Ch.278Dutch East Indies

“Anyway, abolish the caste system. Immediately.”

I’m simply making an ultimatum.

The peacekeeping forces are already stationed throughout Bharat and have subdued the former colonial military soldiers.

“Please, just give us a little more time.”

“That’s right. Why are you pressuring us so suddenly?”

So many complaints.

But why not? This is exactly when you need to strike on matters like this.

“If you don’t abolish it, we cannot stand idle. Do you know why we’re called peacekeeping forces? For the sake of peace, we will work to eliminate that barbaric caste system.”

“I understand. I’ll try to address it right away.”

Chandra Bose reluctantly pretended to submit to us.

Despite his resistance, he realistically knows he has to listen to me.

Since the communists have already caused trouble, he’s probably hoping to rely on our power.

“Hmm, I now see that most of the cabinet members have connections with communists. They must be punished as well.”

The peacekeeping forces headquarters will do anything to fight communism!

When I subtly prodded from behind, Patton and Zhukov personally took the lead in arresting cabinet members for alleged communist connections.

“Be reasonable. Why would we ever collaborate with communists?”

“How else would you deliberately maintain an evil practice like the caste system?”

Another sophistry.

But it worked as legitimate justification, and most of Bharat Republic’s key figures were arrested and imprisoned.

The end result is truly absurd, but this inevitably creates a power vacuum in the government.

And shouldn’t we fill that vacuum? We’ve already divided them as much as possible.

There will be lingering resentment between the factions.

Now we gently insert Anastasia supporters into Bharat.

We’ll bring Indian intellectuals from Russia, Europe, or elsewhere into Bharat to form a new government.

This will create a pro-Western government and abolish the caste system.

But that’s just suppression. The remnants of the caste system will continue to clash with Anastasia supporters.

Bharat Republic, which could be considered India’s legitimate government, will fall into chaos for some time.

Of course, theoretically, they could unify with other regions.

But the divisions have deepened, and one side would need to absorb the other—would that be easy? I don’t think so.

Now the nations of India will live separately like Japan.

That’s how it should be. I returned to Moscow with a light heart.

“But Your Majesty, haven’t we divided them too much? Treating India like China seems a bit… pitiful.”

The Prime Minister seems troubled.

It is pitiful. But pity is just pity. We must act in our national interest.

I act for Russia’s interests.

If Russia and America withdraw from India, who knows how powerful India might become.

We need to cut down that potential in advance.

“We’re not making them our colonies again, are we? Britain apologized to the Indians and is still supporting them. It’s Gandhi’s fault for not listening that things ended up this way. Of course, India does have the potential to rise as a major power later.”

“Hmph, to think India could be such a threat.”

“It’s true. India has a large population and vast territory. Countries with large populations have abundant potential. That’s why we need to tear them apart preemptively.”

We cannot allow any new major powers to emerge.

Competition with just America is enough.

Of course, in India’s case, the caste system would have held them back anyway—even in the original world, despite their potential, they were in an ambiguous position for becoming a major power.

Actually, if you think about it, leaving the caste system in place would be beneficial, but as a saint, how could I ignore it?

Such barbaric practices must be eliminated.

Since we’ve swept it away in this timeline, they might actually reach developed nation status more easily than in the original history.

But we’ve divided them, so that balances things out.

The Bharat Republic was thus established, immediately attacked from all sides, and the existing privileged class was ultimately swept away.

“India’s situation is quite messy.”

Disgusting.

I caused it, but looking at it now, it’s too disgusting. Africa is even worse in terms of messiness, but that’s too much, so I just lightly color Ethiopia as the leader on the map.

Still, this should prevent any major problems in the future.

It’s somewhat irritating that the former colonial empires of Europe will remain far ahead of their former colonies in the distant future, but… is that really my concern?

As long as Russia sheds its thug image and Korea prospers, nothing else matters to me.

After this, what remains is perhaps global currency integration.

“Your Majesty, the situation in the Dutch East Indies in Indonesia looks concerning.”

“In Indonesia? What’s happening?”

Weren’t they about to gain independence soon?

“The Dutch East Indies Army and the forces led by Indonesian independence activist Sukarno…”

Did the Dutch invade the East Indies again, like in the original history?

That can’t be right. America must be backing Indonesia.

So, is America behind this?

“Actually, the Dutch East Indies authorities were planning to let Mohammad Hatta, who led the Indonesian independence movement, organize a government and transfer all colonial authority, but Sukarno and Suharto’s independence army rebelled, creating a strange situation.”

“Why?”

What exactly is going on?

I should probably observe the situation a bit more. Just when we solve one problem, another erupts—what is this mess?

* * *

Dutch East Indies

Unlike in the original history, the Netherlands couldn’t choose to reclaim their colony.

In fact, Japan had arbitrarily stationed troops there under the pretext of helping against potential communists, but they hadn’t established military rule, so the Dutch East Indies officially remained intact.

Anyway, with the Rome Treaty Organization’s decolonization declaration forcing even Britain to relinquish its colonies, the Netherlands couldn’t hold on either.

When a vote showed that most Indonesians wanted independence, the Netherlands decided to help organize an Indonesian national structure.

“Can our Maluku also become independent separately?”

“Yes. You can become independent as you wish, and our Dutch East Indies colonial government will peacefully transfer power and withdraw.”

They announced this throughout the country.

According to the original plan, the Dutch East Indies would transfer power to the United States of Indonesia, organized by Dutch-educated elites like Mohammad Hatta, and then withdraw.

Of course, not just Mohammad Hatta’s group, but also the independence of Maluku, the Free State of East Indonesia (an autonomous region in the original history), the Dayak Autonomous Territory, the Pasundan Autonomous State, the Pontianak Sultanate, and others were scheduled.

