Police Actions (Indonesia)
| Police Actions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Indonesian National Revolution | |||||||||
From top, left to right:
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Indonesia | Netherlands | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Sudirman Oerip Soemohardjo Djatikoesoemo Abdul Haris Nasution |
Simon Spoor Hubertus van Mook Dirk van Langen | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
c. 200,000 (1947) c. 100,000 (1948–49) |
c. 120,000 (1947) c. 130,000 (1948–49) | ||||||||
The Police Actions (Dutch: Politionele Acties, also Politiële Acties), were two major military offensives that the Netherlands carried out on Java and Sumatra against the Republic of Indonesia during its struggle for independence in the Indonesian National Revolution. In Indonesia they are collectively known as the Dutch Military Aggressions (Indonesian: Agresi Militer Belanda), although the direct translation Aksi Polisionil is also used.
In Dutch historiography and discourse, the entire Indonesian War of Independence was euphemistically referred to for decades as "the police actions", as coined by the government at the time. In the Netherlands, the public impression prevailed that only these two short-term operations had been carried out, intended to protect the Dutch East Indies from a rebellion that required police action. This perspective ignores the fact that between the Indonesian declaration of independence in August 1945 and the cession of sovereignty in December 1949, a 52-month war had taken place.