Ernest Douwes Dekker

Ernest Douwes Dekker was a prominent Indonesian-Dutch nationalist and politician of Indo descent. He was related to the famous Dutch anti-colonialism writer Multatuli, whose real name was Eduard Douwes Dekker. In his youth, he fought in the Second Boer War in South Africa on the Boer side. He based his actions on the belief that the Boers were victims of British expansionism, and as a fellow descendant of the Dutch, he was obliged to help. He was captured by the British and placed in an internment camp on Ceylon. He was later released and returned to the Dutch East Indies via Paris in 1903. In the Dutch East Indies, he started a career as a journalist, first in Semarang and later in Batavia. There he worked with Indo activist Karel Zaalberg, the chief editor of the newspaper Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad, whom he befriended. He married Clara Charlotte Deije in 1903, who would bear him five children. Unlike other people of European descent, he did not favour colonialism, strongly advocating self-management, and finally the independence, of the Dutch East Indies. This was prompted partly by his experience in watching the lives of plantation workers and partly by the discrimination he had suffered, through being only considered half-Dutch and a second-class citizen. In 1912, he co-founded the Indische Partij, the first political party in the Dutch East Indies that aimed for self-government. He also adopted the name Setyabudi, meaning faithful heart, to show his affinity with the native population. He was arrested by the colonial authorities in 1913 and exiled to the Netherlands, where he continued his political activities and wrote several books and articles. He also divorced his first wife and married Johanna Petronella Mossel in 1916. He returned to the Dutch East Indies in 1918 and resumed his journalistic work. He also joined various social and cultural organizations, such as the Indische Vereeniging and the Kebudayaan Indonesia. He divorced his second wife in 1921 and married Haroemi Wanasita, also known as Nelly Kruymel, in 1922. He moved to Bandung in 1923 and worked for the magazine De Indiër. He also became involved in the Sarekat Islam, a mass organization of Muslim traders and workers. He was critical of the colonial government's policies and supported the nationalist movement. He died in Bandung in 1950, leaving behind a legacy of nationalism and literature that reflected the aspirations and challenges of the Indo community in the colonial era.