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The policy caused the decline in people commercial sailing activities, which assured
that they could no longer trade with other foreign commercial port cities. Almost all
commercial lanes to production areas were controlled by the KPM. For this reason, when
Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz (1904-1909) became the governor general of the Dutch
East Indies, he set up a policy to conquer all the kingdoms with loan status (leenvorstendom)
and allied kingdoms (bondsgenootschappelijke Landen) which were deemed free and
sovereign. In June 1905, he sent military expedition to Sulawesi, and conquered vassal
and allied kingdoms and forced them hand down their territories and power to the Dutch
government by signing a short statement (korteverklaring).

Conclusion
It is clear that the colonial government did not build brotherhood and unity between the
kingdoms in this archipelago. Their political and maritime trade activities aimed only to
control the sailing lanes of the people of the archipelago and to exploit them. There is
no indication that the colonial policy was to unite the existing kingdoms, but it acted in a
divisive way to conquer them.
Conversely, upon a closer look, maritime trade activities of the inhabitants of the
archipelago aim to achieve not only economic benefits, but also to build a network of
cooperation, closer fraternity, and even familial relationship among themselves. A Dutch
poet once called Makasar sailors and merchants with the phrase: hey De hantjes van Oosten
(the Pleasant Roosters pleasures of the East). The expression was related to the character
of the sailors and traders from South Sulawesi who did not want to see the people of Asia
treated unreasonably or unfairly. When there were such things, they would defend those
treated unfairly at the expense of their body and lives. This kind of attitude had made them
welcomed anywhere they went.
The unity of Indonesia as a nation forged through maritime activities in the Maritime
Trade Zone of Java Sea sponsored by the kingdoms of Sriwijaya, Majapahit, Malay traders,
and the Kingdom of Makasar. Maritime trade activities were managed to pursue not merely
economic benefits. They strove for family relationships, building cooperation, friendship,
and unity. That was why when the Proclamation of independence echoed, all the people of
the archipelago joined hands to greet and fight to defend it.
In the world of trade, Stapel (1922) revealed the character of the population of South
Sulawesi and the Netherlands in a trade with the phrase: eronder of er op, jij of ik (literally it
means: on top or bottom, you or I, meaning “win or lose, you or I”). This expression indicates
that the two groups were firm in the competition. On the other hand, it also demonstrates

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