Java War

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The Java War lasted from 1825 to 1830, overlapping the Padri War (1821–1837) on neighboring Sumatra. The war cost 200,000 Javanese lives when Java's population was only around 3 million. As in the Padri movement, Islam helped unify opposition to Dutch rule in Java.

The Dutch policy of interfering in royal palace (kraton) affairs directly caused this uprising. Colonial authorities passed over Prince Diponegoro of Yogyakarta (1775–1835), eldest son of the previous sultan, recognizing instead the sultan's younger brother as his successor. Diponegoro sought to regain his rightful position, as revealed to him by the sea goddess Nyai Rara Kidul in a dream, and, more tangibly, as promised to him by Sir Thomas Raffles (1781–1826), lieutenant-governor of Java during the British interregnum. This Javanese mystical notion was combined with the prince's pesantren (Islamic school) education when he promoted Islam as the religion of Java by challenging the colonial unbelievers.

There was another provocation as well. The Dutch tried to restrict kraton wealth and power by declaring that it could not lease its land and that rentals must be repaid. A Dutch-built road from Malang to Yogyakarta was partly constructed over a sacred burial ground (the road also expedited Dutch troop movements). Diponegoro led resistance to the Dutch, assisted by the priyayi (aristocracy) of Yogyakarta, through a campaign of guerrilla warfare. Diponegoro was hailed as the ratu adil (just king) by many for whom the prince represented their anticolonial hopes. The Dutch countermeasure was to establish a series of linked forts from which effective raids were made. In 1829, Diponegoro's two most trusted advisers, Kiyayi Maja and Sentot, surrendered—a blow to the rebellion. In 1830, Diponegoro agreed to negotiations to end the conflict but refused to renounce his claim to the Yogyakarta throne. The Dutch tricked Diponegoro by falsely promising him safe conduct for the negotiations, but actually arrested him and exiled him to Makasar. While many hoped for Diponegoro's return, the Java War was the last of the priyayi-led rebellions; the priyayi were increasingly coopted by Dutch colonial authorities as agents of governance and were seen by the people as collaborators. The Dutch, in their campaign to destroy the power of the various kratons of Java and of traditional authorities elsewhere in the Indies, weakened the Yogyakarta sultanate by stripping away vast land holdings. However, Yogyakarta's royal family retained titular leadership of its traditional territory, and the current sultan of Yogyakarta, Hamenkubuwono X, remains the formal head of the province of Yogyakarta under a unique arrangement.

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