" THE PEALR HARBOR " OF INDONESIA (1942-1945)
Battles at Tarakan (1942-1945)
The Pearl Harbor of Indonesia
An Alternative History to the Pacific War
Tarakan, a small marshy oil-producing island off the eastern coas of Kalimatan, is one of the forgotten triggers of Pacific war. This history fact has been left buried under the dominant viewpoint of the World War II, especially the 'Americanized" Pacific War.
Discourses on the history of Pacific War, in out times, only focused on the Pearl Harbor, the battle to capture Iwo Jima, the return of Mac Arthur to the Philippines, the bombardment of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. This American version of history describes the rise of Uncle Sam as the victim of aggressor's brutality to the status of supreme war hero.
The American portrayal of history has influenced our perception that we have come to accept their position as teh" democratic front" failing victim to Japaness " Military fascism". The dominant fact about economic rivalry between Japan and the United States and its allies as an indirect trigger of the Pacific War simply marginalized.
Actually, in the 1930s, Japan, as a new industrialized country in Asia had to compete with the Westren countries, which had been occupying the Asia - Pacific countries for countries, for natural resources. However, such endeavors were foiled Japan was defeated by Russia after trying to expand its power deep into the border of Manchuria alongside Siberia and Mongolia in 1939
This defeat forced Japan to search four natural resouces, particularly oil, in other regions. the nearest and most probable destination at that time was the Indonesian archipelago (known as the Netherlands East Indies). And Tarakan Island was the archipelago's source of oil nearest to Japan. Geographically, Tarakan has a very strategic position because it linked the Australian-philippine-far Eastren marine route
Why Tarakan ? were there oilfields in Brunei, Cepu in Java, Pangkalan Brandan and Palembang in Sumatra ?
The answer could be found in the Amsterdam Effctenblad, printed in 1932, that"...the quality of crude in Tarakan is relatively good, huge vessels can easily take and load (the crude) into their tanks." According to pre-world war II data from the Allied forces, the Tarakan oilfields produced some 6 million barrels of crude annualy with the "world's purest Oil" quality.
War become inevitable when American and its allies launched an embargo on Japan in reaction to its invasion of China. the western countries at that time even froze Japan's assets and slapped a total embargo on all its interest in 1940. At time, Japan had oil reserve enough to last only 24 months.
Japan had practically no choice but to struggle for control of natural resources in Souteast Asia, especially oil resources in the archipelago to keep its economy going. A month after its momentous attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked its main target in the Pacific War: the oil-rich Indonesia.
History acknowledges that Tarakan is the first place occupied by Japan in its expansion to the archipelago. Some 15,000 Japanese troops landed in Tarakan early in January 1942 witth relatively little resistance from only 2,000 Dutch troops. The Japanese Soldiers seized Tarakan only within three days. The Dutch military commander Gen. Sakaguchi. The occupation of Tarakan paved the way for the deadly offensives on other oilfields in Balikpapan, Tanjung in Kalimatan, Pangkalan Brandan and Palembang in Sumatra as well as Cepu in Central Java in March 1942.
But history decides the otherwise as the battles occurring throughout 1943 saw the U.S.-Allied Forces won almost on all the fronts. One by one, the allied forces recaptured territories occupied by Japanese soldiers. From a commanding post in the Morotai Island, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Commander of the Allied Forces in Soutwest Pacific (SWPA), sent the 26 Brigade from the 9 Division, the in Kalimantan. The first onslaught was launched on Tarakan.
on May 1, 1945 the Allies began an all-out battle in their efforts to recapture Tarakan by deploying no less than 20,000 troops to fight some 2,000 Japanese Navy and Army troops who fought managed to recapture the oil-rich Island after heavy figthing that lasted for two months. Ironically, the SWPA command had earlier estimated only seven days for the recaptured of Tarakan.
The United States played only a minor role during the invasion and the record of the fierce fighting between Australian and Japanese was simply forgotten. But the American spearhead in the pacific theatre had been recorded in popular world history and written in gilded ink. Is it a coincidence? Or is it simply our ignorance in letting this happen?
This book is aimed at opening a new perception on the Pacific War and reminding us about the strategic value of the archipelago's outer territories which are rich in natural resources. Various literature, eyewitnesses' testimony, and information from Internet sites have their weight in this cronology, which is aimed at reconstruting the forgotten chapter of the Pacific War on Tarakan Island. (Iwan Santosa, Tarakan 2003-2004)
