Stories from Deli

Kongsikang is a Chinese worker of less significance than the field coolie. Whether because of his unwillingness, unfitness or inexperience, he does not get a field to work, but helps the other coolies (kongsikang = cooperation) and receives a daily wage.

All stinkers can only be kongsikang, not all kongsikangs are stinkers. Not long ago the major of the Chinese in Medan pointed out that the designation “Kongsikang”; it is a term abused among the coolies and that it is better to replace that name with “tjapkang”. The Planters Committee has introduced the new name.

The kongsikangs received a daily wage of 20 cents, an exception of 25 cents. If the rule was that the account of the Chinese field coolie showed a decent balance at the end of the harvest year. It was different with the Inland coolies, mostly Javanese. The members of the Deli-Planters association paid them a monthly wage of $7 for men, $4.5 for women. The non-members paid mostly $6 and $3, which might be called an excessively meager remuneration, taking into account that those amounts were also cut for the repayment of the advance.

Besides the state of the wages we see the deduction from it, legal and also illegal. Legal withholding of wages for illness and punishment was imposed by the judge, but withholding for illness could be unfair, and later the provisions were also amended to overcome that unfairness.

The employer was allowed to make cuts to Javanese and kongsikangs if, in his opinion, the assigned task had not been properly completed. But the deduction from the daily wage was often at least half the daily wage, even when the shortage of work delivered was less than half.