Stories from Deli

Deli Courant 22-05-1902

East Coast of Sumatra. I. Medan.
When, on March 23rd, I slowly sailed down the Simpang-Anas River on the government steamer De Brak, I felt that entirely different travel impressions awaited me. I was leaving the scene of years of stubborn struggle and fierce conflict to enter a region of peaceful industrial development; after Aceh, it was Deli’s turn…

By midday, we arrived at Pangkalan Brandan, the main establishment of the Koninklijke Petroleum Maatschappij (Royal Petroleum Company), where, under the enjoyment of a tropical sun, I immediately took the opportunity to carefully inspect the enormous installations for petroleum refining. More on that later in a separate article, once I have visited more petroleum enterprises.

My plan to travel to Deli overland was changed on the advice of the company’s administrator, Mr. de Voogt, who kindly offered me a steam launch, allowing me to “sleep peacefully on board” and reach Belawan without fatigue. With the Zeta, we left this American petroleum town late in the evening and were soon in open sea. However, there was no “peaceful sleep” to be had, as I had to cling to the mast with both arms to avoid being thrown overboard by the dizzying rolls of our slender but fast-moving vessel—a fate that nearly befell my servant. After several hours of this tender embrace (with the mast), we arrived in the harbor of Deli, Belawan, just before sunrise. In the distance, the blue mountains of the Batak lands; nearby, the large Chinese wangkangs with dragon heads, bringing work materials for the tobacco plantations. The steamships in the harbor; the mix of races and the bustle hinted at the approach of a region where life and activity were concentrated. The sight of a native woman with a leprous chest holding an infant; the sad spectacle of Chinese prisoners in chains—these immediately made me aware of the darker sides of European industry.

Through an unhealthy swamp, over a long bridge that has claimed many lives, the railway passed the deserted and abandoned Labuan Deli, through fallow fields to the electrically lit, rich, and luxurious Medan. Few cities on earth contain such a rich diversity of peoples and races as this city, which owes its entire rise to tobacco cultivation. Just eight years ago, it was jungle and swamp, home to elephants and tigers; now, broad streets lined with large and beautiful houses are filled with people of all skin colors, customs, and religions. (!)

The Kling walks around with his fierce eyes and his wife in red cloth, warm-colored skin, and a silver ring through her nose. The proud Afghan strolls among warlike-looking but actually timid Bengalis. Bataks and Sikhs, Ceylonese and Javanese, Hindus and Chinese with Japanese shoes, all mingle peacefully. And each people maintains its own national character and customs. The Chinese shopkeeper lights lanterns on holidays and candles on the household altar; the Chinese Major has a genuine Chinese house built at great expense by Mongolian craftsmen; the Chinese laborer brings the vices of his race. The European imprints his clothing, food, and housing with a Western stamp; the Javanese and Malay celebrate their weddings and other festivals as in their villages… Everything points to the wealth of a few. The Sultan lives in an Oriental palace and wastes fortunes on expensive uniforms; the Resident has an expensive but ugly house; the administrator of the Deli Company enjoys a higher income than our Viceroy of the Dutch East Indies. Life here is expensive and enjoyed to the fullest.

A fertile soil and regular rainfall (2) have granted this region a kind of tobacco monopoly in terms of the fineness of texture and toughness of fibers, and thus enormous wealth to all who knew how to profit from it in time.

II. Cultivation.
Former swamps were drained, canals dug, forests cleared, and after yielding tobacco, left fallow to slowly reforest with Albizia and other fast-growing tree species. The original population of a few hundred natives was pushed aside by an imported population that now numbers more than a third of a million. But outside Medan, one sees only a monotonous, saddening plain, where wild shrubs grow among tall alang grass, and only tobacco fields or dry rice fields in some places accentuate the barrenness of the area. As for cultivation, only the expansion of pepper plantations can be noted, along with some coconut, sago, and betel nut; due to low prices, nutmeg is disappearing, and otherwise, Deli stands or falls with tobacco cultivation. Only coffee, and mainly Liberian coffee, deserves mention in this context.

