Boven Digoel: Projecting a New Society

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Communist revolts in West Java and West Sumatra in 1926 and 1927, Boven Digoel was constructed as an internment camp for political prisoners. It was designed to be a place where Communists were taken from their home communities and transplanted in a foreign environment to be “re-educated” by the authorities under close surveillance. Outwardly, however, the Dutch colonial regime also used Digoel as a cautionary tale to the Indonesian populace by projecting a terrifying image of the exile colony and its feral environment. They achieved this aim by relying primarily on newspaper coverage. Such representations of Digoel came to inhabit the popular imagination during the colonial period. This article examines two prominent Malay-language newspapers, Sin Jit Po (Soerabaja) and Pewarta Deli (Medan), and their comparatively frequent reports on Digoel. Ultimately, the Digoel coverage gives insights into an important aspect of the Dutch colonial order in the Netherlands Indies, which was censorship.