Stories from Deli

Titus, 1879

Even after by the Indian Gazette n o . 203 of 1879 a decision has been taken on the well-known article 2, number 27 of the General Police Penalty Regulations for Natives, yet the great problem has not been solved at all for this assistant residence, where private industry has soared. Here, however, a simple provision regulating the mutual obligations under ordinary circumstances between employer and employee is of no use, but a special provision is needed in case the laborers are brought in from abroad at great expense.

It is known that the opening of private agricultural enterprises was allowed here at the time and since the existing expansion has not been prevented, but protected. Thanks to this liberal approach, numerous Dutch and foreign capitalists have invested considerable sums in the business here, an extensive European and Chinese colony has been formed, and the Government has created a source of income, which in 1879 yielded one million gross. Once admitted, the industrialists are entitled to the defense of their interests. Moreover, they are entitled to support because of the diligent diligence and steely perseverance with which they earn their living by the sweat of their brow. “Make their living,” I say, not “get rich,” for the few who have gathered together here can be numbered.

It is true, however, that the planters at Deli have forfeited that claim in many by the rumor of criminal acts committed by them; but there is very much unfairness therein. Not that I want to condone what is really condemnable. Far from it; but these so-called atrocities are usually very exaggerated and exaggerated, moreover, are usually told and measured by those who did not know the right thing, and, as committed by a few, can by no means be a doom of a whole colony or category of industriousness. Make Europeans pronounce.

Let then also what has happened be forgotten, and, where the present still gives so much injustice to behold, not be judged by prejudices rooted in the past.

The flourishing industry at Deli is still completely unsettled and that, notwithstanding the tobacco produced, the main article, represents a value of approximately six million. Its survival depends on the settlement of the question of workers’ contracts, about which nothing has yet been decided. Years ago that should have happened; many wrongs would have been avoided as a result, which are still taking place today.

And if that arrangement does not come into being, the industry will remain here just as long, until an official has the courage, averse to private consideration, to enforce the existing laws fairly and faithfully.

In the Malay states, constituting the assistant residence Deli, there are no indigenous workers; they must be imported from outside. Almost exclusively Chinese are eligible for this, of which the only twenty hours away by steam, Pinang is a large storehouse.

The entrepreneur, who works with Chinese workers, begins to spend a large capital on purchasing them. Every coolie has to spend from NLG 75 to NLG 100 before he reaches the company . However, this amount should not be put into the account of the “ so pernicious system of advances, ” for it serves less to tempt the worker in a moment of weakness into an agreement which he regrets afterwards, or to improve his condition. .

For the Chinese coolie who leaves his country to look for work abroad does so out of hope of a better fate. He represents a labor force in his country which, due to the great supply, has little or no value; if he can come to a place where the supply is less, he will gain more value as a labor force; the transfer thus in itself improves its condition.

But he cannot move except with the help of a fellow countryman, who removes the obstacles to his departure (debts, etc.), pays the passage costs to the new port, and helps him with food and accommodation there, until he himself can meet his needs. all this against the obligation not to seek work where he himself wants, but to accept the work where his helper can expect the restitution of the advanced. The European industrialist here makes use of this; he deals with the intermediary and hires the job-seeking newcomer. However, he does not do so until after he has committed himself to work for him, until what has advanced is earned.

This may be called contrary to our notions of individual freedom, but one must not completely lose sight of the difference between Eastern and Western states, and it should be remembered that the individual who restrains his freedom is not the suffering one, but the winning party is. It does not matter, however, to delve into theories in this regard, for a practical solution to the present question must be sought, taking into account the following facts:

1. that here there is an industry that binds great capital;

2. that this industry cannot exist without imported workers, especially Chinese;

3. that those laborers cannot be obtained except in advance of substantial sums.

Now the industrialist faces a workman who has borrowed money from him against the promise to work for him until the amount is paid. That union is the whole basis of industry, for the entrepreneur derives his benefit only from the labor of the contractor on the other side; For he does not lend money to get money back, but to be paid in labor.

What is now the entrepreneur’s fulfillment of the obligation insured? What is the guarantee that he will endure the work, the supply of which is stipulated in advance?

Legal in nothing . And that’s the big issue of Deli.

The only provision that could be cited as a guarantee was that of article 2, number 27 of the General Police Penalty Regulations for Natives, which states that he who hires himself out as a workman for the usual rental period, in this case one year, and without plausible reasons. leaves his service or refuses to work within that rental period without the consent of the service user, is punished with a fine of NLG 16 to NLG 25, or by working on public works for a living without pay (a shortened name for a light type of forced labor ), from 7 to 12 days.

