Opposing the Japanese during World War Ii: Indonesian Resistance and Australian Military Support

The project's focus was on the way the Indonesians have to be seen as having agency in World War II. The Indonesians worked for and against the Japanese in World War during the Japanese occupation in East Indonesia, the Australians played an important role. With the worsening of the COVID-19 situation the Australian archives could not be accessed and therefore the research concentrated on how various groups of people (Taiwanese, Japanese, Australians, Europeans, Indigenous Indonesians) had to deal with the conditions of the war in Indonesia from 1941-1945. The research also investigated the historiographical difference of the war era in relation to Taiwanese and Indonesian historiography of this era. It concluded that the Indonesians and Taiwanese had to suffer under very harsh conditions but that the memory of these events are influenced by the post-war national situations in both Taiwan and Indonesia. The research was presented at various conferences and an article is in process to be published in Taiwan shortly.