South Sulawesi expeditions of 1905

The South Sulawesi expeditions of 1905 (Dutch: Zuid-Celebes Expeditie), which included the Third Bone War^[1] and the Gowa War (Makassar: Bunduka ri Gowa), were undertaken by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) to force the states of south Sulawesi (Celebes) to sign the Korte Verklaring (Short Statement or Declaration), the standard agreement whereby a native Indonesian ruler agreed to accept Dutch sovereignty. According to certain Dutch historians, the expeditions were an "obligation", because the Dutch had responsibility for law and order. One Indonesian historian has argued that it was actually strategic: that south Sulawesi was the "key" to controlling the so-called Great East.^[2] There was also an economic motive: to extend the tax-collecting powers of the government of Sulawesi. The expeditions received the imprimatur of the Governor of Sulawesi, Alexander Kroesen, in a letter dated 11 February 1904.^[3]

The chief targets of the expeditions were the most powerful south Sulawesi kingdoms of Bone, Luwu and Wajo. The expeditions were preceded by negotiations, which roundly failed, and on 14 July 1905, in a letter to Governor Kroesen, Governor-General J. B. van Heutsz stated his intention to occupy all of south Sulawesi and compel the local rulers to sign the Short Declaration. This was the so-called "Peace Policy" (Pacificatie politiek).^[3]