 The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present the Pacific story. A world conflict, events in the Pacific are taking on ever greater importance. Here is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the people whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific War. Here, as another public service, is the tale of the war in the Pacific and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. Java, be free. Ah, Mas'haji Wahidun. Yes. You are under arrest. No, no, no. Japan is not concerned with what you have done. Mas'haji Wahidun. I have not opposed you. We have a complete record of your activities for the past 40 years. Oh. Dangerous assorts are sometimes more deadly than deeds. No, Captain, no punishment. Yes, Sergeant. There are no papers to be found. Everything is empty. Oh. You destroyed them, Mas'haji Wahidun? Yes. Sergeant. Yes, sir. Take him to headquarters at once. I will continue the search here on. There was no trial. They asked me questions for days at the Japanese headquarters. They knew more about me than I could tell them. They knew dates. They knew places I had been. They knew things I had said. As they asked me questions, I could see how they had pieced together all the information that had been gathered by the Japanese residents in and around Batavia. He was a lifelong friend of Radensu Tomo. He was one of the first members of the society, Puri Tomo. He has always been for a free Java. Japanese, I had known nearly all my life in Java testified against me. Yet nearly everything they said was true. I was marked before the Japanese invaded Java. My record told them I had dangerous thoughts that all my life I had worked for a free Indonesia that I would never collaborate with them. They put me in this prison camp. I have been here for more than two years now. Perhaps I shall never live to see a free Java. I know the difficulty so well, but back of it all, like a promise is the legend of Joyo Boyo. The legend all of us Indonesians have heard so many, many times. When your car shall run without horses and your lights shall burn without fire, then the end of foreign rule shall be near. But before the end, the rule of the white man shall be succeeded for a short time by the rule of the yellow man. And when the rule of the yellow man is blown out. Legend surges up in me as I watched the Japanese sentry walk up and down outside the barbed wire that imprisons me. For the Japanese are all around us now. We are now operating all seven of the steel mills in a Java. The work is being done by my people, for under the Japanese they must work or starve. So the blast furnaces that my people built are now roaring day and night for the Japanese. And the factories all through Java come. We are turning out more robot fires and more thick thrust than these factories have ever turned out before. Yes, the Japanese are using our factories to turn out surgical dressings. And cement and soap and oils and leather goods. And they control our raw materials. Trucks are bringing in the crude rubber. In these islands, we now control most of the world's rubber and all of its quinine in much of its team of coffee and tea. And they control our beautiful fields of waving sugarcane and our great rice fields. And they control our pepper and cloves and tobacco. They control every foot of our islands. The mountain peaks and the fertile soil that has been enriched by the ashes and the mud streams from our volcanoes. And they control my people. The 70 million people of these islands. I think of all of this now as I look out at the Japanese century for it was the Japanese who now hold us captive who inspired us Indonesians to strive for freedom. What the Japanese have done years ago in 1894, they defeated the Great Chinese Empire and now they have defeated the Great Russian Empire. The Japanese are modernizing their nation and working out their own national destiny. We were young students then. He was studying to be a doctor. I a lawyer. The victories of the Japanese inspired us. The Indonesians must work together and think as one people. We are a nation. Rodin Sotomo talked of the relationship of the self governing states to the Netherlands. When the white men first came to the Indies, they came as merchants. Now they have become our rulers. In the beginning, they placed themselves under our rulers. Now we are their subordinates. Dr. Sotomo founded the society. Buryu Tomo, the high endeavor society in 1908. Many Indonesians of high character were attracted to the Buryu Tomo, professional men, members of the Javanese aristocracy. But the Indies are a land of many people and many tongues and many religions. There was a growing restlessness among us, a feeling for the need of expression. And among these groups, a number of other organizations were formed. The purpose of the Sarakat Islam is not anti-Dutch. The Sarakat Islam is dedicated to the religious and the cultural development of the peoples of Indonesia. These were the aims of the Sarakat in the beginning. Its membership grew quickly. Indonesians by the thousands joined it. We watched it grow. As time passed, its character changed. It held its first national congress in 1916. We demand self-government. The slogan of the Sarakat Islam has always been cooperation with the Dutch government for the welfare of the Indies. Yes, Radhan, this must mean that the Sarakat has a new