ABSTRACT
Whether Dutch or British, the colonial reformers were imbued with humanitarian liberalism, a product of the late-eighteenth-century Enlightenment in England and on the Continent. Hermann Daendels was a Dutch lawyer before he joined the French army in 1793. Thomas Stamford Raffles' reforms were more far-reaching than those of Daendels. Raffles' regime was undoubtedly far more enlightened in its principles than any colonial rule up to that time in Southeast Asia. Raffles' choice was Singapore, a small fishing village with a Malay community. Recognizing Dipo Negoro's qualities of leadership, Raffles promised him succession if Djarot predeceased him. The Java War resulted in a debt of the Dutch East Indies government of more than 30 million florins, with an annual interest charge of more than 2 million florins, both secured by the government in the Netherlands. Under culture system, a certain percentage of crops were given to the native hierarchy as well as to government officials as an incentive to increase production.
