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Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies

1942–1945 occupation during World War II

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In May 1940, Germany occupied the Netherlands, and martial law was declared in the Dutch East Indies. Following the failure of negotiations between the Dutch authorities and the Japanese, Japanese assets in the archipelago were frozen. The Dutch declared war on Japan following the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies began on 10 January 1942, and the Imperial Japanese Army overran the entire colony in less than three months. The Dutch surrendered on 8 March. Initially, most Indonesians welcomed the Japanese as liberators from their Dutch colonial masters. The sentiment changed, however, as between 4 and 10 million Indonesians were recruited as forced labourers (rōmusha) on economic development and defence projects in Java. Between 200,000 and 500,000 were sent away from Java to the outer islands, and as far as Burma and Siam. Of those taken off Java, not more than 70,000 survived the war. Four million people died in the Dutch East Indies as a result of famine and forced labour during the Japanese occupation, including 30,000 European civilian internee deaths.

In 1944–1945, Allied troops largely bypassed the Dutch East Indies and did not fight their way into the most populous parts such as Java and Sumatra. As such, most of the Dutch East Indies was still under occupation at the time of Japan's surrender in August 1945.

The invasion and subsequent occupation formed a fundamental challenge to Dutch colonial rule and brought about changes so extensive that the subsequent Indonesian National Revolution became possible. However, the Indonesian independence movement initially lacked international recognition, and following the surrender the Netherlands regained control of most of the Indies. A bitter five-year diplomatic, military and social struggle ensued, resulting in the Netherlands recognising Indonesian sovereignty in December 1949.

Background

After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Nanshin-ron policy focused on southeast Asia and Pacific Islands as Japan's sphere of influence and as objects for trade and emigration. During the early Meiji period, Japan derived economic benefits from Japanese emigrants to Southeast Asia, among whom there were prostitutes (Karayuki-san) who worked in brothels in the Dutch East Indies and other western colonies in Southeast Asia.

Until 1942, what is now Indonesia was a colony of the Netherlands and was known as the Dutch East Indies. In 1929, during the Indonesian National Awakening, Indonesian nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta (later founding president and vice president, respectively), foresaw the Pacific War and that a Japanese advance on the Dutch East Indies might be advantageous for the independence cause.

The Japanese spread the word that they were the "Light of Asia". Japan was the only Asian nation that had successfully transformed itself into a modern technological society by the end of the 19th century. It had remained independent when most Asian countries had been under European or American control, and had beaten a European power, Russia, in war. Following its military campaign in China, Japan turned its attention to Southeast Asia, advocating to other Asians a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which they described as a type of trade zone under Japanese leadership. The Japanese had gradually spread their influence throughout Asia in the first half of the 20th century, and during the 1920s and 1930s had established business links to the Indies. These ranged from small town barbers, photographic studios and salesmen, to large department stores and firms such as Suzuki and Mitsubishi becoming involved in the sugar trade.

The Japanese population in Indonesia peaked in 1931 at 6,949 residents before starting a gradual decrease, largely as a result of economic tensions between Japan and the Dutch East Indies government. Many 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. Such encouragement of Indonesian nationalism was part of a broader Japanese plan for an "Asia for the Asians". While most Indonesians were hopeful for the Japanese promise of an end to the racially based Dutch system, Chinese Indonesians, who enjoyed a privileged position under Dutch rule, were less optimistic. In the late 1930s, Japanese aggression in Manchuria and China caused anxiety amongst the Chinese in Indonesia, who set up funds to support the anti-Japanese effort. Dutch intelligence services also monitored Japanese living in Indonesia.

In November 1941, the Madjlis Rakjat Indonesia (the Indonesian People's Assembly), an Indonesian organisation of religious, political, and trade union groups, submitted a memorandum to the Dutch East Indies government requesting the mobilisation of the Indonesian people in the face of the war threat. The memorandum was rejected because the government did not consider Madjlis Rakyat Indonesia to be representative of the people. Less than four months later, the Japanese had occupied the archipelago.

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