Active freemasonry existed throughout the Dutch East Indies (now: Indonesia). In 1922 a Dutch Provincial Grand Lodge, under the Grand Orient of the Netherlands, at Weltevreden (Batavia) controlled twenty Lodges in the colony. Fourteen in Java, three in Sumatra and others in for example Makassar and Salatiga.^[1]

Freemasonry was introduced during the VOC era in the 18th century and spread throughout the Dutch East Indies during a wave of westernisation in the 19th century. Freemasons originally only included Europeans and Indo-Europeans and later also indigenous people with a western education. The lodges in the colony played a progressive role in both the social emancipation of Indo-Europeans as well as the Indonesian National Awakening preluding the national revolution.

Notable members

The first indigenous member of a lodge was Abdul Rachman, a descendant of the sultan of Pontianak, in 1844. A famous freemason and Grand Master (Masonic) was the Indo politician Dick de Hoog(1873-1928), who was the main leader of the Indo emancipation movement and president of the Indo European Alliance.^[2]

End of freemasonry in Indonesia

Most lodges were closed during the Japanese occupation (1942-1945), unless otherwise indicated. All lodges in Indonesia were closed when freemasonry was outlawed by Sukarno in 1962.

Specific lodges in the Dutch East Indies

• loge nummer 31 : La Constante et Fidèle, Semarang (became Indonesian in 1960, closed 1962);
• loge nummer 46 : Mata Hari, Padang;
• loge nummer 53 : Mataram, Jokjakarta;
• loge nummer 55 : l'Union Frédéric Royal, Surakarta;
• loge nummer 61 : Prins Frederik, Kota Raja;
• loge nummer 64 : Veritas, Probolinggo;
• loge nummer 65 : Arbeid Adelt, Makassar;
• loge nummer 70 : Deli, Medan;
• loge nummer 82 : Tidar, Magelang;
• loge nummer 83 : Fraternitas, Salatiga;
• loge nummer 84 : Sint Jan, Bandung;
• loge nummer 87 : Humanitas, Tegal;
• loge nummer 89 : Malang, Malang;
• loge nummer 92 : Blitar, Blitar;
• loge nummer 110 : Het Zuiderkruis, Meester Cornelis, Batavia (closed 1955);
• loge nummer 111 : De Broederketen, Batavia (closed 1948);
• loge nummer 129 : De Driehoek, Jember;
• loge nummer 142 : Broedertrouw, Bandung;
• loge nummer 149 : Palembang, Palembang (closed 1958);
• loge nummer 151 : De Hoeksteen, Sukabumi;
• loge nummer 153 : Serajoedal, Purwokerto;
• loge nummer 165 : De Witte Roos, Batavia (closed 1958)
• loge nummer 182 : Purwa Daksina, Batavia (became Indonesian in 1955, closed 1962);
• loge nummer 183 : Dharma, Bandung (became Indonesian 1955, closed 1962);
• loge nummer 192 : Bhakti, Semarang (became Indonesian in 1955, closed 1962);
• loge nummer 193 : Pamitran, Surabaya; (became Indonesian in 1955, closed 1962);
• loge nummer 225 : De Ster in het Oosten, Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea (closed in 1963)

Establishing a hegemonic state

From the arrival of the first Dutch ships in the late sixteenth century, Dutch control over the Indonesian archipelago was tenuous.^[3] Although parts of Java and other islands such as the South Moluccas and North Sulawesi were under Dutch domination for most of the 350 years of the combined VOC and Dutch East Indies era, many areas remained independent for much of this time including Aceh, Bali, Kalimantan, and Lombok.^[3] It was not until the early 20th century, that Dutch dominance was extended across what was to become the territory of modern-day Indonesia. There were numerous wars and disturbances across the archipelago as various indigenous groups resisted efforts to establish a Dutch hegemony, which weakened Dutch control and tied up its military forces.^[4]

French British interegnum

In 1806, with the Netherlands under French domination, Napoleon appointed his brother, Louis to the Dutch throne which led to the 1808 appointment of Marshall Herman Willem Daendels to Governor General of the Dutch East Indies.^[5] In 1811, British forces occupied several Dutch East Indies ports including Java and Thomas Stamford Raffles became Lieutenant Governor. Dutch control was restored in 1816.^[6]

Under the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty, the Dutch secured British settlements in Indonesia, such as Bengkulu in Sumatra, in exchange for ceding control of their possessions in the Malay Peninsula and Dutch India. The resulting borders between British and Dutch possessions remain between Malaysia and Indonesia. As exploitation of Indonesian resources expanded off Java, most of the outer islands came under direct Dutch government control or influence. Significant Indonesian piracy remained a problem for the Dutch until the mid-19th century.^[3]

The Dutch subjugated the Minangkabau of Sumatra in the Padri War (1821–38) and the Java War (1825–30) ended significant Javanese resistance.^[7] The Banjarmasin War (1859–1863) in southeast Kalimantan resulted in the defeat of the Sultan. After failed expeditions to conquer Bali in 1846 and 1848, an 1849 intervention brought northern Bali under Dutch control.

Since the establishment of the VOC in the seventeenth century, the expansion of Dutch territory had been founded on business. However from the mid-nineteenth century it was Dutch national expansionism, in line with the prevailing empire-building outlook of Europe during the era of New Imperialism, that saw them wage a series of wars to enlarge and consolidate their possessions.^[8] The most prolonged of these was the Aceh War in which a Dutch invasion in 1873 was met with indigenous guerrilla resistance and ended with an Acehnese surrender in 1912.^[7] Disturbances continued to break out on both Java and Sumatra during the remainder of the 19th century,^[3] however, the island of Lombok came under Dutch control in 1894,^[9] and Batak resistance in northern Sumatra was quashed in 1895.^[7]

Military leaders and Dutch politicians said they had a moral duty to free the Indonesian peoples from indigenous rulers who were oppressive, backward, or did not respect international law.^[10] Although Indonesian rebellions broke out, direct colonial rule was extended throughout the rest of the archipelago from 1901 to 1910 and control taken from the remaining independent local rulers.^[11] Southwestern Sulawesi was occupied in 1905–06, the island of Bali was subjugated with military conquests in 1906 and 1908, as were the remaining independent kingdoms in Maluku, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Nusa Tenggara.^[12][7] Other rulers including the Sultans of Tidore in Maluku, Pontianak (Kalimantan), and Palembang in Sumatra, requested Dutch protection from independent neighbours thereby avoiding Dutch military conquest and were able to negotiate better conditions under colonial rule.^[13] The Bird's Head Peninsula (Western New Guinea), was brought under Dutch administration in 1920. This final territorial range would form the territory of the Republic of Indonesia.