Refleksi : Rupanya korupsi di NKRI ini bukan baru saja sudah mendarah daging, karena gubernur Daendels teleh berusaha membasmi korupsi dan feodalisme dan Raffles memajak pemilik budak dan melarang impor budak.
http://www.san.beck.org/20-11-Indonesia1800-1950.html Netherlands East Indies 1800-40 Sumatra, Java, and the Archipelago Java and Dutch Trade 1613-1800 After the United East India Company, Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) was formally dissolved on the first day of 1800, the States-General gave the Asian territories of the Dutch to Holland's royal family. Intrigue permeated the Yogyakarta court of Sultan Hamengkubuwana II (r. 1792-1810), and the corvée system used in building projects burdened the people. Mangkunegara II (r. 1796-1835) on his accession at Surakarta had his inheritance taken by the corrupt Governor-General, Baron van Reede tot de Parkeler. After long litigation, Mangkunegara regained his inheritance in 1809. Louis Napoleon began ruling the Netherlands in 1806, and two years later he appointed Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels to fortify Batavia against the British. Daendels disliked feudalism and treated the chiefs as officials in his bureaucratic administration. He tried to reduce corruption by increasing the salaries of officials. He increased the number of Javanese troops in the Dutch force from 4,000 to 18,000, but they were not well trained. To pay for his enormous military expenses Daendels sold land to private persons, taking over all land not owned by native princes. He greatly increased coffee production, but the British blockade prevented exports. An attempt to issue paper money failed because the Government had no credit. His demands for labor and dictatorial methods alienated the princes. In 1810 the Sultan's brother-in-law Raden Rangga, chief minister in the countryside, revolted but was easily defeated and killed. Hamengkubuwana II refused to comply with Daendels' ultimatum for changes in his administration and was forced to abdicate. His son Hamengkubuwana III became prince regent, and the Dutch troops took about 500,000 guilders. Also in 1810 the British attacked and took over Amboina despite its French reinforcements. A mutiny by native troops caused Ternate to fall to the British, and then the rest of the Dutch posts outside of Java went over to the British. The English East India Company ordered Governor-General Minto to expel the enemy from Java. In 1811 Daendels compelled the Surakarta and Yogyakarta courts to sign treaties ceding territory and abolishing the rent Batavia had paid for the coast since 1746. He imprisoned Pangeran Natakusuma and his son Natadiningrat in Cirebon for suspected rebellion. Jan Willem Janssens became governor-general in May 1811. When sixty British ships arrived in August, he fled east with troops from Yogyakarta and Surakarta to Semarang, where they surrendered in September. Hamengkubuwana II used the opportunity to regain his throne at Yogyakarta. The English appointed Thomas Stamford Raffles lieutenant-governor of Java and its dependencies. He had already been plotting to remove the Dutch, and at Palembang the Sultan massacred the entire Dutch garrison. Raffles tried to punish the Sultan, but he escaped and was replaced by his brother. The Dutch legal system and paper money remained in effect, and Raffles extended the reforms began by Daendels, aiming to improve conditions for the natives. John Crawfurd became resident at Yogyakarta and released Pangeran Natakusuma in order to overthrow Hamengkubuwana II. The British army of 1,200 men and Mangkunegara's legion conquered Yogyakarta, grabbing two million guilders in war booty, exiling Hamengkubuwana II to Penang, putting Hamengkubuwana III on the throne, and rewarding Natakusuma with an independent domain of 4,000 households; he was crowned Pangeran Pakualam I (r. 1812-29). Mangkunegara II was rewarded with a thousand more households. Raffles annexed more outer districts and set up British administration, farming out toll gates and markets to the Chinese. He divided Java into sixteen parts, each with a resident in charge of administration, the judiciary, and revenue collection. The old Supreme Court was replaced by courts in Batavia, Semarang, and Surabaya; each of the sixteen residencies had a land court. Criminal cases used British procedure and juries. Torture was abolished. Instead of requiring labor, Raffles imposed a general tax on land as rent because the government now owned the land. Productive land had to pay half its yield and unproductive a quarter with the average being two-fifths; payment was in rice or money. Local chiefs could no longer collect graft but were paid a government salary. However, labor service continued in the teak forests and the Priangam coffee plantations. Because of the expense of redeeming the paper money, tolls and duties remained on internal trade. Raffles tried to implement individual assessments on land but did not have the staff to do surveys. In 1812 he began taxing slave-owners, and the importation of slaves was abolished. He introduced smallpox vaccinations and banned gambling houses and cockfights. By 1815 the police would no longer detain a slave for an owner. Creditors were forbidden to force their debtors and their families to work as slaves. In 1816 the Java Benevolent Institution began educating people on the evils of slavery. A puppet sultan set up by Daendels in Banten was retained by Raffles until 1813, when dissatisfaction led to Batavia taking over and ending the kingdom of Banten; its sultan was given an annual pension of ten thousand Spanish dollars. Cheribon was annexed in 1815. That year a plot by Pakubuwana IV and Indian sepoys was discovered; seventeen sepoys were executed, and about fifty were sent back to India in irons. Raffles did not depose Pakubuwana IV, but he exiled an instigating prince. General Gillespie disagreed with Raffles and left Java in 1813. His criticism led to Raffles being removed early in 1816. After the Napoleonic wars ended, the English turned Java back over to the Dutch in 1816. Influenced by Marsden's History of Sumatra, the next year Raffles published his comprehensive History of Java. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
