Parliament of Hindia Belanda
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Parliament of Hindia Belanda Parlemen Hindia Belanda Staten-Generaal van Nederlands Indië | |
|---|---|
| 18th Parliament | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Dewan Deputi Dewan Bangsawan |
| Leadership | |
Governor-General | |
Lodewijk Engelbert, Independent | |
HRH Prince Natanegara Hadikrama, Princely house of Hadikrama | |
Government leader | The Rt. Hon. Antje Moeljani, National Indies Party |
Leader of the Opposition | Marcus Overstraten, Liberal Democratic Party (Hindia Belanda) |
| Structure | |
Dewan Deputi political groups | National Indies Party: 267 seats Aliansi Merdeka: 12 seats Liberal Democratic Party: 220 seats Independent: 18 seats Social Democratic Workers' Party: 15 seats Orange Banner League: 8 seats
|
| Elections | |
| First past the post | |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Palace of the Staten-Generaal, Groot Rijstveld, Jakarta | |
| Website | |
| parlemen | |
The Parliament of Hindia Belanda (Indonesian: Parlemen Hindia Belanda, Dutch: Staten-Generaal van Nederlands Indië) is the bicameral legislative body of the Commonwealth of Hindia Belanda, consisting of the Dewan Bangsawan (upper house) and the Dewan Deputi (lower house). As a parliamentary democracy, Hindia Belanda follows the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty which dictates that the Staten-Generaal holds absolute supremacy over all political bodies within the Commonwealth. The parliament meets at the Palace of the Staten-Generaal in Groot Rijstveld, Jakarta.
The Staten-Generaal of Hindia Belanda is the direct successor of the Volksraad and the Raad van Indië, after the two were dissolved in 1929 when the colony achieved independence and the Commonwealth in its current form was first established.
The Parliament of Hindia Belanda is composed of the Governor-General, the Dewan Bangsawan and the Dewan Deputi, each complementing one another in the legislative process with their distinct roles. This model was inherited from two separate colonial bodies, the Raad van Indië and the Volksraad.
The Raad van Indië, being the former advisory council of the Governor-General in the colonial era, was transformed into the current Dewan Bangsawan consisting of appointed life peers and princely peers at the independence of Hindia Belanda in 1929. The Governor-General appoints life peers who are drawn from a variety of backgrounds on the advice of the all-party Peerage Commission. On average, three life peers are created every year, which in December 2018 total 398. These life peers include distinguished former MPs, academics, artists, trade unionists, public servants and retired ambassadors. The Governor-General also summons princely peers who each represent a single princely house. Under an agreement reached between the newly independent Hindia Belandan state and the 15 princely states, each head of a princely house may appoint one member of their family to sit in the Dewan Bangsawan. The 15 princely peers who sit in Parliament may participate in voting for all except money bills that are laid before the Dewan Bangsawan.
The Dewan Deputi, the lower house, is the direct successor of the Volksraad, the colonial legislature which existed from 1852 until the independence of Hindia Belanda when it transformed into the current lower house with its own standing orders and rules. It comprises 540 members of parliament (MPs or, formally, Deputies) who are elected to represent their constituencies. Anyone may stand for election to the Dewan Deputi if he or she is a Hindia Belandan citizen, aged 18 or older, enrolled in the Commonwealth Great Roll of Electors as an elector and is "of sane mind", as required by the Elections to the Dewan Deputi Act 1929. Conditions which disqualify a citizen from standing for election to the Dewan Deputi include being a sitting member of the Dewan Bangsawan or a provincial legislature, being heir apparent to a Hindia Belandan princely throne, and or serving in a position of profit under the Crown (i.e being appointed wedana of a ceremonial district). The last condition plays an important role in the resignation of MPs.
History
Precursor
Colonial legislature
The present-day Hindia Belandan Parliament has its origins in the colonial era with the creation of the Volksraad, which first met in 1852. The creation of the Volksraad was provided for by law in 1850, adding a new chapter to the already extensive Reglement op het beleid der Regering van Nederlands Indië which regulated the conduct of the colonial administration in Hindia Belanda and effectively ceased financial contributions by the colony to Noordenstaat, its mother country. The Volksraad was initially established as a unicameral legislature limited only to legislating matters of finance, inland administration, education and welfare but it might lay before the Sovereign and the Noordenstaater Parliament any matter it pleases (which it had done numerous times to achieve substantial changes to the way the colony functioned). There were 40 members, 25 of whom elected and the rest appointed by the Governor-General at the recommendation of the Raad van Indië. Of the 25 elected members, 5 were Noordenstaater-born Lorecians (totok), 16 were native Javanese, 2 Chinese and 2 Arabs. Of the 15 appointed members, 10 were natives from islands outside Java such as Bali, Borneo, Celebes, Senjani, Somatra and Timor, and the rest were representatives of influential parties and organisations at the time, such as the pro-Home rule Insulinde Party, the Muslim batik traders' union Sarekat Islam and the pro-conscription interest group Indië Weerbaar.
The electorate of the Volksraad consisted of land-owning natives of both sexes (land ownership in the colony was a right exclusively accorded to native Hindia Belandans), property-owning Noordenstaater men with a net-worth of 500 Guilders or more, Chinese merchants with a business registered to a trade guild and, lastly, public servants of Arabic descent who hailed from Riysa.
The Volksraad in its formative years exerted pressure upon the colonial government and was overall a formidable critic of colonial policy with the admission of pro-Home rule members. A further change in the law in 1867 removed from the Raad van Indië significant influence and executive powers which it previously held, effectively reducing it into a purely-advisory body. The change also accorded new legislative powers to the Volksraad and produced a new staatsinrichting giving greater autonomy to the colony, which ultimately catalysed the independence movement.
In 1919, the Volksraad exercised its right to lay matters before the Noordenstaater Parliament by petitioning it for an end to the Noordenstaater Parliament's legislating powers over the colony of Hindia Belanda. The Noordenstaater Parliament rejected this petition, known as the Soetardjo petition, on the grounds that it believed the colony was not yet ready for home rule. The rejection was negatively received by the population, who now had begun lending their support to the independence movement, which was principally led by the National Indies Party. In the wake of that rejection, Republicanism, a movement led by Soekarna who would go on to become the first Prime Minister of independent Hindia Belanda, came into existence and had started to gain grounds on islands outside Java.
The obstinacy of the Noordenstaater Parliament to grant the colony Home Rule led to the dramatic shifting of support of pro-Noordenstaater Volksraad members to the independence movement, which was now gaining popularity throughout the colony. By 1925, the Volksraad chamber was dominated by pro-independence members with a significant minority supporting a republican form of government. The Volksraad in 1927 famously passed a resolution which included an ultimatum that should the Noordenstaater Parliament continue to refuse granting home rule, the Volksraad would provide official support for the independence movement. By now, the colonial Governor-General was losing his influence over the colony and many generals in the Koninklijke Nederlands Indische Leger were lending their support for Hindia Belandan independence. Ideas of independence of Hindia Belanda quickly reached some Noordenstaater politicians sympathetic to the struggles of the Hindia Belandan people.
End of colonial Hindia Belanda
The fate of the colony was sealed in 1928 when the Noordenstaater Parliament rejected the petition for the third time. In February 1928, Soetardjo Kartadiningrat, an elected member of the Volksraad after whom the Soetardjo Petition was named, begged to move that the Volksraad support Hindia Belandan independence. The motion was passed near unanimously.