JAKARTA - Today 80 years ago, or March 6, 1942 to be exact, Lieutenant Governor General of the Dutch East Indies, Hubertus Johannes van Mook fled to Australia. He fled because Japan began to stick its power in the Earth Archipelago. In simple language: Van Mook is afraid of being crushed to death by the Japanese. Therefore, Van Mook's escape incident became a joke among the Japanese soldiers. Van Mook is considered a coward. Even the Japanese consider all Dutch people to have small guts like Van Mook.
Japan's guts in World War II need not be doubted. After destroying Pearl Harbor, Japan sparked a new dream. The land of the rising sun wants to "liberate" other Southeast Asian countries that are still being colonized. The Dutch East Indies is one of them.
Successively the Japanese then paralyzed the Dutch power center in the archipelago. From Tarakan, Balikpapan, Pontianak, Samarinda, Banjarmasin, Palembang. The climax, the most decisive landing was when the Japanese troops began to land their troops on the island of Java on March 1, 1942. The landings were made in three places. Banten, Indramayu, and Bojonegoro.
“After the landing, the capital city of Batavia (Jakarta) was announced on 5 March 1942 as an 'open city,' meaning that the city would not be defended by the Dutch. Immediately after the fall of the city of Batavia into their hands, the Japanese expeditionary army immediately moved south and succeeded in occupying Buitenzorg (Bogor)," explained Nugroho Notosusanto et al in the book National History of Indonesia Volume IV (2008).
The landing made the Dutch colonial government start to panic. The path of war was clearly not the main priority of the Dutch. Because, the Dutch fleet and war equipment lost far from Japan. The only option for the Netherlands was to hold on and wait for help from the allied countries. However, the arrival of reinforcements at that time was not easy. Japan is still too strong. The Dutch also planned to immediately move the center of power from Batavia to Bandung.
The leader of the Dutch East Indies at that time also moved to Bandung. Governor General Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer and Van Mook himself. The tactic did not last long. Japan can still mess with the Netherlands. Tjarda finally chose to stay in Bandung. Van Mook's guts were starting to shrink. The Netherlands can't possibly win against Japan, he thought.
He chose to flee from the Dutch East Indies to Australia on March 6, 1942. Van Mook's escape was then made fun of among the Japanese soldiers. In fact, the leader of the Japanese army, Lieutenant General Imamura joined in making Van Mook a joke.
“Beside them, there were people who were brought by the Dutch from Indonesia because when the Japanese came, the Dutch fled south to Australia – and they couldn't go anywhere. The Dutch officially surrendered to the Japanese, so the Dutch Governor was arrested and many Dutch in Indonesia were made prisoners of war in camps in Java and elsewhere.”
“However, while the Dutch made it to Australia, van Mook, Lieutenant General Governor, and van der Plas for example, there were quite a number of people, not just Dutch officials. The Dutch East Indies government in exile has officially received asylum in Aüstralia,” concluded Molly Bondan as written by Joan Hardjono et al in the book Molly Bondan: In Love with A Nation (1995).
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