Stories from Deli

A Seng and Pieter Klaassen

EMIGRANTS AND OTHER STORIES BY M. H. SZÉKELY-LULOFS “A Seng !!”… “Toewan”… Somewhere, way back from the farthest outbuildings of the assistant’s house, the long-drawn-out reverberation sounded. A minute later, panting and with his bathtub only half on, A Seng ran into the front veranda, then stood waiting and catching his breath in front of…
Rural Sanitation in the Tropics

Rural Sanitation in the Tropics by Malcolm Watson (1915). http://watcut.uwaterloo.ca/rural-sanitation/Sumatra.html 6 Notes on Sumatra Across the Straits of Malacca from the Malay Peninsula lies the island of Sumatra, part of Netherlands India. At its nearest point it is only 35 miles from the Peninsula, and, at its northern end, it is no more than 100…
Guide to Deli

Johan Frans van Bemmelen, 1897 Guide to the Dutch East Indies: Composed by invitation of the Koninklyke Paketvaart Maatschappij (Royal Steam Packet Company) http://seasiavisions.library.cornell.edu/catalog/sea:165 FROM BATAVIA TO DELI. For those who wish to reach Deli (Langkat, Serdang) in the quickest manner, the direct steamer of the Royal Packet Company to the Belawan is the best…
Cabo

Madelon Lulofs, De andere wereld It was a quiet evening, without a moon, but full of starlight. Perhaps it was even more pleasant to take a walk after the long boat trip … He left the hotel garden. At once he was assailed by a dozen rickshaw koelies, who showered him with a flood of wild, incomprehensible…
The Opulent Sultanates

Anthony Reid, DELI-LANGKAT-SERDANG: THE OPULENT SULTANATES,1920-30s Prior to the devastating invasion of the foreign plantations East Sumatra had been the home of a primarily agricultural population of coastal Malays, and Karo and Simalungun Bataks. It was the three Malay statelets of Deli, Langkat, and Serdang, in the tobacco-growing area, which experienced first and most intensively…
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…