The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia

Retno Winarni; Nawiyanto; Ratna Endang Widuatie

doi:doi:10.11648/j.history.20221002.15

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The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia

Retno Winarni, Nawiyanto, Ratna Endang Widuatie

Published in History Research (Volume 10, Issue 2)

Received: 17 July 2022 Accepted: 1 August 2022 Published: 9 August 2022

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Abstract

This article examines the existence of plantations in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia. It deals with the ways in which plantations operated in Java and the outer islands of Indonesia to show the existing fissures among the colonial plantations in different locations in the country. Deeply rooted in the colonial era, there has been a continuing debate especially on the impacts of plantations on the socio-economic conditions of the peasants and local communities. The growing number of regional studies on the colonial plantations generates an increasingly diverse historiographical views on the impacts of colonial plantations. Change in political regime from colonial to postcolonial government brought a new hope on plantations as a tool of achieving the people’s prosperity. The expectations grew stronger and led to the nationalization of the Dutch-owned plantation enterprises. The transfer of plantations to the state management during the early decade of the decolonization era, however, did not automatically transform them into an efficient and well-managed business entity. Instead of serving well as a tool of creating prosperity for the Indonesian people, the postcolonial plantations experienced a striking setback due to the growing incidents of conflicts over plantation lands. Not only the historically rooted plantations inherited from the Dutch, even the newly established plantations during the New Order era also failed to act as a tool of prosperity for all and became a source of inequality and impoverishment among the smallholders and local communities. There is an urgent need to renew the function of plantations not merely as the tool of the state and corporations to reap lucrative benefits for their own, but also as means of providing the opportunities and access of the people, especially, farming communities to enjoy prosperity under the independent state of Indonesia.

Published in	History Research (Volume 10, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.history.20221002.15
Page(s)	102-107
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Colonial Plantations, Postcolonial Plantations, Plantation Operation, Socio-economic Impacts, Java, Outer Islands

References

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APA Style

Retno Winarni, Nawiyanto, Ratna Endang Widuatie. (2022). The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia. History Research, 10(2), 102-107. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221002.15

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ACS Style

Retno Winarni; Nawiyanto; Ratna Endang Widuatie. The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia. Hist. Res. 2022, 10(2), 102-107. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20221002.15

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AMA Style

Retno Winarni, Nawiyanto, Ratna Endang Widuatie. The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia. Hist Res. 2022;10(2):102-107. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20221002.15

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@article{10.11648/j.history.20221002.15,
  author = {Retno Winarni and Nawiyanto and Ratna Endang Widuatie},
  title = {The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia},
  journal = {History Research},
  volume = {10},
  number = {2},
  pages = {102-107},
  doi = {10.11648/j.history.20221002.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221002.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.history.20221002.15},
  abstract = {This article examines the existence of plantations in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia. It deals with the ways in which plantations operated in Java and the outer islands of Indonesia to show the existing fissures among the colonial plantations in different locations in the country. Deeply rooted in the colonial era, there has been a continuing debate especially on the impacts of plantations on the socio-economic conditions of the peasants and local communities. The growing number of regional studies on the colonial plantations generates an increasingly diverse historiographical views on the impacts of colonial plantations. Change in political regime from colonial to postcolonial government brought a new hope on plantations as a tool of achieving the people’s prosperity. The expectations grew stronger and led to the nationalization of the Dutch-owned plantation enterprises. The transfer of plantations to the state management during the early decade of the decolonization era, however, did not automatically transform them into an efficient and well-managed business entity. Instead of serving well as a tool of creating prosperity for the Indonesian people, the postcolonial plantations experienced a striking setback due to the growing incidents of conflicts over plantation lands. Not only the historically rooted plantations inherited from the Dutch, even the newly established plantations during the New Order era also failed to act as a tool of prosperity for all and became a source of inequality and impoverishment among the smallholders and local communities. There is an urgent need to renew the function of plantations not merely as the tool of the state and corporations to reap lucrative benefits for their own, but also as means of providing the opportunities and access of the people, especially, farming communities to enjoy prosperity under the independent state of Indonesia.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia
AU  - Retno Winarni
AU  - Nawiyanto
AU  - Ratna Endang Widuatie
Y1  - 2022/08/09
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221002.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.history.20221002.15
T2  - History Research
JF  - History Research
JO  - History Research
SP  - 102
EP  - 107
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2376-6719
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221002.15
AB  - This article examines the existence of plantations in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia. It deals with the ways in which plantations operated in Java and the outer islands of Indonesia to show the existing fissures among the colonial plantations in different locations in the country. Deeply rooted in the colonial era, there has been a continuing debate especially on the impacts of plantations on the socio-economic conditions of the peasants and local communities. The growing number of regional studies on the colonial plantations generates an increasingly diverse historiographical views on the impacts of colonial plantations. Change in political regime from colonial to postcolonial government brought a new hope on plantations as a tool of achieving the people’s prosperity. The expectations grew stronger and led to the nationalization of the Dutch-owned plantation enterprises. The transfer of plantations to the state management during the early decade of the decolonization era, however, did not automatically transform them into an efficient and well-managed business entity. Instead of serving well as a tool of creating prosperity for the Indonesian people, the postcolonial plantations experienced a striking setback due to the growing incidents of conflicts over plantation lands. Not only the historically rooted plantations inherited from the Dutch, even the newly established plantations during the New Order era also failed to act as a tool of prosperity for all and became a source of inequality and impoverishment among the smallholders and local communities. There is an urgent need to renew the function of plantations not merely as the tool of the state and corporations to reap lucrative benefits for their own, but also as means of providing the opportunities and access of the people, especially, farming communities to enjoy prosperity under the independent state of Indonesia.
VL  - 10
IS  - 2
ER  -

