Give Salaries To Pastors: VOC Strategy To Control Church Council

JAKARTA - The Dutch trading conspiracy, the VOC, considers the presence of the Church Council important. The presence of religious leaders is predicted to be the moral guardians of Europeans in Batavia (now: Jakarta). This condition makes the status of religious leaders a prestige. Can hold concurrent positions as well.

Problems arise. Sometimes the power of the Church Council often interferes with the policies of VOC officials. The Company also tactics by controlling religious leaders. The authorities intervened to pay the pastor and limit his movements.

Batavia's existence as the center of power of the Company in the archipelago cannot be disturbed. The Dutch colonialists even tried to build European settlements in Batavia. The goal is to maintain trade activities and spice monopoly.

Initially, the Company began to be confused with the activities of VOC employees and officials who were far from God. Most of them actually forget the moral standards as a European nation. Licensing mushroomes.

This condition makes the practice of prostitution and bullying even more massive. Jan Pieterszoon Coen took a stand. The Governor-General of the VOC, who served two terms --1619-1623 and 1627-1629", began to work together. He began to move like a moral police officer.

He immediately took firm action against all kinds of immoral acts. He did not hesitate to apply the death penalty. Coen was not alone. He initiated the presence of Kerkenraad (Church Council) in 1621.

The Council of Churches then collaborated with Coen to uphold the moral standards of Europeans to be civilized. Coen's seriousness in strengthening the Council of Churches was gone. He chose to bring teachers and priests from the Netherlands far away.

They were assigned to provide guidance so that Company officials were far from moral destructive activities. The Company also insisted on funding all Church Council activities. Starting from the spread of religion to financing Bible translations.

The Company does not want its religious leaders to be twisted with activities to find coffers of income. This opportunity makes the position of religious leaders a prestige. They are also placed in the judiciary. The goal is to determine which is good and bad.

The worst thing is that the people who lead the church cannot stand alone against the VOC. Formally, the presbiterial system applies to churches in the archipelago as well. But the VOC has determined that existing priests should not be called up by the congregants, but appointed by the government.

"Of course the government pays their salaries, but they can be fired if they do something the government doesn't like. Members of the assembly are almost all Company employees, so for them it is difficult to make decisions against the will of the government," explained Thomas van Der End in the book Harta in Bejana: History of the Ringkas Church (2008).

The foundations built by Coen for the Council of Churches can in fact weaken the influence of religious leaders. Such a Company uses the church as a tool to smooth power, not the other way around. This effort can be seen from the attitude of the VOC which actually insists on paying the priests.

Coen may have enforced moral matters as the most important in Batavia. He even punished his adopted son who was proven to have committed adultery, Sara Specx and his partner. Sara herself is the daughter of a high-ranking Kompeni official, Jaques Specx who happened to return to the Netherlands and entrusted his son to Coen.

Coen did not indiscriminately. The punishment was carried out. The Judicial Council sentenced Sara in the form of stripped clothes and forced to see her partner carry out the death penalty. The incident in fact made an impression on Jaques.

The incident of his son being harassed by a judicial council official who incidentally from among the Church Council cannot be forgiven. The moment when Jaques took revenge arrived. At that time Jaques was appointed governor General of the VOC era 1629-1632. He replaced Coen who died of illness.

Jaques without further ado began targeting church officials who tarnished the honor of his family. Pastors who often hold concurrent positions began to take their influence. They were not given the opportunity to carry out government activities.

Jaques wants to show that the Governor-General is the only person who must be obeyed by religious leaders in the church council. It's different for Jaques, it's different from Johannes Camphuys. The governor-general of the VOC era 1684-1691 also often rejects suggestions from the Church Council. Moreover, his business interferes with religious tolerance.

Camphuys openly rejected the proposal to knock down the temples and mosques in Batavia. Camphuys like emphasized that the Council of Churches is no bigger than the Governor General.

It is suspected that Specx was angry with members of the court council (Raad van Justitie) who decided excessive sentences in his son's case. He forced the Batavia Church Council to prohibit the three members of the court from attending a holy banquet in the church. An attitude that shows the dominance of VOC high-ranking officials towards church officials.

"It is understandable, because the priests are included in the list of VOC recipients, so it can be interpreted that they are also VOC employees. Do the three members of the court, are also members of the Indies Council. From this incident, it is clear that the Governor General's power is unmatched, even though there have been many struggles in positions among members of the Indian Council, but the final word remains in the hands of the Governor General, "said historian Mona Lohanda in the book History of the Magnitude Regulating Batavia (2007).