Ethische politiek verbeeld als de christelijke beschavingsmissie

Alexander Willem Frederik Idenburg, een Nederlandse koloniaal met goede bedoelingen?

Author(s)

  • Jan Breman

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.12778

Abstract

This review article assesses Hans van der Jagt’s biography of the Dutch antirevolutionary politician and colonial official Alexander Willem Frederik Idenburg (Engelen uit Europa, 2022). Van der Jagt incorrectly depicts Idenburg as the figurehead of the Dutch colonial ethical policy at the beginning of the early twentieth century, while unduly idealising this policy. As is argued in this review article, this ethical policy was in effect instrumentalised as camouflage, concealing the perpetuation of the colonial intent -enforcement of Dutch rule, including extensive exploitation of land and people. Deriving from social concern about the impoverishment of the Indonesian population, the vast wealth amassed was intended to reduce the cost of the colony and help empower its inhabitants. Although this political mission was not realised, persistently referring to it served to justify ongoing Dutch rule both in the late colonial and in the post-colonial eras. In this article, I bring the disenchanting practices of the parties involved and their interests in sharper focus and I evaluate the role of Idenburg as the political centrepiece of this ethical policy. In the high-ranking colonial offices entrusted to him, he represented the anti-revolutionary doctrine in the policy pursued. Other operators, advocates and opponents of ethical policy alike, along with their motives, are addressed here as well, from the slow, cautious start of the ethical policy until its early eclipse.

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Author Biography

  • Jan Breman

    Jan Breman is emeritus hoogleraar comparatieve sociologie aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam en is als senior fellow verbonden aan het Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis in Amsterdam. Zijn contemporain (op veldwerk gebaseerd) en historisch onderzoek richt zich voornamelijk op Azië, Indonesië en India in het bijzonder. Fighting Free to Become Unfree Again. The Social History of Bondage and Neo-Bondage of Labour in India is zijn laatst verschenen boek (Tulika Books 2023). Begin 2024 volgt Colonialism, Capitalism & Racism (Amsterdam University Press).

Published

2023-09-29

Issue

Section

Review Articles

How to Cite

Ethische politiek verbeeld als de christelijke beschavingsmissie: Alexander Willem Frederik Idenburg, een Nederlandse koloniaal met goede bedoelingen?. (2023). BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 138(3), 63-92. https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.12778