Freemasonry was introduced by the Dutch to what is today Indonesia during the VOC era in the 18th century, and spread throughout the Dutch East Indies during a wave of westernisation in the 19th century. Freemasons originally only included Europeans and Indo-Europeans, but later also indigenous people with a Western education.
Active freemasonry existed throughout the Dutch East Indies (now: Indonesia) from 1762 to 1962. The first lodge in Asia "La Choisie" was founded in Batavia by Jacobus Cornelis Mattheus Radermacher (1741–1783). In 1922 a Dutch Provincial Grand Lodge, under the Grand Orient of the Netherlands, at Weltevreden (Batavia) controlled twenty Lodges in the colony. Fourteen in Java, three in Sumatra and others in for example Makassar and Salatiga.
The lodges in the colony played a role in both the social emancipation of Indo-Europeans as well as the Indonesian National Awakening preluding the national revolution. In 1936 the painter Raden Saleh was the first indigenous person to become a freemason and joined the lodge Eendracht maakt Macht in The Hague. The first indigenous member of a lodge in the Dutch East Indies was Abdul Rachman, a descendant of the sultan of Pontianak, in 1844. A famous freemason and Grand Master (Masonic)was the Indo politician Dick de Hoog, who was the main leader of the Indo emancipation movement and president of the Indo European Alliance.
Raden Saleh, Javanese nobel and famous painter was the first indigenous freemason.
List of lodges
Most lodges were closed during the Japanese occupation, unless otherwise indicated. All lodges in Indonesia were closed when freemasonry was outlawed by Sukarnoin 1962. Specific lodges in the Dutch East Indies included:
- loge nummer 31 : La Constante et Fidèle, Semarang (became Indonesian in 1960, closed 1962);
- loge nummer 46 : Mata Hari, Padang;
- loge nummer 53 : Mataram, Jokjakarta;
- loge nummer 55 : l'Union Frédéric Royal, Surakarta;
- loge nummer 61 : Prins Frederik, Kota Raja;
- loge nummer 64 : Veritas, Probolinggo;
- loge nummer 65 : Arbeid Adelt, Makassar;
- loge nummer 70 : Deli, Medan;
- loge nummer 82 : Tidar, Magelang;
- loge nummer 83 : Fraternitas, Salatiga;
- loge nummer 84 : Sint Jan, Bandung (closed 1960);
- loge nummer 87 : Humanitas, Tegal;
- loge nummer 89 : Malang, Malang;
- loge nummer 92 : Blitar, Blitar;
- loge nummer 110 : Het Zuiderkruis, Meester Cornelis, Batavia (closed 1955);
- loge nummer 111 : De Broederketen, Batavia (closed 1948);
- loge nummer 129 : De Driehoek, Jember;
- loge nummer 142 : Broedertrouw, Bandung;
- loge nummer 149 : Palembang, Palembang (closed 1958);
- loge nummer 151 : De Hoeksteen, Sukabumi;
- loge nummer 153 : Serajoedal, Purwokerto;
- loge nummer 165 : De Witte Roos, Batavia (closed 1958)
- loge nummer 182 : Purwa Daksina, Batavia (became Indonesian in 1955, closed 1962);
- loge nummer 183 : Dharma, Bandung (became Indonesian 1955, closed 1962);
- loge nummer 192 : Bhakti, Semarang (became Indonesian in 1955, closed 1962);
- loge nummer 193 : Pamitran, Surabaya; (became Indonesian in 1955, closed 1962);
- loge nummer 225 : De Ster in het Oosten, Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea (closed in 1963)
