The Republic of South Maluku (Indonesian: ), also known as the Republic of the South Moluccas (Dutch: ), was an unrecognised Indonesian secessionist movement that claimed the islands of Ambon, Buru, and Seram, which currently make up most of the province of Maluku.
The Dutch conquest exerted colonial control across the archipelago in the 19th century, establishing a unitary administration. The borders of present-day Indonesia were formed through colonial expansion finalised in the 20th century. After the occupation by the Japanese Empire during World War II ended in 1945, nationalist leaders on Java unilaterally declared Indonesian independence. Early organised indigenous resistance came from the South Moluccas with support and aid from the Dutch government and military. The South Moluccan rebels initially clung on to an early post-colonial treaty prescribing a federal form of statehood. When that treaty, agreed between the Dutch government and the Indonesian government in December 1949, was broken, they unilaterally declared a fully independent Republic of South Maluku (RMS) in April 1950. The South Moluccan leaders based their decision on the treaty, which stipulated autonomy for each of the states of the federation.
After the defeat of the RMS on Ambon by Indonesian forces in November 1950, the self-declared government withdrew to Seram, where an armed struggle continued on until 2 December 1963. The government-in-exile moved to the Netherlands in 1966, following resistance leader and president Chris Soumokil's capture and execution by Indonesian authorities. The exiled government has continued to claim the existence of the Republic of South Maluku, with John Wattilete as its incumbent president since April 2010. However, unlike the Free Papua Movement, the group has never carried acts of violence against the Indonesian government in the present day. The Republic of South Maluku has been a member state within the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) since 1991.
History Original settlers The original settlers of the Moluccan Islands were similar to neighbouring islands like West Papua, East Nusa Tengarra and East Timor. They were ancestors of the Aboriginal Australians, then the ancestors of the Papuans, and lastly the Austronesian settlers from the Philippines by way of Taiwan. Like the rest of what is now Indonesia, the first settlers were Australoid. Today many Maluku tribes still are ethnically Melanesian and closely represent the original settlers, most of these are what can be considered highlander communities that live in the mountain areas. In contrast, much of the coastal areas have seen a change in the make-up of the population since the original inhabitants have often mixed with the later influx of Austronesian migrations – ultimately causing modern day Moluccans to have a varying degree of Melanesian paternal and Austronesian maternal ancestry. It is widely considered that this area was the place of origin for the Polynesian expansion, and the genetic makeup of the people, cultural and linguistic background, alongside their outrigger canoe (catamaran and trimaran) technology, only further support this.
European conquest of the South Moluccas The Maluku Islands were the only place in the world that grew the prized spices of clove and nutmeg, making it a prime destination for European traders during the Age of Exploration. At one point, cloves were worth their weight in gold, and Portuguese, Spanish, British and Dutch traders all fought to control the incredibly profitable spice trade monopoly. Eventually, the traders of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) emerged as the dominant merchant power in Maluku. Through an effective combination of force and diplomacy, the VOC achieved a structure of indirect rule in northern Maluku and direct rule in southern Maluku.Widjojo, Muridan S. "Cross-Cultural Alliance-Making and Local Resistance in the Moluccas during the Revolt of Prince Nuku, c. 1780–1810" PhD Dissertation, Leiden University, 2007 (Publisher: KITLV, Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities Vol. 1, 2008) Pp. 141–149
Throughout much of the VOC era (17th and 18th centuries), the south Moluccans resisted Dutch dominance. The Banda Islands were only subdued after the indigenous power structure and organisation of trade and politics was destroyed with the extermination and eviction of the Bandanese population in 1621. To repress the autonomous traders of East Seram, the VOC organised 'Hongi' raiding expeditions with warrior bands from other south Maluku islands. During 'Hongi' raids, houses and vessels were burnt, cash crops were uprooted and most wealth was looted by the 'Hongi' warriors. Survivors who escaped had to start from scratch and, during two centuries of resistance, the East Seramese increasingly suffered impoverishment. However, their independent trading network was never completely destroyed.
