governance first came within the sovereign power of the King in the 19th century with a Minister in the Colonial Office as an intermediary. After 1848 the Royal influence was sharply curtailed and the Ministry of the Colonies became the official centre of colonial power. Insofar as the Asian colonies were concerned, this was a power which for that matter, always had to be shared with the authorities in Indonesia headed by a Governor-General.21 The Minister of the Colonies initially shared his portfolio with the Navy and the Trade Ministries but between 1842 and 1945 the office was exclusively concerned with running the colonies and bore the name of Ministry of the Colonies throughout this whole period. Although the term 'Colonies' was abandoned when the constitution changed in 1922, it would not be until 1945 that the institutional name of the Ministry was modified to 'Ministry of Overseas Territories'.22 Although the archives of the Protestant and Catholic Missions are not counted as colonial archives in the strictest sense of the above definition, this annual will nevertheless devote some attention to this type of archive. To a certain degree Protestant mission, and later Catholic ones as well, profited from the presence of the colonial authorities, although the relationship between them was ambivalent and complicated. The Indonesian government continually had to balance the maintenance of peace and order against the interests of the missions, who wanted to convert the entire population of the archipelago to Christendom. The colonial government was particularly fearful of clashes between the Islamic population of Java and the missionaries and evangelists. Scars and footprints The territorial boundaries of a large number of countries that were decolonised in the 20th century were drawn on a European drawing board at one time or another. This did not only happen in Africa, it also happened in Asia. The modern borders of many a post-colonial state can be regarded as an important colonial legacy. For example in the Treaty of London of 1824, the Malayan world was divided by Great Britain and the Netherlands. The Dutch swapped the strategically located Malacca with the British for Sumatra, while also acceding to the British claim over Singapore. The London Treaty drew the boundaries between British and Dutch colonies by defining the Straits of Malacca as the border.23 Although the former British and Dutch colonies in South East Asia have all become independent states, this does not mean that the colonial past has been consigned to the history books. The colonial relationship has left a deep and sometimes painful footprint which is still felt today. The renowned Dutch historian Van Deursen wrote not long ago that 'the colonial past still (lives) COLONIAL LEGACY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA - THE DUTCH ARCHIVES 21 Efthymiou, De organisatie, Otten, Gids voor de Archieven ;Graaff, Kalm Temidden van Woedende Golven. 22 Oostindie and Klinkers, Knellende Koninkrijksbanden, 51-52. 23 However, this has not prevented many other border conflicts between these countries. A well documented example of this is the conflict between Singapore and Malaysia over the diminuitive island of Pedra Branca which was assigned to Malaysia by the UN International Court of Justice in 2007. The colonial archives played an exceptionally important part as regards taking evidence in this process. See: Jayakumar and Koh, Pedra Branca. 24 Deursen, De last van veel geluk, 244. 25 Statement by the spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague, quoted by the NRC newspaper, 18 March 2002. See also: Oostindie, 'Historical memory and national canons', 69. 26 Interview with Minister Bot, NOS, dd. 15 August 2005. See http://nos.nl/artikel/51804-bot-maakt-gebaar- naar-indonesie.html (viewed 2012-01-20). 12

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Jaarboeken Stichting Archiefpublicaties | 2012 | | pagina 14