III. Labor Forces.
In 1900 and 1901 combined, 14,151 Javanese and 30,647 Foreign Orientals were brought in, totaling 56,783 immigrants. Of these, 3,521 and 16,998 respectively left in those two years, totaling 30,549 workers. An Emigration Bureau, established by the planters, hires ships, engages laborers in China, and buys them at a fixed rate, then distributes them among the enterprises. The Controller registers them and is tasked with ensuring the faithful enforcement of the ordinance. Whether this oversight is sufficient in practice—for example, to accurately track mortality and ensure release at the end of the three-year contract—can be seriously doubted. The Dutch Minister-Resident in China in 1888, Mr. Ferguson, refused to cooperate in this “human trafficking,” and the German envoy lent his support, in exchange for which he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Dutch Lion.

The Javanese, who sign a “free” contract with each planter individually, go directly to the respective estates. That serious abuses, fraud, deception, and exploitation occur during recruitment in both countries can hardly be denied any longer. These abuses have finally become world-famous; further explanation is unnecessary… Many other extremely important objections can be raised against the coolie contract, and even its principle must be condemned. Rightly, Mr. de Coningh declared in the meeting of the Indian Union on March 29th of this year in Medan that the contract-coolie system is morally indefensible, as it is “a disguised, and not even heavily disguised, albeit temporary, slavery.” That free immigration is desirable will be denied by few, but many believe, rightly or wrongly, that they cannot make their business profitable under slavery, and therefore maintain the existing thoroughly vicious system with all sorts of sophistries.

Articles 11 and 13 of the Coolie Ordinance (established by Government Decree on July 13, 1889, State Gazette 138, and revised by Decree on March 11, 1891, State Gazette 70) clearly indicate the slave-like fate of the coolie. Among other things, punishment is threatened against anyone, European or native, who dares to shelter a runaway coolie. The contempt with which some of the newly rich often speak of these “stinkers” and “contract coolies” points to callous indifference. Allowing gambling during re-engagement periods to keep them in debt; permitting prostitutes on the estates; drawing up contracts in heavily depreciated dollars; and the disgracefully low wages paid to Javanese women—all too clearly prove that the ordinary rules of morality are trampled underfoot in dealing with these unfortunate fellow humans.

IV. Wages.
The wages of the Javanese were set by ordinance at 6 dollars when the dollar was worth 2 guilders, thus 12 guilders per month; the Javanese even speak of “ringgit,” i.e., 2.50 guilders in their eyes. Now that the value of the dollar has fallen to 1.10 guilders, on many estates a Javanese laborer receives no more than 4.40 guilders in hand. The better-paid, who receive 7 to 8 dollars, must deduct 3 dollars for food, 1.50 dollars for advances, and thus have little or nothing left from the remaining 3 to 4 dollars, unless their income is supplemented by gambling or the prostitution of their wives, which is no exception! Unmarried women have 1/3 dollar deducted from their 3-dollar advance, and another 1/10 dollar for tools, leaving only 2.20 dollars to meet all their needs. No wonder, then, that prostitution is almost the rule among these misled people, and that many mothers gladly sell their “garden children” to the highest bidder, as I heard evidence of. The venereal diseases contracted on the plantations mean that, as one doctor dared to tell me, half of the Javanese women in Upper Serdang were syphilitic. In many hospitals, I saw them in large numbers, sometimes even not yet fully grown children.

The Planters’ Association finally recognized the scandal of such wages for by no means light work and set the minimum wages for men at 7 dollars and for women at 4.50 dollars per month; the coffee estates still adhere to 6 and 3.25 dollars per head. (To be continued.)

H. v. Kol.

1. Medan had 12,724 inhabitants, including 459 Europeans.
2. In the last 10 years, from 1892 to 1901, the average rainfall was 2,039 mm over 139 days, spread over all months of the year. February was the driest month with 95 mm, and October the wettest with 256 mm.