Winning the Vote for Women in Indonesia

Australian Feminist Studies

Volumn 14, Issue 29, 1999, Pages 207-218

  Blackburn, Susan ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033430659     PISSN: 08164649     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/08164649993443     Document Type: Article

References (33)

1. Caroline Daley and Melanie Nolan, 'International Feminist Perspectives on Suffrage: an Introduction' in Dalcy and Nolan (eds), Suffrage and Beyond: International Feminist Perspectives (Auckland University Press) Auckland, 1994.
2. To my knowledge there are no published studies of the history of women's suffrage in Indonesia. The only secondary written works are Elsbeth Locher-Scholten, 'Late Colonial Perceptions of Indonesian Women: Voting Rights - Labour - the nyai?. Paper presented at a conference in Seattle, 1991; and Carla Berger, 'Een Vrouwenstemmetje ... De Vrouwenkiesrechtstrijd in Nederlands-Indie 1908-1941' [A Woman's Voice ... The Struggle for Women's Suffrage in The Netherlands Indies], MA thesis, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, 1990.
3. To my knowledge there are no published studies of the history of women's suffrage in Indonesia. The only secondary written works are Elsbeth Locher-Scholten, 'Late Colonial Perceptions of Indonesian Women: Voting Rights - Labour - the nyai?. Paper presented at a conference in Seattle, 1991; and Carla Berger, 'Een Vrouwenstemmetje ... De Vrouwenkiesrechtstrijd in Nederlands-Indie 1908-1941' [A Woman's Voice ... The Struggle for Women's Suffrage in The Netherlands Indies], MA thesis, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, 1990.
4. Volkstelling 1930, deel 8 [1930 Census, vol. 8] (Landsdrukkerij) Batavia, 1936, p. 2.
5. During the colonial period and since the late 1950s this has been the case. Under the 1945 Constitution, which has been in place since 1959, the president is extremely powerful, the People's Representative Assembly which elects him every five years is mainly appointed and there has never been a choice of presidential candidates. The legislature is dominated by the government party and the number of opposition parties is legally limited to two.
6. I do not exclude myself from this criticism. When years ago I made a study of the Indonesian nationalist movement of the late 1930s, I completely overlooked the suffrage debate. (My PhD thesis was partially published under the name of Susan Abeyasekere, One Hand Clapping: Indonesian Nationalists and the Dutch, 1939-1942 (Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University) Clayton, 1976.)
7. Together with Barbara Hatley, I am engaged in a research project called 'Constituting Indonesian Womanhood in the Twentieth Century', one of the themes of which will be citizenship.
8. Volkstelling 1930, vol. 8, p. 29.
9. For a summary of the history of political reform in the Dutch East Indies, see Verslag van de Commissie tot Bestudeering van Staatsrechterlijke Hervormingen [Report of the Committee of Enquiry into Constitutional Reforms - Visman Report] (Landsdrukkerij) Batavia, 1941, vol. 1.
10. Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indie, 1941, no. 451.
11. See G.M. Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia (Cornell University Press) Ithaca, 1952, pp. 1515; and Anthony Reid, The Indonesian Revolution 1945-50 (Longman) Hawthorn, 1974, pp. 68-71.
12. See G.M. Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia (Cornell University Press) Ithaca, 1952, pp. 1515; and Anthony Reid, The Indonesian Revolution 1945-50 (Longman) Hawthorn, 1974, pp. 68-71.
13. For a history of the VVV in the Indies, see Berger, 'Een Vrouwenstemmetje'.
14. See Susan Blackburn, 'Political Relations among Women in a Multiracial City: Colonial Batavia in the Twentieth Century', in Kees Grijns and Peter Nas (eds), The Theatre City: Essays on Jakarta/Batavia (KITLV Press) Leiden, forthcoming.
15. This was Mevr. J.Ch. Neuyen-Hakker. See her rousing speech in the Volksraad, quoted in Blackburn, 'Political Relations among Women'.
16. For a general history of the Indonesian women's movement to the 1950s, see Cora Vreede-de Stuers, The Indonesian Woman (Mouton), The Hague, 1960.
17. Maria Ulfah Santoso, 'Actief Kiesrecht voor de Vrouw' [Active Suffrage for Women], Nationale Commentaren, vol. 4, no. 33, 1941, pp. 3714-16.
