Netherlands Bans KNIL From Reading Nationalist Newspapers In Today's History, June 7, 1932

JAKARTA History today, 91 years ago, June 7, 1932, the colonial government banned the Dutch East Indies Royal Army (KNIL) from reading the newspapers belonging to the nationalist natives. One of the prohibitions was reported by the Bintang Timoer newspaper.

Previously, the owner of power was often afraid of all kinds of reading materials published freely in the Dutch East Indies (now: Indonesia). The Dutch considered that reading could make the natives rebel against the Dutch. Therefore, efforts to prohibit being perpetuated.

The occupations that were perpetuated by the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies often provoked the anger of the bumiputras. They blackmail the natives like dairy cows. Their natural wealth was taken, while the natives were deliberately left without being touched by education.

The effort was made so that rebellion and the explosion of resistance did not occur in the archipelago. Everything changed when many religious leaders and scholars began to perpetuate the tradition of going on pilgrimage to Makkah.

The experience in Makkah in fact forged them many things. They not only bring religious knowledge after the pilgrimage, but also bring understanding of the import of Pan Islamism. This understanding makes the ulama and all Muslims aware that colonialism must be fought.

The understanding was then spread everywhere. From mosques to mouth to mouth. Other spreads related to Pan Islamism are perpetuated in massive distribution of reading materials. Islamic books, one of them.

The contents of the books circulating in the Dutch East Indies contain a lot of jihad war against Dutch colonialism. Whoever reads, his desire will certainly rise to fight. The colonial government of the Dutch East Indies then burned beards.

Bumiputra Affairs Advisor, Snouck Hurgronje immediately advised the colonial government to ban and limit the spread of Islam-based books in 1896. This is because the existence of colonialism will be disrupted if the government makes omissions.

First of all, it needs to be called rather old, and more or less classical, religious learning guidelines according to Mazhab Syafi'i, here are the interpretations and explanations of these works. Furthermore, the textbooks are about the proposal or the dogmatic as well as the mystical of the like, the interpretation of the Quran, the set of hadiths, the history of the sufi, the legends of the sacred people, and the books to build a solemn atmosphere in general, as well as the minutes that are always reprinted.

"Meanwhile, there are usually prominent clerics in Mecca, Cairo and the Dutch East Indies who compose essays or make efforts about these various fields. In this country such writings, thanks to the well-known names of their authors, can generally be sold quite well, although from the point of view of the material presented there are not many new things," said Snouck Hurgronje in the book Nashah-Nasyh C. Snouck Hurgronje During his Personnel to the Government of the Dutch East Indies 1889-1936 Volume 10 (1994).

In fact, the Dutch fear of spreading a dangerous reading list became increasingly widespread in the early 20th century. The owner of power felt that the influence of reading materials from nationalists could potentially perpetuate rebellion everywhere.

The readings can disturb public order. Mainly, when reading it became routine consumption of KNIL soldiers who incidentally came from many natives. The Dutch fear that KNIL soldiers will fight the Dutch back.

As a result, the Netherlands then issued a list of banned newspapers belonging to nationalists. The banned newspaper list was later published in the Timoer Star newspaper on June 7, 1932.

Regarding reading, the colonial government as much as possible limited the reading of colonial soldiers, where books written or related to the movement were prohibited by the colonial government. The colonial government, as published in the June 7, 1932 edition of the Timoer Star, has issued a list of banned readings to members of the Dutch East Indies military.

Some of the forbidden readings were in the form of books or newspapers that generally smelled of nationalism, including: Porsatoean Indonesia, Simpaj, Sediotomo, Indonesia Moeda, Garoeda, Garoeda Semeroe, Garoeda Merapi, Sinar Djakarta, Darmo Kondo, Soeara Merdeka, Daulat Ra jat, and several other media, "explained Petrik Matanasi in the book Prabumi Becomes Lieutenant KNIL (2011).