In
Censorship in Colonial Indonesia, 1901–1942 Nobuto Yamamoto examines the institutionalization of censorship and its symbiosis with print culture in the Netherlands Indies. Born from the liberal desire to promote the well-being of the colonial population, censorship was not practiced exclusively in repressive ways but manifested in constructive policies and stimuli, among which was the cultivation of the “native press” under state patronage. Censorship in the Indies oscillated between liberal impulse and the intrinsic insecurity of a colonial state in the era of nationalism and democratic governance. It proved unpredictable in terms of outcomes, at times being co-opted by resourceful activists and journalists, and susceptible to international politics as it transformed during the Sino-Japanese war of the 1930s.
Nobuto Yamamoto, PhD (2011, Cornell University), is Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Keio University, Japan. He has published books and articles on Southeast Asian politics and Indonesia in both Japanese and English.
"Yamamoto has done a valuable service by writing a clear and comprehensive study of censorship in colonial Indonesia, adding greatly to the previously limited literature on this topic. His book will be of interest not onlt to those working on the colonial state but also to students of Indonesian nationalism, communism, Islamic movements and the politics of the Indonesian Chinese community". Oliver Crawford, in
Sojourn, 36 (2), July 2021.
Acknowledgements Glossary
Introduction 1
Liberal Winds 2
Ethical Policy and Patronage 3
The Age of Press Monitoring 4
Persdelict 5
Reactions to Persdelict 6
Press Monitoring Reconsidered 7
Persbreidel and Containment 8
The Japanese Factor 9
Persbreidel and the Chinese Factor Conclusion
Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Bibliography Index
This book will be of interest to historians and Southeast Asianists, and anyone interested in the history of censorship, particularly colonial censorship and the nationalist movement in Indonesia.