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The colonial government in the East Indies attempted to control the information
exchange between the villages and Batavia by giving the heads of the districts,
the so-called residents, detailed instructions on how to inform the governor-
general. For instance, in 1820 the residents on Java were given an instruction to
collect annual statistical data and in 1823 a detailed instruction was received
by all residents in the archipelago to produce annual reports on the categories
of administration (subdivided into more than 30 different subjects like the
extent of stability or instability of the situation in the regentschappen (regencies),
population, economics etc.), finance (subdivided in 12 different subjects) and
the civil servants (European and local) complete with detailed orders on how to
model the answers in the papers.64
For their part, the residents attempted to set up an information network to be
able to get all the local information they needed. The resident of Cheribon, for
instance, immediately increased the quality and number of his staff in 1817 to be
able to keep the records in an appropriate way,65 including raising the number of
writers from one to three. The assistant-residents produced reports on a regular
COLONIAL LEGACY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA - THE DUTCH ARCHIVES
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Registration of the population in the districts in the Regency of
Buitenzorg, 1837 (Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia)
64 ANRI, Archive of the Algemene Secretarie, Decision of the governor-general of 14 November 1823.
65 When the Dutch took over Cheribon, the general administration of the resident consisted of the 'Resident,
one assistant to the resident, one native revenue assistant, a second native revenue assistant, a writer in
the town, a writer (European) for the records, two Javanese writers, ten mounted oppasses' (sic). ANRI,
Archive of Residentschap Cheribon 2/1, Report of the resident, March 17, 1817.
66 ANRI, Residentschap Cheribon, box 18, 1817-1841, 2/5 Report of the regent of Galor, 5. March 1826.
67 See for instance the letters written by the demang of the village of Parong. ANRI, Archive of Tangerang, 1819
58