Stories from Deli

Europeans in Deli

Anthony Reid, Deli in 1920-30 In the eyes of Western capitalism at the end of the nineteenth century, the scattered Malay and Batak indigenous population of East Sumatra might not have existed. The area was a frontier; whose essential image was a European planter and a team of perspiring Chinese coolies clearing a patch of…
A land of gold

Tan Malaka, 1919-1921 A land of gold, a haven for the capitalist class, but also a land of sweat, tears, and death, a hell for the proletariat. The very memories of Deli at the time I was there (December 1919 to June 1921) even now tear at my heart. There the sharp conflict between capital…
The Chinese Coolie Traffic from Hong Kong

The Times, February 18, 1890 An incident which has recently occurred at Singapore shows the practices by which Chinese coolies are, in effect, still kidnapped. A German steamer from Hong Kong arrived outside Singapore harbour and signalled for the police. On the arrival of a force, the captain explained that he had over 200 coolies…
Coolie hospital in Sumatra.

Lancet, 1899 THAT the true spirit of colonisation is largely developed in the people of Holland is shown by their intelligent and humane management of their possessions in the East Indian. Archipelago. Five of the principal private companies in North-Eastern Sumatra maintain well-equipped hospitals for the benefit of their coolies and other dependents, while even…
Planter

Overdruk uit DE PLANTER No. 553 30 April 1934 van Hel Tweede Hoofdstuk (tweede deel) der historische samenvatting omtrent het vijf en twintig – Jarig bestaan der V.v. A. I. D. VAKVEREENIGING VOOR ASSISTENTEN IN DEU DE GESCHIEDENIS VAN DE ASSISTENTENREGELING • „Ik houd er aan vast, dat voor de Assistentenregeling ter…
Zijlker, from Tobacco to Oil

Aeilko Jans Zijlker, born May 1830, of rich Groningen farmers’ stock, was one of those who tried their luck in tobacco in Deli. When Sumatra’s East coast was opened up, he moved from his first plantation in Eastern Java to the Lepan river area, where he managed plantations of the East Sumatra Tobacco Company. In…
Senembah

Karl Pelzer (1978) Among the many companies operating in East Sumatra after 1870, a few deserve special note for their unique contributions to the development of social features that improved the relationship between planters and their laborers or the conditions under which the latter worked. Perhaps the most important was the Senembah Company, which operated…
Pram on Millions of Deli

Pram and Pelzer on the Millions of Deli (1902) Pramoedya Ananta Tour in Jejak Langkah (Footsteps), 1985 wrote: … I learned in Millions from Deli, a story written by the Dutch lawyer J. van der Brand who had worked in East Sumatra. Brand had exposed the exploitative practices of the tobacco plantations in Sumatra. I…
Children’s souvenirs

Louis Couperus. 1911. Tell me, I say; tell me from Deli … “Oh,” my wife says, and she shudders, her hands covering her face for a moment. Those three years in Deli … I’ll never forget them. I was ten years old, thirteen when we left. I had such a romantic childhood that I really…
Deli in Novels

Willem Brandt. 1948. De Aarde van Deli. The Hague: van Hoeve Dixon, C. J. 1913. De Assistent in Deli. Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy. Dixon gives advice on how to become an assistant in Deli tobacco plantation. Gorter, Hendrik. 1941. Delianen: schetsen uit het plantersleven op Sumatra’s Oostkust. Amsterdam: L. J. Veen. Gorter, Hendrik. 1953.…