bandung is something of a disappointment to Ernest, he is suprised to see how his old house is in very poor repair, and does not even want to go inside.

Tags: History, Java

10 Comments on “Japanese Occupation”

Andrew Says:
March 8th, 2007 at 5:11 am
The title reminds me of my SD and SMP history book. Lots of “curses” were directed towards the Dutch, but not much was said about the Japanese.
Ihaknt Says:
March 8th, 2007 at 8:03 am
When I was in Japan, I never met any race as helpful, friendly, polite and honest as the Japanese. Even if they don’t speak English they would still try to help you. You can leave your bike unattended for hours and it still would be there. Yes they were cruel. But they have come a looooooooong way in a span of 60 plus years in aligning themselves with present days yet at the same time preserving their culture.
Andrew Says:
March 8th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Ihaknt, I definitely agree with you, they are one of the most helpful, polite, honest, and civilized people in the world. I love them… I worked there for quite a while after graduation, and had a Japanese girlfriend :), I have nothing against them.

I was just trying to point out the “anomaly” why Indonesians seem to blame the Dutch more. In fact if it weren’t for the Dutch, we probably wouldn’t be one nation from Sabang to Merauke, don’t you think?
Ihaknt Says:
March 8th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Blame blame blame. It’s easier to do I guess. But it was 60 plus years ago for god’s sake!!! Whether it’s Dutch, the Japs, the British! Move on laaahhh. You know what I mean?
Dimp Says:
March 8th, 2007 at 9:22 am
It is easier to blame others than to admit that the fault comes from within. The Dutch has left extensive railway network which after 60 years were never maintained or expanded, and now you can see the state our rail network in. The Dutch has planned ahead in case of flooding in Jakarta and again after 60 years they were left by itself. So who is to blame? The Dutch has left Indonesia for more than 60 years, Indonesia has since stand still and some actually moved backwards.
Purba Negoro Says:
March 14th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Prior to 1939, Japanese had been sent by their government to establish links with Indonesian nationalists, particularly with Muslim parties, while Indonesian nationalists were sponsored to visit Japan.

Chinese pro-Dutch efforts:
The most active pro-Allied activities were among the Chinese, Ambonese, and Manadonese. [
Japanese aggression in Manchuria and China in the late 1930s caused anxiety amongst the Chinese in Indonesia who set up funds to support the anti-Japanese effort. Dutch intelligence services also monitored Japanese in Indonesia.

Renowned Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer notes:
“With the arrival of the Japanese just about everyone was full of hope, except for those who had worked in the service of the Dutch”.

Dutch stole millions of dollars of resources, Royal treasures and heritage from Indonesia- and still it resides in their thieves dens of the Reikmuseum and Der Insitut Tropishcen.

Over 80% of our cultural heritage was stolen by the Dutch. DUcth also had the gall to introduce Jews to Indonesia- where they desecrated Mosques.

Dutch backed Fatahillah in his against his Hindu foe of Matarram- hence Dutch can be inextricably linked to the fall of the Great Javanese Kingdom of Majaphit and the extinction of Hinduism in Central Java- replaced by the more politically malleable Islam brought by the sword of Fatahillah.

Dutch imported Chinese to subvert and destroy local authority- confiscated Royal lands and property to gift to their Chinese lick-spittles.
Chinese and Dutch traded Javanese as slaves and used Javanese slave labour to build their plantations.
Dutch expelled Royals daring to resist Dutch destruction of Javanese heritage and authority.

Dutch also banned the native-sympathetic Jesuit Catholics from educating natives especially in Central Java.

The Dutch excluded Javanese and other Indonesians participation in politics, administration, and the military- instead preferring either outlying pliant Christians such as Maluku or the hated Chinese imports. After Dutch surrender, European officials, businessmen, military personnel, were 170,000 interned- joyously in the eyes of the Indonesians- their just desserts.

The Dutch caused Java War of 1825-30 because Dutch decision to build a road upon a sacred tomb. Thereupon ensued the Java War, a bitter guerrilla conflict in which as many as 200,000 Javanese died in fighting or from indirect causes (the population of Java at the end of the eighteenth century was only 3 million)

Dutch enforced compulsory growing of export crops called “cultuurstelse” in their pig-langauge with labour requirements so great that farmers had little time or energy to devote to staple crops. Dutch then raised the land tax assessment as the prices paid by the government for export crops increased, creating cicular problem.
By the 1840s, rice shortages appeared and famines and epidemics occurred, resulting in the starvation of thousands.
The Dutch Cultivation System enriched only European officials and Chinese middlemen, but was a terrible burden for Javanese villagers.

