BATAVIAASCH GENOOTSCHAP VAN KUNSTEN EN WETEN-

SCHAPPEN (Batavian Society of the Arts and Sciences). Founded in 1778 by J. C. M. Radermacher (1741–1783) to conduct linguistic, geo- graphical, and anthropological research in the archipelago. Its library formed the nucleus of the National Library of Indonesia collection. See also ARCHEOLOGY. [1196]

BATIK • 51 BATAVIAN REPUBLIC (Bataafsche Republiek). In 1794–1795 French

revolutionary troops joined “patriots” (patriotten) in overthrowing the conservative Dutch Republic, founding the Batavian Republic, which survived until its incorporation into the French Empire in 1806. Among the various reforms undertaken by the new state was to replace the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC)’s Heeren XVII (Seventeen Gen- tlemen) in 1795 with a Comite tot de Zaken van de Oost-Indische Han- del en Bezittingen (Committee for the Affairs of the East Indies Trade and Possessions) and to take possession of the VOC on 17 March 1798. When the VOC charter, which governed Indies affairs, lapsed at the end of 1799, the republic set up a Raad van Aziatischen Bezittingen en Etab- lissementen (Council for Asian Possessions and Establishments) and in 1803 promulgated a colonial charter, preserving most of the existing system by making the colonial government responsible for the first time to the metropolitan government. In 1806 the charter was replaced by a more liberal “Reglement op het Beleid der Regeering enz.” The effect of these measures was limited, however, by the Napoleonic Wars and the occupation of the Indies colonies by Britain. The Republic ceased to ex- ist when the Netherlands was occupied by France in 1811. See also DAENDELS, HERMAN WILLEM; NETHERLANDS, CONSTITU- TIONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH INDONESIA.

BATIG SLOT (budgetary surplus). From 1799 to 1903, the treasury of the Netherlands Indies was part of that of the Netherlands. From the incep- tion of the Cultivation System in 1831 until 1877, regular batig slot transfers were made to the Dutch treasury from the Indies, totaling ƒ823 million over the four decades. See also “EERESCHULD, EEN”; INDIË VERLOREN , RAMPSPOED GEBOREN.

BATIK. Method of cloth dyeing by wax-resist, first reliably reported from Java in the 17th century. Traditionally, beeswax is applied with a metal pen (canting), but in the late 19th century metal stamps (cap) were introduced widely, as were German aniline dyes to replace the traditional veg- etable pigments. Since the 1970s silkscreen prints of fine batik motifs have become widespread. Batik motifs have symbolic significance, specific de- signs formerly being reserved for particular social groups and occasions. In the early 20th century, Pekalongan became the center for a batik style incorporating European motifs. Batik “painting”(smaller batiks for display rather than wearing) emerged in the 1960s and in the closing decades of the century became an accepted art form, distinguished from oil painting

52 • BAUXITE in that most batik painters employ craftspeople to do the waxing and dye-

ing, based on the artist’s specifications. Batik has generally been seen as socially conservative, though after independence Sukarno promoted a bright pattern called “batik Indonesia.” The Solo designer Mohamad Hadi incorporated left-wing motifs in cloths in the early 1960s.

The time-consuming work of fine batik production is commonly the work of women, both in villages and in the courts. Village producers were generally dependent on bakul (suppliers of cloth and materials), and much batik trading came into Chinese hands in the early 20th century, prompting a struggle between indigenous and Chinese merchants that contributed to the emergence of nationalism (see SAREKAT IS- LAM). A number of successful trade cooperatives emerged in the 1920s and 1930s to keep the industry in indigenous hands. Recent dramatic price rises for high-quality batik have allowed the reemergence of indigenous batik entrepreneurs. At the same time, modern mass production has introduced a new range of motifs and patterns, drawing on the deco- rative style of non-batik-making cultures. [0144, 0173, 0202, 1403]

BAUXITE. Has been mined on Bintan Island in Riau since the 1920s. Most of the product has been exported to Japan, but since 1982 some process- ing to alumina has taken place in the Inalum plant at Asahan. Mining op- erations were taken over by the state firm, PT Aneka Tambang. In the late 1970s extensive deposits were found in West Kalimantan, but they were judged not feasible for exploitation. [0413]

BAWEAN. Volcanic island in the Java Sea. Settled by Madurese in the 14th century, it was at first an independent state and was later ruled by

Mataram, until it was conquered by the Dutch East Indies Company

(VOC) in 1743 and was administered from Surabaya. The population is predominantly Muslim with a strong tradition of merantau. Baweanese formed an important trading minority on Java in the 19th century. [0007]

BECAK . Three-wheeled pedicab, mostly with the driver at rear, introduced in 1936 but becoming a common form of urban and rural public trans- port (especially on Java) only during and after World War II. In 1971 becak s were banned from some main roads in Jakarta, partly to reduce congestion, partly because they were considered demeaning to the driv- ers. Since then the ban has been extended to other roads and cities, and becak s have been replaced partly by three-wheeled motorized bajaj. [0469, 0470, 0585]

BENGKULU • 53 BELITUNG (Billiton). Large island between Sumatra and Kalimantan.

It was formerly under the sultanate of Palembang, but in 1812 was seized by the British along with Bangka as reparations for the so-called massacre of Palembang. It was disputed by Britain and the Netherlands until 1824, and remained barely occupied until 1851, when the Billiton Maatschappij began mining there. Extensive immigration of Chinese la- borers began in 1852.