policy. It seems to indicate that the Sarakat is shifting from the religious and the cultural field to the political and economic field. Perhaps this would be the time, Radhan, for you to push the development of the Buryu Tomo. No, Haji, no. I am too busy at the medical college to devote time to that now. I owe so much to the suffering and the poor. That was true. Dr. Sotomo was helping the suffering and the poor at the government medical hospital at Sorabaya. Older heads, conservative Javanese had taken over the Buryu Tomo. But Dr. Sotomo was still their inspiration. He and I watched the changing Sarakat Islam. In 1917, it held a congress at Batavia. Freedom is our heritage. We demand independence, not by revolution, but by evolution. Their attacks on the administration are almost bitter. But did you notice, Radhan, not one of them has mentioned the government itself? Not the government, but it has attacked the officials. Haji, the Sarakat Islam is plunging headlong into politics. And soon its effect was felt all through the Indies. Not a wheel in the shop will turn until our demands are met. We demand that the masses of laborers must be recognized before we will return to work. The time has come. We will not cooperate with the government until provision is made that will guarantee our... During the next several years, there was a growing political ferment in the Indies. And then the first real step toward autonomy came. The Volksrad, that is, the People's Council, was established by the Dutch government. For 15 years now, since 1903, you Indonesians have had some authority in your town and city councils and in your villages. Now this authority is to be enlarged. You are to be represented in the new Volksrad. This was to be an experiment in self-government. The Volksrad will be made up of some members elected by you, and some appointed by me. What good is the Volksrad? It is only an advisory council. You can suggest changes in the government. But we do not have the right to make our own laws. We are not intended that the Volksrad should be a legislative thought. Then what good is it? We have no real voice in the government. But more and more Indonesians were elected and appointed to the Volksrad during the next few years. And the Indonesians were given more authority. We now have the administration of our provinces, and the Dutchmen act only as supervisors. Each of our rulers had a Dutch civil officer as an advisor. These advisors, we called the elder brother of our rulers. But day by day, the communistic activities were becoming stronger and stronger. Our hope lies in uniting all the Indonesian groups. Students return from Europe with communistic doctrine. We must unite all of us. Indonesians, Arabians, Chinese, Japanese. And we must use the principle of non-cooperation against the government. No, no, gentlemen. To use non-cooperation in this way against the government is not using it as a principle. But as a weapon. What is your suggestion to improve the lot of us Indonesians, Dr. Sotomo? We must work for the interest of the people. The improvement of our lot must come by evolution, not revolution. No, no, no. No, the time to temporalize is past. We must withdraw from the Volksrad. We must refuse to cooperate with the government. That's right. Non-cooperation must never be used unless the interest of the people demanded. We are making progress. Now is the time to work for the future. And understanding between the Dutch government and us will do more for our advancement than foreign doctrines and violence. Dr. Sotomo, you are a dreaming idealist. You must see the situation as it is, not as you wish it. But Dr. Sotomo was right. The radical organizations failed. The Saarikat Islam crumbled. The communistic activity dwindled away. And Dr. Sotomo and the moderate element prevailed. They've gone through a cycle of radicalism, and now they moved in the other direction. Now other Javanese of Dr. Sotomo's class took up their cause. Our ideal must not be an imitation of the Western world. We must build from the very foundation a civilization at first Javanese and later Indonesian. This was Kai Hadga Diwantoro, a Javanese noble. We must welcome wisdom and beauty and art and science from abroad. He spoke with deep feeling for Indonesia, for once he had been exiled. Foreign elements should never be imposed on top of the native civilization, but should be absorbed into our national life. We all knew what Kai Hadga Diwantoro meant, and most of all Dr. Sotomo knew what he meant. We Indonesians began to take an interest and a pride in all that was Indonesian. In our own language and traditions and customs. We began to take an interest in the Dutch language and traditions and customs. And leading this movement was Dr. Sotomo. Your weaving is beautiful. Thank you, Dr. Sotomo. We must never lose this weaving skill of our people. It is part of us. But we could not do it if you had not helped us. You have changed the life in our village. We must do the best we can, all of us. If this weaving art of our people is fine and beautiful, we must never do it. How do you have time to come out here to our village, Dr. Sotomo? You who are so busy with the sick and hurt and so rabbiah. All of us must work for the future of our people. We must work quietly with self-criticism and with the spirit of self-sacrifice. In this way we shall win our goal, all of