Stories from Deli

Deli Courant 23-05-1902

East Coast of Sumatra.
The budget of a skilled Chinese tobacco planter can be estimated as follows: with a planting of 16,000 trees, he can expect an annual income of 112 dollars. From this, 8 dollars are deducted for shoes and clothing, 5 for tools, 8 for labor assistance, and 2.5 dollars per fortnight (or 60 dollars per year) for advances, leaving 35 dollars to cover all other needs. The tandil (foreman) keeps a kedai (shop), where he must often buy everything at high prices, and from which some administrators even demand profits (8). His payment is made in vouchers, only valid on the estate, which sometimes become worthless after a theft, despite the harm caused to many. His contract is only valid for three years; after that, he must be released, even if he still owes the estate.

The older workers, the laukeh, are often lured with bonuses to recruit fellow countrymen in China, which inevitably leads to various abuses. Not uncommon are murder attempts on the tandils, sometimes due to extortion, other times due to jealousy over male lovers, which seems to cause no shame. The number of crimes is rising: in 1894, there were 148; in 1898, 180; in 1900, 236; and in 1901, 209, or 2 per thousand coolies. Safety is much better in areas where Malays and Bataks live than in those where Chinese coolies rob and murder, Javanese steal, and Banjarese fight and wound.

The conditions in Deli are far from rosy, and while not all of it is the fault of European capitalists, much could be prevented by better-regulated wage labor and less shameless exploitation of those bound by advances. Entirely different conditions will emerge when free labor replaces the current coolie contract. That free labor is possible is proven in the Straits Settlements and many other countries in similar situations. For public works, there are always plenty of free coolies available for a daily wage of 30 to 40 cents. While manual labor would become more expensive, the prosperity of an industry should not be bought at the cost of such terrible conditions, suffering, and demoralization. From such enormous profits, higher wages can certainly be paid, even if some European employees have to settle for lower salaries and incomes than 30, 50, 60, or 150 thousand guilders.

The average earnings of non-European workers can be summarized as follows: A Chinese tandil earns 319 dollars per year, a field coolie 185, a kongsi coolie 72. A Kling earns 96 dollars, and a Bengali 115 dollars. For Javanese, 258 dollars for some head mandors, 135 for a mandor, and 85 dollars for a coolie is already generously calculated. In 1901, the selling price for 224,000 bales of tobacco, or 35.8 million pounds, averaged 1.11 guilders, with a total cost of 70 to 76 cents, leaving a profit of 86 cents per 1.5 kilograms, or 12,890,000 guilders for the entire harvest. On coffee estates, the average wage for a Javanese man is 76 dollars per year, and for a woman no more than 40 dollars. After deducting advances, only 43 guilders per year remain to cover all needs, with nothing paid during illness.

The consequences of this meager payment have already been touched upon. Do not misunderstand me! These disgraceful conditions do not occur everywhere; there are estates that have a more humane view of the work contract and do not so egregiously exploit the poverty and naivety of Javanese and Chinese. There are estates that genuinely show some heart for their wage slaves, sometimes generously donating money for charitable purposes at the expense of whose happiness they have made their millions. Such conditions are known to me, but it is equally clear that beyond the abuses brought to my attention, many more injustices occur.

V. Disease and Mortality Among Deli Coolies.
Oddly, statistics on the mortality of contract coolies have only been kept for the last two years. From the data kindly provided to me, I will extract only this: in 1901, there were 33,468 contract workers, of whom 4,403 died during the year, or 44 per thousand. In 1900, these figures were 106,160 and 4,296 deaths, or 41 per thousand. The most common diseases are anemia, fevers, dysentery, eye diseases, leg wounds, and ulcers. Tuberculosis seems relatively rare despite the dust in the tobacco sheds, but the number of lame, blind, insane, and epileptic individuals is by no means small. Dysentery is also a major factor in mortality, not to mention syphilis, dropsy, and heart disease.

