Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam
150. Indonesia – Struggle for Independence - 3
By Professor Nazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
The rise of Holland as a naval power did not go unchallenged. The Spaniards mounted a blockade of Dutch ships around the Iberian coastline. This only forced the Dutch to move farther out into the Atlantic Ocean and build larger and sturdier ships.
An exhausted Spain which was also acting as a protector of a defeated Portugal was no match for a resurgent Holland. The Dutch moved rapidly to displace Portuguese power in the Indian Ocean. In 1605 they captured the Portuguese fort at Amboina in the Moluccas. Unlike the Portuguese who were saddled with a crusader mentality to convert the natives, the Dutch were motivated by pure profit. They were nonetheless as brutal as the Portuguese in their treatment of the local population. In 1519, they massacred the entire population of Banda in the Moluccas islands of Indonesia and established a monopoly on nutmeg production. In 1520 they razed Jayakarta to the ground and built a new town Batavia (modern Jakarta) on its ashes. Further conquests followed in the littoral states of the Indian Ocean. In 1640 they captured Colombo in Sri Lanka. The following year, working in collaboration with the Sultan of Johor, they laid siege to the fort of Malacca. The fall of this strategic fort brought the Straits of Malacca under Dutch control. A series of treaties with the Malay sultans followed, Kedah in 1642, Ujung Salang in 1643 and Bangkeri in1645 giving the Dutch a near monopoly in the spice trade from the archipelago.
The British had their own East India Company chartered by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 CE ostensibly to trade with Asia. Rivalry between the Dutch and the British was inevitably. At stake was not only the spice trade with Asia but also the lucrative slave trade from West Africa. Sugarcane was introduced into the West Indies in the 16 th century. The hot climate and the backbreaking work required hardy labor and the Europeans were unfit for this work. The Spaniards brought in some slaves from West Africa in the 16 th century but it was not until the Dutch appeared on the scene that the slave trade picked up momentum.
By 1640 the slave trade was even more profitable than the spice trade with the Indies. Sugarcane was transported to New England where it was converted to rum. The rum was sent to Europe. Europe exported guns to Africa in return for slaves who were shipped to the New World. The sugar case-rum-guns and slaves triangle was enormously profitable for the slave-gun runners of Europe. To exploit this trade, the Dutch formed the Dutch West India Company in 1621 and established colonies in New Amsterdam (New York) and up the Hudson River.
The Dutch-English rivalry erupted into open hostilities in 1640. The English held the advantage in this tussle. England had a population six times as large as that of Holland and its sea captains well trained as pirates in the rough seas of the East Atlantic. The English prevailed in the conflict and overran New Amsterdam. However, the Dutch were more successful in the Indian Ocean and managed to hold onto their colonies in the Straits of Malacca, Sri Lanka and the west coast of India. In addition, in 1651 they captured the Cape of Good Hope off the tip of Africa and established a colony there. This strategic location gave the Dutch enormous advantage in the competition for Indian Ocean spice trade.
The Dutch trade policies were monopolistic and were representative of corporate colonialism at its incipient worse. Locally, they encouraged the cultivation of a single crop suited to the climate: cloves in Sri Lanka, Timor for sandalwood, and Banda for nutmeg. Externally, they waged war to prevent other Europeans or local powers from encroaching on their turf. Their employment policies were restrictive, and the wages amounted to little more than slave labor. No inhabitant of Batavia could accept alternate employment or marry without the permission of the VOC.
There was stiff resistance to the brutal policies of the VOC. Princes, noblemen and religious shaikhs alike led the resistance. In the relentless conflicts that raged for control of the islands, the VOC had the upper hand. Control of the high seas gave the VOC the advantage of flexibility and maneuverability. The invaders could train their guns on a town and then withdraw into the relative safety of the high seas only to return when the tactical situation on land was in its favor. Technology and training favored the Europeans. The local rulers, often at odds with each other, could not focus their defense on a single area. Nonetheless, the people of the archipelago put up a long and valiant fight. In the protracted warfare a large number of Malays were taken prisoner and transported as slaves to lands as far away as Sri Lanka and South Africa.
One of the most renowned prisoners taken by the Dutch was Shaikh Yusuf (1624-1693), an Awliyah of the Khilwatiyah Sufi order from Java. Shaikh Yusuf was a prince of the Gowa royal family. At the age of 21 he was sent to Mecca to perform his hajj and to study under the renowned scholars of the age. The young prince stayed in Mecca and Madina for more than thirty years, mastering religious disciplines and learning the secrets of Sufi orders. At the age of 54 he returned to Makassar, Indonesia as a learned Shaikh. He was horrified to find that the kingdom had fallen to the Dutch. Moral degradation had overtaken the local Muslims. Gambling and opium consumption were common. Disillusioned with the state of affairs in Makasar, Shaikh Yusuf migrated to Banten which was ruled by the pious Sultan Ageng. The Sultan received the Shaikh with honor, gave him one of his daughters in marriage and appointed him as the Chief Kadi of the court.
The Shaikh took up the cause of the Malay people and organized an armed resistance to the Dutch. For five long years, his disciplined cadre of fighters harassed the VOC. However, during a fire fight in 1683 the Shaikh was injured and captured by the enemy. He was enslaved and shipped, first to Colombo in Sri Lanka and then to Cape Town in South Africa. In this new land, far away from home, the Shaikh organized a tareeqa, teaching local people the ethics and moral values of Islam. His lifelong dedication earned him the reputation as the first Awliya who introduced Islam into southern Africa. When he died in 1699, he was buried on a hill overlooking the two oceans, the Atlantic and the Indian. It is said that the body of the Shaikh was returned to Gowa in 1705 but the local belief is that he is still there in his tomb. It is a place of pilgrimage now, a place of recluse and a reminder to people of Malay descent in South Africa, of the struggles of their forefathers and their roots in faraway lands.
Colonialism is more than loss of independence. It saps the moral strength of a people and scuttles their cultural and spiritual growth. It impoverishes the colonized and enriches the colonizer. In the long and valiant struggle of the Indonesian people lasting more than two hundred years against ruthless and often violent colonization by the Dutch, the name of Shaikh Yusuf stands out among the valiant soldiers of the islands.
The dawn of the 18 th century witnessed a protracted struggle between the French and the British for ascendancy in Asia. Much of Asia and Africa was going through an intellectual, technological and political retraction even as Europe has making rapid technological and military advances. At stake was the future of Afro-Asia and a long and protracted struggle ensured spanning three continents. The Anglo-French war of 1702-1712, also known as the war of Spanish Succession was fought in Europe. The Anglo-French war of 1749-1754 was fought in southern India. The Anglo-French war of 1755-1763 was fought in North America. In each case the British generals were more than a match for the French and England came out victorious. France lost its colonies in India and North America.
The Anglo-French rivalry worked to the benefit of the Dutch. France was an adversary of England and had resources comparable to those of England. Holland, by contrast, was an adversary of England, but its resources were far less than those of France. The Dutch were vanquished by the British in the war of 1640-47 and posed no threat to British global ambitions thereafter. The British were willing to let Holland control the trade with the East Indies provided it did not threaten their interests in India. The French, by contrast, competed with the British for control of India, North America and Southeast Asia, a competition that did not cease until the beginning of the 19 th century.
(The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)
Back to Pakistanlink Homepage
