Java History

The Javanese are mostly descended from migrants who settled the island in waves from about 4000 BC. Sawah - or wet rice - agriculture was developed gradually from 2000 BC, and trade with South India began as early as the 3rd century AD. It's believed that this contact led to the adoption of Hinduism in coastal kingdoms, while southeast Asian Buddhism was also an influence and developed side by side with Hinduism, along with older beliefs.


Wet rice agriculture led to the development of a village-based social system dependent on mutual cooperation, overlaid with a hierarchical court culture. In 732 AD the Hindu King Sanjaya founded the kingdom of Mataram, Java's first major political entity, which controlled much of central Java and built the Borobudur temple complex. By the 10th century, King Sendok's East Javanese kingdom was dominant; it was later extended by Airlangga and split into two, the eastern Janggara and the western Kediri, after his death.


Mongols invaded Java in 1292, bringing to the throne a new king, Wijaya, and a new kingdom, the Majapahit Empire, which would become the most powerful and famous of Javanese kingdoms until it fell in 1400, by which time Islam was making serious inroads, especially in coastal ports. One of these, Demak, rose to become the first great Javanese Islamic state.
Coinciding with Islam's rise was the arrival of the Portuguese in 1511, soon followed by the Spanish, British and Dutch. As the Europeans jousted for position, the last Hindu kingdom fell to Islam in 1580. A second Mataram Empire - Islamic, but featuring much of the old court tradition and Javanese philosophy - sprang into existence and reached its peak in the early 17th century, dominating much of the island.


In the course of the 17th century, the Dutch became increasingly militaristic. Though they never controlled the island, they learned how to play rivals off against one another as Mataram disintegrated through the 18th century. By the early 19th century the Dutch had extended their influence over the sultanates of the interior and claimed Java as Dutch territoy.
By the end of the Java War (1825-1850) Dutch control over the island was almost complete. The infamous 'Culture System' was introduced to make the colony profitable. It was essentially a system of forced labour and it generated great wealth for the Dutch. The Javanese aristocracy became figureheads and the peasantry were subject to famine and epidemics. Dutch public opinion led to reforms of the system, beginning in 1870: forced labour was replaced by a land grab. The Javanese elite was coopted into the colonial administration and Islam became the peasants' focus for opposition to exploitation.


At the turn of the 20th century, the Dutch instituted an Ethical Policy, making it the government's duty to further Indonesians' welfare. The Javanese economy declined as economic activity shifted to other islands. Education became more accessible but remained inadequate - Java's population growth was outstripping all welfare efforts. Moreover, it fuelled the rise of nationalism, of both the Islamic and communist variety. When the Japanese marched into Batavia in 1942 they were greeted as liberators, but the tide of opinion soon changed. Soekarno proclaimed independence when they left in 1945, but the Dutch returned and insisted nothing had changed, leading an armed struggle that lasted from 1945 until 1949 and involved the Dutch, the British, the United Nations and the often fractious Republican Army. Soekarno became independent Indonesia's first president on 27 December of that year.


The new nation was beset by problems - economic, ethnic and religious, and political - but Soekarno's PNI dominated the first parliament from 1955. In 1957, he declared martial law and an era of 'guided democracy'. The ensuing period to 1965 saw political power increasingly concentrated in Java; the army and the Communist Party grew in power, with Soekarno in the middle. When the president began courting the favours of Beijing, the army acted.
Beginning on 30 September 1965, factions of the army plotted coups and counter-coups in a battle of wits and brawn that eventually unleashed an anticommunist pogrom and saw General Soeharto gain the ascendancy. Soekarno remained president two more years, but the pro-Western Soeharto was effectively the boss and assumed the official title of president in 1967. Elections were held in 1971 but - though it enjoyed the support of the West - under his 30-year rule, Soeharto's regime of one-party crony capitalism was essentially anti-democratic in temperament. It was also - despite some impressive economic achievements - corrupt.
Soeharto was unable to assure a stable succession, so when the Asian currency crisis hit Indonesia in July 1997 - leaving the economy teetering on the edge of backruptcy - IMF reforms spelled the end of the cosy Soeharto family arrangements. Inflation prompted riots in Java, the ruppiah collapsed, and inflation and unemployment surged, leading in 1998 to the worst civil disturbances since the mid-sixties. Soeharto stepped down on 21 May of that year.
Despite his reform efforts, BJ Habibie's presidency was an unsettled one. Java continued to suffer reduced standards of living and widespread riots. Abdurrahman Wahid became Indonesia's first democratically elected president in June 1999. His style fused elements of Islamic holy man and Javanese mystic, but he was unable to pull together the disparate forces that threatened to tear the country asunder. Riding a wave of nostalgia for her father, Megawati Sukarnoputri replaced Wahid in July 2001 when he was impeached for collusion in two financial scandals.


Upon the rise to power of Megawati, Indonesia faced numerous crises - rising Islamic extremism, military insubordination, official corruption, a fledgling and fragile democratic process, and the many separatist movements threatening to tear the country apart. Throughout this period, Java remained the political power hub of one of the world's most numerous nations. Most of the nation's political elite and intelligentsia derived from the island, and the peculiarly Javanese mix of Islam and local belief dominated the national culture. Overcrowding and environmental degradation were the main problems facing Javanese, which is one reason why many volunteered for relocation to less populous islands.


Megawati Sukarnoputri's presidency restored stability and growth but was ineffectual in combating rampant institutional corruption. In September 2004, 80% of Indonesian voters turned up to vote in the country's first direct presidential ballot. Charismatic retired general – and sometime crooner - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (who holds an American management degree) won handsomely.

source : www.lonelyplanet.com