SERDADU BELANDA DI INDONESIA - Review

The sixth and ninth of August are crucial dates in the history of this nation, there have been events that sparked the spirit of the Indonesian people to break free from the colonialists. The events of the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki seemed to be a prologue to Indonesia's independence which was then colonized by Japan, in that war situation this country was also born to the surface. Born from the embryo of a tense and inhuman war atmosphere, Indonesian history is closely related to wars and power struggles. It can be said that the history of Indonesia is a history that is bloody, a history full of victims, a history that is red. How could it not that for almost more than three centuries Indonesia was forced to serve the barbaric desires of the colonizers, from the Netherlands, England to Japan. So there are countless Indonesian historical literature on the topic of war, whether it is written by Indonesian or foreign historians. Almost all examples of the literature tell how the colonial war, the war for independence, and the physical revolution that occurred after Indonesian independence. Told in detail and with charming chronological flavor. But the problem is that it is almost certain that some of the literature tells of warfare from an Indonesian perspective. So in the book only one plot is provided, a story about warfare according to Indonesian soldiers. This is natural because most of the literature on the history of Indonesian warfare was written after 1957, the year when the first National History Congress was held in Yogyakarta, which decided that national history should be written from an Indonesian perspective. What is meant is that in every national history book, the Indonesian people must be the main focus. It is commonly referred to as the Indonesian centric writing style. This writing style developed over time, becoming a national identity that had previously been coveted. Much new literature has been launched using this style of writing, and much of the previous national historical literature has been re-examined to conform to Indonesian centric standards. Not many deviated from the Indonesian-centric writing style, until finally the book Serdadu Holland in Indonesia came to be an anomaly that kicked off tradition. The book that I reviewed is like a hipster, as a counter opposition that is ready to provide an alternative to the reader - especially on the history of national warfare. The style of writing in this book is of greater value than the literature on the history of national warfare, taken from a central Dutch point of view which is in sharp contrast to what is often presented in most literature. This writing style was clearly influenced by the background of the writer who was truly a Dutchman as well as the director of the Dutch studies center for the Asia and Kep. The Caribbean makes this book look like a perfect rival. Through this Dutch-centric writing style the writer tries to question the stereotypes that have been formed as a discourse on the history of national warfare, such as "whether the Dutch army was indeed wild soldiers who were brutal, vicious and tortured Indonesian civilians" and "was it true that Dutch soldiers came to the Indies only with motives? Gold, Glory and Gospel ”. In addition to the unique writing style, the plus point of this book is the historical sources it uses. In any historical research, historical sources are divided into two types: primary and secondary. And still within the scope of the research, it is not uncommon to find difficulties in finding primary sources written at the time when the event took place. Inevitably, researchers are required to rely on secondary sources which are sometimes biased. What is amazing is that this book is able to collect and present a very rich primary source, through the corpus of ego documents in the form of diary books, memoirs, interviews, biographies, correspondence with family or colleagues who managed to record the activities of Dutch soldiers during the post-independence political action in the Dutch East Indies. The use of the ego document indirectly increases the authentic value of the historical source itself, but it can also affect the accuracy of the data presented because it is not too far away when the event occurs. The ego document also serves to show that this book presents a view of history from below. In that sense, the history presented here belongs to people who are not very influential - in this case the Dutch soldiers -, history is seen as something universal and does not belong to heroes and figures who make it into a long list of influential people but belong to all human children. . In fact, this type of history is more humanistic and sentimental, and this book has proven to be successful in building a stigma that makes the reader feel personally. Through fragments of interviews, the writer tries to convey these intimate nuances. Before ending this review, it should be noted that in every war there is a testimony from the perpetrators of violence who actually do not want to do this, the majority of wars are based on political policies that sacrifice the military like pawns. Like most, the period of physical revolution is clear evidence of the large number of victims who are willing to fight for political interests, and the victims are the military soldiers themselves.