Stories from Deli

Szekely, 1920s There  is a great difference between one worker and   another.   The    contract   coolie,  the   so-called orang kontrak,   who  is  imported   from   China   or Java, hires himself  out for years at a stretch, receives an advance, draws a cross under a piece of  paper and, from then on, ceases to be a free man.…

Prins, 1910 Apie Prins (1885-1958) is the author of Ik ga m’n eige Baan  (I’m going to do my own job, publisher De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 1958), an autobiography, an eventful account of a ‘grand and compelling life’ of his life in Deli). Prins was a translator, journalist, casual workman, explorer, peace activist, bohemian and…

Ah Seng, The Cook from Onze bedienden in Indië (1948) by Madelon Székely-Lulofs The utmost sobriety for a planter was achieved in the relationship with the Chinese cook. Anyone who wanted to get rid of all responsibility for the food took on a Chinese cook. He was not a boy, only a cook. He minded…

The Career of Chaw A Hjong is a short story written by László Székely, a Hungarian planter working in Deli in the 1920s. This is one of the few stories written by European on the life of a Chinese Coolie in Deli. László mainly described the idiosyncrasy of a Chinese worker, who happened to be…