us. Dr. Sotomo set the example for the rest of us Indonesians, working for the day ahead. His name spread far beyond the medical colleges of Surabaya. It spread throughout the Indies. This bank is called Bank National Indonesia. It was founded by Dr. Rodin Sotomo. This is the first Indonesian Mutual Life Insurance Company. It was inspired by Dr. Rodin Sotomo. I was educated through the plan worked out by Dr. Sotomo and his cooperating groups. Yes, his name spread through the Indies. He set up scholarships and everywhere were people he had helped. This home for tuberculosis patients was built by Dr. Sotomo. This is the first leprosy sanitarium for young children. It was built by Dr. Sotomo. It was natural that he was elected the first president of the Executive Committee of the Federation of All the Nationalist Parties of the Indies. I am no politician, Haji. It is an honor they have bestowed upon you, Rodin. My work is doing what I can for humanity. But the president of the Federation... No, no, no, Haji. I must speak out against the government if I believe it necessary and against the Europeans who do not understand the position of us Indonesians. But this I cannot do if I accept this office. No one else can do it as ably as you, Rodin. I must criticize if I believe criticism will have... Your criticism is always constructive, Rodin. And this is why everyone in Indonesia respects you, even those who disagree with you. I must be honest to my convictions. Well, Dr. Sotomo accepted. And the next year came... Look at this. Just keep over the teletype. What is it? This stock market in New York has crashed. There is a panic in the market. Let me see that. Uh-huh. Yes. It says that New York and all America is stunned. Yes, this will affect us. Soon we will be feeling it here. And soon we were feeling it. The worldwide depression came to our islands. And it had a great influence on our movement for nationalism. And on every part of our lives. Your Japanese are taking advantage of our situation. We have the right to emigrate here to the Indies. You are not only emigrating here in great numbers, but you are flooding our market with your Japanese products. Oh. But you must realize, you Indonesians are unable to buy from your European on the American market. We have always bought from them, and they bought from us. Until this depression came. Yes. And when they could no longer buy from you, you could no longer buy from them. That is true. You Indonesians have always exported more than you have imported. And now that there is no one to buy your export, you can no longer buy the import. And that is why we have brought the products of Japan to you. We are really doing a great favor to you Indonesians. The situation became worse. More and more goods came from Japan. Dr. Sotomo talked of the danger to our economy. We saw the Japanese gaining more and more control. And we talked of the legend of the coming of the yellow man. The legend said that we would be under their rule. Could it mean economic rule? Or one day, would the Japanese see his political rule too? Here are the facts. Last year, 31% of our imports came from Japan. And only 5% of our products went there. Yes, they shipped us six times as much as they took from us. We cannot go on like this. And now they are trying to monopolize our shipping. Our shipping? Yes. And they are storing their goods in our ports and are handling both the wholesaling and retailing of their products. Why? That means that we are being shut out entirely. Exactly. This will ruin us. Yes. If it does not stop, they will have virtual control over our economy. And where can we turn for help? For us, the turmoil was growing. Under the laws we had, we could do little. We looked to the Dutch government and more and more Indonesians clamored for more authority to better our situation. And as we Indonesians struggled, there was more talk of doing something about the situation ourselves. And then, steps were taken. As of this date, imports and exports will be regulated on a covoter system. This applied directly to the Japanese. Quoters of exports and imports will be established for the protection of the Indies. The Japanese felt the results of this almost at once. And henceforth, industries will be encouraged over a wide range of the Indies instead of being limited to certain localities. This meant more work for more people. And henceforth, it shall be the policy of the government to encourage and advance the cause of small businessmen throughout the Indies. With its new measure, it shall be brought out. Gradually, the situation eased as more trade and commerce and production developed. And then, Dr. Sotomoze's years of work for Indonesia began to bear fruit. We Indonesians began to see the deep underlying wisdom of Dr. Sotomoze's words. We must believe in ourselves and in our race. We must be proud of our national culture. We must work quietly with self-criticism and with the spirit of self-sacrifice to win our goal. Gradually, we Indonesians came to believe in ourselves and in our own destiny. We began to look up, and the Dutch showed more understanding and more sympathy for our point of view. We had gone through difficult days, and now, at least, we Indonesians and the Dutch drew closer together. We Indonesians asked that the government of the Netherlands call an imperial conference, the purpose of which shall be to consider