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30 JULI 1963
Ie JAARGANG No. 23
e plwTbuFTNJJ™
B R I D GE
BETWEEN
EAST
AND
WEST
After Raffles: Wars! And wonderful Warriors!
Q AR I Np
DNIS\
Spotlight on Dutch-Indonesian History (XIV)
When after the French and British episodes (Daendels and Raffles) the Dutch
possessions in Indonesia were returned again to the Dutch Crown, everybody hoped for
peaceful times. On the contrary a series of wars and revolts broke out all over the
Archipelego. Contacts with the far outposts had been broken for too long a time; many
sultans and rajahs felt more independent; the British had proved that the Dutch
could be beaten, even with native troops (the Sepoys in Raffleses army). Furthermore
Raffles kept on agitating against the Dutch and many sultans picked up old quarrels
and started private wars.
The new Governor-General, Van der Cap-
ellen, had a bad time indeed. Raffles had to
be forced out of an island in Sunda Strait,
where he intended to build a stronghold.
He had to be forced out again out of Beng-
kulu and South Borneo. His new "creation,"
Singapore, became a nasty freeport for free
traders and smugglers. The Sultan of Pal-
embang started a war against the Dutch with
his "Letter of Independence", once given to
him by Raffles. The small Dutch army
crushed this revolt in a rather short time,
but had to hurry rightaway to the Minang-
kabau on the West Coast of Sumatra, where
the Moslem Padri's had started a Holy
War. The name Paclri by the way is one of
these typical distorted words as there were
so many those days. The word is originally
derived from the word Pedirthe name of a
little town in North Sumatra, where the
"hadjis" to Mecca returned after their suc
cessful pilgrimage. These men were "holy
men" and the Dutch misinterprted the name
Pedir with the name of the Portuguese "holy
men," the Padre's." So they called those
Moslems Padri's. The Padri's were extreme
fanatics for their Faith and once a revolt
was started against the "Christian dogs,"
wars broke out of a staggering ferocity.
In the meantime the Amboinese revolted
against the Dutch Government and the first
rumblings of a coming war in Djocjakarta
were heard. Now one thing is certain: many
wars make good soldiers, and even though
the Dutch army was relatively small and
poorly armed, it fought courageously. A
wonderful army with only a handful of
Dutch (including many Indo's) and many
Javanese, Madurese, Amboinese. Sundanese
soldiers. Sometimes it recruited an Indo
nesian nobleman with his private army as a
whole, as we will see later on.
In this strange army many wonderful
friendships started. Dutch and Indonesians
became understanding comrades in arms and
intermarried with important families. Out
siders often see this Dutch Army (and in
later years, the KNILthe Royal Dutch
Indonesian Army) as a white army, fighting
native armies. That is not true. Always
native soldiers formed by far the bigger part
of the Dutch army and the close togetherness
of white and brown soldiers has contributed
considerably to that strange form of life,
"colonial life," that was not hateful and ugly
as so often depicted by political agitators,
but in its core harmonious and slowly grow
ing out to a new pattern of life.
As an example we may point to the won
derful life of the "legendary" Toontje Po
land, a Dutch boy. who came to the Dutch
East Indies as a soldier, but quickly climbed
up many ranks to become a captain. No
soldier in those days was as daring and en-
erprising as Toontje was. Fie was married
to an Indonesian girl. Fine. She followed
him everywhere he went, even into the
fiercest battles. In one of them in the Padri-
War, Toontje's "benteng" (small fortress)
was surrounded by overwhelming forces of
fanatic Padri's, attacking day and night.
Only a bold nightly break-out could save
what was left of the garrison from total an-
nihiliation. Toontje was so severely wounded
at one leg, that he could not stand up. But a
stretcher was made, carried by four soldiers
and in the deep of night an escape was ven
tured. The enemy got alarmed however and
attacked. In the "melee" that followed the
stretcherbearers were killed. But then Fine
took her husband on her back gendong")
and carried him out of the battle and all
the way through the jungle to Padang. In
the army hospital gangrene was diagnosed in
the wounded leg of Toontje and the doctor
ordered the leg to be amputated. Wherupon
Toontje put his sword on his bed and said:
"You cut off my leg; I cut off your head!"
The doctor shrugged and left, quite certan
that Toontje would be dead in a few days.
But then Fine took the situation in hand.
She sought medical herbs and nursed her
husband to full recovery.
Toontje Poland fought in many wars all
over Indonesia, being famous with friend
and enemy for his surprise attaques, daring
escapes and incredible courageousness as a
real beau sabreur'and on the other hand
as a fine human personality who could for
give. He became the personal friend of many
Indonesian princes. The Sultan of Madura
continued page 2
In de Amerikaanse vlootbasis te San Diego volgen practisch continu Indonesische
marinemensen de een of andere opleiding. Vroeger of later vinden deze studenten en
Indische burgers van de stad elkaar natuurlijk tóch wel, al sporen ze elkaar niet speciaal
op. Een uitroep op straat is al voldoende! De kinnismaking "rolt" verder vanzelf. Hier zien
we een groepje internationale vrienden tijdens een picnic in het Dinosauruspark te San
Diego georganiseerd door gastheer Moon Nuse (2de v.l), waarbij o.a. ook aanwezig waren
Lt. Soebagijo (geheel links), Lt. Mohamad Dpapar en Adj. Djoehari. Gastrouwe was
Juudje van Rossum.