■m vEs
Life in Batavia in the XVIIth Century
JK 1
Saluut aan abonnees!
HULP IN NOOD
2
Spotlight on Dutch-Indonesian History (V)
Batavia in the XVIIth Century was very much a haven of refuge for all oppressed in
the Far East. In fact it resembled in many respects the character of today's United States of
America. We know already that endless big and little wars were waged in the Far East
during the decline of the great Javanese kingdoms. Smaller states fought for independence,
all the way from Atjeh to Timor, pirate fleets roamed the seas, and the "white invaders"
had their last big struggle for absolute power: The Spanish and Portuguese were driven
out by the Dutch and English, whereupon the new masters fought each other, choosing sides
alternately with Indonesian kings, princes and adventurers.
Fugitives of all these wars fled to Batavia them lived as "exiles" from their original
and around the middle of the XVIIth
Century a great variety of peoples lived
peaceful together in and directly around this
city. Famous historian De Haan counted
no less than eleven Indonesian tribes be
sides the Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, Pam-
pangers and Mardijkers. Pampangers would
be called Filipino's now. The Mardijkers
came from Malabar, Coromandel, Arracan
and Bengal. They were former Christian
slaves (Mahardika means freedman think
of the word (Merdeka). They had a curious
position in the community as they were no
"heathens" but Christians like the white
masters and were therefore considered to be
of the same social rank. The Mardijkers
therefore dressed and behaved like whites,
but were as a whole but very poor imitations,
as they missed the qualities of the white
masters.
Temporaries and historians as a rule
looked down on these Mardijkers, who were
cursed and damned for their bad habits or
laughed at for their normal habits. These
habits were funny indeed, because they had
to dress and live like Europeans (Christ
ians), which they were not, and did not
belong to other Indonesian and Asian
groups, which they resembled in many
ways. All this gave these Mardijkers a
curious behaviour "like dressed monkeys"
as was the common description. They were
mostly idle (and therefore "lazy" indeed),
but when we consider their sudden jump
from coloured slave (and practically "dumb
animal") to the rank of white master with
out any education or idea of initiative and
free enterprise, and their lack of an own
community to live for, we can only deplore
their fortune.
The habit of laughing at the Mardijkers
is much more stupifying when we realize
that in fact all "Plomo Bataviensis" in that
period were more or less the same. All of
homecountry and never went back. All tried
to preserve as much as possible of their
native customs and all had to make con
siderable concessions to new ways of life.
We told before of the white women in
Batavia, who bathed in the open in the
river and chewed sirih. Governor General
van Diemen started his career in the Dutch
East Indies as a bankrupt under an assumed
name. Fie is a living example though of a
man who made good, for not alone did he
pay back al his debts, but he made a
tremendous career as a governor with wide
vision and superb talents. Under his "reign"
Dutch explorers went out into the Pacific
to discover new seaways and territories.
Australia and New Zealand were discovered,
trade was consolidated and peace established
throughout the archipelago.
Such people in such a city!
Batavia in those days resembled in many
ways our Los Angeles of today. It had an
own China-town and citizens of both oriental
and occidental origin, living peaceful to
gether and learning from and to each other
as much as possible. But there was a great
outward difference too: all these people
were usually dressed in (and easily recog
nized by) their original costumes. Races and
clans lived together asm uch as possible in
own kampongs and quarters with a distinct
name (Kampong Banda, Kampong Bali,
Kampong Kodja, "De Chinezenwijk", etc.,
etc.) and very often a distinct architecture.
But evervbody could go wherever he liked
to go, and eat all typical dishes of strange
peoples in all kinds of restaurants. There
were numerous intermarriages. Batavia in
fact was one of the first cosmopolitical towns
in modern history.
Like the people and their manners were,
so was the aspect of the city: an absurd
combination of architectural styles with three
predominant features: 1. the Dutch city.
Batavia during the Chinese Massacre.
This engraving clearly shows that though
there were many misdeeds those days, open
criticism also existedproof of a true
democratic way of living. The picture also
shows the city-plannings rows of straight
canals and streets, dividing the city in neat
quarters, quite the same as in America
today. Compare also the cedragon-roofsof
China Town in the foreground with the
Dutch step-gables in the background.
In Indische kringen wordt nog steeds ge
discussieerd over de vraag of het bestaan
van The American Tong-Tong wel zin heeft,
of het abonnement niet veel te duur is, of
wij Amerikaans moeten assimileren of niet,
enz., enz. Wie echter begrip heeft van b.v.
een rubriek als "Spotlight on Dutch-Indo
nesian History", van al onze pogingen om
op cutureel, sociaal en economisch terrein de
Amerikaanse samenleving wat te geven van
onze Indische rijkdommen, die ziet in dat
dit blad desnoods ten koste van veel opoffer
ing en inspanning móet bestaan en dat het
nut van dit bestaan binnen afzienbare tijd
algemeen erkend zal worden.
Voor het nog zover is echter, lezers, dank
voor Uw begrip en medewerking. Poekoel
teroes! Maak geen ruzie met kennissen die
niet mee willen doen om welke redenen cok.
We gaan rustig maar zelfverzekerd ons
gang. En laat ons hopen dat we in elk geval
financieel sterk genoeg zullen blijven om de
moeilijke tijden van "armoede en wanbe
grip' 'te overleven! Selamat djalan!
Op 11 December jl. is in Los Angeles
opgericht "The Netherland Service Society"
in een vergadering van personen die zo breed
mogelijk de georganiseerde Nederlandse
gemeenschap in L.A. County vertegenwoor
digt. Zij wenst een samenbundeling van alle
elementen in de Ned. gemeenschap om
hierdoor een steun-apparaat op te bouwen
voor alle Nederlanders in nood.
President is dominee R. Hcins, penning
meester Hans van Dorphet secretariaat
berust bij Ans Hof, 3943 Yosemite Way. L.A.
65, Tel. CL 6-0167. DU 8-2481.
Floe meer leclen, hoe meer "vreugd," om
dat immers het lidmaatschap een contributie
vraagt van ten minste 5 per jaar, zoclat
flinke fondsen kunnen groeien om mensen
die in nood geraakt zijn te kunnen helpen.
Het adres van de penningmeester, waar
heen checks of money orders gestuurd
kunnen worden, is: Hans van Dorp, 11143
Leolang Ave., Sunland, Cal., Tel.: 352-2180.
Wij wensen de Society alle succes toe
bij haar nuttig werk!
practically as a whole transplanted from
Amsterdam to Batavia: large canals with
rows of fine trees and mooring-posts and
rows of neat white Dutch houses with step-
gables, and even a village-square with a big
water-pump (later on called Pantjoran), 2.
the Indonesian kampongs in a wide circle,
China Town.
Contemporaries raved about their city in
numerous poems:
Caret gaat boven konings Loo
Tana-Abang en Doorenbergen,
Het Escuriaal in pragt kan tergen
4 rits jol, Prigi en Meester Knelis,
In pracht en roem (seg elck) dat veel is
in which local districts and gardens were
rated more beautiful than famous European
resorts.
In the evening everbody came to the
canals and the streets along them. All kinds
of lamps, torches and candles were burning:
all kinds of foods and drinks were sold, ail
kinds of costumes were displayed, all kinds
of music heard. "No city is more beautiful
than Batavia at night", writes historian
Valentijn, "During the evening young people
go out in boats on the canal, playing instru
ments and singing."
Here now. in the music on these canals,
the first distinct and original voice of the
Dutch-Indonesian (or Indo-European or
Malacaan or whatever he was called in other
centuries) could be heard in his own music,
the "krontjong"(To be continued)
