Foreign Influence

The history of Indonesia is not easy to read, let alone write. The history of our nation is full of mysticism, legends, stories, and contradictions. No historian from the Majapahit Empire or Mataram has come close to the historians of Rome more or less 1400 years ago, like Tacitus or Caesar. We are forced to admit that we have have never known an honest historian.

At best we have fairy tales, legends, and courtiers of the king that tell all sorts of beauty and brilliance to attract the listener's heart.

But even then there is also a limit to the imagination and twisting of actual events. We don't have to go too far beyond that boundary, and we will surely come across the real essence. So it is with the histories of our country. Amongst the kinks in the fabric, the truth is revealed, the Indonesian Archipelago, the kingdoms and cities that rose and fell, the armies that marched, fought, lost and won, the wealth, the stability, the cultural ups and downs and so on. It is undeniable that there were great states in Malacca, Sumatra and Java. Even in Central Borneo, there was a kingdom that was not much less than the Majapahit Kingdom. There were large cities full of beautiful buildings and jewellery, as evidenced by items found in the ground up to the present time.

It is also certain that Indonesia has never stepped out of its feudal society, and that it is far removed from feudalism in Europe. The Greeks were far superior to the Indonesians - in this case Majapahit if this kingdom is considered the highest level - in terms of state government, politics, law and culture. Yes, the people of Majapahit actually never recognised the ideal of state government. For centuries the government was not for and belonged to the people. The words: "For you, my Lord, the freedom, the belonging and the life of the people," have been said over and over again by the people of Indonesia to their kings! There was no Orachus, no Magna Charta, and no well-researched knowledge like that of Aristotle, Pythagoras and Photomeus. Our knowledge of architecture and medicine was still at an experimental level. The wonders of our Borobudur are not as miraculous as the Pythagorean triangle, because the former leads to a dead path, while the latter leads mankind to various kinds of knowledge. Nowhere is there a trace of knowledge and the pinnacle of the mind's intelligence!

That said, let's not talk about Eastern Mysticism! This is beyond our material knowledge; moreover, the Western nations in the Dark Ages (Middle Ages) have known it for long. After all, mysticism is not based on material truth, our society has always obtained from foreign influences and never has its own ideals. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam are imported goods, not the product of our society.

In addition, these ideals did not grow as much as Christianity in Western Europe. The driving force behind the entry of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam up to the time of the arrival of Dutch capitalism, and all civil wars at that time were abroad. Indonesia had always been the puppet, and the masters are always abroad.

The Authentic Indonesian Nation

In ancient times, when the indigenous Indonesians were pressured by the Chinese and Hindus coming from their land - the Indies - and fled to the Indonesian Archipelago, they already had established civilization. The peasants of the time turned into pirates who were ferocious and feared by the people. With their Vintas (a small type of boat), they sailed across the islands between two large oceans, between America and Africa. The Indians and Oceania were conquered by them. The jungle to the top of the mountain was turned into their new home. Those homes they made, culture, and knowledge. When the Western and Eastern nations worshipped the sword of Genghis Khan and Timur Lang and fled in fear, at that time they not only resisted but were also able to repel the Mongol army. The pirates named Pakodato from the Kingdom of Singapore in the Malay peninsula 500 years ago were able to shake the Kingdoms of China and India with their mighty fleets and swords.

Hindu Influence

Presumably the tropical climate in the neighbourhood of the sun is the main reason for our lack of technical progress. The fertile and debilitating climate, as well as the small population, made the happy peasantry settle down and settle in, while the vast archipelago attracted the people on the coasts to travelling and experience. According to history it is known that, after the Hindu influence was brought in, their culture improved and they became acquainted with the usurpers. This happened after our nation had mixed blood with the Hindu invaders. Now we can imagine the events that can be described by these events, which awakened the latent energy to become dynamic. It is not due to our own life struggles (against or between classes) that we have described the feudalistic cultural techniques mentioned above, but due to external influences.

Let us leave here the matriarch rule in Minangkabau, which is related to its natural conditions and remote position. With the establishment of Indonesia's only democracy, we also leave the history of Srivijaya and other kingdoms on the island of Java, showing only the broad outlines. The religion of the Indonesian people, animism, was suppressed by Hinduism and Buddhism, so people tell us. The smarter nation taught them more perfect government and cultural techniques. The peaceful inhabitants of Java did not yet have class conflicts in the broadest sense. They did not allow the followers of Hinduism to stake their faith in a conflict between aristocratic Hinduism and the more democratic Budhism. The sharpness of the religious conflict was muted by the classless Javanese. More or less, all Hindu philosophy was accepted by the original Javanese islanders. Shiva, Vishnu, and the gods of Buddhism, which in their native lands were hostile and separate, lived together peacefully on Java.