Anemia, or tropical chlorosis, which we encountered as “miner’s anemia” in Ombilin, is characterized by the presence of intestinal worms (ankylostomiasis). The likely cause of this worm disease is drinking poor water and inadequate nutrition. Heart disease also seems to occur due to the strain of excessively heavy labor. In general, a kind of apathy seems to overcome these physically weak people; many look as if they have lost all desire to live, and they await death with indifference. An investigation into their past would likely reveal a long series of misery and deprivation; these people are all too often the victims of overwork and malnutrition. Those lifeless faces, those staring eyes, I still see before me when I think of my visit to some of the Deli hospitals.

As a rule, medical care on the wealthy estates is good, but on the smaller and coffee plantations, much, if not everything, is lacking. The hospitals in Medan are beyond praise. The Deli Hospital is the central establishment of the Deli Company’s estates, a splendidly located, spacious, and airy facility for over 400 patients. Those with infectious diseases and dysentery are cared for in separate buildings by doctors who show dedication to their noble profession. In the emigrant asylum, established in 1888 through the princely generosity of some donors, the blind, lame, insane, and those suffering from epilepsy or heart disease are lovingly cared for. From 1888 to 1901, 1,137 were cared for in the regular asylum and 374 in the leprosy ward. The 150 available places prove insufficient to meet all requests for admission. Some have been there for 13 years. A Kling struck by lightning, whose hands had turned into dragon claws and whose feet had shriveled into stumps, drew pitying attention and astonishment that someone in such a miserable state could still cling to life.

Of the European medical care, a charitable institution where even the poor are helped by dedicated nurses, only good can be said. The same cannot be said for the hospital for prostitutes and the Chinese hospital. The latter, thanks to the generosity of the Chinese Major and Captain, was a filthy hovel with black walls, stinking air, and a dirty sewer. Of the 200 patients, 80 owed their illness to opium use, and 40 were afflicted with beriberi. Coolies and Chinese not working on the plantations are admitted here. In the hospital for prostitutes, the victims of our social system are gathered in a grim mix. Amid foul air, I found a few dozen Chinese, Javanese, Japanese, and even European-blooded women shamelessly sitting on long wooden bunks, alongside a dying beriberi patient and an insane woman.

The Chinese leprosy asylum nearby was a dark and filthy place where, amid dirty bunks in a gloomy room, some of these unfortunate people busied themselves with weaving baskets sold in the city. A completely different impression was made by the European leprosy asylum, mentioned earlier. There were now 87 patients present, who often escaped through the barbed wire to beg in Medan or pursue pleasures. The sad spectacle of these men with swollen faces, swollen earlobes, and bronze-colored skin, whose arms twisted and hands curled, whose nipples swelled, and whose noses developed sores, while their extremities rotted away, defies description. Isolation on a remote island, where their fate can be alleviated without danger to others, is and remains an unavoidable duty for the Indian government.

VI. Coolie Abuse.
For years, complaints have been made, often faithfully denied, but new facts have repeatedly confirmed earlier accusations. What a long series of often cruel abuses could be compiled from the pages of various publications, and this for years, especially in earlier times. From the Contributions à la Géographie Médicale de l’Archipel Malais by Dr. J. A. Schuddeboom, written in 1898, I have had to mention a chamber of shameful facts. Mr. Cremer, then minister, tried to discredit the author, who had only a scientific purpose, but achieved the opposite.

(To be continued.)
H. van Kol.

3. One often cites the 2 million dollars remitted to China by checks in the last three years, in addition to the cash sent. However, when one considers that this amounts to barely 18 guilders per coolie per year, and that it may come from the head tandils, this is very insufficient proof.

In 1901, the coffee estates produced 33,000 piculs of Liberian coffee; the cultivation is promising, but low prices caused a sharp crisis. This disease is now being brought to Java by coolies from the Ombilin mines.

4. Mr. Mulier pointed out in the meeting on March 1st in Medan that officially in May 1900, 200 leprosy patients were known in Deli, while Mr. Quithoven estimated 1,500 as early as 1890. Many are settled on Petissa as vegetable growers, and others have imported this incurable disease among the Batak tribes. In Medan, they touch goods in the market with their poisoned fingers and bathe in the river among the healthy population.