Council of the Dutch East Indies

The Council of the Indies Building in Batavia

The Council of the Indies (Dutch: Raad van Indië; Indonesian: Dewan Hindia) was a body established in 1610 to advise and limit the powers of the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. Following administrative reforms of 1836, the council was later renamed as the Council of the Dutch East Indies (Dutch: Raad van Nederlandsch-Indië; Indonesian: Dewan Hindia Belanda).

Initially the council had four members and a chairman, all Dutch nationals. In 1930, this was increased to six people, with citizens of the Dutch East Indies eligible for membership. The council was chaired by the governor-general. The Dutch monarch had the authority to make a final decision in the event of a disagreement between the governor-general and the council.

Prior to 1836, the council had the same standing as the governor-general, but that year, its role was reduced to that of an advisory body. It regained some of its powers in 1854, when an act was passed obliging the governor-general to consult it before taking major measures, but he was still under no obligation to heed its advice. Its powers were reduced again in 1925, but the governor-general still had to consult it before taking certain actions, including making announcements or sending proposals to the semi-legislative Volksraad.

In a report sent to Governor-General Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer in 1938, the council recommended rejection of the Soetardjo Petition, which had been signed by a number of members of the Volksraad and that asked for a conference to be organised to discuss the autonomy for the Dutch East Indies as part of a Dutch commonwealth. The council took the view that the demands of the petition were at odds with the Dutch constitution and that Indonesia was not ready to become a dominion.

Membership

	1922	1931	1941
Vice-president	H.N.A. Swart, appointed 2 Sep 1918	C.J.I.M. Welter, appointed 10 Oct 1929	H.J. Spit, appointed 21 Nov 1938
Members	P. de Roo de la Faille, appointed 3 Feb 1919 L.J. Dukstra, appointed 9 Dec 1919 W. Frijling, appointed 2 Mar 1921 H.A. Kinderman, appointed 28 April 1921	W.P. Hillen, appointed 15 May 1929 C.W. Bodenhausen, appointed 10 Oct 1929 A. Djajadiningrat, appointed 1 Jan 1930 A. Soejono, appointed 1 Jan 1930 A.H.M.J. van Kan, appointed 6 Mar 1930 L.H.W. van Sandwick, appointed 18 Jul 1930	F.H. Visman, appointed 23 Jun 1936 J.H.B. Kuneman, appointed 23 Jun 1936 G.F. de Bruyn Kops, appointed 21 Nov 1938 A. Soejono, appointed 29 Feb 1940
Secretary	W.G. Stroband, appointed 2 Nov 1921	W.G. Peekema (ad interim), appointed 2 Dec 1929	L.F. Jansen, appointed 25 Oct 1939
Source	Regeeringsalmanak voor Nederlandsch-Indië 1922	Regeeringsalmanak voor Nederlandsch-Indië 1931	Regeeringsalmanak voor Nederlandsch-Indië 1941

References

• Abeyasekere, Susan (April 1973). "The Soetardjo Petition" (PDF). Indonesia. 15 (15): 81–108. doi:10.2307/3350793. ISSN 0019-7289. JSTOR 3350793.
• Angelino, A.D.A. De Kat (1931). Colonial Policy, Volume II: The Dutch East Indies. The Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
• Cribb, R.B; Kahin, Audrey (2004). Historical Dictionary of Indonesia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810849358.
• Kusuma, A.B (2004). Lahirnya Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 : memuat salinan dokumen otentik badan oentoek menyelidiki oesaha2 persiapan kemerdekaan [The Birth of the 1945 Constitution: including copies of the authentic documents of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence] (in Indonesian). Depok, Indonesia: Badan Penerbit Fakultas Hukum Universitas Indonesia. ISBN 979-8972-28-7.
• Regeeringsalmanak voor Nederlandsch-Indië 1922: Tweede gedeelte [Government almanac for the Dutch East Indies 1922: Second part] (PDF) (in Dutch). 1922.
• Regeeringsalmanak voor Nederlandsch-Indië 1931: Tweede gedeelte [Government almanac for the Dutch East Indies 1931: Second part] (PDF) (in Dutch). 1931.
• Indies, Dutch East (1941). Regeeringsalmanak voor Nederlandsch-Indië 1941: Tweede gedeelte [Government almanac for the Dutch East Indies 1941: Second part] (in Dutch).
• Ricklefs, M.C. (2008) [1981]. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300 (4th ed.). London: MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-230-54685-1.
• Vandenbosch, Amry (1933). The Dutch East Indies, its government, problems, and politics. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing company.