ABSTRACT
This study set out to explore how two distinct systems of colonial exploitation, in the Belgian Congo and in the Netherlands Indies, have affected the long-term course of economic development in the two countries into the post-independence era. To what extent can their post-colonial economic divergence be explained by differences in their colonial exploitation? Before we offer our main conclusions, we should acknowledge that colonial legacies only have a long-term impact in interaction with post-colonial developments. It is tempting to trace the post-colonial divergence of Indonesia and the Congo back in time and interpret the variation in colonial legacies as the explanation for a known outcome. However, reading history backward opens up the trap of determinism and downplays the potential of human agency to address current development problems. As Abbeloos has argued (Chapter 12), one may seriously question whether Suharto would have survived politically for over 30 years if his program of growth, development, and equity (Trilogi Pembangunan) had not been supported by booming oil prices in the 1970s. Similarly, it is questionable whether Mobutu's rule would have become so destructive if copper prices had not collapsed in the 1970s and remained low until the end of the twentieth century. And what if Lumumba had not been murdered and Mobutu had not entered the scene in the first place?
