THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND THE NATIVES.
Dutch possessions in the East--Government--Army and
navy--Administration--Development of natives--Raden
Saleh--Native dress--Cooking and houses--Rice
cultivation--Amusements--Marriage ceremony.
The Netherlands India, as the Dutch possessions in the East are
officially styled, includes the whole of the Malay Archipelago, with the
exception of the Philippine Islands belonging to Spain, part of Borneo
in the possession of the North Borneo Company, and the eastern half of
New Guinea, which is shared by Germany and England. The total area is
officially stated to be 719,674 square miles, and the total population
29,765,031. It is administered by a Governor-General, a Government
secretary, and a Council of State consisting of five members, who are
appointed from among the chief Dutch residents in the island of Java. As
all matters of general policy are controlled by the Secretary for the
Colonies, who is a member of the Home Government, the functions of the
Colonial Government are mainly executive and consultative. So close is
the connection that the colonial estimates for revenue and expenditure
have to receive the approval of the Home Government before they can be
carried out. Moreover, the various Government officials scattered
through the Archipelago are responsible to the Secretary for the
Colonies. There are colleges established both in Holland and in Batavia
in which the young men intended for the colonial service can receive a
suitable training.
The physical sanction upon which the Dutch authority rests is an army of
thirty thousand men, composed of Dutch, Germans, Swiss, Italians, and
natives, but officered exclusively by Dutchmen, and a navy of fifty
ships. Of these troops, a large proportion (amounting in 1891 to 16,537)
are native. The head-quarters of the army is fixed at Batavia. There
are barracks at Weltevreden, and at Meester Cornelis in the capital, and
additional accommodation has been recently provided at Buitenzorg. The
fleet is stationed at Soerabaia, a town which possesses the best harbour
in Java, and which is conveniently situated at the other end of the
island. There are, however, a few ships always stationed at Batavia. The
greater proportion of the fleet is composed of the ships of the
Netherlands Indian navy, which is permanently stationed in the
Archipelago; but there are among them some ships belonging to the Dutch
navy, which are relieved every three years.
At the present time, the chief occupation of the colonial forces is the
establishment of the Dutch authority in Sumatra. Since 1874 the natives
of Achin have successfully resisted the Dutch, and the Achin war has
proved so costly and so disastrous, that the Home Government have
ordered the operations of the troops to be confined to such as are
purely defensive. Acting under these instructions, the colonial forces
have retired behind a chain of forts, and all attempts to advance into
the interior have been abandoned. Last year (1891), Baron Mackay, the
Secretary for the Colonies, was able to assure the States General that
"excellent results were expected from the blockade system," now adopted,
and that the Achinese were already beginning to feel the inconvenience
of being cut off from their supplies of necessaries, such as opium and
tobacco. Java is by far the most important of the islands of the Malay
Archipelago. Its population is four times that of the total population
of the remaining Dutch possessions in the East. This population is
divided as follows (1890):--
Europeans. 48,783
Chinese. 237,577
Arabs. 13,943
Other
Orientals. 1806
Natives. 22,765,977
Total. 23,064,086
With the exception of the Chinese, the great retail traders of the Malay
countries, almost the entire population of the island is "native." This
term includes various branches of the Malay race, of which the chiefs
are the Javanese and Sundanese, occupying respectively the east and west
of the island. Separate dialects are also spoken by the people of
Bantam and Madura. There is little to distinguish the two chief races,
except that the Javanese are more warlike and spirited than the
Sundanese, who are somewhat more dull and almost entirely agricultural.
Speaking generally, the native population of Java is but little inferior
in intelligence to the native population of India, while in some
respects--in particular, in the readiness shown by the native princes to
assimilate European learning and customs, and in a certain artistic
sensibility manifested by the whole people--they resemble the
inhabitants of Japan.
The majority of the Javanese natives are employed in the cultivation of
rice; in work on plantations, sugar, coffee, cinchona, and tea; and in
various lesser industries, such as the making of mats and weaving of
_sarongs_. They are also by no means unskilful as workers in clay, wood,
and metals, and as artisans generally, and are successfully employed by
the Government in working the railways and post and telegraph services.
[Illustration: PALACE OF A NATIVE PRINCE. _Page_ 43.]
