(Old page) East Indies Crisis - do not edit: Difference between revisions

In the aftermath of the great war, the Netherlands suffered greatly in a short time. The lowlands campaign, combined with the eventual grinding down of the French advance along the Rhine and the push back had exhausted the Netherlands. Its factories in the south were either destroyed or badly damaged, its production centers in the north working overtime to provide the goods needed to rebuild the south. All of this required raw natural resources, thus that more pressure was put upon the Dutch East Indies, the crown jewel in the Dutch empire to deliver the resources to rebuild the Netherlands.

This pressure led to a series of reforms that would change how the east indies were governed. The first of the reforms, de hervormingen van 1941, would see a large-scale centralization of governance in the east indies. Former client states and protectorates were now made nothing more than ceremonial puppets, any power they left was taken away. Now governors would be appointed directly from Batavia with full control over their regions of governance.

All of these reforms had a simple goal, to make the extraction of resources from the east indies more effective and increase productivity. It would see the mass mechanization of the agricultural sector, which would lead to many of the farmer's traditional lifestyles being destroyed with tens of thousands if not more being forced to move into the cities. Swelling the city's populations massively to a point that many of the local cities simply did not have the resources to deal with this massive surge of people. This led to a rise in crime and poverty and resentment towards the Dutch colonial authorities that did not do anything to counter this rise in crime and poverty and create a prime recruiting ground for the various rebel groups.

With this situation continuing for nearly a decade, it having severe social and economic changes. It was in the Sultan of Johor that a once-powerful sultan who had in the reforms lost a great deal of prestige. While at the same time seeing the city his family built to become a hub of crime and villainy. A city where the local national republican party has gained a great deal of support. Support that was slowly building up into an open rebellion, as eventually, the national republicans of Djohor managed to convince the sultan to launch a rebellion that would free him and his realm from the Dutch colonial rule. They argued that with the Netherlands being weak, due to internal political upheaval, the effects of the great war and a refocus of its military towards Europe due to the silent war. He was eventually convinced and after a year of preparations in secret, gathering arms and setting up groups planning it all out they decided to strike.

On the 4th of may 1952 in the early hours, the local Dutch administrators were killed in their beds and Dutch loyalist police forces were arrested and killed. This was the start of what would become known as the Johor uprising, or as it's known in Sunda “The butchering of Johor”.

It was thus on the 4th of May 1952 that across the Johor sultanate, the Dutch administrators, policemen and KNIL garrisons were all ambushed and killed. Marking the start of what would become known as the Johor rebellion.

'''Devastation of Johor'''

With the success of the neutralization of KNIL & DEI government forces in the sultanate, it was hoped that this would at first provide them with a strong position. It was the belief that the Netherlands would not be able to deploy the forces needed to deal with them. In that belief they were wrong. When news reached Batavia that Djohor had rebelled and neutralized all the DEI her ability to quell the rebellion in the region. Yet Batavia was under a great deal of pressure from the Netherlands, with the DEI being the primary source of raw cheap natural resources the Hague could not tolerate any form of rebellion, for otherwise, it might be the spark that would hinder the rebuilding of the mother country.

Governor-General Martien van der Goot in the early hours of the 5th of May only had his point of view one option. To crush the rebellion in any way necessary for it should not become the first of a wider rebellion. As shown from recently released documents Governor-General Martiem van der Goot thus ordered, the commander of the KNIL Lieutenant-Generaal J.A. Vetter, the following:

“Make an example out of these rebels.”

It was an order that the veteran commander, a veteran of the Corean expedition, and the great war and a hardened man, would follow to the letter. It must be understood that the KNIL of 1941 was an organization that was different from itself in 1935. Experience in the Corean war, the great war all had created a battle-hardened organization that was more brutal in the way it carried out its operations than what was the norm in the regular military.

The KNIL send with immediate haste the 9th Batavian regiment that landed on the old island in front of Johor. There they fought with the local National Republicans for around 6 days, it was slow but steady but eventually, the island was fully secured. It was then that the city was further surrounded by the lands and a combined push was made leading to the slow but steady degradation of the fighting capabilities of Johor. What is seen as a mistake by the rebels is that they attempted to mee the KNIL in open battle, which led to heavy losses on their side. Eventually, at the end of the month, the city had been breached and the rebellion was quickly turning to urban warfare leading to the destruction of the city.

It is here that rumours are about because it was during the destruction of the city that the term “Butchering of Johor” came to be. KNIL soldiers showed little mercy and did not care and saw all locals as rebels resulting in wide-scale destruction. It was also here that, to this day is a controversial topic, it is said KNIL death squats moved into the palace and eliminated the royal family in its entirety.

While this remains disputed this is the principal event that is seen as the precursor to the EIC. As this led the National republicans to flee to Russia and to train become better organised and spread their movement.