Neratja (Malay: balance, scales EYD: Neraca), later Hindia Baroe (Malay: new Indies, scales EYD: Hindia Baru), was a Malay language newspaper printed from 1917 to 1926 in Weltevreden, Dutch East Indies. Although originally founded with government support to be a Malay voice for the Dutch Ethical Policy, before long it became associated with the Sarekat Islam and the Indonesian National Awakening. Among its editors were important figures of the Indonesian national movement such as Abdul Muis and Agus Salim. History There were other newspapers with the name Neratja, such as one supported by the Dutch side in Medan during the Indonesian Revolution, a communist magazine from the 1930s called Neratja Masjarakat, and a Neratja printed in Jawi script Malay in Singapore in 1913. Founding of Neratja and ties to colonial government This Neratja was founded in 1917 in Weltevreden (now part of Jakarta), the location of the colonial government in the Dutch East Indies. It was owned by the company N.V. Uitgevers Maatschappij "Evolutie". Its original founders were Agus Salim and Raden Djojosoediro, who were both members of the Sarekat Islam and the Theosophical Society. A.M. Soetan Djenawi was hired as editor upon the launch as well. Abdul Muis soon joined as an editor as well. It was originally funded partly by the Dutch colonial government (under the direction of Governor General Johan Paul van Limburg Stirum) which hoped to support a Malay-language forum for perspectives sympathetic to the Dutch Ethical Policy, a paternalistic policy aimed at selectively improving the lives of some elite Indonesians through education and government posts. The first issue of Neratja was put out with this statement: People in the leftist faction of the Sarekat Islam, such as Darsono and Semaoen, believed Neratja to be in the pocket of the colonial government for years after the original funding had disappeared. Their ally, the Dutch communist Henk Sneevliet accused Neratja editor Abdul Muis of having advocated for his expulsion from the Indies in 1917. When Neratja was the only Malay language newspaper to applaud his expulsion in 1918, its editors were condemned by other newspapers and forced to apologize. It would continue to be a problem for Agus Salim, as in 1927 the accusations were still surfacing. At that time he said that in 1917 he had needed money to continue his activities, and that everyone profited from the government in some way or other. But later