For purposes of administration the island is divided into twenty-four
residencies. Each residency is further divided into districts, and
finally into _campongs_, or townships. It will be remembered that when,
at the end of the eighteenth century, the Dutch Government took over the
island from the East India Company, they received possession of the
soil, subject only to such limitations as the company had already
imposed upon their ownership. Since that time the Colonial Government
has pursued a policy in Java similar to that pursued by the British in
India, by which the native princes have been gradually induced to part
with their territorial rights and privileges, and to accept in return
proportionate monetary compensations. At the same time the services of
these "princes" have been utilized in the work of government. As a
result of this latter, the sums paid originally as incomes equivalent to
the revenues derived from the rights surrendered have now come to be of
the nature of official salaries. Most of these regents, as the native
princes are called, receive from two to three thousand florins a year;
but some one or two, such as the Sultan of Djokja, and the Regent of
Bandong, receive as much as seventy or eighty thousand florins. The
Dutch have wisely employed as much as possible the social organization
which they found in existence, and native authorities and institutions
have been supplemented by European officials. In each residency there
is, therefore, a double set of officials, European and native. First of
all, there is the Resident, who resides at the chief town, and is the
head of all officials, European and native. Under him there are
Assistant-Residents, contrôleurs, and assistant-contrôleurs. The
contrôleur is an official more especially connected with the Government
plantations, and the regulation of the industrial relations between the
planters and the peasants, or coolies, is an important duty which he
fulfils. The Regent is the head of the native officials, but of course
inferior in authority to the Resident, whom he calls his "Elder
Brother." Under him is an officer called a _patih_, and then _wedanas_,
assistant-wedanas, and ultimately the village chiefs, or _loerahs_. In
addition to these there is a further official called a _jaksa_, who
ranks above the wedanas, and receives information of any offences
committed. In the villages the loerahs act as policemen, but in the
towns there are regular native policemen, called _oppas_, who also
attend on the wedanas. In each residency there is a court of justice,
consisting of a president, who is a paid legal official, a clerk of the
court, and a _pangoeloe_, or priest, for administering oaths. In this
court the jaksa sits as native assessor to the European judge-president.
There are superior courts at the three great towns, Batavia, Samarang,
and Soerabaia, and a supreme court at Batavia. Murder and crimes of
violence are generally rare, but small thieving is common throughout the
island.
The religion of the Javanese is Mohammedanism; although Brahmanism still
survives in some of the islands of the Archipelago, it has entirely
disappeared from Java. Until recent years the Colonial Government have
discouraged any efforts directed towards the conversion of the natives
to Christianity. The quietism of the Mohammedan creed was regarded as
better adapted to supply their religious needs than the doctrines of the
missionaries.
Of late years, however, a more generous policy has prevailed. As the
mass of the Javanese regard the native princes as traitors and
apostates, the Arab priests and hadjis have come to be recognized as the
popular leaders. It is they, and not the princes, who now form the
dangerous element. The priests are jealous of European influence, and
are ready to incite the natives to revolt if occasion offers, but in any
outbreak the native princes are the first to be attacked. A revolt in
Bantam had occurred some twelve months before the date of my visit
(1890). In return for some injustice, the Resident and his wife and
children were put to death by mutilation. The village in which this took
place was near Serang, the capital town of Bantam, and only seventy
miles from Batavia, and military assistance was obtained from both of
these places. The troops from Serang arrived in time to find the body of
the Resident's wife still heaving with the action of breathing. Fifty
or sixty of the natives were brought to justice for this murder, and six
of the ringleaders were shot. I was told that there were numerous secret
societies existing in the country, controlled by the Mohammedan
authorities in Arabia, and absolutely hidden beyond the reach of the
Government.[7]
The question of the moral and mental development of the Javanese natives
is one which has lately been much discussed, both in Java and in
Holland, and the result has been that the Colonial Government is now
fairly pledged to a humanitarian policy. The large sum annually
appropriated in the colonial budget to the purposes of public
instruction, is a sufficient evidence of the reality of the desire now
manifested by the Dutch to give the natives of Java full opportunities
for the education and training necessary for technical and industrial
progress. There can be no doubt as to the capacity of the natives to
benefit by such advantages. When D'Almeida visited the island thirty
years ago, he paid a visit to Raden Saleh, a native artist, who had been
sent to Holland to be educated there at the expense of the Colonial
Government. He had lived for twenty-three years in Europe, residing both
in that country and in Germany, and following the profession of an
artist. He was chiefly distinguished as an animal-painter, and made such
progress in art that he was commissioned by the late Prince Consort to
paint two pictures for him, illustrative of Javan life and scenery.
