The automobile made its entrance into the Indies in 1894. That same year, the Sunan (indigenous ruler) of Solo, Pakubuwono X, became the very first automobile owner in the entire Dutch Kingdom. For ten thousand guilders, he arranged for a Benz Phaeton to be brought over from Europe. The following years saw a steady increase in the number of cars. Numerous wealthy European men had a Benz, Peugeot, Arbenz, Chrysler, Oakland, Daimler, Spijker, Waltham, Renault, Decauville or Willys-Knight imported. Towards the end of the First World War, the number of cars in Java had risen to nine thousand; in 1929 their number was 12,500. The car increasingly became the transport means of choice for holidaying tourists. While Louis Couperus was still an exception, motoring across the Indies in 1921, tropical car holidays were widely advertised by 1932.
1. Photo of cars with drivers on King Square, Batavia, around 1915. [KITLV 153781]
2. An advertisement for the Postal Savings Bank (Postspaarbank), from: Het Motorverkeer. Officieel orgaan van de Koninklijke Vereeniging Java Motor Club (1932), p. 849. [KIT Collection; L 2551]