From 1780 to 1802, the people of Seram joined an alliance of North Moluccan, Papuan and British forces in a combined revolt. Resistance leader prince Nuku (the exiled Sultan of Tidore) established himself on Seram and aimed at uniting the North and South Moluccas under his leadership. His raiders targeted South Moluccan islands under the Dutch sphere of influence.Note: Both the Hongi and Nuku raiding tactics were based on the common practice of slave raiders that existed well before the arrival of European traders. Widjojo, Muridan S. "Cross-Cultural Alliance-Making and Local Resistance in the Moluccas during the Revolt of Prince Nuku, c. 1780–1810" PhD Dissertation, Leiden University, 2007 (Publisher: KITLV, Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities Vol. 1, 2008) Pp. 141–149 When the British left the arena in 1802 his plans were foiled and the Dutch restored their dominance.
Maluku islanders staged various rebellions during the Dutch colonisation of the Indonesian archipelago in the 19th century following the collapse of the VOC. In a famous revolt on the south Maluku island Saparua, the Dutch fort was taken by the rebel leader Pattimura, a former sergeant in the army of Britain, who had ruled the islands for a short time before returning them to the Dutch in 1816. After reinforcements were sent from the colonial capital Batavia, the insurgents were captured and Pattimura was executed in 1817.
During the independence movement of Indonesia, Indonesian republicans included South Maluku as part of the independent Indonesia they declared in 1945. Indonesia's struggle to secure its independence lasted from 1945 until 1949. After international pressure, the Dutch acknowledged a federal Indonesian republic on 27 December 1949. In the first instance, the Netherlands only acknowledged the independence of Indonesia as a federation of autonomous states, of which one was East Indonesia (including South Maluku).
On 25 April 1950, demobilised ex-Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) soldiers and other South Moluccan men who remained loyal to the Dutch crown, staged a revolt and proclaimed an independent "Republic of South Maluku" (Indonesian: Republik Maluku Selatan). On 17 August 1950, the Indonesian president, Sukarno, proclaimed the restoration of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia. Indonesia's liberal democratic system of government, whereby the cabinet would be accountable to the House of Representatives, was retained. This was a source of political instability in the young republic, with frequent changes in government until the rise of the New Order.
South Moluccan career soldiers of the colonial army
A relatively large number of the professional soldiers serving in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) were recruited among the population of Ambon and the surrounding South Moluccan islands. The South Moluccan islands were among the first to come under European influence in the 16th century. The Protestant mission had been more successful there than elsewhere in the East Indies; half the Ambonese population adhered to the Calvinist branch of Protestantism.
As early as 1605 armed Dutch merchantmen of the VOC captured the Portuguese fort at the location of Ambon city in the South Moluccas. It was an area already strongly influenced by the Portuguese (Portuguese family names, religion and language were common) and the Dutch developed it into the first secure base of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).
During the era of the VOC, the Moluccans were not only forced to trade with the VOC only, but also to focus solely on the production of cloves. After the downfall of the VOC and the collapse of the trade in cloves, they were fully dependent on the colonial structure and found occupation in the colonial army. The Ambonese were regarded as fierce fighters, reliable soldiers and absolutely loyal to the Dutch Crown. It was precisely this reputation that made them unpopular with other Indonesian nationalities. All of this put them in a difficult position during both the Japanese occupation and the Indonesian national revolution. During the Japanese occupation in the Second World War, most of the Moluccan soldiers were only briefly interned as prisoners of war (POWs). Initially, the Japanese occupation force decided to release them from military duty and send them home. However, the Japanese quickly discovered their miscalculation when the Moluccans became among the most active in the resistance movement against them. Throughout the occupied Dutch East Indies, Moluccan soldiers created underground resistance cells aiding the Allied forces. Some of these cells were active in gathering intelligence; other sleeper cells hid weapons in strategic locations waiting to take up arms during an Allied invasion. The Japanese secret police (Kempeitai) responded by torturing and beheading any suspect, which usually did not deter the Moluccans.
After the capitulation of the Imperial Japanese Army to the Allied forces, the Moluccan soldiers acted equally defiantly towards the Indonesian revolutionaries trying to fill the power vacuum left by the Japanese. Smaller scale conflicts in the Bersiap period between regrouped Moluccan fighting units and Permuda groups usually left the well-trained Moluccan fighters victorious. In their efforts to subdue the counter revolutionary RMS movement on Ambon, the newly established Tentara Nasional Indonesia (Republican Indonesian army, TNI) encountered the military prowess of the Moluccan special troops. The heavy fighting triggered them to create their own special troops.This initiative by former KNIL officer Evert Kawilarang developed into the notorious Kopassus unit. At that time the Moluccan special troops' only contemporaries were the Gurkha units of the British Indian Army.
Disbanding the colonial army