Colonial technopolitics in the Dutch East Indies: A study of hydroelectric power in Pamanoekan and Tjiasemlanden Plantation
Abstract
This study aims to explore the historical development of hydroelectric power technology in the Dutch East Indies during the early 20th century, with a particular focus on the Pamanoekan and Tjiasemlanden plantation, currently managed by PTPN VIII Tambaksari-Ciater Plantation area in Subang, West Java. It seeks to investigate the transformation of water engineering technology from indigenous vernacular irrigation systems to modern irrigation and eventually to hydroelectric power plants. The study also examines the process of technological adaptation, the role of colonial engineers, the origin of technical components, and the operational mechanisms of hydroelectric stations within the broader context of Ethical Policy and colonial technocracy. The study integrates textual archives, and material remains into an interpretive narrative using a historical archaeology method. Private colonial plantations are treated as sites where domination over natural resources was enacted. Fieldwork focused on three hydroelectric stations – Cijambe, Gunungtua, and Cinangling – and was complemented by diverse textual sources, including newspapers, engineering journals, speeches and proceedings of Dutch engineers, colonial water regulations, company booklets, geological surveys, and plantation maps. This study's analysis applies the concept of technopolitics, framing technology not as a neutral instrument but as integral to the political-economic agendas of colonial rule. Findings indicate that the three hydroelectric stations expanded the colonial infrastructure regime following the implementation of irrigation projects in Pamanoekan and Tjiasemlanden. The Ethical Policy provided a civilizing narrative that legitimized technical rationalization. Through water flow engineering, colonial authorities and private enterprises – mediated by engineers – rendered rivers calculable and measurable, sustaining plantation-based industrial production while maintaining indigenous subsistence rice cultivation. Thus, the development of hydroelectric technology in Pamanoekan and Tjiasemlanden was not merely a technical achievement but a technopolitical project that mobilized water resources to consolidate economic productivity through networks of private enterprises, technocratic agencies, and international equipment distributors.
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