From the parliaments to the streets; The state of East indonesia, 1946-1950

My article in this book aims to provide a new understanding of the practice of federalism, specifically in the State of East Indonesia (NIT). This chapter, highlights the role of those Indonesian elites – NIT officials and parliamentarians – who principally had one ultimate goal, namely the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia. Dutch authorities used both military pressure and diplomacy to reclaim their power. Through Lieutenant Governor-General van Mook, Dutch focused first on the outer islands, where Republican influence was at its weakest and where he could find a number of local leaders willing to side with the Dutch in exchange for autonomy. Van Mook organized the Malino Conference, which took place between 16 and 25 July 1946, in which the Dutch government hosted local rulers from Kalimantan, the Great East (all islands east of Java beginning with Borneo, including West New Guinea), Bangka-Belitung and Riau.
The Dutch then organized the Denpasar Conference, which took place between 7 and 24 December 1946. It resulted in the formation of the nit, with its capital in Makassar, on 24 December 1946. The formation of the nit as one of the federal states highlights the com- plexity of Indonesian history. The nit became the foundation of the post- war Dutch colonial government and simultaneously an experiment for the Kingdom of the Netherland. The political elites of east Indonesia played a major role in its formation, and many of them used the nit as an effective means – given the limited ability of the Republicans to resist Dutch efforts – of re-establishing their rule.
While the elites and politicians fought for a unitary state within the structure of the nit, other groups who could not fight in the parliament building took their struggles to the street. They self-organized into various mass organizations or militant groups. They held public conferences, large meetings and demonstrations; they formulated resolutions and motions; and they printed and distributed pamphlets that demanded the immediate dissolution of the nit and the return to the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia. These actions, led by Indonesian freedom fighters, finally paid off when President Sukarno announced the dissolution of the ris and a return to the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia in his speech on 17 August 1950.