18. Abeyasekere, One Hand Clapping.
19. One of the most outspoken early male supporters of female suffrage was the radical nationalist Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo. See his eloquent defence of female suffrage in the Volksraad in 1918: Volksraad Handelingen (Landsdrukkerij) Batavia, 19 June 1918, pp. 126-7.
20. In the Minahasa, opinion had long supported women's suffrage. In 1918 the Minahasan member of the Volksraad, A.L. Waworoentoe, had pledged support to equal rights for men and women (Verslag Werkzaamheden van de Afdeelingen in Indie van der Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht, August 1918, p. 2 and November 1918, p. 5). The Minahasan women's organisation PIKAT in 1918 endorsed the VVV's request to the government for women's suffrage (Verslag Werkzaamheden, January 1919, p. 1). In 1919 Waworoentoe and another Minahasan member of the Volksraad, Laoh, spoke in favour of women's suffrage (Verslag Werkzaamheden, August 1919, pp. 1-3).
21. In the Minahasa, opinion had long supported women's suffrage. In 1918 the Minahasan member of the Volksraad, A.L. Waworoentoe, had pledged support to equal rights for men and women (Verslag Werkzaamheden van de Afdeelingen in Indie van der Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht, August 1918, p. 2 and November 1918, p. 5). The Minahasan women's organisation PIKAT in 1918 endorsed the VVV's request to the government for women's suffrage (Verslag Werkzaamheden, January 1919, p. 1). In 1919 Waworoentoe and another Minahasan member of the Volksraad, Laoh, spoke in favour of women's suffrage (Verslag Werkzaamheden, August 1919, pp. 1-3).
22. In the Minahasa, opinion had long supported women's suffrage. In 1918 the Minahasan member of the Volksraad, A.L. Waworoentoe, had pledged support to equal rights for men and women (Verslag Werkzaamheden van de Afdeelingen in Indie van der Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht, August 1918, p. 2 and November 1918, p. 5). The Minahasan women's organisation PIKAT in 1918 endorsed the VVV's request to the government for women's suffrage (Verslag Werkzaamheden, January 1919, p. 1). In 1919 Waworoentoe and another Minahasan member of the Volksraad, Laoh, spoke in favour of women's suffrage (Verslag Werkzaamheden, August 1919, pp. 1-3).
23. Herman A.O. de Tollenaere, The Politics of Divine Wisdom: Theosoply and Labour, National and Women's Movements in Indonesia and South Asia, 1875-1947 (Uitgeverij Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen) Nijmegen, 1995.
24. See Berger, 'Een Vrouwenstemmetje', pp. 49-50, 61-3, 70; and Blackburn, 'Political Relations'.
25. See Berger, 'Een Vrouwenstemmetje', pp. 49-50, 61-3, 70; and Blackburn, 'Political Relations'.
26. Berger, 'Een Vrouwenstemmetje', pp. 40, 67, 70-1.
27. Overzicht van de Inlandsch en Malesich-Chineesch Pers [Survey of the Native and Malay-Chinese Press], 1941, pp. 365-7.
28. See Blackburn, 'Political Relations'.
29. Thus the Minangkabau radical nationalist, Muhammad Yamin, condemned the standpoint of the Minangkabau Council in the Volksraad (Volksraad Handelingen, 28 August 1941, p. 1152).
30. A prominent Chinese woman suffragist was Dr Thung Sin Nio. See Faye Yik-Wei Chan, 'Feminist and Scholar: the Student Days of Dr Thung Sin Nio in The Netherlands'. Paper presented at Colloquium on the Chinese Diaspora in Europe, Paris, 20-21 January 1995.
31. See Berger, 'Een Vrouwenstemmetje' for coverage of the complicated negotiations between the different levels of government over women's suffrage in the Indies.
32. For an insight into the differing views of the Volksraad, Minister of Colonies and Governor-General, see correspondence between them published in S.L. van der Wal (ed.), De Volksraad en de Staatkundige Ontwikkeling van Nederlands-Indie: een bronnenpublikatie [The National Council and the Political Development of The Netherlands Indies: Documentary Sources], (J.B. Wolters) Groningen, 1965, pp. 89-93.
33. For an analysis of the role of women as portrayed in the periodicals of European, Chinese and Indonesian women in the 1920s and 1930s, see Susan Blackburn, 'Women and the Household: Insights from the Women's Press in Colonial Indonesia'. Paper presented at the Workshop, Indonesian Women in the Household and Beyond, University of Leiden, The Netherlands, September 1995.