Daendels and the Sacred Space of Java, 1808-1811 The period of Marshal Herman Willem DaendelsÕ governor-generalship of Java (1808-1811) was a turning point in the modern history of Indonesia. It changed forever the relationship between the colonial government and the Javanese rulers, by introducing a new form of administrative centralisation based on Batavia (present-day Jakarta). This had deep implications for the Javanese political understanding of the world and the culture and society of their governing elites. The present study examines three themes Ð political relations, uniforms and the postweg Ð considering in turn the spatial, sartorial and social impact of Daendels' revolution and its resonance for present-day Indonesia. Drawing on hitherto little used primary sources and the artistic oeuvre of the pioneer of modern Indonesian painting, Raden Saleh Syarif Bustaman (c. 1811-1880), Peter Carey suggests new ways of understanding this revolutionary epoch and the way it has shaped modern Indonesian sensibilities and the current challenges of political and administrative reform.