The Afdeeling B: An Indonesian Case Study

The so-called Afdeeling B1 or Section B of the Sarekat Islam, dis covered in the Sundanese ethnic area of the Preanger Regencies, West Java, in 1919, presents a valuable case study in the uses of local history because of its relationship to the Sarekat Islam, the first mass based nationalist type movement in Indonesia, which began in 1912. The discovery of the Afdeeling B also acted as a catalyst for opinions which had been maturing in all strata of the colonial society, both Indonesian and Dutch, and an examination of the reaction to it gives a clear picture of the diversity of that society. The beginnings of the movement came in 1918,2 when Hadji Ismail, president of the Sarekat Islam Local in Manondjaja, set up what he called a "Second Section" within the Sarekat Islam there.3