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Indonesia THE GROWTH OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS
National consciousness emerged gradually in the
archipelago
during the first decades of the twentieth century,
developed
rapidly during the contentious 1930s, and flourished, both
ideologically and institutionally, during the tumultuous
Japanese
occupation in the early 1940s, which shattered Dutch
colonial
authority. As in other parts of colonial Southeast Asia,
nationalism was preceded by traditional-style rural
resistance. The
Java War, joining discontented elites and peasants, was a
precursor. Around 1900 the followers of Surantika Samin, a
rural
messiah who espoused his own religion, the Science of the
Prophet
Adam, organized passive resistance on Java that included
refusal to
pay taxes or perform labor service. Militant Islam was
another
focus of traditional resistance, especially in Sumatra.
Indonesian nationalism reflected trends in other parts
of Asia
and Europe. Pilgrims and students returning from the
Middle East
brought modernist Islamic ideas that attempted to adapt
the faith
to changing times. Other influences included the founding
of the
Indian National Congress in 1885; the Philippine struggle
for
independence against both Spain and the United States in
1898-1902;
Japan's victory over tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese
War
(1904-05), a major challenge to the myth of white European
supremacy; and the success of Kemal Ataturk in creating a
modern,
secularized Turkey after World War I on the ruins of the
Ottoman
Empire. The Russian Revolution of 1917 also had a profound
impact,
reflected in the growth of a strong communist movement by
the late
1920s. National consciousness was not homogeneous but
reflected the
diversity of Indonesian society. Dutch repression and the
shock of
war from 1942 to 1945, however, forged diverse groups into
something resembling a unified whole.
Data as of November 1992
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