Help the allied forces
The first organised resistance groups were formed immediately after the capitulation. Many people believed that the allied forces would defeat the Japanese within a few months. The resistance groups prepared to help the allied forces when they arrived. They collected arms and information of military importance, distributed allied information, made radio contact, and found safe houses where members of the resistance could hide.

Trained in Australia
Australia was a base for secret military operations in the Dutch East Indies. Scores of KNIL soldiers had fled there when the Dutch had capitulated. They were trained in Australia and returned home to gather intelligence about the Japanese forces. Similar spying operations were carried out by the Insulinde Corps from Ceylon.

Out of the camps
The resistance groups in the Dutch East Indies mainly consisted of people who had managed to stay out of the camps, such as Dutch nationals who had to work for the Japanese, Dutch East Indians with ‘sufficient Indonesian blood’, and Indonesian KNIL soldiers -- many of whom were Moluccans. There was also resistance to the Japanese rule inside the camps. The resistance had to work surrounded by enemies and traitors. Very few Indonesians supported the resistance, and the Japanese police, the Kempeitai, were ruthless in putting it down.