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MamanSMahayana-JapaneseOccupationGovernmentPolicyinIndonesia HUMANIORA VOLUME25 No.2Juni2013 Halaman129-142 JAPANESEOCCUPATIONGOVERNMENTPOLICY ININDONESIAONCULTUREANDLITERATURE: ACASESTUDYOFASIARAJANEWSPAPER(1942-1945) MamanS.Mahayana* ABSTRAK Ada tiga pandangan yang ditampilkan dalam pergerakan Indonesia dalam menanggapi kedatanganJepangkeIndonesia.Pertama,kelompokyangmenyambutdanmendukungkedatangan Jepang atas keberhasilannya mengusir Belanda. Kedua, kelompok yang belum menentukan sikap mendukung atau menentang. Dalam hal ini, mereka masih ingin melihat bagaimana Jepang akan menjalankan pemerintahannya di Indonesia. Ketiga, kelompok yang menentang kehadiran Jepang, meski belum berani melakukan perlawanan. Mereka yang menentang kedatangan Jepang di Indonesia terdiri dari dua kelompok, yaitu (1) dari keluarga ambtenaar, kaum bangsawan, dan pegawai pemerintah, dan (2) para pejuang pergerakan yang menempatkan pemerintah Jepang sebagai imperialis baru menggantikan Belanda. Bagaimana sebenarnya politik pemerintah pendudukan Jepang dalam melaksanakan pemerintahan pendudukannya? Berdasarkan data yang terdapat dalam suratkabar Asia Raja (29 April 1942 sampai 7 September 1945), penelitian ini mencoba mengungkap politik pemerintah Jepang di bidang sosial-budaya dan sastra. Bagaimana pula suratkabar itu dimanfaatkan pemerintah pendudukan Jepang untuk memperoleh dukungan masyarakat Indonesia dalam menghadapi perang Asia Timur Raya? Kata Kunci: budaya, kebijakan pemerintah, pendudukan Jepang, politik kolonial, sastra, surat kabarAsia Raja ABSTRACT Three groups of people in the movement of Indonesia were involved in responding to the arrival of Japan in Indonesia. The first group include those who welcomed and supported the arrival ofJapanbecauseof itssuccessinexpellingtheDutchfromIndonesia.Thesecondarethosewhohad notmadeuptheirmindswhethertosupportortoopposetheJapanesepresenceinIndonesia.Thatis, they wanted to see how the Japanese would run their administration in Indonesia. The third consist of those who opposed the presence of the Japanese although they did not yet have the courage to fight them. Those who opposed the Japanese arrival in Indonesia consist of two groups, namely (1) the aristocrats, ambtenaar, and government employees, and (2) those who fought and regarded the Japanesearrivalasanactofanimperialistoccupation.Actually,howwasthepoliticsoftheJapanese government in its colonial administration in Indonesia? On the basis of data obtained from the Asia Raja newspaper from April 29, 1942 to September 7, 1945, this paper attempts to investigate the Japanese political government in socio-cultural and literary fields. How did the Japanese make use of the newspaper to gain Indonesian public support in the face of the Greater EastAsian war? Keywords: Asia Raja newspapers, colonial politics, culture, government policy, Japanese occupation, literature * TheFaculty of Humanity, University of Indonesia; now serves as visiting lecturer in Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea 129 Humaniora, Vol. 25, No. 2 Juni 2013: 129 - 142 INTRODUCTION Third, some people were against the Japanese In early March 1942, the Japanese landed arrival, although they had no courage to fight in Java. Soon after that, the Japanese began their against them. The people who were against the occupation of Java island (Indonesia) and at the Japanese occupation were (1) the new-noblemen, same time terminated the long Dutch colonial ambtenaar, and civil servants whose privileges government in the Archipelago. Unlike the Dutch, were threatened by the Japanese existence in the Japanese conducted a more sympathetic Indonesia and (2) the Indonesian independence approach as if bestowing enlightenment of movementwhoconsidered the Japanese occupation awareness about the need of “liberating” Indonesia as closely similar to that of the Dutch – it was going and other Asian nations from the West (Dutch) to hamper Indonesian sovereignty and in turn led imperialism. Based on the “Triple A” program, the Indonesians to agony. Japanese, more or less, successfully enhanced Because of these various responses, the the sense of confidence that Asia, particularly Japanese intially responded positive. Through the Indonesia, actually had the power and capability “Triple A” movement, i.e., Japan as the Leader, to liberate itself from the domination of the Japan as the Protector and Japan as the Shine of colonialism. Asia, was then applied in the Japanese various During its reign, through its education policy, policies. From the beginning, the Japanese was government policy, and colonial politics, on the actually aware of the necessity of having an one hand, the Dutch colonial government had institution to translate the Japanese colonial policy successfully developed its image as the developing as well as conducting public persuasion. Therefore, nation, having high culture and superiority, and