Battle of the Java Sea: One Event, Multiple Sites, Values and Views

Abstract

Three Dutch naval ships, HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java and HNLMS Kortenaer, were lost during the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, claiming the lives of 915 sailors. Although the ships were relocated in 2002, no official action was taken until 2016 when an international diving team from the Karel Doorman Foundation discovered that the warships had disappeared. This created tension between the government of Indonesia and those countries that had lost ships in the archipelago, especially the Netherlands. A three-track cooperation agreement was set up to investigate the disappearance of the three Dutch wrecks with the aim of understanding what had happened, in order to create a better basis for cooperation in the future. The management and protection of shipwrecks from WWII is very complicated, because of the different values that stakeholders attach to them. Only with the proper understanding and consideration of the different values or significance WWII shipwrecks hold for different stakeholders can new ways of managing these complex sites be developed that have long-term effectiveness. This paper argues that different stakeholder groups from both the flag and the coastal state must work together on this issue.

Too Little, Too Late? Redefining the Legacy of HMAS Perth (I), an Australian Warship Sunk in Indonesian Waters

“…On 27 February the two sides met in what came to be known as the Battle of the Java Sea. The engagement was an unmitigated disaster for the ABDA fleet (Manders et al 2021 ).…”

“…In advance of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Java Sea (27 February 1942, in which both Perth and Houston had participated and survived), the Karel Doorman Fonds, a Dutch foundation that provides support to former navy personnel, had arranged for a group of divers to visit and survey the remains of Dutch and other allied wrecks in the Java Sea. According to Manders et al ( 2021 ), the Dutch government had sought permission for the expedition from Indonesian authorities, but had not received a response. Because the divers had visited the sites previously, it was “assumed that no permit would be needed” for the dive or the associated documentary filming (Manders et al 2021 :42).…”

“…It does, however, ask whether the legacy of a shipwreck is necessarily defined by its material presence, and how this might change when that presence has been partially—or, as has been the case with other naval shipwrecks in Indonesian waters, entirely—destroyed. In doing so, this article draws less on approaches that prioritize preservation, the law, or international relationships (Browne 2019 ; Forrest 2019 ; Lin 2020 ; Manders et al 2021 ). Instead, it focuses on emerging and critical perspectives, drawing attention to the “insistence on intervention” (Rich 2021 :227) that pervades archaeological approaches and the extent to which scientists (and scholars) are positioned as saviors within this paradigm.…”

Alternatif model pemanfaatan berkelanjutan tinggalan budaya bawah air di Indonesia

“…The shipping lane clearing is carried out on ships and their cargo that have been in a shipwreck or are in danger, including lifting the shipwreck or its historic cargo in the shipping lane. One example of the case is the disappearance of three Dutch-flagged World War II ships in Indonesian waters (Manders et al, 2021). These three ships are HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java, and HNLMS Kortenae.…”

Resisting Internationalism?

“…This assessment is supported by the widespread destruction of World War ii shipwrecks in Indonesian waters in recent years, which has in turn elevated to the international level the question of how Indonesia is physically and legally protecting these and other wrecks in its waters (Manders et al 2021;Hosty, Hunter, and Adhityatama 2018;Pearson forthcoming). These activities are systematic, targeted, and industrial in scale, and a continuation of what has been happening in Indonesia for decades: the removal of valuable objects from shipwrecks for profit.…”