Positive imperialism

A positive imperialism in Indonesia.

In the Aceh thread, Abdul Hadi Pasha said this:
You would think a chartered company with responsibility to shareholders would be rapacious, but it was actually perhaps the most responsible, humane, and conscientious colonial state ever founded. The management early on decided to establish order and infrastructure, and then make money through surpluses on taxation of economic developments encouraged by a favorable atmosphere. Also, being very weak with regard to force, it couldn't afford to be arrogant or overbearing, so it worked closely with the natives and brought them into the administration through relationships of mutual advantage. If not for the devastating and brutal Japanese occupation, Sabah would be one of the richest places in Asia. This is one of those rare cases of positive imperialism, and ironically it was done through pure capitalism and private enterprise.

Reading that, it's hard not to pine for such a conscientious colonialism to have been implemented in other colonial territories. Now given how in most every case the imperialistic system was abusive and harmful the odds of the North Borneo Chartered Company model being the dominant one can reasonably be considered low. However it strikes me as rather less unlikely for a relatively benevolent strategy to have been implemented at least one other time.

Now if we're talking about another small and relatively unimportant region like North Borneo, this speculation doesn't lead much further-a random small African/Caribbean/Asian area is a developed country today, end of.

But if we're talking about a larger area, say India or Indonesia, then we are considering a considerably larger discussion. I can see a path in that direction for Indonesia, namely the Dutch East Indies Company turning to that strategy in an attempt to stave of the bankruptcy it suffered in the 1790's. Now this strategy would be entirely foreign to the exploitative mentality of people who ran the company, but in the context of the 1790's when they had nothing to lose I could see them trying it. If they did, then NBCC's examples suggests they would recover financial viability.

Even if this approach is never adopted outside of Indonesia(a big if, since we're talking a very large colony and the ruling DEIC narrowly escaping bankruptcy, which would surely be noticed outside of the territory), the later ramifications are obvious. The worlds 4th most populous country and largest Muslim country being a first world country, presumably stable and democratic, and likely encompassing more of South East Asia then modern Indonesia to boot. It's probably positioned for great power status with all that considered:p

Now the obvious problem with this scenario is the British and French. The French when they took over the Netherlands appointed their own person as Governor General of the Dutch East Indies, and it can be suspected they would do the same in this case without regard for the new leaders success. Of course we're talking a scenario where the DEIC has not gone bankrupt and been taken over by the Dutch central government, so the DEIC-controlled Indonesia might reject the legitimacy of the French dictate and side with the British instead, in which case they're saved. And this independent action might mean that the British never take Malaya or Singapore, with remaining in the DEIC's sphere of influence.
 
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If you want to prevent the DEIC going bankrupt, you have to prevent the 4th anglo-Dutch war. Because that was the major cause of its bankruptcy.
 
If you want to prevent the DEIC going bankrupt, you have to prevent the 4th anglo-Dutch war. Because that was the major cause of its bankruptcy.
I don't want to prevent it going bankrupt. I want it to come so close to bankruptcy(as it did, and eventually broached) that it is willing to try a radical new approach that they would not otherwise consider, one similar to the one employed in North Borneo about a century later. Now they didn't try the strategy OTL, but just having different personalities might be enough to have it employed as a last ditch strategy. If they did try it, they would likely succeed and dodge bankruptcy judging from the success of the strategy in North Borneo.

Obviously avoiding the 4th Anglo-Dutch war would mean that they wouldn't be under the necessary pressure for them to consider this radical deviation from prior practice.
 
In the Aceh thread, Abdul Hadi Pasha said this:


Reading that, it's hard not to pine for such a conscientious colonialism to have been implemented in other colonial territories. Now given how in most every case the imperialistic system was abusive and harmful the odds of the North Borneo Chartered Company model being the dominant one can reasonably be considered low. However it strikes me as rather less unlikely for a relatively benevolent strategy to have been implemented at least one other time.

Now if we're talking about another small and relatively unimportant region like North Borneo, this speculation doesn't lead much further-a random small African/Caribbean/Asian area is a developed country today, end of.

