Page 19 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
IN INDONESIA

April 1, 1905: City councils were established in three cities in West Java,
including Gemeente Batavia, Meester Cornelis (Jatinegara), and Buiten-
zorg (Bogor).

On the gewest level, a gewestelijk raad or a residency council was formed;
in the gewest regions, a plaatselijke raad was formed, while in European
dominated regions, a gemeenteraad was formed. Further, in 1905, the for-
mation of those councils was managed under Locale Raden Odonantie,
as recorded in the Indische Staatsblad number 18.

On April 1, 1905, city councils were established in three cities in West
Java, including Gemeente Batavia, Meester Cornelis (Jatinegara), and
Buitenzorg (Bogor). Then, following the three cities, 12 more city coun-
cils were established in the Dutch East Indies,
including Gementee Surabaya in 1906 and others
outside Java. After 1907, residency councils were
established on the entire Java.

There had been at least However, the decentralization laws were believed
to have given pseudo autonomy to regencies and
32 city councils, 19 of gemeentee (city council) in the Dutch East Indies.

them on Java, whereby The update seemingly gave way to bumiputra to
participate in colonial governance.
mayors were chairmen.

Residency council and city gemeente (haminte)
were formed with the rule that every 500 bumipu-
tra could select a keesman or an electorate. Then,
the electorate would have the right to elect some
regency council members; some others would be
elected by the governor as recommended by the
regent. Effectively, every province had a provincial council whose mem-
bers would be selected by the regency council and the city gemeente in
the respective province.

Europeans were the majority members of the city councils. Some city
council members were elected by the governor-general, while others
were selected because they were regents and vice-regents. By defini-
tion, this system could not be called a regional autonomy.

However, the colonial government had attempted a decentralized go-
vernment at the very least. Until 1939, there had been at least 32 city
councils, 19 of them on Java, whereby mayors were chairmen.

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