Why Dutch Was NEVER Widely Spoken in Indonesia during the Colonial Era?

Dutch never became the main shared language in colonial Indonesia. And that was no accident. The Dutch ruled a huge archipelago with hundreds of local languages. But instead of teaching everyone Dutch, they mostly use Malay to communicate. Malay was already the region's trade language spoken in ports and markets long before Dutch rule, so it was faster and easier to use. Dutch language education was also very limited. Only European settlers and a small indigenous elite were allowed into Dutch schools. Most Indonesians never had a chance to learn it. Teaching Dutch to everyone would have cost a lot and it could have given more people access to power and political ideas. So, Dutch state, the language of government and top officials, not the general population. Meanwhile, Malay, which later became modern Indonesia, grew into the real lingua frana of the archipelago. When Japan took over in 1942, they abolished the Dutch language altogether.