Raden Saleh subsequently returned to his native country, and D'Almeida
found him residing in an artistically furnished house with large and
beautiful gardens near Batavia. In the course of this visit he was asked
whether there were any other Javan artists who had attained similar
proficiency. He replied, "Café et sucre, sucre et café, sont tout-ce
qu'on parle ici. C'est vraiment un air triste pour un artiste."
[Footnote 7: At the time of writing I have come across the following
paragraph in the Java news column of the _Singapore Free Press_ for
February 23, 1892: "The _Nieuwsblad_ notes the arrival of a Turk from
Singapore in the _Stentor_, who is suspected of having the intention to
stir up the natives of Java. The police are paying attention to him."]
The artistic perception inborn in the Javan natives is nowhere more
clearly manifested than in the colour and form of their dress. Nothing
impresses the visitor more quickly or more pleasantly than the gay and
graceful groups which throng the streets or roads. The light cottons and
silken cloths which the natives wear are admirably suited to the
climate, and an exquisite taste seems to govern the selection of colours
and the fashion of wearing their garments. Both men and women alike wear
the _sarong_, a long decorated cloth wound round the lower limbs and
fastened at the waist; over this the former wear a _badjoe_, or short
open jacket, and the latter a _kabaia_, or cloak, closed at the waist by
a silver pin (_peniti_), and reaching down almost to the bottom of the
sarong. Over the right shoulder is gracefully flung a long scarf called
a _slendang_, used by mothers to carry their babies, and by the men as a
belt when they are engaged in any active work. A square cloth (_kain
kapala_) is worn on the head by men; it is folded in half diagonally,
and then folded over and round the head until it looks much like a
turban. On the top of this a wide straw hat (variously shaped) is
carried, to protect the wearer against the sun. The women, on the
contrary, wear nothing but their glossy black hair, or carry a bamboo
umbrella if they wish for a similar protection.
The native weapons are the bamboo spear, and the short wavy sword called
a _kriss_; but the only arm they carry nowadays is a _golok_, or
straight piece of iron with a handle and sheath, used for lopping off
boughs and cutting wood. The better class of natives use European
furniture, but the ordinary peasants and artisans, who live in a bamboo
cottage, use nothing but a single bed on which the whole family sleep,
and a chest for clothes, both made, like the house, of bamboo.
[Illustration: WOMAN COOKING RICE.
KOMPOR.
_Page_ 51.]
The staple diet is rice and dried fish, with vegetables and fruits:
cakes and pastry are rare luxuries, and purchased at the market or from
itinerant vendors. The cooking arrangements are very simple. Nearly
everything is cooked in a _priok_, or frying-pan, which is heated over a
_kompor_, or stove of earthenware, or on bricks on a flat stove raised
from the ground. In both cases charcoal is burnt, being made to burn
brightly by a fan. The rice (which is to them what bread is to us) is
not _boiled_, but _steamed_. A copper vessel (_dang-dang_) is filled
with hot water, and the rice is then placed in a cone-shaped bamboo
basket (_koekoesan_), which is placed point downwards into the vessel
and covered with a bamboo or earthenware top (_kekep_). The dang-dang is
then placed over the fire either in the _kompor_ or on the bricks.
Rice culture is the natural pursuit of the Javanese or Sundanese native.
