Hubertus Johannes "Huib" van Mook (30 May 1894 – 10 May 1965) was a Dutch administrator in the East Indies. During the Indonesian National Revolution, he served as the Acting Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1942 to 1948. Van Mook also had a son named Cornelius van Mook who studied marine engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also wrote about Java - and his work on Kota Gede is a good example of a colonial bureaucrat capable of examining and writing about local folklore. Biography Hubertus van Mook was born in Semarang in Central Java on 30 May 1894. As with many Dutch and Indos (people of European and Indonesian heritage) growing up in the East Indies, he came to regard the colony, particularly Java, as his home. He studied Indology at Leiden University, and then returned to the Dutch East Indies. In 1931, he became a member of the Volksraad, the advisory body set up by the colonial administration. There he spoke in favour of greater autonomy for the Dutch East Indies and for equal treatment for different races. From 1937 to 1941 he was director of economic affairs. On 29 December 1941, a royal decree named van Mook the successor to Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, and appointed him Lieutenant Governor General. Immediately prior to the surrender of the East Indies to the Japanese on 8 March 1942, the Dutch East Indies government in exile near Brisbane, Australia gave van Mook authority over those areas still unoccupied by the Japanese. However, two weeks later, he was relieved of his lieutenant-governorship and became Minister of Colonies. On 14 September 1944, after he persuaded the Dutch government in exile to establish a provisional East Indies government, he was reappointed Lieutenant Governor-General. Due to his liberal inclinations and sympathies towards Indonesian nationalism, many conservative Dutch distrusted his policies and he was never given the full title of Governor-General. Because of the weakened position of the Dutch due to the Nazi invasion and occupation, much of the task of retaking the East Indies following the Japanese surrender in August 1945 was carried out by Australian and British forces. While Australian forces succeeded in occupying the Outer Islands with minimal resistance, British forces in Java and Sumatra were challenged by a nascent Indonesian Republic led by Sukarno and Hatta. On 1 October 1945