VOC Bans Bumiputras Living In Batavia In History Today, August 6, 1640

The portrait of the atmosphere of Batavia City while still in VOC power by Johannes Rach. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA History today, 383 years ago, August 6, 1640, the Dutch trading company, the VOC banned the natives from living in Batavia City. Bumiputras are only allowed to visit, even then with travel documents.

Previously, the desire of the Company to monopolize the trade of spices was gone in the world. The owner of power then conquered many areas in the archipelago. Jayakarta, one of them. The Company then expelled the natives and turned Jayakarta into Batavia City.

Jan Pieterszoon Coen is an important figure in the growth and development of the VOC. The economist has thought ahead. He saw that the Company would not be big if it did not have a colony. This effort was later realized by Coen when he became Governor General of the VOC in 1619.

Coen's intention is to make Banten a colony. Later, Coen instead transferred his choice to the Banten Sultanate, Jayakarta. Coen considered the Jayakarta area suitable as a colony because of its strategic location.

Coen also played a role. He tried to offer friendship and cooperation to local authorities. The Company is also allowed to build warehouses and forts. The facility is in fact the main weapon of the Company attacking the owner of the house.

Kompeni and Coen won in 1619. Even though Coen had fled to Maluku to take more troops. All kinds of buildings in Jayakarta were destroyed by the Company. It was above that debris that Coen planned a colony. Batavia City, his name.

The entire population of Jayakarta (Kam Bumiputra) was immediately expelled. Coen wants to make Batavia an important settlement for Europeans with civilized living. It is also an important part of the VOC spice monopoly plan.

Hasrat untuk kepuritaan yang kadang-kadang mirip keseosilaan mendorong Coen, atau siapapun, untuk menegakkan hidup yang eksklusif. Pada 1619 ia memusnahkan Jayakarta (Jacatra). Dimusnahkannya dua bangunan yang jadi pusat kota: kabupaten dan masjid.

"On the rubble he founded 'Kasteel Batavia' which soon became an isolation room. The originals have left him, the Javanese are prohibited from living, and the surrounding forest contains wild animals," said Goenawan Mohamad in his writing in Tempo Magazine entitled JPC (July 3, 2016).

The development of Batavia City is not an easy thing. The time used to build is quite long. Coen couldn't work on the construction alone. The governor-general of the VOC, Coen's replacement, then helped perfect Batavia City as a colony.

As a result, Batavia City clearly needs many regulations that bind its citizens. Everything is for the sake of comfort and security together. The Company also made one of the important rules. The rules prohibit the natives from living in Batavia City on August 6, 1640.

The ban was perpetuated because the presence of the Bumiputras, which they often called Javanese, disrupted stability. However, the natives should not just stay. Anyone who wants to visit is allowed, as long as they get permission from the power of attorney.

The VOC also cannot distinguish whether the people who came to Batavia City were Banten people, Mataram people, or Javanese from other areas. In the eyes of the VOC rulers, all of them are Javanese who they call: Javanen (later became known as the natives).

The rules issued on August 6, 1640 prohibit Javanen from living in Batavia. are even prohibited from entering the Batavia kasteel area, except for being accompanied by an official who takes care of entry permits," explained historian Moha Lohanda in the book History of Batavia Regulatory Entrepreneurs (2007).