In such a case, Islam came and eventually took the place of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Today's Javanese is a "crystallisation" of various deities and religions of the gods (animism). They are not animists, not Hindus, not Buddhists, not Christians and not true Muslims. Indonesian by nature, but Hindu-Arabic in his mind.

Empu Sedah Pessimism

In the strong and famous Kingdom of Daha ruled by King Jayabaya, a smart and clever, even yet wise, there was a fortune teller named Empu, who was always upset because he was very suspicious of foreign influences that were getting relevant and relevant. In his writings, it mentioned: “A revolution in Java will arise, led by yellow people and will gain victory for some time”. In his sarcastic words, it's written “it will reign for a lifetime”.

Isn't that prediction then proven by the victory of a Chinese Javanese named Mas Garendi that for a short time controlled the city of Kartasura?.

In the time of Empu Sedah, the influence of China gradually increased. It is logical for Chinese people to use the Javanese nobility as a tool to fulfil their economic interests as much as possible!

If this goal does not succeed with their influence, sometimes by way of revolution then try to seize the state government. But, in order for them to keep their power, they must be stronger or establish their own class. They must be natives or inter marry with the indigenous people. Only then could they conquer the kingdom through the displeased peasants. Because the Chinese socially remained with their Chinese heritage and did not receive military assistance from their motherland, they were soon able to maintain the victory of the Javanese kings.

Empu Sedah understood how much hatred the people and the revolution had if it were to break out. While their power nationally is not strong enough to withstand the social revolution. That's what made him nervous.

In the Majapahit Kingdom stood several batik, tiles, and ship companies with considerable capital. Some companies employed several thousand workers. Some of its captains had sailed as far as Persia and China with their ships. It can because they had such a big capital, even foreign capital. The rich merchants in cities such as Gampel, Gresik, Tuban, Lasem, Demak, and Cirebon were probably foreigners or had intermarried with the Javanese. Nakhoda Dampu-Awang, according to his exaggerated story, had a ship whose sail was as high as Mount Bonang, and his wealth described as such, they feel like Chinese-Javanese. One statistic at that time we did not have! But the nationality of peoples living on the island of Java can be proven by the words of a Majapahit poet, named Prapanca, “consistently people came in droves from various nations. From the Mainland-Indies, Cambodia, China, Annam, Champa, Karnataka, Guda, and Siam with ships accompanied by many merchants of renowned Brahmana clerics, scholars, and priests, ready to come to be entertained and to stay”

Of course, the inhabitants of the increasingly developed cities felt they were gaining resistance to the nobility in the capital. As in European countries, urban dwellers were demanding further political and economic rights. From the contradiction between the coast and the land, trade, and agriculture, the population and the government, a revolution arose that brought the island of Java to the pinnacle of economy and government.

If the city had a strong national industry and trade, Java would surely experience a social revolution that is raised, broken, and led by a social revolution that is raised, broken and led by national progressive forces as happened in Western Europe, the bourgeois revolution against the feudalists. But Java was indeed bound by Empu Sedah's prophecy: “foreigners will rule”.

A Hindu named Malik Ibrahim in 1419, brought a new religion not yet known in the Island of Java, came to Gresik where at that time the residents were mostly foreigners. Quickly he gained a number of followers. So it can be said, with the arrival of Islam at that time, the indigenous people as if gaining “the fallen durian”, because at that time there was a fiery conflict between the coastal population and the capital.

The situation became more complicated, and eventually reached its peak, the attack on the king led by a Chinese-Javanese, named Raden Patah. By his actions, Raden Patah destroyed the existing kingdom. It shows again that a foreigner, by bringing a new understanding (Islam) and to maintain the position of foreign merchants on the c oast, succeeded in overthrowing the half-hindu aristocratic kingdom. The kingdom of Demak stands by its fame! But it was eventually torn apart by a merchant war ignited by cunning foreigners.

Jipang was hostile to Pajang, Demak to Mataram. All these civil wars, large or small, for the benefit of foreign nations, in a short time ended with the victory of a Chinese-Javanese named Mas Garendi.

Tarunajaya

As in Rome and China, the mounds of unrighteous rulers in the capital were swept away by new forces from the regions; so, too, the blood of the Mataram Kingdom would be cleansed and strengthened by Tarunajaya and his friends.

