Hubertus van Mook was born in
Semarang in
Central Java on 30 May 1894. As with many Dutch and
Indos (people of European and Indonesian heritage) growing up in the East Indies, he came to regard the colony, particularly
Java, as his home. He studied Indology at
Leiden University, and then returned to the Dutch East Indies. In 1931, he became a member of the
Volksraad, the advisory body set up by the colonial administration. There he spoke in favour of greater autonomy for the Dutch East Indies and for equal treatment for different races. From 1937 to 1941 he was director of economic affairs. On 29 December 1941, a royal decree named Van Mook the successor to
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, and appointed him lieutenant governor-general. Immediately prior to the
surrender of the East Indies to the
Japanese on 8 March 1942, the
Dutch East Indies government in exile near
Brisbane,
Australia gave Van Mook authority over those areas still unoccupied by the Japanese. However, two weeks later, he was relieved of his lieutenant-governorship and became minister of colonial affairs. On 14 September 1944, after he persuaded the Dutch government in exile to establish a provisional East Indies government, he was reappointed lieutenant governor-general. Due to his liberal inclinations and sympathies towards Indonesian nationalism, many conservative Dutch distrusted his policies and he was never given the full title of governor-general. Because of the weakened position of the Dutch due to the Nazi
invasion and
occupation, much of the task of retaking the East Indies following the
Japanese surrender in August 1945 was carried out by Australian and British forces. While Australian forces succeeded in occupying the Outer Islands with minimal resistance, British forces in
Java and
Sumatra were challenged by a nascent Indonesian republic led by
Sukarno and
Hatta. On 1 October 1945, Van Mook arrived back in Java along with elements of the
Netherlands Indies Civil Administration. However, their presence generated much outrage from much of the Indonesian populace who were opposed to the restoration of Dutch colonial rule. even though the majority of
Royal Dutch East Indies Army soldiers had always been
Javanese Muslims, the largest ethnic group in the colony. Republican forces had taken control of
Manado by February 1946, before being subdued by allied forces, and many Christian
Manado and
Ambonesse supported the Republic, including chief representative for the
UN,
Lambertus Nicodemus Palar, Leimena,
Alexander Andries Maramis. On the other hand, many leading Dutch supporters were from Muslim areas, including
Sultan Hamid II,
Andi Azis,
R. Abdulkadir Wijoyoatmojo (later chief Dutch negotiator in the talks leading to the
Renville Agreement). While van Mook planned to grant independence to Indonesia, he advocated a
federal Republic of the United States of Indonesia with strong
political and economic ties to the Netherlands. He regarded Sukarno's republic as economically inept and unable to ward off the
Indonesian Chinese,
Indonesian Indians, and the rising
Indonesian Communist Party, and began cultivating links with Indonesian leaders outside Java, particularly in West Java and eastern Indonesia. He organised a number of conferences aimed at offsetting the influence of the republic. The above factors and violations of the
Linggadjati Agreement prompted the East Indies government to launch a
police action in mid-1947, which was known as
Operation Product. The KNIL and
Royal Netherlands Army occupied large areas of Java and Sumatra, with the
Republican army offering only weak resistance. However, the Dutch were held back from full conquest of the Republic by pressure from the
UN Security Council and the
United States, which called for a ceasefire. This led to the announcement of a ceasefire in January 1948 followed by a formal armistice. As a consequence, a conflict previously considered to be an internal Dutch affair now took on an international dimension. The
Renville Agreement, as the armistice was called, stipulated the withdrawal of Indonesian forces from Dutch-occupied territory and the establishment of a
ceasefire boundary known as the
Van Mook Line. Because of problems caused by the differing interests of regional leaders and opposition from elements of the Dutch military and government, in 1948 Van Mook resigned. Van Mook subsequently broke links with both Indonesia and his home country, and took a job with the
United Nations. However, not long after this, he died in
France. ==Decorations==