Meditations
from Florida
Generations and language
Je moet eens je
gezicht laten zien!
Generations of Dutch-Indonesians, Indo's
or Indische Nederlanders -1 am a bit
confused. If I start counting at the mass
arrival of Indo's in the Netherlands after
the Second World War, the first genera
tion there would be the one of my
parents, but they were not born there.
They came to the Netherlands between
1946 and the 1960s and they were al
ready middle-aged then. We, their child
ren, were at the time in our teens, youn
ger, or somewhat older, and almost all
of us were born in the East Indies and
-1 figure - one could call us the second
generation of Indo's in Holland.
The children of my generation would
then be the third. Or do we start coun
ting with my generation? In that case
mine is the first and our children's gene
ration the second, and their children are
the third. Have I thoroughly confused
you, too?
It doesn't matter, first or second, life had
changed drastically for the generation of
my parents and mine. The third was
born and grew up in Holland, the United
States, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, and
many more places all over the globe, and
they - thankfully - didn't have to go
through the terrible culture shock their
parents and grandparents before them
had gone through. Most of the latter ge
neration had never been away from their
lush tropical island. They missed the
warmth of its sun, its open spaces, its
people, and the comfortable familiarity of
a wholly different way of life.
Living - as in our case - in America, we
made the everyday customs and language
of our chosen country our own, but when
we have a kumpulan, we are Indisch in
all we do, we use Indonesian words in
our language, we cook Indonesian dishes,
we eat rice with all its trimmings, and
besides listening to jazz, classical or any
other kind of music, we also like to lis
ten to kroncong music, the music that
has its roots in what once was called the
Netherlands Indies.
And that is what the third generation
grew up with. They alle know where
their parents and grandparents come
from, have a vague idea of what it must
have been like where they came from,
and a still vaguer idea of what happened
during the Second World War.
Their parents don't speak about it very
much, or at least they didn't. Perhaps
that is an offshoot of their upbringing,
because there was a strict rule: 'Children
should be seen and not heard'. Perhaps,
once grown up they were never able to
shake off that rule, who knows? But now
their children start asking questions:
why? how? when? where?
My parents lived in America for more
than thirty years, and they told their
grandchildren - my brothers' children -
as best they could, all kinds of stories of
how it used to be 'over there'. You see,
they didn't speak English as well as they
would have wanted to. Yet, the children
understood Opa and Oma pretty well,
and when they didn't live close to Opa
and Oma they wrote letters in English,
and Opa and Oma replied in Dutch and
some English. It had to be kept simple in
both languages and some things got lost
somewhere in there.
But there was an unmistakable bond
between the generations, and not only
between grandparents and grandchildren,
but also between all three generations
of Dutch Indonesians here. That bond
was the language, mostly the English
language.
Language. We all know how important it
is to communicate with each other.
We have seen close-by that one should at
least be able to speak the language of the
country in which one resides, or be able
to read it. My parents read English, spo
ke some English, had difficulty writing it,
but understood it. The children read
Dutch with much difficulty, speak some
Dutch, can't write it but do understand
us when we speak Dutch to them.
Different generations, different languages,
yet they understood each other quite well.
And the many questions the children
ask about a way of life so different from
theirs are answered and understood,
mostly in English. It strengthens the
bond.
It is truly visionary of Moesson to have
its many members who do not live in the
Netherlands write some pieces in English
also, because - as Raymond Abrahams
so aptly says - it is a family magazine
and it is therefore all the generations
everywhere in the world, for the anaks
and the cucuks. The older generation
have already made history, and the youn
ger generations still have to make theirs.
So to the younger generations I say,
using a Dutch expression loosely transla
ted and tongue-in-check, 'climb into your
pen!' In ordinary English, the language
that binds and united us all, I say: 'Come
on, guys! get on with it, please!' We want
to hear from you and we'll have a fine
dialogue going between all the genera
tions through the Moesson. It is such an
important link to our roots
(Advertentie)
Waarom dan niet meteen bij het
begin? Het is altijd leuk om pasge
borenen of uw pasgeboren cucu
feestelijk aan te kondigen met een
leuke geboorteadvertentie in kleur
in Moesson.
Moesson, Indisch tijdschrift voor
élke generatie!
Meer informatie?
Kom langs in de Bergstraat 27,
Amersfoort, of bel 033 -4611 611.
19
Tekst: Juul Lentze
42ste jaargang - nummer 9 - maart 1998
