which found a few Indonesians as skilled labour caught in the middle—fouled the atmosphere in Deli and gave rise to constant attacks by the coolies on the plantation Dutch. Frequently just one insult or criticism was enough to cause a coolie to draw his machete from his belt and attack the Tuan Besar or Tuan Kecil then and there, for his heart was filled with such a hatred for it all.
[52] This conflict between the Dutch capitalist imperialists and the Indonesian inlander coolies was also clearly reflected in the Deli courts. The Dutch person who acted “accidentally” or “only in self-defense” against a coolie attack was generally let off with a sentence of three months or less, which could often be avoided through payment of a fine. But the coolie who killed would seldom escape hanging. When I was there Dutch opinion was strongly in favor of punishing, “with immediate and most severe punishment so as to frighten the others,” the coolie who was brave enough to attack a white.
In this situation, which could turn human beings into beasts, one felt amazement mixed with awe on hearing of coolies mutilating Dutch people and then going straight to the police to give themselves up. It appears that the tales of the ksatria handed down over the centuries by the dalang in the village wayang performances were not without their effect on the people.32 Was there a place for me in the Deli society that I have tried to sketch above? Was there a place for a radical-minded Indonesian in the midst of a society with such supremely sharp contradictions?
When I got the job in Amsterdam from the director, Dr. Janssen himself, I was not really conscious of the difficulties I was to face in Deli. After living for six years among Dutch people in their own country, I did not feel any great differences in the respect accorded human beings on the basis of their skin color alone. When children or old people made fun of us Indonesians in the Netherlands because of the color of our skin or when someone in the street yelled out “Nigger, dirty nigger,” we regarded this as an aberration originating in the most backward elements of this “civilized” country. We did not really pay much attention to it. Indeed, the difference in public attitudes towards colored people in France, for example, and the Netherlands was striking.33
[53] Experience convinced us that most Dutch people in the Netherlands did not measure us according to the standards of color. It was my conviction that in the future, even if after decades, color distinctions as well as those of class would wither away together with the disappearance of capitalism and imperialism. For these reasons the society I was to enter in Deli did not intimidate me. There I hoped to free myself in a short time from the debts that were weighing me down, while at the same time obtaining valuable experience in relating to the most oppressed, exploited, and humiliated of my own nation, thus killing two birds with one stone.34
But apparently Dr. Janssen was well aware of the difficulties I would encounter in Deli. I later heard that before my arrival the Dutch officials were advised by the company, on behalf of the directors in the Netherlands, “to treat Tan Malaka like a European.”
How did it turn out in practice? My initial contact with a Dutch employee of Senembah Mij. went smoothly enough, for in Tanjung Morawa I was close to the schoolmaster Tuan W, a socialist opposed to the head teacher concept and a former Indonesian language student of mine.35 But the second encounter did not give me much hope.
It was the custom for new Dutch arrivals to introduce themselves to the old employees. I was supposed to be accepted into the European group there, so I began by sending a letter to the first bookkeeper, Tuan G, and his wife, asking if and when they would be prepared to receive me for an introduction.36 A reply came quickly from Nyonya G stating that “we do not now have the time to receive you.”
Nyonya and Tuan W were themselves quite surprised to hear the contents of this letter. They agreed that it was not up to me to write further. If they had the time to receive me, then the invitation should come from the Nyonya Besar herself.37 I never did receive such an invitation; neither did I on any other occasion present myself to the Tuan Besar’s first bookkeeper and his wife, whom I considered to be no more worthy of respect than I myself.
[54] As to the Tuan Kebun (head administrator) and his wife, I was unable to reach any conclusion about them.38 I was invited everywhere by Dr. Janssen the Tuan Maskapai, the great god himself, whom they worshipped, so I never knew whether or not they agreed. But as usual, in the get-together at the house of the Tuan Kebun and his wife, Dr. Janssen immediately turned the conversation towards matters requiring general knowledge probably outside the ken, let alone the understanding, of the hosts. Dr. Janssen had received his doctorate from a German university on the basis of a dissertation on the customs and traditions of the Batak, one of many issues that interested him. Now came the turn of the Tuan Besar (administrator). He was a real German who still could not speak Dutch. His wife, who was much younger than he, came from the German upper class and had had a superior education.39 At first glance I could see that Nyonya and Tuan Besar Herr Graf were far apart in both age and culture. It was quite common after the First World War, especially among the aristocracy, for young, educated German women who had lost their fathers in the war to marry older, wealthy war-profiteers for their money. A moment’s thought convinced me that such young women would usually indeed be safe in the hands of rich old men. But there was no real security in Deli society, and certainly none among the Tuan of the plantation, for this young German woman at a time when her society was in Gaerung (ferment). Herr Graf was strongly opposed to progress for the inlanders. From other sources I heard some of the insults he directed at me. But he was loyal to Dr. Janssen, who was also of German extraction. Though my skin color was the same as that of the plantation coolies, Dr. Janssen had set the example of how I should be treated, and since the good doctor was still present in Deli, Herr Graf followed the wise policy of sugar-coating his bitterness. Fortunately the interest of Frau Graf, who had heard of names like Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, could not be shackled by discussions of tobacco, latex, profits, shares, leave, and pensions. On parting late at night she said, “Kommen Sie uns bald wieder besuchen” (come and visit us again soon) with an emphasis on the word “bald” (soon).
My visit with Ir. V. L.40 went in a similar fashion.41 A graduate from a German university, and a conservative in politics, he was not too sympathetic. His philosophy was concerned with wages, profits, and pensions. But Nyonya was a sports enthusiast, interested in everything from tennis to horseback-riding, and she was, no less important, a lover of literature. Her conversation flowed smoothly from strikes in the Netherlands to the Russian Revolution, from the works of Gorter and Henriette Roland Holst to Dostoevsky, Gorky, and Lenin.42 When we parted she lent me some books. Tuan looked astonished and disapproving, but Nyonya followed up by saying, “I shall arrange to have the books picked up.”
[55] In another visit, to the home of the deputy Tuan Kebun, I met guests from the other branches of the company. They were the plantation’s Tuan Besar and had the typical political outlook. The deputy was quiet, as was indeed his wont. But his wife was broadminded and hospitable. The conversation turned to the Indonesian nationalist movement. One of the Tuan Besar showed his colors by saying: “Sarekat Islam would be better if there were no hajis among its members.”43 This was the same as saying, ‘The National Party would be better if it had no nationalists in it,” or “The Bolshevik Party is fine, but what a pity it has Bolshevik members.” I was familiar enough with this reactionary position from the newspaper Deli Courant.44 This particular Tuan Besar was a moderate reactionary and was restraining his words in front of the hostess. From other mouths and in other places, one would not hear such “polite” criticism. Here on my own turf, I had no more trouble dealing the knocked-out blow to this avid reader of the Deli Courant than I had had with the Dutch students and future B. B. ambtenaren45 at the Deventer congress.46
My acquaintances with my neighbors, the doctors Walch, was based on equality in all respects. As I mentioned earlier, this couple was interested in studying and experimenting on the malarial anopheles mosquito. Nyonya was fluent in Indonesian and paid considerable attention to the nationalist movement in Medan. She even wanted to meet the prominent Indonesians there. She reminded me that there was no need for me to send a letter first if I had the time to drop in.
While