Cultivation System

Part of a series on the
History of Indonesia
Timeline
Prehistory Java Man 1,000,000 BP Flores Man 94,000–12,000 BP Buni culture 400 BCE
Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms Salakanagara Kingdom 130–362 Kutai Kingdom 350–1605 Tarumanagara Kingdom 358–669 Kalingga Kingdom 500s–600s Melayu Kingdom 600s Srivijaya Kingdom 600s–1200s Sailendra Kingdom 800s–900s Galuh Kingdom 669–1482 Sunda Kingdom 669–1579 Medang Kingdom 752–1006 Bali Kingdom 914–1908 Kahuripan Kingdom 1006–1045 Kediri Kingdom 1045–1221 Dharmasraya Kingdom 1183–1347 Singhasari Kingdom 1222–1292 Majapahit Kingdom 1293–1500
Rise of Muslim states Spread of Islam 1200–1600 Ternate Sultanate 1257–1914 Samudera Pasai Sultanate 1267–1521 Pagaruyung Kingdom 1347–1833 Brunei Sultanate 1368–1888 Malacca Sultanate 1400–1511 Sulu Sultanate 1405–1851 Cirebon Sultanate 1445–1677 Demak Sultanate 1475–1548 Aceh Sultanate 1496–1903 Banten Sultanate 1526–1813 Kalinyamat Sultanate 1527–1599 Mataram Sultanate 1500s–1700s Johor Sultanate 1528s–1877 Surakarta Sunanate 1745–1946 Yogyakarta Sultanate 1755–1945 Siak Sultanate 1725–1946 Deli Sultanate 1814–1946 Riau-Lingga Sultanate 1824–1911
Christian kingdom Larantuka Kingdom 1600–1904
European colonisation Portuguese 1512–1850 Dutch East India Company 1602–1800 French and British interlude 1806–1815 Netherlands East Indies 1800–1942 1945–1950
Emergence of Indonesia National Awakening 1908–1942 Japanese occupation 1942–1945 National Revolution 1945–1950
Independence Liberal democracy 1950–1957 Guided Democracy 1957–1965 Transition 1965–1966 New Order 1966–1998 Reformasi 1998–present
By topic Currency Economy Military
Indonesia portal

The Cultivation System (Dutch: cultuurstelsel), or less accurately the Culture System, was a Dutch government policy in the mid-19th century for its Dutch East Indies colony (now Indonesia). Requiring a portion of agricultural production to be devoted to export crops, Indonesian historians refer to it as Tanam Paksa ("Enforcement Planting").

Background

Despite increasing returns from the Dutch system of land tax, Dutch finances had been severely affected by the cost of the Java War and Padri Wars. The Belgian Revolution in 1830 and the resulting costs of keeping the Dutch army at a war footing until 1839 brought the Netherlands to the brink of bankruptcy. In 1830, a new governor general, Johannes van den Bosch, was appointed to increase the exploitation of the Dutch East Indies' resources.

Implementation and effects

Sorting tobacco leaves in Java during colonial period, in/before 1939.

Collecting natural rubbers in plantation in Java. Rubber tree was introduced by the Dutch from South America.

The cultivation system was primarily implemented in Java, the center of the colonial state. Instead of land taxes, 20% of village land had to be devoted to government crops for export or, alternatively, peasants had to work in government-owned plantations for 60 days of the year. To allow the enforcement of these policies, Javanese villagers were more formally linked to their villages and were sometimes prevented from travelling freely around the island without permission. As a result of this policy, much of Java became a Dutch plantation.

To handle and process the cash crops, the Dutch set up a network of local middlemen who profited greatly and so had a vested interest in the system: compradores somewhat like the cottier system in Ireland. This was financed partly by bonds sold to the Dutch themselves and partly by introducing a new copper coinage at about a 2:1 ratio to the old, thereby gaining a massive seigneurage from the depreciation at the expense of the local economy. From Some Notes on Java and its Administration by the Dutch, by Henry Scott Boys, 1892:

'An ingenious device for increasing the Government profit was devised by General Van-der Bosch at the same time as he initiated the culture system. An enormous amount of copper coinage was manufactured in Holland, the intrinsic value being rather less than half the nominal value. This coinage was made a legal tender, and the cultivator was paid for his produce in this copper coin. Thus, as Mr. Money in his work Java; or, How to Manage a Colony, naively remarks:- "The loans, raised in Holland to start the system, produced an effect in Java equal to double their amount."'^[1]

The policy brought the Dutch and their Indonesian allies enormous wealth through export growth, averaging around fourteen percent. It brought the Netherlands back from the brink of bankruptcy and made the Dutch East Indies self-sufficient and profitable extremely quickly. As early as 1831 the policy allowed the Dutch East Indies budget to be balanced, and the surplus revenue was used to pay off debts left over from the defunct V.O.C. regime.^[2] The cultivation system is linked, however, to famines and epidemics in the 1840s, firstly in Cirebon and then Central Java, as cash crops such as indigo and sugar had to be grown instead of rice.^[3]

Political pressures in the Netherlands resulting partly from these problems and partly from rent seeking independent merchants who preferred free trade or local preference (see the Henry Scott Boys work cited above) eventually led to the system's abolition (c. 1870) and replacement with free-market Liberal Period whereby private enterprise was encouraged.

The cultivation system's impact on the standard of living for Javanese people has in recent years been a subject of disagreement. R.E. Elson has argued that the cultivation system directly contributed to the impoverishment of Javanese peasants but indirectly improved their standard of living.

See also

• Dutch East Indies
• Max Havelaar

References

1. ↑ From Section 5 of Some Notes on Java and its Administration by the Dutch, by Henry Scott Boys, Late Bengal Civil Service, Allahabad, Pioneer Press, 1892
2. ↑ 1
3. ↑ "Embedding Agricultural Commodities: Using Historical Evidence, 1840s–1940s, edited by Willem van Schendel, from gogle (cultivation system java famine) result 10". 

• Witton, Patrick (2003). Indonesia. Melbourne: Lonely Planet. pp. 23–24. ISBN 1-74059-154-2. 
• Boys, Henry Scott (1892). Some Notes on Java and its Administration by the Dutch. Allahabad: Pioneer Press. Section 5. 

Further reading

• Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A Modern History of Indonesia, 2nd edition. MacMillan. pp. 119–24, 126, 128. ISBN 0-333-57690-X.