It goes without saying, however, that such a provision provides nothing as a guarantee. The coolie enters the business with a debt of NLG 75 to NLG 100; during the working hours, before the fruits of his labor are obtained, that debt increases on average by NLG 10 a month. And if now only a threat of punishment not exceeding twelve days has to serve in order to ensure the payment of that debt, one will not get very far. Nor is it valid to demand that the prospects of the coolie contractor should keep him to the fulfillment of his obligation. After all, the obligation lasts for the time that he is in debt, for the time, therefore, that every breach is advantageous to him; his prospects only begin when the debt is settled.

To assert that a coolie who has received an advance, but has not yet earned it, can be prosecuted by civil law, makes no sense: first, because he will seldom come into such a position as to have a hold on his belongings, and secondly, because, as will be said later, the entrepreneur-moneylender does not demand and stipulate satisfaction of the debt in money, but in labor. The fact that the law does not provide guarantees is already a great difficulty, but it is even more difficult that the legal provisions make the once permitted, now existing industry completely impossible.

In the Indian Gazette 1875 n o . After all, 59 states: ‘It is considered necessary to lay down special regulations against deception and coercion when entering into and executing lease agreements with Eastern Foreigners, who are imported as mercenaries for the benefit of any enterprise of agriculture, trade or industry …. It is stipulated, among other things, that because of the local government, the company itself must be investigated as soon as possible whether the mercenaries have voluntarily acceded to the agreement, and this article 2 number 27 of the General Police Penal Code for Natives must be presented.

Fortunately for the industry, this regulation has so far remained a dead letter. No official has ever ventured to enforce this law; the provisions are also unenforceable, for in order to keep interrogating and educating the newly arrived coolies at the companies themselves, four extra officials in this department would have to be constantly ambulatory.

Suppose, however, that a conscientious official had followed the letter of the law, as everyone ought to have done, and had traveled to inquire of newly arrived coolies if they had voluntarily entered into the agreement to work to pay off the debt: what would have happened? It can be assumed with certainty that it would not have taken long for all the coolies, without exception, to declare that they had entered into the agreement only by compulsion; and evidence to the contrary would have been difficult, as contracts are entered into outside our colonies.

Or, if it is inconceivable that a Chinese coolie would make a false statement in his favor, I still wish to think the case that such a contractor had been made acquainted with the punishment of the police regulations, in other words, that he had been made clear, that he might evade payment of his debt incurred for the amelioration of his position by working 12 days or less at the expense of the Government. Such a disclosure should, for the sake of fairness, have been followed by the interpretation that after the end of punishment, the moral obligation to clear the debt or to complete the contract continued to rest on everyone, but no one should be forced to do so.

The consequences of that honest enforcement of the law would have been incalculable, for, first, no entrepreneur would have dared to hire new workers, and second, all the coolies present would have run away. Industry would thus have been made impossible, and in its place a country had been obtained, inundated by people belonging to the lowest class of Chinese society, without means of subsistence and without means of leaving the country. Robbery and murder would have been received as wages for guarding against coercion and arbitrariness; wind was sown, storm was reaped.

As I said, the provisions of the Indian Official Gazette 1875 n o . 59 has never been implemented, and the agricultural industry has thus not been made impossible here. But that was not enough. In order to make this industry viable, one had to go further, and a large measure of ‘compromise’, ‘compliance’, ‘give and take’ (say: only give ) was required.

To make this clear, I must point out the many wrong acts of the European planters, aimed at ensuring as far as possible the fulfillment of the contracts entered into by their coolies and to safeguard themselves against losses.

The entrepreneurs prevent their working people from leaving the plantations by all means available to them. When a worker runs away, he is immediately followed by people of the company. Should they fail to find the runaway, they usually fall into the hands of the neighboring population, who are always keen on catching coolies for the benefit that this brings them. She knows that if she hands over a runaway to the company, she will be paid a good tip.

The entrepreneurs must proceed to pay such a draft wage, because otherwise they need not have the slightest hope of any cooperation from the Malays.

The master, who recovers his runaway coolies, gives them, if they are not considered incorrigible, usually forgiveness (not counting, of course, the conceivable fee, which is written on their debit), not so much out of forgiveness as because they, on extradited to the police, in order to punish them for conscientious objection, of evil to worse.

It is true that most of the officials acting as heads of local government, and therefore as magistrates, are usually compliant enough to use their influence in order to return the coolies to their enterprise after their term of imprisonment, but there are also those who are what the planters call more narrow-minded and less directly concerned with this return.

And even though the entrepreneur can count on the greatest possible support from the Board, what guarantee does he have that the coolie who goes to prison will get out again? Much can happen in twelve days, especially in those barracks or carpenters which in Deli are called “the country’s prison”; they flee there by the dozen at once, through the walls, while Charon’s little boat is always made ample use for the crossing.

The uncertainty as to whether or not their coolies will return to the enterprises is therefore the reason why the industrialists hide as much as possible all petty offenses and crimes reported to the police in every order, or dismiss them themselves.

