Jambi 1900-1916: From War to Rebellion

 

THE PURPOSE of this study is to examine the seventeen years of the history of Jambi from 1900 to 1916, during which period Jambi experienced a process of rapid change as the result of the establishment of Dutch colonial rule. This work will look into the entire process of change in all its political and economic as well as its socio-religious aspects, and how these changes led to the rebellion in 1916. Although the main emphasis here is on the rebellion of 1916--which was the first major rebellion in Indonesia that used the banner of a nationalist movement, the Sarekat Islam--this study will also discuss the latest stage of the Jambi War (1900-1907) and the protest movements that occurred between 1907 and 1916 in order to examine the different features of all the anti-Dutch resistances in Jambi. By examining these different features we will be able to see the developmental stages of the movements.

Recognizing that a study of a social change requires an adequate understanding of the situation before changes occur and the fact that there is no reference work on Jambi it is necessary to present a study of the Jambi traditional society. As a matter of fact, the discussion of Jambi traditional society given here is a demanding and separate study by itself. This study also analyzes the messianic/millenarian nature of the protest movements in Jambi.

This study has benefited greatly from the analytical tools of Social Anthropology. Being a native of South Sumatra the author has sufficient first hand knowledge about her society. However, as a historical study, the main concern here is to explore the relation between events which means that chronology remains very essential. Also, unlike anthropologists who always focus their attention on society in change and see the changes as coming from without as well as from within, we have seen Jambi as a society in equilibrium undergoing changes forced from without.

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Jang Aisjah Muttalib, "Jambi 1900-1916: From War to Rebellion", PhD thesis in Columbia University (1995).