Batjaan liar in the Dutch East Indies: a colonial antipode

摘要

This paper examines the radical publications of the early twentieth century in the Dutch East Indies, referred to by the Dutch colonial state as “wild books” (batjaan liar). Read against both colonial and national historiography, the publications present us with a different historical narrative of the Indonesian nation, emphasizing the class dimension. In mid-1920s the production of batjaan liar reached its peak, as did the burgeoining class-based movements against colonial rule. The climax came in 1926 when leaders of the radical movement decided to launch an uprising and failed. A new type of nationalism emerged and the imagination of the nation was redefined and purged of its radical content.