Thomas Stamford Raffles: Right Steering System Until the Removal of Forced Plants

In 1811 the British Empire succeeded in controlling the territory of the Dutch kingdom after carrying out land and sea attacks on Java. This resulted in the Dutch surrendering without being laden, and signing the Tuntang Agreement.

In the agreement, Java, Madura and all Dutch military bases outside Java fell to the British Empire. Then, representatives of the British Empire in Calcutta appointed Governor General Thomas Stamford Raffles who was based in Penang (Malaya) to occupy the island of Java.

After the departure of Governor General Deandles from Indonesia. The island of Java began to be occupied by England since 1811 which was held by Raffles began to lay the foundations of his government, especially in the economic and political fields of government. In its essence, Raffles wanted to create an economic system in Java which was free from all the elements of coercion that had been attached to the system of forced labor and labor carried out by the Dutch Company (VOC) in the framework of cooperation with kings and regents.

As a liberalist, Raffles began reforming the state administration, eliminating feudal ties, land leasing systems, and legal certainty for the community.

Political Change

In the field of politics and government, Raffles did a lot of renewal for the continuity of his government in Java. There were a number of Deandels' policies which were then passed on by Raffles. In this case, the regent as a local ruler must be kept away from the autonomy which benefits the regents themselves.

Raffles wanted to try to distance the regent from the attitude of corruption which was often carried out by the regents and this was very detrimental to the people. Then Raffles adopted a policy to appoint regents to be regularly paid government employees.

Besides that, Raffles took a policy step to divide Java into 18 residencies. each detention was led by a resident assisted by several resident assistants. This residency system is still used until 1964.

Raffles' renewal was mostly aimed at a very feudal Javanese government system. The system that has long taken root in the heart of Java, is clearly inversely proportional to Raffles' renewal ideas. 

Therefore, the traditional Feudalistic system was replaced by a more modern government system.

The forced surrender and forced labor that had been implemented by the feudal system, began to be abolished with the aim that the people had the freedom to try. With the appointment of the regents to become government employees as the policies that Raffles took, the regents only had the authority to directly oversee the people's lands.

Local heads no longer have great power over the people, but only as government employees, and not as tax collectors.

Besides that, Raffles also initiated reforms in other government fields. That is related to the justice system in Java. He wanted to create a western-style justice system, with a jury system and no skin color (race) orientation.

In the end, his efforts became futile and not practiced, especially when the Dutch government returned. Improvements to the justice system that did not work in accordance with this plan were influenced by a lack of time, costs and habits of the people who were not used to it.

Social & Economic Changes

In the economic field, Raffles took a big step which was very different from the policy implemented by the Dutch government. Raffles introduced a system of land rents which freed farmers from the burden of forced cultivation. Raffles opposed the VOC system because of his political beliefs, he considered if the exploitation system that had been practiced by the VOC did not benefit the people.

Raffles wanted an agricultural system that by his own initiative to plant commodities that could be exported abroad. The government only needs to create a market in order to stimulate farmers to grow crops that sell well in the international market. In his efforts to uphold a new policy, Raffles has three main principles, namely, the elimination of all forms of compulsory submission and physical labor, as well as the fulfillment of freedom for farmers to choose the type of plants without the element of coercion. then, the role of the regent as a tax collector began to be abolished and instead, the regent was appointed as a government employee.

And finally, based on the assumption that the British government is the owner of the land, the farmers who cultivate the land are considered as land tenants. For this reason, farmers are required to submit rent or taxes on government land use.

It was this land leasing system which later became the main foundation of Raffles' economic policy and then continued by the Dutch government until 1830. Economic policy in the form of a land leasing system was expected to be able to provide freedom and legal certainty for farmers and able to stimulate the income of the British government's financial cash. From various policies in the social field, one of the minor reforms he introduced in the Dutch colonial region was to change the driving system from the left to the right, which is valid until now. 

End of Power

In implementing various policies, the Raffles Government suffered several failures. Besides the age of the government that was too short, Raffles had difficulties in trying to uphold European-style Government in Java. This is related to the rootedness of the Feudal culture and customs in Javanese society as a whole.

The minimum availability of employees in implementing liberal ideas also contributed to the failure of the Raffles government on Java. However, despite these failures, Raffles had laid the foundations which would later be used by the next government. In 1816, Java and other Indonesian posts were returned to the Dutch as part of the overall rearrangement of European affairs after the Napoleonic war.

In accordance with the London Agreement of March 1814 agreed upon by the British government with king Aillem Van Oranje of the Netherlands, in 1816 the East Indies territory was returned to the Netherlands. After that, Raffles was better known as the author of History of Java and the cultural and historical activists of the archipelago, compared to the Governor General of British Government on Java Island. 

Other roles

• Writing a book entitled History of Java in London in 1817 and divided into two volumes entitled History of the East Indian Archipelago in Eidenburg in 1820 and divided into three volumes.
• Raffles also actively supported the Bataviaach Genootschap, an association of culture and science
• Discovered the Rafflesia Arnoldi flower
• Pioneered the construction of the Bogor Botanical Garden
• Moved the Airlangga Inscription to Calcutta, India so it was named the Calcutta Inscription
• Pioneered the restoration of the Borobudur Temple for the first time.

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