The Idea of Pasundan Province 1926: Between Colonial Decentralization and the Politics of Identity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29408/fhs.v10i2.36345Keywords:
colonial decentralization, Dutch East Indies, geopolitical engineering, identity politics, Pasundan Province 1926Abstract
The idea of establishing the Pasundan Province in 1926 marked a crucial moment in the history of the colonial administration of the Dutch East Indies, bringing together the policy of decentralization (bestuurshervorming) with the dynamics of local identity politics. This article analyzes the complexities behind the formation of the Pasundan Province as a response to the colonial elite's fear of the political dominance of a specific ethnic group, as well as a manifestation of the sociopolitical aspirations of the Sundanese people. Utilizing critical historical methods—including heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography—this study explores colonial archives, periodical publications (de Locomotief, Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad), and contemporary local documents. Theoretically, this article applies Furnivall's concept of colonial decentralization alongside modern political sociology theories of identity politics. The novelty of this article lies in its deconstruction of the singular narrative of decentralization; rather than viewing it merely as a matter of bureaucratic efficiency, this study demonstrates that the 1926 Pasundan Province was designed as an instrument of geopolitical engineering to curb nationalist radicalism while mapping ethno-regional boundaries. The findings indicate that the fear of identity politics dominance—both from the colonial government's perspective regarding Pan-Islamism and communism, and the Sundanese elite's anxiety over Javanese cultural dominance—served as the primary catalyst accelerating the realization of this province.
References
Abdullah, T. (Ed.). (1987). Sejarah lokal di Indonesia. Gadjah Mada University Press.
Algemene Secretarie. (1925, August 22). Besluit van den Gouverneur-Generaal van Nederlandsch-Indië, No. 12. Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia.
Amry, M. (2010). Desentralisasi di Hindia Belanda: Kebijakan administrasi dan reaksinya (1903–1942). Kompas.
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso.
Asshiddiqie, J. (2006). Perkembangan dan konsolidasi hukum tata negara pasca-reformasi. Konstitusi Press.
Atja. (1981). Carita Parahyangan: Transkripsi dan terjemahan. Proyek Pengembangan Permuseuman Jawa Barat.
Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad. (1925, October 22). De bestuurshervorming op Java: De provincie West-Java en de Soendaneesche beweging.
Benda, H. J. (1966). The pattern of administrative reforms in the closing decades of Dutch colonial rule. The Journal of Asian Studies, 25(4), 589–605. https://doi.org/10.2307/2051493.
Cribb, R. (2000). Historical atlas of Indonesia. University of Hawai'i Press.
De Locomotief. (1926, May 14). De nieuwe provincies en de Inlandsche nationalisme.
Ekadjati, E. S. (1995). Kebudayaan Sunda: Suatu pendekatan sejarah. Pustaka Jaya.
Ekadjati, E. S. (2004). Kebangkitan kesadaran budaya Sunda: Sejarah Paguyuban Pasundan 1913–1942. Kiblat Buku Utama.
Furnivall, J. S. (1944). Netherlands India: A study of plural economy. Cambridge University Press.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books.
Gottschalk, L. (1969). Understanding history: A primer of historical method. Alfred A. Knopf.
Horikoshi, H. (1976). A traditional leader in a time of change: The kiai in West Java. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Illinois.
Kahin, G. M. (1952). Nationalism and revolution in Indonesia. Cornell University Press.
Kaoem Moeda. (1925, November 3). Pecah belah antara Djawa dan Sunda.
Kartodirdjo, S. (1973). Protest movements in rural Java: A study of agrarian unrest in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Oxford University Press.
Kartodirdjo, S. (1993). Pengantar sejarah Indonesia baru: Sejarah pergerakan nasional. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
Kunto, H. (1984). Wajah Bandoeng tempo doeloe. Granesia.
Lubis, N. H. (1998). Kehidupan kaum menak Priangan 1800–1942. Pusat Informasi Kebudayaan Sunda.
Lubis, N. H. (2003). Sejarah Kerajaan Sunda. Yayasan Lontar.
McVey, R. T. (1965). The rise of Indonesian communism. Cornell University Press.
Moriyama, M. (2005). Sundanese writers and the topography of Sunda in the nineteenth century. University of Tokyo Press.
Mukrimin. (2018). Decentralisation and ethnic politics: A reflection of two decades of Indonesia's decentralisation. Komunitas: International Journal of Indonesian Society and Culture, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.15294/komunitas.v10i2.12752.
Nordholt, H. S. (2008). Identity politics, citizenship and the soft state in Indonesia. Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities, 1, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.14203/jissh.v1i1.1.
Ricklefs, M. C. (2008). A history of modern Indonesia since c. 1200. Palgrave Macmillan.
Santoso, P. (2011). Proliferation of local governments in Indonesia: Identity politics within a troubled nation state. PCD Journal, 3(1–2), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.22146/pcd.25739.
Schiller, A. A. (1955). The formation of federal Indonesia, 1945–1949. W. van Hoeve.
Sipatahoenan. (1925, September 14). Oemoet Pasoendan sareng Provincie West-Java.
Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië. (1922). Wet van 22 Juli 1922 tot invoering van regelen omtrent de bestuurshervorming in Nederlandsch-Indië (Staatsblad No. 322).
Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië. (1925). Instelling van de Provincie West-Java (Staatsblad No. 378).
Suryanegara, A. M. (2010). Menemukan sejarah: Wacana pergerakan Islam di Indonesia. Mizan.
Sutherland, H. (1979). The Making of a Bureaucratic Elite: The Colonial Transformation of the Javanese Priyayi. Heinemann Educational Books.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Mumuh Muhsin Zakaria, Abdul Rasyad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish articles in Fajar Historia Journal must comply with the following conditions:
- The author retains the copyright and grants the journal first publication rights. The work is licensed simultaneously under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license, which allows others to share the work to acknowledge the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors may make additional separate contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published journal version of the work (for example, posting it to an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), acknowledging its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (for example, in institutional repositories or on their websites) before and during the submission process, as this can result in a productive exchange and earlier and larger citations of the published work.
Fajar Historia journal provides open access to benefit anyone with valuable information and findings. All articles in this journal are the sole responsibility of the author. Fajar Historia journal can be accessed and downloaded for free, following the creative commons license.
Fajar Historia: Jurnal Ilmu Sejarah dan Pendidikan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
