Prosperous Elite, Miserable Farmers: A Look Back At Dutch Forced Planting

JAKARTA - The Dutch colonial government's view of the bumiputra farmers has never been good. But everything changed when Johannes Van Den Bosch served as Governor General of the Dutch East Indies (1830-1834). In his eyes, the peasants had more potential. The policy of forced cultivation (cultuurstelsel) was the Dutch way of using indigenous farmers for profit through all forms of harvested commodities. Unfortunately, for the farmers themselves they are miserable.

The end of the Java War (1825-1830) brought sorrow to both parties. The Bumiputra party lost a charismatic leader, Prince Diponegoro. On the Dutch side, the impact of the war made the state finances fall to their lowest level.

Not only in Java but also in the Netherlands. The Colonial Government immediately turned their heads. All solutions began to be tested in debate. The aim was a strategy so that the Dutch could recover their finances from the debts left by the Dutch trading airline, the VOC.

Johannes Van Den Bosch appears like a hero. In the midst of Dutch doubts, he tried to offer a different view regarding the importance of the Bumiputra farmers. When the Dutch generally despise the Bumiputra peasants as stupid to lazy. Not so with Van Den Bosch.

The Governor General of the Dutch East Indies thought otherwise. He saw the native peasants as the key to the future progress of the Netherlands. They have great power because the island of Java has a large area to cultivate.

“He believes that the inhabitants of the Indonesian Archipelago, however willing they may be, are too ignorant to achieve economic progress without assistance. They must be guided by the authorities, and they must be taught to work, and if they do not want to learn, they must be forced to work. Comparing the standard of living of Javanese farmers with those of the poor in the Netherlands, Van Den Bosch concludes that the livelihoods of Javanese farmers are much better.”

“Therefore, if the government 'organizes' Javanese agriculture to raise it to a higher level, it is simply carrying out its obligations. In addition to various other advantages, the implementation of this plan will enable the government to balance its budget balance, both in Europe and in the Indies. From these theories emerged what is called: the cultural system (Cultuurstelsel),” said Bernard HM Vlekke in the book Nusantara (1961).

Cultuurstelsel or what is commonly known as the forced cultivation system was introduced in the archipelago in 1830. This policy is believed to be a way to gain profit from Javanese farmers through various mechanisms that require them to cultivate export crops.

For the success of the forced cultivation agenda, the priyayi were involved to oversee the sustainability of the system. The priyayi benefited the most when the farmers' yields increased.

This policy was then perpetuated by Van Den Bosch's successors, from 1830 to 1870. The Dutch made huge profits, as predicted by Van Den Bosch. The Dutch East Indies colonial government's budget was balanced. The same applies to all VOC debts, which can be repaid immediately thanks to the results of forced cultivation.

The profits were also sent to the Land of the Windmills. In the period 1831-1837, the colonial government had sent as many as 832 million guilders. The number is increasing year by year. After that, the Dutch used the money from forced cultivation to build railroads, ports and industrial centers.

“This income has made the Dutch economy more stable and all debts can be paid off, taxes are lowered, various fortifications are built. Likewise, various canals and state railways were built throughout the Netherlands. All of this was done by using the profits obtained from the extortion of the sweat of Javanese farmers,” wrote Benny G. Setiono in the Chinese book in Pusaran Politik (2008).

Cultuurstelsel in theory can bring benefits to all parties, especially the peasants. But in practice it is different. The concept that was originally predicted by Van Den Bosch to bring prosperity to all parties actually made the peasants miserable. In fact, the peasants were an important element of the cultuurstelsel. But what the Dutch gave the bonus was the priyayi.

For every profit generated from the policy, the priyayi get cultuurprocenten, ie additional money in accordance with the increase in the income of the forced cultivation system plantations in their area.

With that profit, they earn enough money to throw parties, have more than one wife, and live in luxury. The only group that suffered the most were the peasants.

“Van Den Bosch was the planner of the forced cultivation system that made Java a colonial plantation. In this system, farmers are required to give up part of their land for export plantations, and their labor for that production. The work of farmers in plantations is not paid, but instead they do not have to pay land taxes,” explained historian Ong Hok Ham in the book Wahyu Yang Lost, A Shaky Country (2018).

All farmers have the same problem. Moreover, 57 percent of the population in Java is known to be involved in planting agricultural commodities belonging to the colonial government. Some of these commodities include cloves, rubber, copra, coffee, sugar cane, and tobacco.

The Dutch, who were originally like the savior of the peasants, pretended not to know. Instead of liberating farmers, the Dutch exploited their labor like a dairy cow. As a result, farmers experience incomparable suffering and poverty. Hunger is one of the risks.

Because of the pain of the fate of the peasants, colonial official Eduard Douwes Dekker alias Multatuli sympathized with the Bumiputras. in his book Max Havelaar (1860), he did not expose the arbitrary treatment of the colonial government to farmers. But also the priyayi who worked as colonial civil servants.

He candidly wrote about how miserable the farmers were during the Cultivation System. Farmers who were so destitute, were not even given anything by the Dutch. In fact, most of the priyayi contributed to the misery of the peasants. The priyayi often took the farmers' crops and buffalo. Which, in the end, the farmers are always the losers.

“Indonesian people (mainly farmers) are still suffering, some are even more miserable than during the VOC era. Sundanese people used to say: people are born, marry, and die in tom fields. Most Indonesians do not have time to manage their own fields because of irregularities in the implementation of the Cultuurstelsel provisions, and misery is exacerbated by the 'gift-giving' system (Cultuurprocenten). Among the people who can't stand it, run away from their hometown, and disturb the security," concluded G. Moedjanto in the book Indonesia of the 20th Century Volume 1 (1988).

*Read other information about the Dutch colonial period or read other interesting articles from Detha Arya Tifada.