The Study of Economic History in Indonesia

Abstract

Some fifteen years ago an Indonesian economic historian observed that the economic history of Indonesia, and that of Southeast Asia in general, was still in its infancy (Tan 1965 : 398). Although the state of economic history as a separate discipline at present can hardly be called vibrant, a few Indonesian scholars, notably economists and sociologists, have recently conducted interesting studies which can be considered as significant contributions to the economic history of Indonesia. Moreover, during the past decade several foreign scholars, mostly from the Netherlands, the US, and Australia, have also done important work on the economic history of Indonesia. Significant though their work may have been in advancing our knowledge on the economic history of Indonesia, our main concern in this paper will be the study of economic history as practiced in Indonesia itself rather than the study of Indonesia’s economic history.