Between Modernisation and Inequality: Semarang-Cirebon Railway Line Operation in the Dutch Colonial Period, 1895–1910

Abstract

This study examined the modernisation efforts of the Dutch East Indies colonial government through the operation of the Semarang-Cirebon railway line under the Semarang-Cheribon Stoomtram Maatschappij (SCS) from 1895 until 1910. The method used was the historical method with the socioeconomic approach. This study found that the construction of the Semarang-Cirebon railway line was driven by the capitalist trend of the time, which spurred the rapid growth of plantation businesses along the line, thereby increasing the need for adequate transportation. Although the railway significantly influenced the development of the plantation sector, its presence created new problems. The decline in community food production due to the large-scale clearing of plantation land throughout the Semarang-Cirebon area encouraged import policies that actually triggered famine and disease. On the other hand, some of SCS’s actions seemed discriminatory and exploitative, such as the imposition of passenger fares based on population groups and the company’s enormous revenues that, in fact, never improved welfare, especially for indigenous people, sharpening inequality among the population. This study concludes that the modernisation efforts carried out by the colonialists through the Semarang-Cirebon railway line were a subtle strategy to strengthen their power and obtain maximum profits in the colony.