Johannes van den Bosch was a member of the Dutch army in Batavia which is now known as Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia today. Johannes van den Bosch was the governor-general in the East-Indies from 1828-1833 and he was minister of the colonies in Indonesia from 1834-1839. He made a new “Culture System” that made Indonesian noblemen semi-autonomous rulers,made the villagers in the towns work strenuously, and made each village use a fifth of its land to produce crops for export.
Sukarno
Sukarno was the first president of Indonesia. The Dutch had placed him under arrest many times because of his leadership in nationalist movements. One of the nationalist movements was in 1927. Sukarno also cooperated with Japanese during WWII, even though the people were still struggling for independence. He was a major figure in forming the independent Republic of Indonesia.
Lieutenant Governor Thomas Stamford Raffles
Sir Stamford Raffles was a strong British leader in Indonesia. He was put in charge for a time, of the entire Indonesian empire. On September 11th he was proclaimed lieutenant-governor of Java at the age of 30. In his four and a half years in this position, he tried to make many reforms but they ended up being too costly over all. They were very short-lived because the East India Trading Company was only interested in making a prophet. He was recalled from his duty after his four and a half years and was sent back to England on March 25, 1816. When he returned to England he received the award of knight hood and he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society. He later resumed service in a situation of less authority that was more restricted because he had never fully regained full confidence from his people. His goal was to extend British influence in southeastern Asia.