State of East Indonesia
From the end of World War II, Indonesian republicans had been trying to secure Indonesian independence from the Dutch colonial control. From 16â€"25 July 1946, the Dutch organised a conference in the town of Malino on Celebes as part of their attempt to arrange a federal solution for Indonesia. The Malino Conference resulted in plans for a state in Borneo and another for East Indonesia (then called the "Great East"), areas where the Dutch held both de facto and de jure control. Later that year, the unilaterally declared Republic of Indonesia agreed to the principle of a federal Indonesia with the Linggadjati Agreement of 15 November. The Denpasar Conference of 18â€"24 December was held to work out the specifics of a state to be called the State of the Great East (Indonesian: Negara Timoer Besar). That state was established on 24 December and, on 27 December, renamed the State of East Indonesia (Negara Indonesia Timoer or NIT which some opponents joked stood for negara ikoet toean or "state which goes along with the master", i.e. the Dutch). With the realisation of the United States of Indonesia on 27 December 1949, East Indonesia became a constituent of the new federation. Throughout much of Indonesia, the federal USI was seen as an illegitimate regime foisted on the islands by the Dutch and many of the federal states began to merge with the Republic of Indonesia. However many in East Indonesia, with its non-Javanese population and greater number of Christians, opposed moves toward a unitary state. East Indonesia had already dealt with the "Twelfth Province" secessionist movement in Minahasa in 1948. The formation of East Indonesia's last cabinet in May 1950 with the intention of dissolving the state into the Republic of Indonesia led to open rebellion in the largely Christian Moluccas and the proclamation of an independent Republic of the South Moluccas (RMS). The USI was dissolved on 17 August 1950 and the rebellion in the Moluccas was crushed in November of the same year.
The Denpasar Conference of 18â€"24 December 1946 approved the Regulations for the Formation of the State of East Indonesia which established the provisional governmental framework of the new state until a constitution could be written. The state was to have an executive president who would appoint a cabinet and a legislature. A number of powers were explicitly reserved for the future United States of Indonesia, of which East Indonesia would be a constituent member.
The Provisional Representative Body for the State of East Indonesia, initially consisting of the 70 participants of the Denpasar Conference, opened its 1st session on 22 April 1947.
The state had a parliamentary cabinet appointed by the president but much real power remained with the Dutch East Indies authorities.
The State of East Indonesia was divided into five regencies which were in turn divided into districts and subdistricts (onderafdeling), and administrative structure inherited from the Dutch. Within the residencies were 13 autonomous regions. These regions, listed in Article 14 of the Regulations for the Formation of the State of East Indonesia (Peratoeran Pembentoekan Negara Indonesia Timoer) were South Celebes, Minahasa, Sangihe and Talaoed, North Celebes, Central Celebes, Bali, Lombok, Soembawa, Flores, Soemba, Timor and surrounding islands, South Moluccas, and North Moluccas. The residencies were to be eliminated after the construction of functioning administration in the 13 regions.
More than 75% of the State of East Indonesia comprised autonomous regions, in total 115 autonomous regional governments under the rule of rajas. The position of these autonomous governmental heads was regulated by what were called korte verklaring (short-term declarations) and lange kontrakten (long-term contracts); these were actually intended as a recognition by the Dutch Indies Government of the special position of the rajas, whose power to govern the autonomous regions was handed down from one generation to the next.
The Autonomous Region Regulation of 1938 gave the swaprajas wide de jure autonomy but most of the rajas were puppets of Dutch administrators. The State of East Indonesia sought to curtail the power of these regions. The Regulations for the Formation of the State of East Indonesia obliged the state to recognise the special status of the raja-ruled regions.
The remaining area of the state not part of the swaprajas comprised directly governed regions. Directly governed areas included Minahasa, the South Moluccas, Gorontalo, the districts of Macassar and Bonthain, and Lombok.
| The following were the regions. | residencies and their autonomous - |
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