Rolling in modernity General Motors' automobile and truck assembly in Tanjung Priok, Batavia/Jakarta 1927-1955

This article addresses the development of General Motors' assembly plant in the port of Tanjung Priok in Batavia/Jakarta, Indonesia. The American multinational operated the plant-its first production line in Southeast Asia-between 1927 and 1955. General Motors gave impetus to Tanjung Priok's economic importance, and it became a key element in the port's 'social-economic fabric'. Car manufacturing was considered a new phenomenon within the colonial economy of the Netherlands Indies, which had previously been largely agricultural/plantation-based. The company brought along new technologies and ways of organizing; it also advertised-for instance, via the company magazine GM World-the idea of free trade and actively tried to distinguish itself from the colonial establishment. However, this critical stance should not be overstated; as this article shows, General Motors was introducing alternative corporate perspectives and modern industrial elements in the Netherlands Indies but also became part of the Western colonial system.