The Soetardjo Petition
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7296699 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susan Abeyasekere (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1973 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Pages | 80-80 |
| Publication date | 1973-04-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Indonesia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0019-7289 • E-ISSN: 2164-8654 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3350793 |
| OpenAlex | W2334146388 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
With its moderate aim of political autonomy for the Netherlands Indies, the Soetardjo Petition of 1936 was the major test of the willingness of Dutchmen and Indonesian nationalists to cooperate in implementing fundamental political reforms in the 1930's. The proposal was put forward in the hope that it would provide the common goal towards which both Indonesians and Europeans could work.' Being a step on the way towards independence, autonomy might appeal to the nationalist movement. Since 1935, that movement had experienced a swing towards cooperation, a term which in the context of Indies politics meant participation in representative councils created by the Dutch. By 1935, most non-cooperating parties had been rendered inactive by internments, repressive legislation and police activity, leaving only the Partai Sarekat Islam Indonesia [Indonesian Islamic Union Party--PSII], a shadow of the old Sarekat Islam, to represent the non-cooperators. A new series of cooperating nationalist parties came into existence, the largest being Parindra [Pa:t.i Indonesia Raja--Great Indonesia Party] (founded in 1935 from a fusion of Boedi Oetomo and Soetomo's Persatoean Bangsa Indonesia [Indonesian National Union]), followed by the leftist Gerindo [Gerakan Rakjat Indonesia--Indonesian People's Movement] (1937), and two small Muslim parties, Salim's Pergerakan Penjadar [Awakening Movement] (1936), and its rival, Partai Islam Indonesia [Indonesian Islamic Party--PII] founded in 1938 by Wiwoho and Dr. Soekiman. Since these parties aimed to work in the Volksraad (the central representative body), it might have been expected that they would support gradualist political reforms such as the Soetardjo Petition requested. At the same time, autonomy was an ideal to which the Dutch had given lip service since the inception of the Ethical Policy.2 By linking autonomy
| Citations per year | 0.04 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1972 - 2011 (40) |
| Highly cited | No |