History Of The Indonesian Textile Industry: How To Colonialize The Netherlands So That Imported Products Don't Flood The Archipelago

Portrait of the growth of the textile industry in Tegal during the Dutch East Indies era. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - In the past, the textile industry was once something that was not thought of in the archipelago. The invasion of textile products from various countries was the reason. This condition makes people in the Dutch East Indies (now: Indonesia) feel comfortable.

Everything changed when the economic recession hit the world in 1929. Textile goods from Japan began to dominate. Textile goods from the Netherlands lost competitiveness. The Dutch colonizers did not want to lose. They try to build the domestic textile industry so they don't gossip about imports.

The bumiputras used to not know the textile industry. This condition is because they make their own textile needs, so clothes to sheets. The weaving work is carried out on a limited scale.

Alias, only being a filler of empty time when they don't work in fields or fields. This condition took place throughout the archipelago. However, not with the Dutch colonialists. Europeans have instant ways of getting their own textile needs.

European-style clothes or fabrics began to be imported from various countries to the archipelago. This condition made the Dutch complacent. They no longer think about the construction of the textile industry. The effort to import textiles from outside is considered more than sufficient.

Recently, the existence of textile imports has mushroomed in the archipelago. The Bumiputras began to look at foreign textile products. Everything is due to the development of transportation and the presence of the Suez Canal. Something that can cut the distance to the archipelago.

Textile products were also present to the villages. The Bumiputras began to adopt the appearance of Europeans in everyday life, although still limited. This condition made the Dutch East Indies like the main outlets of textile items from other countries.

Whoever sells to the Dutch East Indies will certainly make a big profit. The population alone in the 1920s could reach more than 51 million people. This means that the archipelago has been known as the world textile market from a long time ago.

The Netherlands has become a tropical par excellence country, with a population of mostly 51.5 million people (36.7 million in Java and Madura, and 14.8 million in the outer islands) this country, naturally the Dutch East Indies transformed into one of the main outlets of textile items such as shirts, sheets, fine cotton fabrics, and so on.

"It is absolutely impossible for more pressing demand for this type of goods to procure (only) in collaboration in China and India UK, even though the textile industry in those countries is trying to increase the supply of desirable needs by building their home industries," said J. Stroomberg in the book INDIA Netherlands 1930 (2018).

The entire archipelago's dependence on foreign textile products continues. However, the desire to build its own textile industry began to emerge. The Dutch East Indies government then initiated the emergence of the textile industry by establishing a training center for Textiel Inrichting Bandoeng (TIB) or the Bandung Textile Institute in 1922.

The presence of TIB then encouraged the emergence of the textile industry in Majalaya Bandung. TIB has a role in the study of weaving tools, submerging, pattern design, and business management. TIB does develop in producing the weaving industry, but it is running slowly.

Everything changed when the Great Depression greeted the world in 1929. The impact of the economic recession hit Indonesia fast. Imported textiles from the Netherlands began to lose their spurs.

The goods lost to textiles from Japan. Japanese goods filled almost the entire market in the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch colonialists were then awakened. They cannot continue to rely on imports from the Netherlands and lose competitively.

The initiation of boosting the textile industry in the archipelago emerged. Big companies began to accommodate many workers unemployed due to economic depression. They were employed as textile industry workers after studying to TIB.

The results were brilliant. Big textile companies developed. In fact, some workers helped create a home industry in Bandung, then spread throughout the Dutch East Indies.

TIB is also able to support the presence and affordability of weaving tools. The price is cheap and the quality of the textile results is high. TIB is able to produce non-machine Weaving Equipment and Machine Weaving Equipment. More and more people from various regions are sent to Bandung to learn weaving.

This condition has flooded the archipelago with domestic products. Even though the government still controls the import of textile goods so as not to damage the domestic textile market. The textile industry of the archipelago is slowly growing rapidly, sometimes it also becomes over production.

Controlling imported goods provides a huge advantage for domestic entrepreneurs, especially those who produce gloves and long cloth. The reason is that the Bumiputra weaving is not ready to compete with better quality imported products because of their complicated manufacturing techniques.

In 1934, the import quota system was expanded to include sarong products. The main goal is to restore the position of Dutch sarongs, which previously experienced a decline due to the progress of Japanese products. The Netherlands finally managed to control 90.8 percent of the total existing sarong market and get Japan out of the Javanese market," said Officially Setia in the book Gali Tutup Lumbang. It's Ordinary: Labor Strategy To Overcome Problems from Time to Time (2005).