ABSTRACT
The economic control of the Netherlands Indies government over East Indonesia has been as effective as the military and police control, which it has helped to maintain. Firm in the possession of these means of control, the Dutch have relinquished governmental functions to Indonesians more widely in East Indonesia than in any other Federal area. At the end of 1947 the powers transferred by the Netherlands Indies government to the state of East Indonesia included responsibility for Finance, Justice, General Economic Affairs, Police, Education, Information, Health, Social Affairs, Industry, Shipping, Forestry and Irrigation; in 1948 Agrarian Affairs was added. Some Indonesian intellectuals in East Indonesia fear that the Dutch are imposing a political system which will divert their nationalistic impulses into Dutch-controlled channels. Quite clearly the new Dutch formula for containing nationalism in East Indonesia—a modern adaptation of the old formula of indirect rule—has had considerable success.