An Indonesian prince who came from Makassar knew the soul of the Javanese people gained a large following, and managed to defeat the King of Mataram who came out of the true lineage. Java in particular and Indonesia in general will have a different history if a new power does not come to Java. Empu Sedah's other prophecy now seems to be proven, "The government of a foreign nation, namely a white buffalo with eyes like a cat's eyes" (kebo bule siwer matane).

With the advent of Dutch rule, everything resembling independence disappeared. The influence of foreigners and the mixing of blood with other Asian nations caused a great deal of tension. All economic and political rights were "swallowed" by the Netherlands with violence and fraud, as the Indonesian nation has never known! Extortion of the lowest form (barbarism) and tyranny have become a daily habit!

Tarunajaya could not resist the Dutch rule using foreign weapons. So the cat saw this situation and for the first time used the political path of devide et impera, splitting and dominating that worked wonderfully for the colonialist. After the King of Mataram promised the East India Company to give them power and land, the devil's hands began to work.

Panembahan in Madura, a friend from Tarunajaya, was stuffed by the East India Company with diamonds and sweet words until they could get along. Now Tarunajaya stands between the “three fires”: the Dutch, the king, and old friends. This is what caused the defeat of Tarunajaya witnessed by the East India Company itself!.

The indiscriminate Mataram government received a "victory" due to the indirect support of the Company, but something indiscriminate will sooner or later become a reality as well as proven in the end.

Diponegoro

The road from Anyer to Banyuwangi, which connects the robbed districts, was built by Governor General Daendels with a lot of sweat and the lives of Javanese people at stake. With that road, the process of capital cultivation becomes orderly. But the process was not voluntarily accepted by the Indonesian nation. It is a coercive process and not according to the laws of nature. Merchants in the cities were urged. Sailing was monopolised by the Dutch, indigenous people were forbidden to have property rights. Cheap cotton imports from the West destroyed industry and trade, both small and medium. The Javanese bourgeoisie or half of Java can continue its journey, namely the journey between feudalism to capitalism. However, it was squeezed to dryness by Western capital and its apparatus; such is the feudalism of Mataram that almost fell.

A boy with a will as hard as steel, as influential as a hot iron, that is, a man who has in his chest the qualities of a true Indonesian prince, powerless to change that unfortunate fate. If Diponegoro was born in the West and placed himself in the face of a revolution with such a sacred heart, it may be that he will be able to match Cromwell or Garibaldi. But he “helps a leaking boat”, a class that will disappear. His deeds, though full of chivalry, in the economic view were counter-revolutionary. And it is very difficult to ascertain, what kind of Diponegoro in the political view, because it is undeniable that his ideal is "Singgasana Kerajaan Mataram"(Throne of the Mataram Kingdom). A power that can easily turn into tyranny.

Diponegoro supports further capital expansion as well as road expansion. Therefore, it hinders income and economic growth, counterrevolutionary. We never read that he opposed capital-imperialism by reviving national capital. In short, he has no political or economic program. He felt pressured by the new power and after he saw that the new power was using the decayed power of Mataram as a tool, so he attacked the two enemies.

If Java had a revolutionary national bourgeoisie, Diponegoro in his struggle against Mataram and the Company must have stood on the side of the bourgeoisie. In this way, a noble and certain deed can be created. But that was not the case, the bourgeoisie that smelled of Islam in the economic field was destroyed by Dutch capital altogether. In great frustration with Mataram and the Company, it was able to unite under the leadership of Kyai Mojo, a fanatical Muslim cleric with the slogan "War of Sabilullah", not national.

Drawing a conclusion on the Diponegoro uprising is not an easy job. Because of this, the struggle of the Javanese Islamic bourgeoisie against the Western capital is supported by a kingdom that is about to fall (Mataram).

The consequences are very clear. No one is able, however smart, to help a weakening class, both technically and economically, against a class that is getting stronger and stronger.

A new class must be established in Indonesia to fight modern Western imperialism.

What are the conclusions from the above stories?

First, that our history is Hindu history or half Hindu history; second that the feeling of national grandeur is far from where it's supposed to be; and lastly, that every thought that aspires for development (renaissance) has the same meaning as digging into the aristocracy and colonisation of the Hindu nation and the half-buried Hindu nation.

The true Indonesian nation from then until now still remains an obedient slave from foreign robbers.

The true nationality of Indonesia does not exist unless there is an intention to liberate the Indonesian nation that has never been independent.

The true Indonesian nation has no history of its own other than slavery.

The history of the Indonesian nation will only begin if they are free from the oppression of the imperialists.