Japanese gave us our Freedom:
In administration, business, and cultural life, the filithy bastardised-German language of Dutch was discarded in favor of Malay and Japanese. Committees were organized to standardize Bahasa Indonesia and make it a truly national language.
Modern Indonesian literature was boosted.
Traditional Indonesian arts were revived and hated symbols of Dutch imperial control were swept away.
Japanese allowed a huge rally in Batavia (renamed Jakarta) to celebrate by tearing down a statue of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the seventeenth century governor general.
Japanese though propagating the message of Japanese leadership of Asia it did not coercively promote Japanese culture on a large scale- as oppposed to the hated Dutch.
According to historian Anthony Reid, the occupiers believed that Indonesians, as fellow Asians, were essentially like themselves but had been corrupted by three centuries of Western colonialism. What was needed was a dose of Japanese-style seishin (spirit; semangat in Indonesian).
Our Indonesian Royal and prominent families rekindled their glorious military past with Japanese Bushido values similar to those suppressed by the Dutch.
Japanese gave Javanese and other Indonesians to participate in politics, administration, and the military. While Japanese military officers occupied the highest posts, the personnel vacuum on the lower levels was filled with Indonesians.

All Dutch rail systems extant were purely to facilitate transport between plantation and port- the evidence corroborating this is still in existence.
Useful material, whole railway lines, railway rolling stock, and industrial plants in Java were appropriated and shipped back to Japan and Manchuria. British intelligence reports during the occupation noted significant removals of any materials that could be used in the war effort.

We Indonesians will never forget the Dutch slavery and rape of our nation and will hate the filthy Dutchmen until the end of time with an intensity only secondary to our hatred of their imported enthusiastic lick-spittle Chinese.

Everything the Japanese did to the Dutch was not nearly enough for their 300 years of pilage and rape.
Riyoz Says:
March 14th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
curious…that book reminds of a steven spielberg movie….”empire of the sun”….but the setting was set in shanghai, china…..

“Dutch backed Fatahillah in his against his Hindu foe of Matarram- hence Dutch can be inextricably linked to the fall of the Great Javanese Kingdom of Majaphit and the extinction of Hinduism in Central Java- replaced by the more politically malleable Islam brought by the sword of Fatahillah.”

Wow”¦I thought fatahilah attack batavia ? or was it somebody else”¦.?
Jackie Says:
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:10 pm
My grandmother is Dutch and lived in Indonesia at the time that the Japanese Invaided. She lived in Padong.
I listen to her stories and can not imagine having to go through what she experienced.
It scares me to think what war does. He father was killed by the Japanese in camp. And her sister died shortly after the Japenese surrendered. She has nothing from her childhood, but her memories.
I am greatful to still have her around.
I wish that I could bring her back to Indonesia one last time.
I don’t know if we will every be able to afford it though.
I LOVE her dearly and wish that none of this ever happened to her.
Yvette Says:
June 5th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Purba, your clearly not too well informed. It would seem that the Japanese were responsible for a fastly larger amount of killed Indonsesians then the dutch ever did. The amount of Rumushas or forced labor deaths for in Indonesia are still unknown precisely. How many Indonesian forced laborers were actually conscripted by the Japanese is unknown. Estimates run as high as 1,500,000 ; even more speculative is the death toll. This varies in the sources from 200,000 to 1,430,000 deaths, with perhaps the most likely figure being 600,000 (the figure “accepted” by the United Nations).

Numerous massacres of Indonesians occured and were reported upon in Indonesia, and those for which estimates of the number of people killed are available total 75,000 dead. This surely must be far below the actual number killed, were all the massacres and atrocities known. Given the population of Indonesia, this estimate can be checked by calculating an overall toll based on the Japanese democide in China and the Philippines. Moreover, we have the one estimate that a total of 4,000,000 Indonesians died in the war from all causes.

I would suggest to study your history, and not vent that racist crap
Acidio Wiseman Says:
July 24th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Actually not only Dutch n Japanese, the Spaniards, Portuguese and the British also came to parts of Indonesia. The bottom line is their coming to Indonesia bring good and bad to the people.

Japanese were not good, but they open the eyes of the Indonesians to gain their independent, after centuries under the colonial power, the Dutch. The Indonesians were prohibited from being active in politics under the Dutch. But Japanese teach them about politics and how to self-govern by their own people instead of the Dutch.

Yet, the Dutch also developed the country. The Dutch massacred many people, the same as Japanese, they killed many also. So now which one is more bad?
hehe both are bad and both are good right.

Now, we are already gain independent. Lets forget about the past, take all of the past as a very good lessons to all of us. People suffer under all the colonial powers and the Japanese, so what is important now, don’t ever let things like that happen again..