During this process, the US military, which had only helped with post-war recovery, withdrew.

Originally, the US military was supposed to receive authority from the Dutch East Indies government and handle the transition, but there were complicated circumstances.

According to the agreement between MacArthur and Anastasia, while colonies gaining independence would fall under American influence, they couldn’t openly interfere from the moment of independence.

The problem was that some opposed this plan.

“Even if we’re liberated from colonialism, if the government is filled with Dutch-educated elites, this country will just be a Dutch puppet state!”

“And separate independence? The plan to make Maluku independent clearly shows the colonial imperialists want to divide us like India!”

Unfortunately, seeing how India had been divided, the Indonesian independence army leaders Sukarno and Suharto rose up in rebellion.

Of course, Sukarno and Suharto didn’t act without calculation.

The Dutch East Indies government felt blindsided.

They had offered peaceful independence, only to be accused of creating puppet states. The rebels shouted about “One Indonesia” and declared that South Maluku’s independence was unacceptable, launching an armed independence movement.

Dutch East Indies armories had already been looted, and independence fighters armed with Japanese weapons left by the Japanese army attacked Dutch East Indies forces.

But Sukarno had his reasons for taking this action.

Europe, the center of the Rome Treaty, was far from Southeast Asia.

Australia and New Zealand were nearby but wouldn’t be much help, and moreover, Sukarno had been in contact with the United States.

He calculated that since the Roman Emperor couldn’t touch America, America must be powerful enough, so Sukarno wanted to drive out the Dutch East Indies by force and gain complete Indonesian independence with American help.

Of course, he could only do this because he was unaware of the secret agreement between MacArthur and Anastasia.

Conversely, this situation was unwanted by both Anastasia and MacArthur.

“What are we supposed to do with these people?”

The Rome Treaty Organization was furious.

They had planned to withdraw peacefully and even leave infrastructure behind, but this madman Sukarno suddenly attacked them.

If it had been just demonstrations, that would be one thing. But this became a serious issue within the Rome Treaty Organization.

“While decolonization is the trend of the times, the one who first proposed it was Tsar Anastasia.”

“Are you shifting responsibility to your Tsar?”

“That’s not it. This could damage your Tsar’s honor. Europe is already unified under the Rome Treaty. This is disrespectful to us as well. We must use military force.”

“We have no choice. We need to deploy treaty forces to subdue Sukarno first. Let’s inform your Tsar as well.”

In the end, there weren’t many options available.

The United States, which had been secretly approaching Sukarno according to the original plan, was also in a difficult position.

With Thomas Dewey elected president, his administration was busy with domestic reorganization and European recovery support left by Huey Long’s government, while MacArthur was focused on Indonesia.

And this Sukarno character was truly unreasonable.

“What is this Sukarno doing?! Why doesn’t he follow the colonial government’s guidelines for peaceful power transfer?!”

Originally, they had planned to help establish an Indonesian government and bring it under American influence.

Why did these lunatics have to cause trouble?!

“I suppose they don’t like the idea of filling the government with Dutch-educated elites?”

“No, no. I know this type. It’s ultimately about power.”

It’s clearly about power.

Despite the plausible justification, the fact that they launched an armed independence movement in this situation says it all.

“What should we do?”

“What about the Rome Treaty Organization?”

“They seem to be discussing it, but they can’t easily back down.”

“I’m sure. They didn’t attack first; they were attacked.”

The Rome Treaty Organization couldn’t ignore this.

So what should be done? Should they support Sukarno, or leave it alone?

MacArthur had many concerns.

“What do you think?”

“Since there’s no reason for us to disrupt relations with the Rome Treaty first, I think mediation is the right approach.”

“Mediation, huh.”

Mediation means dividing Indonesia.

Given their pride, the Rome Treaty would support Mohammad Hatta, whom they had originally backed.

“Wait a minute.”

Isn’t this actually an opportunity?

Yes. If Indonesia is divided through mediation, it will be easier for the United States to influence Indonesia in the future.

A divided Indonesia would be easier to control.

* * *

I looked into the news about the Dutch East Indies forces being attacked in Indonesia.

As I’d heard, the Indonesian independence army had backstabbed the Dutch East Indies government.

I checked two or three times because it was so hard to believe.

Are these people truly insane? I was quite shocked when I learned about it from Litvinov’s report.

Everything else had been going according to my wishes, but this situation took a strange turn.

“How could this happen?”

Those colonial subjects dare!

I can feel the blood of imperialism boiling within me.

This is Indonesia we’re talking about.

These people, who were supposed to fall under American influence, attacked the colonial government instead of accepting a peaceful transfer of power.

What are they relying on? Actually, did the Dutch try to reclaim Indonesia and cause this situation?

Logically, no one would do this unless they were brainless—wait, we’re talking about Sukarno and Suharto. That makes more sense.

Both are known as dictators. Suharto was a massive perpetrator of massacres. That makes this more understandable.

The problem is that even though they’re stuck in Indonesia, they must know about the Rome Treaty. This suggests they’re counting on America.

Or perhaps they believe the Rome Treaty lacks the capacity to intervene after successive wars. That seems likely. Even decolonization causes so many problems.

Why are there such madmen when we’re trying to grant independence peacefully? Does this mean Indonesian independence movements would happen regardless?

Even so, America won’t sit still.

Despite having peacekeeping forces, this conflict started with Sukarno’s attack.

If we define the situation now:

Indonesia isn’t yet independent and hasn’t joined the United Nations.

They can be beaten at any time. That’s the reality.