BELO, BISHOP CARLOS FILIPE XIMENES (1948–). Born near Bau- cau in East Timor in 1948, Belo went to Portugal in 1968 to study for the priesthood. He returned to East Timor in 1974 after the overthrow of the Portuguese dictatorship but then went back to Portugal, where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1980. He left Portugal again for East Timor in 1981; was named apostolic administrator, the head of East Timor’s Catholic Church, in 1983; and in 1988 was appointed bishop. In the early 1980s he began condemning Indonesian military atrocities in East Timor and in 1984 wrote to the United Nations secretary-general calling for a democratic referendum in the region. Pope John Paul II vis- ited East Timor in October 1989 and spoke out on human rights. After the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991, hundreds of demonstrators sought refuge in Bishop Belo’s home. He continued to speak out for human rights and was increasingly seen as “the voice of the voiceless.” He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1996, together with José Ramos Horta. During the violence following the 1999 referendum on independence, many East Timorese again sought sanctuary in his home, but this time Indonesian-supported militias stormed the house and seized hundreds of these refugees, transporting them to West Timor.

After East Timor gained its independence, Bishop Belo went to Portu- gal for medical treatment, announcing in November 2002 that he would

be retiring from his position for health reasons. [0855] BENGKULU (Benkulen, Bencoolen). Town and region on the southwest-

ern coast of Sumatra, formerly subject successively to Minangkabau,

Banten, and the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). The English

East India Company founded a settlement there, Fort Marlborough, in 1685 after the Dutch had forced them out of Banten. In 1760 the British named Bengkulu capital of their West Sumatran Presidency, and it was their only major region of influence in the archipelago until their ex- pansion during the Napoleonic Wars. Pepper was the principal trade good, but the colony was seldom more than marginally profitable, being

54 • BENTENG PROGRAM hampered especially by a poor harbor. After a brief period under the en-

ergetic rule of Thomas Stamford Raffles, who tried to expand the production of nutmeg, cloves, and cassia, Bengkulu was ceded to the Dutch in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. But the Dutch did not move to subdue the region, which became a center of piracy, until 1868. It never reemerged as a major trading center. It was Sukarno’s place of exile from 1938 to 1942, and it became capital of the newly reconsti- tuted province of Bengkulu in 1967. [0491, 0780]

BENTENG PROGRAM. Measures introduced in 1950 to provide pribumi entrepreneurs with import licenses in order to hasten the devel- opment of an indigenous business class. In 1956, however, the program’s formal discrimination against Chinese was ended, and it was abolished by Juanda Kartawijaya in 1957. See also ALI-BABA FIRMS; IN- DONESIANIZATION; SJAFRUDDIN PRAWIRANEGARA. [0313]

BERAU. State in east Kalimantan, founded in the 17th century. It was ini- tially subject to Banjarmasin but became independent in circa 1750 under Sultan Hasanuddin and dominated the neighboring states of Bulun- gan and Sumbaliung. Some authorities believe that it was the model for Patusan in Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. A Dutch protectorate was es- tablished there in 1906.

BERI-BERI. Disease caused by lack of vitamin B1 (thiamine). In the 1870s it became a major health problem in the plantation regions of North Sumatra, where workers were fed with mechanically husked rice. The idea of deficiency disease was then unknown, and many medical re- searchers attributed the disease to fungal contamination. In the 1880s C. Eijkman in Batavia showed that beri-beri was a consequence of eating hulled rice, but not until 1909 did G. Grijns develop the specific idea that

a substance was lost in the milling process. “BERKELEY MAFIA.” See BADAN PERENCANAAN PEMBANGU-

NAN NASIONAL. BESCHIKKINGSRECHT (right of disposal or allocation). With the

strengthening of village (desa) structure on Java in the 19th century, the colonial government acknowledged the collective right of villages to allocate land to their own members or to other purposes, such as tanah bengkok, according to circumstances. Under the Liberal Policy, this

BEUREU’EH, TEUNGKU MUHAMMAD DAUD • 55 right enabled village elites to allocate rice land to sugar companies on ro-

tating leases. The different growing cycles and irrigation methods of the two crops worked against rice production. The term beschikkingsrecht also applied to the right of the colonial government to allocate woeste or wasteland, that is, areas not under active cultivation, to European companies, for sugar production, as forest reserve, or for other purposes, though Cornelis van Vollenhoven argued in the 1920s that this practice should not permit villages to be deprived of their usufruct rights over nonagri- cultural land. See also AGRARIAN LAW OF 1870.

BETAWI (“Batavians”). An ethnic group that emerged in Batavia from among the many Indonesian residents of the city and the surrounding countryside (ommelanden). In a broad sense, the term applied to all of the many Indonesian mestizo cultures that emerged there, but it applies most strictly to a group that first became apparent in the 19th century. The Betawi proper spoke Malay with heavy Balinese and Chinese influence and considered themselves strongly Islamic (though they were less than orthodox in practice). Because of the dominating presence of the colonial establishment and Indonesian immigrant communities, and because of the influence of the particuliere landerijen, Betawi seldom flourished in their own city: they had an unusually high illiteracy rate and played little role in the administrative or political life of the capital. Muhammad Husni Thamrin (1894–1941) founded a political organiza- tion called Kaum Betawi in 1923. See also MARDIJKERS. [0585]

BETEL. The seed or “nut” of the palm Areca catechu (Arecaceae), jambe, or pinang, native to the region. It has been reported that it was chewed as early as the seventh century, generally in combination with other sub- stances: commonly lime, pepper leaf (sirih), and gambier, and occasion- ally opium, amomum, cloves, camphor, nutmeg, and/or tobacco. Seeds were exported to China in the 13th century. Betel chewing is addictive and leads to loss of appetite, excessive salivation, and general deteriora- tion. Although partially displaced by tobacco smoking from the 16th century, the custom of betel chewing remains widespread, especially in rural areas. [0576]

BATAVIAASCH GENOOTSCHAP VAN KUNSTEN EN WETEN-