But if we're talking about a larger area, say India or Indonesia, then we are considering a considerably larger discussion. I can see a path in that direction for Indonesia, namely the Dutch East Indies Company turning to that strategy in an attempt to stave of the bankruptcy it suffered in the 1790's. Now this strategy would be entirely foreign to the exploitative mentality of people who ran the company, but in the context of the 1790's when they had nothing to lose I could see them trying it. If they did, then NBCC's examples suggests they would recover financial viability.

Even if this approach is never adopted outside of Indonesia(a big if, since we're talking a very large colony and the ruling DEIC narrowly escaping bankruptcy, which would surely be noticed outside of the territory), the later ramifications are obvious. The worlds 4th most populous country and largest Muslim country being a first world country, presumably stable and democratic, and likely encompassing more of South East Asia then modern Indonesia to boot. It's probably positioned for great power status with all that considered:p

Now the obvious problem with this scenario is the British and French. The French when they took over the Netherlands appointed their own person as Governor General of the Dutch East Indies, and it can be suspected they would do the same in this case without regard for the new leaders success. Of course we're talking a scenario where the DEIC has not gone bankrupt and been taken over by the Dutch central government, so the DEIC-controlled Indonesia might reject the legitimacy of the French dictate and side with the British instead, in which case they're saved. And this independent action might mean that the British never take Malaya or Singapore, with remaining in the DEIC's sphere of influence.

Whilst it is off-topic (in the sense that it is an example of 'state colonialism' as opposed to that by a private company), isn't Botswana also considered to be one of the few examples of genuinely benevolent colonialism.

Whilst of course the British wanted to expand their empire, my understanding that one of the main reasons for Britisih colonisation of Botswana in the late 19th century was a desire to protect the African population from the increasing encroachment on their land by Afrikaner farmers from South Africa? If I remember correctly, some of the Botswana chiefs actually officially 'invited' the British to assume control of their territory?
 
I don't want to prevent it going bankrupt. I want it to come so close to bankruptcy(as it did, and eventually broached) that it is willing to try a radical new approach that they would not otherwise consider, one similar to the one employed in North Borneo about a century later. Now they didn't try the strategy OTL, but just having different personalities might be enough to have it employed as a last ditch strategy. If they did try it, they would likely succeed and dodge bankruptcy judging from the success of the strategy in North Borneo.

Obviously avoiding the 4th Anglo-Dutch war would mean that they wouldn't be under the necessary pressure for them to consider this radical deviation from prior practice.
I'm curious, what were the conditions that led to the "positive imperialism" in North Borneo?
 
Whilst it is off-topic (in the sense that it is an example of 'state colonialism' as opposed to that by a private company), isn't Botswana also considered to be one of the few examples of genuinely benevolent colonialism.

Whilst of course the British wanted to expand their empire, my understanding that one of the main reasons for Britisih colonisation of Botswana in the late 19th century was a desire to protect the African population from the increasing encroachment on their land by Afrikaner farmers from South Africa? If I remember correctly, some of the Botswana chiefs actually officially 'invited' the British to assume control of their territory?

Actually the main reason for the pleasing for the foundation of the Bechuanaland protectorate was because Ndebele tribes from Mozambique and Zimbabwe were migrating into the area, and the Shona were being overwhelmed.

Amusingly enough the British kept stalling when it came to giving the area to South Africa, pretending to ask the inhabitants but instead doing with British colonial administrators do best: Nothing.

In the end the South African withdrawal from the commonwealth wiped any possibility of it being transferred. Interestingly, Botswana is one of the only African countries with a stable, competent government and no real internal problems besides the obvious ones of poverty and low life expectancy.
 
Botswana also has a 25% HIV rate, IIRC, but the government buys anti-retrovirals and thus far has been able to prevent mass death.
 
Botswana also has a 25% HIV rate, IIRC, but the government buys anti-retrovirals and thus far has been able to prevent mass death.

The problem in Borswana is although it has a competent government the area is extremely poor. There was little to no industrialization under the Bechuanaland protectorate and combine that with aridity and you don't have a very rich state. It is however making more money off of its vast reserves of minerals which should bring it upwards in importance in the future. Gabarone is already the HQ of the SADC(Southern African Development Community).
 
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