W. R. van Hoëvell

Wolter Robert Baron van Hoëvell (14 July 1812 – 10 February 1879) was a Dutch minister, politician, reformer, and writer.

He led a Malay-speaking congregation, engaged in scholarly research and cultural activities, and became an outspoken critic of Dutch colonialism.

[4] Van Hoëvell left the Netherlands to become a minister in Batavia in the Dutch East Indies,[2] where he led a Malay and Dutch-speaking congregation.

He worked in the East Indies until 1848, when he received an official reprimand from the Dutch government[2] for publicizing his views critical of colonialism;[6] consequently he was forced to resign.

Partly inspired by the February 1848 uprising in Paris, Batavian citizens began to challenge the authorities;[7] one of their grievances was an 1842 decree that dictated that positions in the upper echelons of the Dutch administration could be held only by those who had received the appropriate certificate from the Royal Academy in Delft.

The measure also discriminated against the class referred to as Indo-Europeans, who were thus barred from promotion above the level of "the lowliest civil service jobs.

[9] Van Hoëvell emerged as one of the "principal organizers" in the protest[10] and called a meeting, with official approval, to discuss "better access to government jobs for locally born colonizers through expanded educational offerings".

[7] Starting on 17 May, van Hoëvell and others met many times with Governor-General Jan Jacob Rochussen to discuss what kind of meeting was to be held and what demands would be made.

During this time, van Hoëvell was able to move the proposed meeting place from a private residence to the central hall of De Harmonie, the club house of the Batavian citizen's society, and he organized transportation for whoever wished to come, including his own congregation.

In an increasingly unruly atmosphere, the protestors ousted van Hoëvell from his presidency as quickly as they had raised him to the position, after which he and others left the building.

[13] By mid-1848, van Hoëvell had become too controversial and perhaps too important to those who disagreed with the local government, and under pressure from the Governor-General[6] he resigned his post on 19 July 1848.

[2] Van Hoëvell traveled widely, studied languages and artifacts, and visited local Muslim rulers; he judged the threat of Islam to be much less insidious than the restrictions from the Dutch government or the danger posed by domestic Catholics.

[22] With great expertise and sometimes "disturbing eloquence" he criticized the Dutch government for generating millions from the colonies while denying the locals "education, Christianity, and the blessings of progress".