What made the Dutch

use force of arms in the Indies

Two books about Indonesia from different viewpoints are

The Mask of Time, by James

Murray, and The Contest For

North Sumatra, by Anthony

Reid.

Anthony Reid’s book is an interest ing exercise in taking a thorough look at an apparently uninteresting and obscure piece of East Indies history and coming to a conclusion which explains to an extent the rise of Indonesian nationalism.

North Sumatra, under the sultanate of Atjeh, was just one of hundreds of petty principalities within the mighty collection of islands now known as Indonesia. But that sultanate, facing both the British, Straits Settlements and the Dutch East Indies, was a vital cog in the machine which brought fortunes to Holland or Britain, depending on who had the upper hand.

Dutch took over

After the Indians, the Arabs and the Portuguese had been left behind, the Dutch and British had the arena to themselves. It was the Dutch who were able to take Sumatra into its East Indies, and try to monopolise its pepper industry, which at one time exported half the world’s supply.

Batavia (capital of the Dutch empire) could not allow Atjeh’s in dependence, and war broke out be tween the sultanate and the Dutch.

The sultanate drew sympathy from many parts of the world in its bitter struggles with the Dutch, but by 1898 it was all over.

Mr. Reid points out that this was more than a petty war between an uncaring European power and a small but proudly independent sultanate.

The Dutch after the war decided that the rule of force was more expedient than diplomacy. It wielded its East Indies into a nation centred around Batavia, which later became Indonesia with Djakarta its capital.

Mr. Reid’s book is a fascinating glimpse of how history can spring from the most unexpected quarters; it is written in a scholarly fashion but with an eye to what is relevant in today’s world.

The Mask Of Time is like visiting Indonesia through the eyes of a

romantic poet of the last century.

James Murray means well and his efforts to make contact with the Indonesians are more sincere than those of any other travel writer about

the place, recently published.

But for all his good intentions he gives the impression of being more tourist than the average tourist. He refuses to eat the Indonesian delicacies on the grounds that he doesn’t know where the meat comes from and when confronted by a poor, but pestering, painting seller, he says: “I’ll take six and any will do”.

Besides being insulted, the seller probably thought he was quite a mug.

Photographs by Lance Nelson are in mood with the author’s style. They are very beautiful and evocative.

But the writer gets a little carried away.—JSE.

(The Contest For North

SUMATRA, Oxford University Press, $l2.

THE MASK OF TIME, Ure Smith Pty.

Ltd., $5,951.