My debts over the years of carrying out research for this book are immense, too great for the names of all those who helped me to be listed here. Benedict Andersonâmy mentor, my adviser, and my friendâsadly passed away before this book, originally written as a doctoral thesis under his guidance, was published. I owe Ben my most important intellectual debts. His enthusiasm for and criticism of this book at various stages were more valuable than I can convey in words.
In the formative stages of this book I became indebted to my teachers and colleagues in Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and Indonesia, although some of them are no longer alive to see it published. Shiraishi Takashi, Peter Katzenstein, James Siegel, John Wolff, Tsuchiya Kenji, Audrey Kahin, Hendrik Maier, Onghokham, Oshikawa Noriaki, Kato Tsuyoshi, Matsumoto Saburo, Murai Yoshinori, Royama Michio, and Kato Takashi have shaped my thinking about Indonesia and Southeast Asia and broadened it through comparative perspectives. Eric Tagliacozzo, Thomas Pepinsky, Francis Loh, Leonard Blussé, and Kaneko Yoshiki afforded critical assistance without which this book could not have been completed.
A number of friends deserve recognition for their encouragement and all-around good company in the United States, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and Japan. These include Ben Abel, Eveline Ferretti, Made Supriatma, Kazuko and Gunarso Budiman, the late Jeffrey Hadler, Anne-Mette and Louis Hansells and their family, Rob Manning, Caroline S. Hau, Douglas Kammen, Peter Keppy, Norbertus Nuranto, Sarah Maxim, Peter Post, and in particular Joss Wibisono and Hans Weening, who patiently answered questions regarding the Dutch translations.
Support for my research and writing was made possible by grants from the Ishizaka Foundation; the Southeast Asia Program and the Government Department at Cornell University; the Carnegie Mellon Foundation; the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands Government; the Ohira Memorial Foundation; the Murata Foundation; the Sakurada-kai Foundation; the International House of Japan; and Keio Gijuku Academic Development Funds.
Several institutions provided affiliations for me to conduct research: the former Institute of History of European Expansion at Leiden University, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Jakarta, the Department of Social Science at the Science University of Malaysia in Penang, the Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania at Leiden University, and the
Parts of earlier versions of this book were presented at various conferences and published on other occasions, although they have been considerably revised since. I am indebted to thoseâtoo numerous to mentionâwho gave constructive inputs at various stages. In particular I am grateful for the invaluable comments and suggestions to the manuscript from Brillâs editors and anonymous reviewers. At different stages Sunandini Arora Lal and Eveline Ferretti did superb work copy-editing the manuscript. All errors, however, remain mine.
Finally, I am indebted to my parents, Reiko and Benso, for their love and support. I also thank my sister Seiko and her family in Japan as well as my families-in-law in Indonesia. My greatest thanks are reserved for my wife, Betty Chandra, without whom this book would not have been completed. An insignificant gesture to be sureâgiven her contribution, humor, patience, and encouragementâthis book is nonetheless dedicated to her.