From Jail to Jail. Tan Malaka
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conducted on a formal basis according to adat, in the clubs and on the tennis courts and playing fields, there were many other acquaintances.47 And apart from these there were two or three Dutch people in Medan who had become my friends. They were the left social-democrats and the president of the Assistentenbond.48
[56] In general an anti-inlander spirit was concealed but still strong among the Tuan of the plantation. However, I had a few honest, genuine friends. An example is my relationship with the three “hares”: Hazevoet, Hazewinkel, and Hazejager.49 All three were employees of Senembah Mij. and were close to me. Hazevoet, a friendly Dutch youth who often dropped by my house, was a socialist and worked in the pharmacy.50 Hazewinkel had come out on the same ship as I. He had lived for a long time among the Kaffir and other African peoples, and he no longer differentiated between people on the basis of skin color but of character. In the Netherlands he had been promised that he would be put in charge of a palm-products factory that Senembah Mij. was to set up. This was because he had had considerable experience in this field in Africa, working as a skilled labourer. But he was extremely disappointed and upset by both the rank and salary awarded him. Before he broke off all connection with Senembah Mij. and went to Java, he asked me to consider him as a faithful friend. Hazejager was a real German, a patriot still saddened by the continued occupation of the western part of Germany. He was married to an Indonesian Batak, not a Muslim or a Christian but a genuine Batak from the hills. He did not marry her as a concubine, as was customary on the plantation, but according to Batak tradition, which was not easy. Batak women are well known to be very difficult to win over, and for three years he struggled to win her heart and trust. He had to go through the traditional marriage ceremony and eat authentic Batak food. Their one child he loved as dearly as he did his wife. Hazejager did not have a developed philosophy concerning politics of nationality and peace. “First restore the original German boundaries, then there will be peace with the Germans.” I did not need to explain to him my ideas about the boundaries of the Indonesian nation and state. Time and again, when I was in conflict with the reactionaries in Senembah Mij., Hazejager revealed the plots that the Tuan Besar of the plantation had formed against me.
The conflict between me and the plantation’s Tuan Besar centered on four issues: (1) skin color, (2) the education of the coolie children, (3) articles in the Deli newspapers, and (4) my relationship with the plantation coolies. These four issues actually had their origin in the conflict between the colonial, capitalist Dutch and the colonized coolie Indonesians.
[57] Skin color! This feeling of being “different from the inlanders,” as reflected in the difference in skin color would not vanish as long as the white Dutch people monopolized the position of capitalist colonizers over the brown colonized inlanders. Their arrogance was coated with “politeness,” but if it had been left entirely to Dutch “politeness” we would still feel humiliated. We always had to be ready to bare our teeth and, if necessary, to attack. In the Netherlands my experiences with the insolent, both in the streets and on the sports field, led me to understand that one should never, even once, give in. If you give in to the Dutch, then they become even more insolent and do just as they please. When in the lanes and main roads they yelled out “dirty nigger” or “water Chinees”51 we went up to them and commanded “just try saying that again.” While we were prepared for anything, in 99 out of 100 cases they would only say “nothing, sir” or make no reply at all. And when on the ball field Dutch players got a bit annoyed at something and started abusing us, we would be careful never to answer in kind. If we had responded they would only have become even more obstreperous and insulting. We had to smash them-but in a sporting manner. Then they would quiet down and apologize or shut up. In short, my prescription was, never once show pity for the Dutch.
The characteristic reserve of Eastern peoples and Indonesians in particular is not found at all among the Dutch. Either they are afraid and bow down, or they feel superior and demand everything and trample all over you. Over three centuries ago the Japanese, after some bitter experiences, expelled all white people and forbade their own people to leave their shores. The only Europeans who stayed in Japan, on the tiny island of Dhasima, under an agreement that the other nationals thought unacceptably humiliating, were . . . the Dutch.52
When the Lord of the Skies in the Middle Kingdom (China) demanded that all foreign envoys, like representatives of subject nations, kowtow to him at the sound of a bell, the British envoy had to quickly grab the Dutch envoy around the waist to stop him from kowtowing. The British envoy understood that even one blackleg flatterer could undermine respect toward all white people then in China. Like the true kruidenier with his minimum program of profit, the Dutch are capable of carrying out any strategy or tactics, from bullying to kowtowing.
I still remember an incident on the tennis courts of Tanjung Morawa when we were visited by tennis players from the other branches of Senembah Mij. At the request of the tennis director, Bookkeeper No. 2, I gave up my racquet to visiting women players twice in a row. Asked for a third time to defer, though there were many Dutch men who could have been asked, I was forced to refuse bluntly. Afterwards my colleague, the schoolmaster Tuan W, cautioned me that I had been too quick to defend my honor. I answered that the truth was just the opposite.
[58] Not long after that I came into conflict with even this colleague. I don’t know whether it was the lack of an afternoon nap (and in the Netherlands he certainly would not have known that habit) or because he had got out of the wrong side of the bed or because tropical fever was on the rise, but he apparently forgot the socialism and antiauthoritarianism that he had believed in the Netherlands less than a year before.53
One afternoon he came to where I was working. Standing right beside me, he began to criticize the work being done by my pupils—the hoeing was not deep enough, the wickerwork was not strong enough—in a loud voice like that used by the Tuan Besar. I was not going to stand for that. I reminded him that the children had already had a long day and that hoeing and weaving were only supplementary lessons performed so that the poor children could get some pocket money. The most important lessons for them were those given to children of their age in any country, that is, the normal education of the primary school. Furthermore, if he came to where I was working he should first say hello and ask my permission to enter. Neither would I permit him to criticize or reprimand the pupils under my care. And, finally, if the work had to be carried out according to his wishes, then he should come himself to explain the instructions, but he should not tell me what to do. With a red face he asked, “Who is the boss?” I answered, “There is no boss; I came here to work together with you. If there had been any other arrangement I wouldn’t have accepted it. Only I am surprised that a person who not very long ago was struggling to overthrow the head teacher concept in his own country has now forgotten his own principles.” He did not answer me. Without another word he went straight to the Tuan Kebun, the head administrator, Tuan T.
Not long afterwards I was called to the office. There I was confronted by both Tuan T and my colleague Tuan W. Tuan T showed me a letter from Tuan W asking for clarification as to who was the head of the school system in Senembah Mij. I reminded the Tuan Kebun that my agreement with Dr. Janssen was that I should work together with Tuan W to develop an educational system suited to the needs of the plantation coolie children. The Tuan Kebun was not concerned about a suitable system. He merely said that of course in the plantation there was a “head” and that Tuan W was older and more experienced than I.
[59] I stated that it may well be that the plantation needed a “head”; that was something I knew nothing about. But in my work, and particularly in trying to find a suitable educational system, the question of heads and bosses was quite out of place. And, in any case, the person who was acting as the head was someone who, when I had known him in the Netherlands, was strongly opposed to head teachers. Naturally I conceded that Tuan W was older and more experienced than I. But his experience was among Dutch children. As to understanding the spirits of the Indonesian pupils, I was not going to concede that his experience was greater than mine. And understanding the spirits of the children was the most important part of our work in the school.
Perhaps because the Tuan Kebun was not all that concerned with education, perhaps because he was shortly to go on leave, or even perhaps because Dr. Janssen was due back in Tanjung Morawa soon, he decided