Indonesia Musings
I just received an email from this account asking if I still want to keep this blog as I haven't posted anything in a while. So, I'll add a short post here. Over the summer I've been reading a lot about Indonesia, and now have a much better understanding of its history, dating back from 1200 to the present. I'm currently reading through an excellent book about Chinese emigration, including to Indonesia, by Philip Kuhn, "Chinese Among Others: Emigration in Modern Times." I've written several hundred pages of notes and comments, and soon need to compile these into the book proposal, for a planned, co-authored book about Chinese Indonesians with Sunny Lie. I feel as though I'm writing a second dissertation! Here are some thoughts worth sharing. 1. Dutch Colonialism was very bad! The Dutch East India Company went to the "East Indies" in the 1500s with the intent of monopolizing the spice island trade. They were quite good at that. But to do