Stories from Deli

Bagan Si Api-Api

J.L. Vleming Jr. 1926 Bagan Si Api-Api is a subdivision of Bengkalis region, the most significant fishery in Sumatra’s East Coast. Besides the capital town of Bagan Si Api-Api, there are many smaller places in the estuary of the mighty Rokan river such as Panipahan, Kubu, Sinaboi, Sungai Siandam and Pulau Halang, where fishing and…
A visit to Deli

Gorton Angier, 1908 A few words may be devoted to another district amongst the many rich islands comprised in Netherlands India. Foreigners as well as Dutchmen are interested in tobacco estates on the east side of Sumatra. Deli is the chief district, and is reached in a night’s steamer run from Penang to the port…
On fallow and land use

Boersma, Deli in 1870-1880 The rule was that the land used for tobacco was to be left for ten years, to be able to make an annual planting of 300 fields, the planter had to dispose of about 3,000 baoe. If he had less and still wants to plant his 300 fields, he had to…
Labuhan
Chinese demonstration

On Sept 4 , 1946 In Medan, a 2 km long procession. More than 12,000 Chinese victims of Republican violence demonstrated for the Dutch and Chinese authorities. They demanded the maintenance of Dutch troops in the liberated area and a strong diplomatic policy of the Chinese Government in the Security Council.Banners were carried to underline…
1930 and the global economic depression

Ann Stoler, labor in 1930 Through 1930 labor unrest still showed no signs of subsiding. The total number of assaults and threats on supervisory personnel remained virtually the same as in 1929. On the Bah Boetong estate and several neighboring plantations in the far western district of the cultuurgebied, 400 workers participated in a work…
Report from Imperial Ching’s Envoy

Yen Ching Wang on 1886 Chinese fact finding mission In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, China had diplomatic representatives stationed in most Western capitals. The first imperial Chinese consulate was set up in Singapore at the end of 1877. All Chinese diplomats were required by the Ch’ing government to report regularly to…
Girlie man

Deli planters 1920s Emil Helfferich (1878-1974)‘s Südostasiatische Geschichten (Jever/Oldenburg, 1966), is an account of what happened to another German-speaker who made light of girlie-men: He was German, early 30s, and came from a forest ranger’s family in Hannover. If not poverty, then extreme thrift had probably stood at the cradle of him and his numerous siblings. He didn’t…
A letter from Valck

FC Valck, 1876 When I (Frans Carl Valck) was appointed Assistant Resident of Deli, I knew very well that I would not land in a “bed of roses”; but that I would find such an Augean stable as I did here, I could never have imagined. (28 October 1876) It would be a miracle indeed,…
Story from the boats

Pickering, 1870-80s Over decades Chinese laborers came by the millions to help make the Dutch dream of record profits a reality. Chinese coolies—poor, illiterate, and usually among the most forlorn of “voiceless” populations—spoke into the official record, usually in the courts. This selection memorialized by the “Protector of Chinese” in Singapore shows these forces at…