Coffee, sugar, and tea he cultivates on compulsion for wages with which
to pay his taxes. Now the land of Java is divided into two classes, land
capable of being inundated by streams or rivers called _sawah_, and land
not so inundated called _tegal_, or _gaga_. On the latter only the less
important crops, such as mountain rice or Indian corn, are grown. On
sawah land the rice is grown in terraces, which are so arranged that,
without any machinery for raising or cisterns for storing the water, a
perfectly natural and perpetual supply is gained from the high
mountains, which serve here the same useful purpose that the great river
Nile does in Egypt. The small fields are worked with the _patjoel_, a
sort of hoe, and the large with the plough (_wloekoe_), and then
inundated. After ten or fifteen days they are hoed again, so that any
places not reached by the plough or hoe may be laboured, and the
intervening banks kept free from weeds and consequently made porous. The
large sawahs are also harrowed with the _garoe_; and, finally, small
trenches are cut for the water to flow from one terrace to another. When
the earth has thus been worked into a mass of liquid mud, the young
plants are transplanted from the beds in which they have been sown about
a month previously, and carefully placed in this soft mud. Inundation is
necessary until the rice is nearly ripe, which is naturally about August
or September. It is reaped with a short knife called _ani-ani_, with
which the reaper cuts off each separate ear with a few inches of the
stem; and the ears are then threshed by being placed in a hollow tree
trunk and there stamped with a _toemboekan_, a heavy piece of wood with
a broad end. The lands are ploughed, harrowed, and weeded by the men,
but the transplanting, reaping, and threshing is done by women.
A curious circumstance in rice-cultivation is the fact that side by side
the crops may be seen in each of the separate stages, planting and
reaping often going on simultaneously. Beside the rice, a crop of beans
or sweet potatoes is grown in the year, and the flooded terraces are
also utilized as fish-tanks, in which gold-fish are grown to the length
of a foot and a half and then eaten. They are brought to the market in
_water_, and so kept fresh, and, if not sold, are of course returned to
their "pastures" again.
The sawah plough is an interesting study. It is made in three
pieces--the pole (_tjatjadan_); the handle (_patjek_), which fits into
the iron-shod share (_singkal_). To this is attached a crosspiece or
yoke (_depar_), fitted with a pair of long pegs coming over the necks of
the oxen or buffaloes, and a crosspiece hanging under their necks and
fastened to the yoke by native cord. The ploughman holds the tail of
the plough with the left and the rod-whip (_petjoet_) with the right
hand. He drives and directs the big lumbering beasts by words or by a
touch of the rod. To make them go "straight on," he calls out, _Gio gio
kalen_; "Turn to the right" is _Ghir ngivo_; "To the left," _Ghir
nengen_; "Stop" is _His his_; and whenever they (or horses) incur the
displeasure of their drivers, they are invariably brought to a better
mind by hearing an unpronounceable exclamation something like _Uk uk_.
[Illustration: A BULLOCK CART. _Page_ 54.]
Another natural industry in which the Javanese are particularly skilful
is the making of mats. There are many varieties. A light sort of
floor-covering is made from the leaves of the wild pine-apple
(_pandan_); a stronger kind is the _tika Bogor_, or Buitenzorg matting,
which is made from the bark of a species of palm, and which is used to
cover walls and ceilings. Beside these, matting is made from rushes and
from the cane imported from Palembang, in Sumatra; while for the walls
of the houses a heavy matting of bamboo strips is used. The weaving of
sarongs is practised by the women all over Java, and the cooking and
household utensils, made both in copper and earthenware, indicate by
their forms a considerable taste. The Javanese carpenters are also very
clever, and both they and the Malays are skilful in imitating any
European designs which are handed to them. In spite, however, of this
natural aptitude for higher industries, the great mass of the native
population are compelled by the present commercial system to remain mere
peasants. Even so the cheapness and simplicity of the means of life
prevent them from being a joyless race. A plantation cooly generally has
two days in the week on which he does no work.
The public feasts are numerous, the chief being the _Taon Baru_, or New
Year, which falls at the end of the fasting month, which varies from
year to year. In 1890 it lasted from April 21 to May 21. During this
month the chiefs and the better class abstain from eating or smoking
from sunrise to sunset. Every village has its market once a week or
thereabouts, and after this there is generally a _wayang_, or puppet
show, and some mild amusement. The wayang is the most important of the
native amusements; for the theatre is a rare luxury, and confined
chiefly to the towns or to the courts of the native princes. It is a
very simple business--far beneath a punch-and-judy show in point of art,
but the audience watch the puerile display for five or six hours without
intermission. The theatre consists of pantomimic representations, with
which is mingled a ballet, the basis of which is ancient tradition. The
following story (which I have condensed from D'Almeida's book) is a
specimen. A certain King Praboe Sindolo of Mendang Kamolan, feeling
tired of the vanities of the world, retired to a hut, where he lived in
prayer and fasting. While thus living he was visited by a tempter, who
sought to rekindle his desire for the good things of this life.
