Stories from Deli

De Witte Sociëteit Medan or The White Society , as the name said, is a White Supremacist club established in Medan.

The Dutch White Supremacist club ‘Sociëteit de Witte’ was founded in September 1879. A provisional accommodation was built in 1882. A new building was built in 1887 at Esplanade, next to the post office. The Club House was built later, now at jl. RA Kartini.

As a white society, it is exclusive for the white, and no inlander would be allowed.

Ladislao Szekely described how the White in Deli:

“There is no place in Europe that presents this much power. Only here can a person become the real ruler. For all that is needed is white.”

“The first thing I learned in Sumatra was that there are two kinds of people in the world: white and coloured. The white man, he is the master, master and ruler in the strict sense of the word.”

“If a white man walks into a store, let us say into the store of a Hindoo millionaire-the millionaire will bow low before the tuan, who may be a runaway sailor or a card-sharper or a swindler, but he is a white tuan. If you want to get into a vehicle, and a coloured woman happens to be sitting in it waiting for her. husband who is shopping in a store, she will immediately get out and offer you the carriage.

The whites live entirely separate. There are two worlds: the white and the coloured. There are separate compartments in the trains for the whites. Not that “Only for white gentlemen!” -is written on the outside; there is no written law for it, but everyone knows and observes it. It goes without saying that the hotels, clubs and restaurants of the white man are not open to the coloured. Japanese and Chinese, however, do not count as coloured.”

Tan Malaka said “With a white skin, a big stick, a few words of market Malay and thirteen godverdommes, they could get all the knowledge and experience from the chief mandoer (foreman).”

Szekely-Lulofs in De Andere Wereld wrote:
And now while we’re at it I’ll teach you a few things, the ABC’s of our relations with the natives . … Every native must get out of (or step down from) his vehicle when encountering a white, a company building, office, shed, or house and not get on again until he is at least 10 meters distance . … You may find this somewhat excessive, but you must not forget that we whites stand alone against the masses, and we can only maintain ourselves by such rigid regulations which must function as a form of discipline and restraint.

Ironically, now it is called Medan club, an exclusive club of inlanders.