Nothing to Report? Challenging Dutch Discourse on Colonial Counterinsurgency in Indonesia, 1945–1949

Abstract

The historiography on the last Dutch colonial war, the Indonesian war of decolonization (1945–1949), has until this day remained almost exclusively dependent on Dutch primary and secondary sources. This article advocates for moving beyond the hegemony of the colonial source. From a study of several case studies of Dutch military violence, the authors conclude that Dutch and Anglophone historians, as a consequence of their selective use of sources, have remained in the dark on the disruptive effects of Dutch warfare on Indonesian society. Ultimately, combining the perspective from the Dutch and Indonesian sources also yields new insights into the nature of decolonization-era violence. Viewing different sources from both sides helps us see how this war of decolonization had both colonial and conventional modern military genealogies.