Page 42 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

FROM VOLKSRAAD TO THE CENTRAL INDONESIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
(1917–1949)

1931–1942:

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR IN PARLIAMENT

THROUGH THE NATIONAL FACTION

VOLKSRA Volksraad AD was the legislative body for the Dutch East Indies during
this period. From there, an opportunity arose for the people to show pro-bumi-

putra ideas. One of the ideas that emerged included creating a bumiputra faction
within the Volksraad. Later, this faction would be known as the National Faction.

THE idea of forming the National Faction within the Volksraad came from
its own member M. H. Thamrin, the chairman of the Betawi People’s As-
sociation. The idea was influenced by several factors, including:

a. The Dutch East Indies Colonial Government’s negative attitude to-
wards indigenous political movements in the Dutch East Indies.
b. The Dutch East Indies Colonial Government’s equally harsh opinions
and treatments against both cooperative and non-cooperative
national movements, and its often unilateral reactions against such
movements.

c. The establishment of the Vaderlandsche Club (VC) in 1929 as a pro-
test against Governor-General de Graeff’s ethisch beleid or ethical
policy.

The desire to form a National Faction was proof that there had only been
two parties that dominated the Volksraad. One faction never believed
that Political Ethics policies could ever be implemented, while the Na-
tional Faction never expected anything valuable to be produced from the
colonial policy.

The heat of debate surrounding the indigenous majority in the Volksraad
escalated with the appointment of M. H. Thamrin as the chairman of the

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