After all, he is always in danger of losing not only the accused but also the complainants and witnesses, for a coolie, once outside the district of the enterprise, especially at a port, does not return of his own accord to settle his debt.

These irregular acts of the planters are turned a blind eye by the officials; what is more, their side is also lending a hand by taking various, decidedly illegal measures. It is not necessary to dwell on it; they are to be blamed, but forced by the circumstances, and are indeed public and well-known enough.

However, it is felt that this must change. It is not a matter of civil servants perpetuating an industry by acting contrary to their duty. They forfeit the esteem of the planter they help, and are guilty to the Government, which they seek to preserve from harm and disgrace.

Yes – damage and shame!

Or would it not be a loss if an official made a flourishing industry impossible by conscientiousness and honesty, and left the Government with a division, with no significant sources of income, against expensive indemnification contracts entered into with Native princes?

And would it not be a shame that industrial enterprises, working with millions of capital, first admitted, endured by the enforcement of the law? It is really bad enough that they have existed for years due to the neglect of duty of officials.

And that shame would weigh especially double weight here, here, where our flag flies in the face of the stranger, our competitor, here, where that flag, relatively much more than elsewhere in our possessions, it must protect capital and the labor of the foreigner who counts on our hospitality.

May the untenable condition of this assistant residence be put to an end, therefore, which exposes us to harm and shame!

The road to be taken is open to us.

The first thing that must, of course, be done, is statutory regulation of the obligations entered into by workmen from abroad with their employer, assuming as a basis that an insolvent person who has engaged in full or partial advance payment is to produce labor, can be forced to supply it.

Is such an arrangement really so unheard of? Is it really so dreadful to compel workers to perform agreements entered into, that is, to work?

We, the Dutch, cannot find that so offensive, we, who owe millions in tax, because they are insolvent, have a tax on labor, the non-payment of which can be punished with forced labor, in other words we – those, as far as our state income is concerned, indeed consider that one can force the insolvent to pay only for labor, not for money.

Moreover, what Deli needs in order to exist is also applied elsewhere, for example at our neighbors of the Straits-Settlements, where work is done in a similar way as here with imported laborers. And these settlements cannot be called a land of slavery and bondage, any more than the nation colonizing there can be called a nation of stupid and barbarians, inaccessible to concepts of individual liberty.

In fact, it is in the nature of things that one cannot honor and better secure one’s rights than at the same time as the regulation of one’s obligations.

In addition, it is highly unfair to protect those who have nothing from arbitrariness and to deny the same protection to those who have so much to lose.

Such unfairness may be a result of the suspicion taken against Deli’s industrious colonists, but it is therefore all the more regrettable.

Still separate from that, it is not supposed that the coolies find a guarantee against ill-treatment in the freedom to discharge themselves from their obligations at any moment. That freedom given by law is only a premium on dishonesty, and that still mainly for Chinese.

Only in exceptional cases (the police judges in Deli can testify) does the coolie break his contract due to ill treatment. When he runs away from the company, he almost always does so tempted or teased by others who want to exploit their victim; never before has a runaway planned to pay off his debt that once improved his position.

Besides, if running coolies for ill-treatment were to be viewed as punishment to their master, would that be the right means of guarding against evil practices of entrepreneurs?

Wouldn’t that goal be achieved much better by introducing due process of justice for Europeans? What now for Europeanen in Deli, can hardly bear that name. There is, however, an assistant resident, overloaded with work, an assistant public prosecutor, but who wants to file charges there that must be heard in Batavia, at least five days away? Such a remedy is worse than the disease.

No, the good treatment of workers can be assured in some other way, and better, than by making it easy for them to break their bonds.

Besides, this treatment will improve in itself, if the entrepreneur is sure of his workforce, because then he can put more at the expense of it. Now every year important sums have to be made up, which were lost because of the runaway of coolies.

It is not in my plan to address here the points which should be included in a law governing the rights and obligations of imported workers, nor to discuss the many organizations and reorganisations that have yet to come about. , one wants to make a properly ordered department of this assistant residence.

My only aim is to point out that the situation of Deli is still precarious and that improvement has become urgently necessary, yes, since the repeal of the aforementioned article 2, number 27, has become inevitable. For those who, of late hearing nothing from Deli, think, “No tidings, good tidings,” be the above a warning; for those in power it is a prayer.

Should anything hurtful be found in this letter, either for the Government, or for the civil servants, or for the private persons, it is assured that no sighs, no grumbling, no spirit of animosity against whom or whatever the writer inspired the above considerations, but only the heartfelt conviction that only by exposing the truth will salvation come.

And that the writer earnestly desires that salvation is not only because this young colony is so extremely important, but also and above all, because here Nederland’s good reputation is at stake.

For it may be repeated one more time: it is a shame that a flourishing industry exists through lawlessness, but it would be double shame if it perished through the enforcement of the law!

Deli , 1879.

titus .

De Tijdspiegel. Jaargang 37(1880)