self-government for the Indies. This was in the full slot of the People's Council. We further asked that the imperial conference name a time within which the self-government we asked. Throughout the islands, we Indonesians talked of this. Now, through this motion in the Volksrad, our goal was clear. We wished a promise of self-government and a time when it would become effective. The motion was carried, and the suggestion of the Volksrad was carried to the government. And now, with the sky beginning to clear for the first time in years, and with the outlook brighter, Dr. Sotomo took a trip. He went to Europe and to Africa and to India and Japan and to many lands of the Pacific. But that year was the turning point. And the next year... The Japanese Kandung Army has attacked the Chinese at the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beiping. The Japanese have taken Beiping and are shelling and bombing Shanghai, and are moving up troops to take the city. The Japanese have taken Shanghai and are centering their full-scale operations to drive on Nanking. The Pacific, the war we had long felt would come. We knew that the Japanese would be needing much of what we had, and the Dutch government knew it. And presently, the Japanese made their bid. They came for rubber and oil. They came as wily negotiators. But we knew, as well as they knew, that if they got our rubber and oil, that the United States and Britain could not get it. And they went away without it. Mr. Sotomo returned from his travels. He had seen much of the peoples of the world. He had seen what was happening in the many lands of the world. And no sooner had he returned than he again took up the cause of his people. I have... I have seen so many peoples now. And I have come to admire my own people more deeply than ever. He was talking to the Dutch governor-general. My people are just and generous. If you, my dear governor-general, come to know them well, you will love them. And you will know how much they deserve your efforts that they progress. His heart was with his people. But now we knew, both of us, that he would not be with us long. He was deeply moved by the war in China and by the growing tension in Europe. His life was ebbing away. There is no hope for peace. It cannot be learned to live in harmony with God and nature. He talked of life. A better, richer life. And the next day, he died. Dr. Sotomo's stature grew after he had passed. The light he had kindled for the welfare of his people blazed higher after his death. And even Dutchmen high in the government added their weight to the cause of us Indonesians. The people of the East Indies wish a following. Not because they are opposed to an authority upon them, but because they do not like the policy under which they have had to live. It is not the policy. It seems psychologically impossible for people living in a society of a wholly different sphere and with quite different interests to make decisions which would be accepted as just the people of the other society. We must see that one closer together when the war broke out in Europe in 1939, when the Netherlands fell in the spring of 1940, we were alone. And we knew that soon then the Japanese would come. We knew that this time they would not come to negotiate. This time they would come to take our islands. Obertus van Mook worked to prepare the defences of the Indies. We worked with the Dutch. We worked for security, but yet dreamed of self-government. It was 1941 and while the tension in the Pacific was growing, Queen Wilhelmina announced that when the war in Europe was over that the Imperial Conference we had requested would be held. But soon the Pacific too was swallowed up in war. 1941, the Japanese had taken Hong Kong. But never had fallen to the Japanese. Taking landings in the Dutch East Indies. The Singapore has fallen to the Japanese. They have taken Randall in Burma and have landed on Java. It is the Conference of Java. These are here now. Looks up and down outside the barbed wire that imprisons me. And now a Japanese officer is approaching me. Go to your quarter and get ready to move. In 30 minutes you will leave. Where am I going? Be ready to go in 30 minutes when the sergeant comes for you. 30 minutes. Where will they take me? Perhaps to Japan. It does not matter. Perhaps the promise of the legend of Jorjo Boyle will come true. When your carts shall run without horses and your lights shall burn without fire then the end of foreign rule shall be near. But before the end the rule of the white race shall be succeeded for a short time by the rule of the yellow race. Perhaps I shall not live to see a free Java. But the will to be free shall go on living in the millions of my Indonesian countrymen. Coming to the Pacific Story presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations as a public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the crosscurrents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program send 10 cents in San Franciscoin the University of California Press, Berkeley, California. To repeat, for a reprint of this Pacific Story program send 10 cents in San Franciscoin the University of California Press, Berkeley, California. It is written and directed by Arnold Marquess. Original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso, your narrator Lou Merrill. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.