Книга Р. В. ван Беммелена «Геология Индонезии» представляет собой фундаментальную сводку по геологии островной области Юго-Восточной Азии. В обзор включены весь архипелаг Индонезии, Филиппины, Новая Гвинея, Малаккский полуостров, Никобарские и Андаманские острова и остров Кристмас (остров Рождества). Сводка подводит итог основным данным по физической географии, геологии, вулканизму и геофизическим особенностям этой части земной поверхности, которые были получены примерно за сто лет, истекших с начала геологического изучения Индонезии (с 1850 г.).

The earlier, mostly non-geological, exploration reports of Borneo have been listed by Worth (1940). The first reliable geological observations on Sabah were by Hatton (1885), a young mineral explorer employed by the Chartered Company of North Borneo. He met a tragic death while hunting along the Segama River. The most significant publication was that of Posewitz (1892), who summarized the earlier writings of geologists who had journeyed through Borneo. Although, he never set foot in Sarawak or Sabah, but had journeyed through Kalimantan. He collected the literature and compiled a geological map of the known parts of Bomeo. The work was unsystematic and is now obsolete. Rutter (1922) described the journeys of some mineral prospectors in his account of Sabah, but he did not mention the real geological explorers. <...>