The use of names from colonial Indonesia is fraught with the implications of history. In this context language is by no means a neutral conveyer of information, although it never really can be, working within the current philosophical confines. During the colonial era there were two lingua francas in use in colonial Indonesia: Dutch and Malay. The use of the former was discouraged for non-Dutch; the latter functioned as shared tongue for the population at large, and would become Bahasa Indonesia, or Indonesian, after independence. In 1972 the old spelling was overhauled by the Enhanced Indonesian Spelling System (EYD), dropping Dutch phonetics in favour of non-colonial alternatives. Thus, tj became c, dj became j, j became y, and oe became u.

In this book I have opted not to follow rigid rules as to avoid the spelling quagmire. But any choice comes with caveats. The use of modern Indonesian spelling would acknowledge the sensibilities that come with decolonization, while the old spelling would favour historical accuracy. I tend to the latter option by not changing the spelling of names in quoted sources and, to avoid confusion, also adopt those spellings in my own writing surrounding source citations. Thus, here you will come across Soewardi Soerjaningrat, not Suwardi Suryaningrat (who, by the time of the spelling overhaul, had already adopted the name Ki Hadjar Dewantara, or Ki Hajar Dewantara in EYD). For geographical names I opt for modern spelling in most cases. You will find Yogyakarta, not Jogjakarta. There are exceptions. You will come across Batavia, not Jakarta, when the city's role as the centre of colonial administration is stressed. In a similar vein I use the name Dutch East Indies, either to describe the administrative unit of the colony, or when the use of colonial Indonesia (or variants thereof) would seem absurd, as there is no point in calling the colonial army (Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger, KNIL) the Dutch-Indonesian army instead.

Another major obstacle in writing in English about colonial history in Dutch society are the confusions that arise with literal translations.