The Controversy of the Cultivation System In Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the controversy over the Cultivation system (cultuurstelsel) implementation in the Dutch East Indies (1830–1870). this research was carried out using the historical method. the stages consist of heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography. this research relies on secondary sources that come from books and articles. this research data was collected using a document review technique. the researchers previously classified specific themes, namely the background of the Cultivation system policy, the Cultivation system policy in several previous works, and the end of the system policy. the results of this study show that research on Cultivation systems in Java is divided into three phases. the first phase started in the 1850s or 1860s and lasted until the early 1920s. While in the second phase began in the 1920s until the end of Dutch rule in In-donesia. then in the third phase, starting from independence to the present. there was a paradigm shi regarding the Cultivation system in all stages. At first, it was more likely that the system was considered evil, then shied to the judgment that it was good for the Dutch and bad for the indigenous population. Furthermore, the view indicates that the system ben-efited some people but was terrible for others. the controversial side of the policy persists to this day, and continuous research is needed to reveal the merits and demerits of the system.