The Dutch colonized Indonesia for around 350 years through the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch Queen, Queen Wilhelmina, proclaimed that the Dutch colonial rule was an “Ethical Policy of benevolent colonial rule.”
Colonialism is defined “the process of a country taking full or partial political control of a dependent country, territory, or people.” Specifically, “Colonialism occurs when people from one country settle in another country to exploit its people and natural resources.”
In 1906, the Dutch tried to seize Bali. When the Dutch soldiers came to Badung (near present-day Denpasar) in 1906, the royal family, including all the relatives and the servants to the royals, put on cremation garments.
They were preparing for what is known as a puputan, or a “fight to the death”. They dressed in the clothing of death in case they were killed.
They grabbed their holy daggers known locally as keris and met with the Dutch. The keris was for fighting, but it had other uses. They preferred suicide to oppression.
When the Dutch began to fire on them, as they had anticipated they would, many were killed, including women and children. Many others then killed themselves with their keris.
The Dutch removed the precious metals from their dead bodies and proceeded to conquer more of Bali in the years to come.
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