on landing in Java, the Japanese invited the regarded itself as a messiah. On the other hand, propaganda officers belonging to the Propaganda it had also successfully implanted the stigma of Group (Sendenhan), consisting of 11 military the native as the underdeveloped, inferior, and officers, 100 civilians, and 87 military service uncivilized race. The Japanese policy, on the other officers. hand, went to the different direction. With the In August 1942, The Japanese colonial hope that the Indonesians would help them to win government officially established a propaganda the Pacific war, the Japanese intended to destroy institute called Sendenbu, an organ in the Japanese all the images presented by the Dutch. Therefore, colonial government assigned to spread the the Japanese arrival in Java was in the beginning Japanese colonial policy in the Great East Asian responded to in various ways. At least, three responses were exposed by the Indonesian people war. This board tried to develop the government movement. image with the purpose that the nation not only First, they enthusiastically supported the Japa- received but also supported the government policy nese arrival due to their success in expelling the in the colony by giving anything – property and Dutch from Indonesia. Capt. R.P. Suyono (2005, human resources to the Japanese colonial, in facing p.198—199), writes as follows: “… penduduk the war against the allied nations in the Pacific war. pribumi menyambut gembira kedatangan tentara What Japan did was merely its strategy to Jepang dengan mengibarkan bendera Jepang win the table over the allied forces, similar to what di mana-mana…” (‘the native enthusiastically was conducted by the German Nazi. Prof. Kazuaki welcome the Japanese soldiers by raising the Kimura (1994) said that Kenzi Takahashi, who Japanese flags everywhere’). Second, some people wrote “The Germany Propaganda Legion”, was the had not determined whether they were pros or cons key person who managed the Japanese Propaganda to the Japanese arrival. They were still curious on Troops to support the Japanese soldiers to win howthey would run their government in Indonesia. the battle against the Allied Forces. Prof. Kamia, 130 MamanSMahayana-JapaneseOccupationGovernmentPolicyinIndonesia as cited by Prof. Kazuaki Kimura, stated that the One month after the Japanese Propaganda functions of intellectuals, during the war, was to Legion was established in Jakarta, they published support the government strategy. Therefore, the a four-page newspaper called Asia Raja. Involving “Propaganda Legion” consisted of artists, cultural someIndonesians, this daily was first published on experts and journalists. Based on the reason of Wednesday, April 29, 1942. The committee was having state assignment (Nanpo Choyou Sakka), as follows: one month military training was prepared for them Badan Pengarang: A. Asano, N. Suimizu, Uio before they joined the Army and Navy to be sent Tomizawa. to the Philippines, Burma, Malaysia including Anggota Kehormatan: R. Soekardjo Wiryo- Singapore, and Indonesia. pranoto How well did the Indonesian culture and PemimpinRedaksi:T.Ichiki literature develop during the Japanese occupation? BagianPolitikdanUmum:Winarno Is it true that the Indonesian literature did not Bagian Sosial dan Pemuda: Mr. M. Samsudin develop well, as A. Teeuw, H.B. Jassin, and Ajip BagianKehormatan:SanusiPane Rosidi claimed, because of (1) the tightness of the BagianEkonomi:Setijono Japanese censors under Pusat Kebudayaan (Bunka AlamatKantor:MolenvlietOostNo.8Jakarta Keimin Syidosyo), (2) an emphasis on literature Tiras: 15.000eksemplar and culture just to be a propaganda tool by the Harga:10sen/eksemplar Japanese? Howdidthe Asia Raja newspaper as the This newspaper regularly appeared every mouthpiece of the Japanese government provide day, except holiday and Sunday. But, if important newsandinformation with the purpose of carrying events occurred on Saturdays, Asia Raja was also out the Japanese policy? These are some questions published on Sundays. For instance, when the that this article attempts to address. first meeting of Cuo Sangi-In was arranged on This study aims to examine the policies of Saturday, October 16, 1943 (2603 in Japanese the Japanese government on literature and culture calendar), the following day (Sunday, October 17, as presented in the Asia Raja newspaper. The 1943) this event became the headline. The same primary data source of this study is all editions thing happened to the speech of the Prime Minister of the Asia Raja newspaper, from the first to the Koisho about the preparation for Indonesian independence. The news was presented in the last editions published from April 29, 1942 to specific pages called “Soerat Selebaran Soeara September 7, 1945. Asia” (The Bulletin of Asian Voice). In addition The method used in this research is descriptive to presenting the speech of the prime minister, method with quantitative data