While the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) was under Japanese occupation during the Second World War, political questions about the colony’s future did not disappear—they intensified. For many in the Dutch exile administration, the war was a time to consider how to reassert sovereignty after liberation. But for others, particularly reform-minded officials and Indonesians living abroad, the war offered a chance to rethink the colonial relationship altogether. The resulting tensions revealed a growing divide not just between the Netherlands and its colony, but within Dutch society itself.
Some of the most influential reformers during this period were not Indonesian nationalists in exile, but Dutch officials born and raised in the Indies. Some of the most influential advocates of reform were senior Dutch colonial officials whose lives and careers had been shaped by the Netherlands East Indies. Hubertus van Mook and Charles van der Plas had extensive experience of Indonesian society and recognised the growing strength of demands for political change. Their outlook differed from that of many officials in the Netherlands, although their proposals remained within a framework of continued Dutch–Indonesian constitutional ties.
During the war, Van Mook proposed a federal model for a postwar Indonesia, one that would include Indonesian representatives and allow for regional autonomy. While he envisioned continued ties to the Netherlands, he accepted that power would have to be shared. He was not alone. Other administrators and Dutch-Indonesian civil servants shared similar ideas, shaped by their proximity to local political realities before the war.
This contrasted sharply with the view held by many in the Dutch government-in-exile in London. Prime Minister Gerbrandy and his ministers feared that any hint of autonomy would be interpreted as weakness. They viewed the war as an interruption of Dutch rule, not its transformation. Efforts to engage Indonesian voices—even cautiously—were often blocked or discouraged. Van Mook’s proposals for consultations with Indonesian representatives encountered considerable opposition within the Netherlands Government-in-Exile, particularly among ministers concerned that such negotiations could weaken Dutch sovereignty. These disagreements complicated his efforts to develop a common policy for the post-war Indies.
Indonesians living in Australia were not merely observers of these debates. They included merchant seamen, students, colonial employees and political detainees evacuated from the Netherlands East Indies, including prisoners previously held at Boven-Digoel. Their experiences and political outlooks varied, but some became increasingly active in organisations advocating Indonesian self-determination.
During the war, Indonesian political networks developed connections with Australian trade unionists and other supporters. The establishment of Serikat Indonesia Baroe (SIBAR) in 1944 provided an organisational platform for Indonesian political activity in Australia. These developments demonstrated that Indonesian aspirations were being expressed independently of the reform proposals advanced by Dutch colonial officials.
The principles of self-government expressed in the 1941 Atlantic Charter strengthened international debates about colonialism, although their application to European colonies remained contested among the Allied powers.
Australia, hosting many Dutch and NEI evacuees, became a quiet site of political observation and, for some, informal dialogue. Although the Australian government did not officially recognise Indonesian independence until much later, there was growing discomfort in political and union circles about reimposing European colonial rule after the war.
The wartime exile period thus became a crucible for competing ideas about Indonesia’s future. Reformist Dutch voices, Indonesian aspirations, Allied pressure, and colonial conservatism all collided. The Dutch–Indonesian relationship would ultimately be transformed by conflict and diplomacy after 1945, but the outlines of that transformation were already emerging in exile.
This article is part of a six-part series on Dutch–Australian wartime cooperation. For related perspectives, see:
- Between secrecy and survival: Australia’s frustration with Dutch neutrality on the eve of war.
- Divided in exile: tensions between Batavia and London in the Dutch war effort.
- Reform or restoration? Political tensions over the future of the Netherlands East Indies during wartime exile.
- Frustration and fortitude: the Dutch purchasing mission and wartime tensions in Australia.
- From indifference to diplomacy: how the war transformed Dutch–Australian foreign relations
- A Dutch military and civil inventory in Australia – March 1942 snapshot
References:
Jack Ford, Allies in a Bind: Australia and the Netherlands East Indies in the Second World War, CQU Press, 2001
R. W. A. van den Berg, Unchained Interests, Netherlands Staff College Monograph, 2021
Related DACC series
Australia and the Netherlands East Indies on the eve of war
This four-part series examines how Australia and the Netherlands East Indies moved from limited contact towards direct diplomatic, military, public and economic cooperation immediately before the Pacific War.
A three-part series examining constitutional authority in London and the development of the Netherlands East Indies administration in wartime Australia.
This six-part series continues the story by examining how the displaced Netherlands East Indies administration was reconstructed in Australia, how it worked with Australia and the Allied command, and how wartime cooperation was affected by the political transformation of Indonesia after 1945.
