Ernest Douwes Dekker

Ernest François Eugène Douwes Dekker also known as Setyabudi or Setiabudi (8 October 1879 – 28 August 1950) was an Indonesian-Dutch nationalist and politician of Indo descent. He was related to the famous Dutch anti-colonialism writer Multatuli, whose real name was Eduard Douwes Dekker ("Douwes Dekker" being their surname). In his youth, he fought in the Second Boer War in South Africa on the Boer side. His thoughts were highly influential in the early years of the Indonesian freedom movement. After Indonesian independence, he adopted the Sundanese name Danoedirdja Setiaboedi. Douwes Dekker was born in Pasuruan, in the north east of Java, 80 km south of Surabaya. His father was Auguste Henri Edouard Douwes Dekker, a broker and bank agent, of a Dutch family living in the then-Dutch East Indies. His Indo (Eurasian) mother was Louisa Margaretha Neumann, of half-German and half-Javanese descent. Douwes Dekker's great-uncle was the famous writer Eduard Douwes Dekker, author of Max Havelaar. After studying in Lower School in Pasuruan, he moved to Surabaya, and later to Batavia. In 1897, he gained his diploma and worked on a coffee plantation in Malang, East Java. Later he moved to a sugar plantation in Kraksaan, East Java. During his years in these plantations, he came in contact with ordinary Javanese and saw the realities of their hard work. In 1900, along with his brothers Julius and Guido, he decided to volunteer for service in the Second Boer War. They arrived in Transvaal, and became citizens of that state. He based his actions on the belief that the Boers were victims of British expansionism, and as a fellow descendant of the Dutch, he was obliged to help. In the course of the war, he was captured by the British and placed in an internment camp on Ceylon. Dekker was later released and returned to the Dutch East Indies via Paris in 1903. In the Dutch East Indies, Dekker, then still in his twenties, started a career as a journalist, first in Semarang and later in Batavia.