processing. The several commercial ads were also published in the research was carried out by directly examining newspaper. Until the end of February 1943, Asia primary sources Asia Raja (April 29, 1942 to Raja was still regularly published in four pages for September 7, 1945). To support the description or each edition. However, on Saturday, February 27, analysis of the primary sources data, other relevant 1943, Jawa Syimbun Kai, a censor institute of the literature sources were required as references. Japanese colonial government that was responsible for any activities in the publishing field made the following decision: THEASIARAJANEWSPAPER Poetoesan“JawaSjimboenKai” The Japanese Propaganda Legion sent to Moelai tanggal 1 Maart (: Maret) j.a.d. semoea Indonesia was coordinated by its leader Lieutenant s.k. di Djawa akan terbit 2 halaman tiaptiap Colonel Keiji Machida. It had 190 members, hari, tetapi seminggoe sekali diizinkan terbit including, among others, Aki Asano, novelist 4 halaman. Harga langganan saban boelan Tomoji Abe, Uio Tomizawa, N. Suimizu, and ditetapkan bagi “Asia Raja” f.1.50, bagi s.k. Tatsuo Ichiki. daerahf.1.30. 131 Humaniora, Vol. 25, No. 2 Juni 2013: 129 - 142 It was stated that the reduction of the page “Asia Raja jang djoega mempoenjai sifat numbers and the increasing monthly subscription dan tjorak sebagai alat bagi pemerintah price were caused by the scarcity of paper because Bala Tentara, kini menghadapi kesoekaran of the war. On Monday, March 1, 1943, Asia Raja jang sangat penting dalam melangsoengkan still had 4 pages. From Tuesday to Friday (2-5 kewadjibannja. Inilah alasan jang memaksa March), it then was published with 2 pages and kamimengachiripenerbitan AsiaRaja.” the following Saturday, March 6, it was again published with four pages. In short, Asia Raja was published from April In the beginning of 1944, the format of Asia 29, 1942 to Friday, September 7, 1945. During this Raja changed. The price remained the same, but time, Asia Rajahad published 216 editions. there was some contribution for the Romusha workers and the National Guard (Tentara Pembela TanahAir)asfollows: GOVERNMENTMESSAGESINTHE Alamat Kantor Redaksi & Administrasi: ADVERTISEMENTS YamatoBashiKitaDoori8,Djakarta Considering the background of Asia Raja Telepon : 3250 dan 3270, Djakarta establishment, we can clearly see that Asia PemimpinOemoem:R.Soekardjo Raja was used by the Japanese Government as Wirjopranoto propaganda of the government in his colony. It is Harga Langganan 3 boelan f. 4.50 ditambah more obviously seen when we comprehend the 10 sen seboelan oentoek Roomukyokai dan content of the newspaper. Tentara Pembela Tanah Air Most of the news, for example, showed the Pentjetak Hookabe Masaji Japanese troop sensation and the defeat of the Several days after the independence of Allied Forces. In addition, the East sentiment Indonesia, August 17, 1945, Asia Raja was was visibly exposed. The riot in India, for still published. The news about the Indonesian instance, was exposed as the form of the Indian Independence Proclamation was put as the dissatisfaction against English colonialism. Jose headline, in a bigger font size than that of the Rizal mortality ceremony, the Philippine hero and newspaper’s name. On August 18, 1945 the the speech of Benigno Aquino, was extensively appointment of Ir. Soekarno and his vice president reviewed to show the awareness of the East Moh. Hatta appeared on this newspaper. And against the west colonization as shown at the even, in the following day, the application of Japanese bravery and victory in various battles. Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 as the Constitution If the Dutch, with their colonial politics, tried wasalsopresented in this newspaper. to create the self image as the Europe civilization, The other news in Asia Raja after the the Japanese positioned themselves as the liberator independence was still around the independence of East Asia and the whole Asia from the English, days, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by American and Dutch imperialism. Look at the the allied forces, and the result of the bombing. “New Year Address” from the Prime Minister On Friday, September 7, 1945, this newspaper Hedeki Todjo as the headline of Asia Raja January presented the title “Asia Raja Minta Diri” (Asia 1, 1943 (2603 according to the Japanese calendar) Raja ‘resigned’). And that was the last publication that Japan intended to continue the war until the of this newspaper. Under the name of Asia Raja it final victory. This was clearly emphasized by was written: Djumat, 7 September 2605. The last Prime Minister Todjo in his new year address to number, the IV year, No. 216. The notes of the the Japanese as follows: termination, as cited for the first paragraph, are as “Ditahoen ke-18 Sjowa ini maka tepat setahoen follows: lamanja sedjak peperangan Asia Timoer Raja 132
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