Thereupon Praboe sent for a large bird and four vestal virgins to defend
him against the evil spirit. By a miracle he transformed himself into a
flower, around which the vestal virgins danced. By chance, however, a
princess passed that way, and, seeing a vase with beautiful flowers
therein, she chose and gathered one, which she carried to her home. This
she placed in water, when, to her surprise, it suddenly was transformed
into a young and graceful man. Even as she had cared for him did Praboe
care for her, and forthwith he became her lover, and cared nothing any
longer for the fasting and the cave.
Much of the Javan festivity is connected with the marriage ceremony,
which is always an occasion of feasting, greater or less, in proportion
to the wealth of the bride and bridegroom. There is a procession and
music, but the actual ceremony is very simple, although the accessory
festivities appear to be capable of almost indefinite extension.
Barrington D'Almeida, who visited the island in 1861, thus describes the
scene[8] which he witnessed in a house filled with guests:--
"On either side of the front room, on white Samarang mats, were
seated the elders of the village, priests, various friends,
relations, and acquaintances, all squatted cross-legged. Cups of
tea, _à la Chinoise_--that is, without milk or sugar--were
placed on handsome trays before each guest, as well as betel
nuts, cakes, a quantity of _rokos_, and other native
delicacies.... Followed by several of the guests, we entered
another room, which was very gaudily decorated, and furnished
with a low bed, the curtains of which were of white calico,
ornamented with lace, gold, silver, beads, and coloured bits of
silk. At the foot of this bed was a platform, raised about half
a foot from the ground, on which was spread a spotless white
mat, with several bronze trays containing cakes, etc. Whilst we
were inspecting this apartment we were startled by the din of
voices, followed by the sound of music, which, from its peculiar
character, was too near to be agreeable. 'The bride is come,'
said Drahman. The crowd was so great that it was some minutes
before we could catch a glimpse of her. Our curiosity was at
length gratified, while they were pouring water upon her small
naked feet. After this ceremony an elderly man, who, I was
informed, was one of her relatives, carried her in his arms to
the inner room, and placed her on the platform, where she sat
down on the left side of the bridegroom, who had followed her
in. She had a rather pleasing expression, but was much
disfigured by a yellow dye, with which her face, neck,
shoulders, and arms were covered, and which effectually
concealed her blushes.
"Her dress was very simple, consisting of a long sarong of fine
_batek_, passing under both arms and across the chest, so that,
though her shoulders were quite naked, her bosom was modestly
covered. This garment reached nearly down to the young bride's
ankles, and was confined round the waist by a silver 'pinding.'
Her hair was arranged in the usual Javanese style, with the
addition that on the knob at the back of the head rested a kind
of crown made of beads and flowers.
"On the left side of the girl sat an old, haggard-looking woman,
the waksie, or bridesmaid, on whose shoulders, according to the
wedding etiquette of the Javanese, rests no small share of the
responsibility.... She is expected to adorn the bride in the
most attractive manner, so as to please her husband and the
assembled guests; and she superintends all the ceremonies during
the celebration of the wedding.... The bridegroom, like his
bride, was yellow-washed down to the waist; his eyebrows were
blackened and painted to a point; he wore a variegated batek
sarong, fastened round the waist with a bright silk scarf,
through the folds of which glittered the gilt hilt of a kriss.
His hair fell on his back in long thick masses, whilst a
conical-shaped hat, made of some material resembling patent
leather, was placed on the top of his head. On one side of him
was seated his _waksie_, or best man, a boy dressed very much
like himself. I was told that the parents of the young couple
were absent, as, according to the usual custom in this country,
their presence is not expected at the wedding ceremony."
[Footnote 8: "Life in Java."
It is interesting to know that the ceremony by which the marriage
tie is dissolved is as simple as the marriage ceremony is
elaborate. All that is necessary is the consent of the parties; no
discredit is involved nor any suffering incurred, and the Arab
priest performs the divorce service for a sum so trifling as half a
florin! Probably the cheapness of food, and the ease with which
life can be supported generally in such a country and climate, is
the cause of this laxity of the marriage tie. As a Mohammedan, a
Javan peasant is permitted to have as many as four wives, but he
can rarely afford more than one, or two at the most.
[Illustration: A SAWAH PLOUGH.]