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Author Information

Retno Winarni

Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Jember, Jember, Indonesia
Nawiyanto

Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Jember, Jember, Indonesia
Ratna Endang Widuatie

Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Jember, Jember, Indonesia

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APA Style

Retno Winarni, Nawiyanto, Ratna Endang Widuatie. (2022). The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia. History Research, 10(2), 102-107. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221002.15

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ACS Style

Retno Winarni; Nawiyanto; Ratna Endang Widuatie. The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia. Hist. Res. 2022, 10(2), 102-107. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20221002.15

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AMA Style

Retno Winarni, Nawiyanto, Ratna Endang Widuatie. The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia. Hist Res. 2022;10(2):102-107. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20221002.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.history.20221002.15,
  author = {Retno Winarni and Nawiyanto and Ratna Endang Widuatie},
  title = {The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia},
  journal = {History Research},
  volume = {10},
  number = {2},
  pages = {102-107},
  doi = {10.11648/j.history.20221002.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221002.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.history.20221002.15},
  abstract = {This article examines the existence of plantations in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia. It deals with the ways in which plantations operated in Java and the outer islands of Indonesia to show the existing fissures among the colonial plantations in different locations in the country. Deeply rooted in the colonial era, there has been a continuing debate especially on the impacts of plantations on the socio-economic conditions of the peasants and local communities. The growing number of regional studies on the colonial plantations generates an increasingly diverse historiographical views on the impacts of colonial plantations. Change in political regime from colonial to postcolonial government brought a new hope on plantations as a tool of achieving the people’s prosperity. The expectations grew stronger and led to the nationalization of the Dutch-owned plantation enterprises. The transfer of plantations to the state management during the early decade of the decolonization era, however, did not automatically transform them into an efficient and well-managed business entity. Instead of serving well as a tool of creating prosperity for the Indonesian people, the postcolonial plantations experienced a striking setback due to the growing incidents of conflicts over plantation lands. Not only the historically rooted plantations inherited from the Dutch, even the newly established plantations during the New Order era also failed to act as a tool of prosperity for all and became a source of inequality and impoverishment among the smallholders and local communities. There is an urgent need to renew the function of plantations not merely as the tool of the state and corporations to reap lucrative benefits for their own, but also as means of providing the opportunities and access of the people, especially, farming communities to enjoy prosperity under the independent state of Indonesia.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Failure of Plantation Agriculture Transformation in Indonesia
AU  - Retno Winarni
AU  - Nawiyanto
AU  - Ratna Endang Widuatie
Y1  - 2022/08/09
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221002.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.history.20221002.15
T2  - History Research
JF  - History Research
JO  - History Research
SP  - 102
EP  - 107
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2376-6719
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221002.15
AB  - This article examines the existence of plantations in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia. It deals with the ways in which plantations operated in Java and the outer islands of Indonesia to show the existing fissures among the colonial plantations in different locations in the country. Deeply rooted in the colonial era, there has been a continuing debate especially on the impacts of plantations on the socio-economic conditions of the peasants and local communities. The growing number of regional studies on the colonial plantations generates an increasingly diverse historiographical views on the impacts of colonial plantations. Change in political regime from colonial to postcolonial government brought a new hope on plantations as a tool of achieving the people’s prosperity. The expectations grew stronger and led to the nationalization of the Dutch-owned plantation enterprises. The transfer of plantations to the state management during the early decade of the decolonization era, however, did not automatically transform them into an efficient and well-managed business entity. Instead of serving well as a tool of creating prosperity for the Indonesian people, the postcolonial plantations experienced a striking setback due to the growing incidents of conflicts over plantation lands. Not only the historically rooted plantations inherited from the Dutch, even the newly established plantations during the New Order era also failed to act as a tool of prosperity for all and became a source of inequality and impoverishment among the smallholders and local communities. There is an urgent need to renew the function of plantations not merely as the tool of the state and corporations to reap lucrative benefits for their own, but also as means of providing the opportunities and access of the people, especially, farming communities to enjoy prosperity under the independent state of Indonesia.
VL  - 10
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download