Footsteps (44 page)

“What is there that I can do to help?”

“I have long had the desire to publish a magazine for women. Until now there has been no one able to work on it. In the meantime, how would you feel, Princess, about helping edit such a magazine?”

Her eyes were full of questions. Then: “I have never done work of any kind. How could I help edit a magazine?”

“Do you agree, Princess, that the treatment of women is an important question?”

“But I don’t know anything about such things.”

“Of course, you will have to be helped to begin with.”

She went silent, thinking.

“Of course Princess is unable to answer straightaway,” I said. “Let me help you answer. Princess agrees to help us, and has no
objections, and is not repelled by the idea of being helped.” I looked at her for some time.

She didn’t retreat from my gaze for a long time either; then she looked down.

“You should go home now, Princess. I will visit your house later on and bring with me news of what our lawyer says about your case.”

She hesitantly rose from her chair, and bowed, saying goodbye. I escorted her to the door, and handed her over to her maid who was sitting sleepily in the corner.

“Heh,” I said in Sundanese to the maid. “Take your mistress safely home now, all right?”

“Your servant, Master.”

The Princess of Kasiruta, carrying her yellow umbrella, walked ahead of her maid. Neither of them turned to look back.

Back in my office my heart cried out, telling me: You have been victorious! She knew that your gaze was a gaze of admiration for her as a woman. You also know now that she is under your influence. And then Ter Haar’s warning came to me: Do not use your publication for furthering your own ambitions! Then quickly came a reply: This is not a matter of personal ambition; this is just something between a man and a woman.

Then Wardi and another man came into the office from the print shop. The other man was an Indo. He looked familiar.

“Mas,” Wardi began, “I’ve brought an acquaintance of mine. Let me introduce him.”

He was none other than Douwager. I suddenly remembered a letter Mir Frischboten had sent me about him.

“You have been in South Africa and England?”

“How did you know that?”

“But it wasn’t reported where you were wounded. You have come straight from England?”

Without anyone to do the formalities, we all sat down. And I sensed that he was somewhat anxious, Wardi too.

“No, Meneer. I have not come straight from England. I have traveled to many other countries on my way here. In India I was arrested and jailed for quite a while. When I was released I had to promise never to enter a British colony again. Then I came straight home to the Indies.”

I almost told him that Mir was in Bandung. But I didn’t. What was the point?

“I’ve brought Edu here so that perhaps you two can come to agreement on one or even more things. Go on, Edu,” said Wardi, calling him by his nickname.

“I have heard from Wardi that you have an idea about the need for an organization that has an Indies character. Like Wardi, you don’t fully support the Boedi Oetomo. I don’t support the idea of organizations based on a single race or ethnic group either. Could you explain to me your ideas on this question?”

For some reason, his request made me feel uneasy. There was a kind of arrogance in the way he asked his question. It was he who said that Natives could not yet run a newspaper. Perhaps, from the moment he set off from his house, his intention has been to come here to give me a lesson of some kind. And in any case, what business is it of an Indo what kind of organization Natives build for themselves? If he wanted to, he could join up with one of the big Indo organizations like Soerja Soemirat.

I looked quizzically at Wardi. He hurried to offer an explanation: “Mas,” he began, gently, “let me explain to you what has happened.” He looked at Douwager to keep him quiet. “After seeing the situation in South Africa, Edu came up with some ideas that might be of use to us. In South Africa, you see, there are three peoples—English, Dutch, Natives—as well as various Asian aliens such as the Slameier exiles from Java, Indians, and Arabs. The war over who would rule South Africa was indeed won by the stronger army of England. But even with the British victory, it is the Dutch who still hold power over the Natives and the other colored peoples. The Natives remain a subjugated people.”

“Everyone knows that, Wardi. The Natives remain oppressed.”

“Yes, that is the fate of a people who have not progressed.”

“It’s not a question of not having progressed. The Natives are not allowed to progress, they are not educated to advance themselves. These are two quite different things both in substance and appearance,” I said.

Wardi went silent and Douwager took over. It was probably their intention to try to draw some comparison between the Indies and South Africa. I knew what Wardi was like. He had begun to think about bigger things, the question of power, for example. It was likely that his relationship with Douwager was connected with his interest in that. He had also spoken about the Dutch
farmers in South Africa who had founded their own republics free from the authority of either the English or their own homeland—the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic.

“Yes, it’s true that the Dutch settlers actually established their own colony there, whereas they haven’t done that in the Indies.” He had reached the final part of his argument. “But there are more similarities than differences. In both South Africa and the Indies, the Dutch have established their authority, one in conjunction with and one independent of the mother country.…”

It seemed that Wardi and Edu had formulated an analysis of two kinds of power that ruled in each of these far-apart places. In South Africa it was a power that ruled independently, and in the Indies it was a power that was still tied to Holland. It was easier for the Dutch in South Africa, they thought, because there were more of them. In the Indies they were a very small group. But there was a group that was greater in number than the Dutch, and virtually just as advanced. They were the Eurasians, Indos. And if to them were added the educated Natives…

I remembered the story of how Multatuli had been accused by the colonial newspapers of wanting to be a white emperor ruling over the peoples of the Indies, independent of the Netherlands!

“I’m not finished yet, Mas.”

“Good, please continue.”

It seemed that both Wardi and Douwager had sensed that I was not happy. Wardi continued carefully:

“We think that the ideas Edu has worked out based on these observations can be used to have a more successful go at reviving or building something like the Sarekat, which we have to admit has failed. You’ll listen to him, won’t you?”

“Please go ahead.”

“Now, you explain your ideas, Edu.”

“Yes, my friend.” Douwager took over. “I have heard from Wardi about the failure of the Sarekat Priyayi. We are of the same opinion, actually—namely, that it failed to unify the educated and advanced groups. The Sarekat tried to organize those who had received their positions from the government, a layer of people who are actually satisfied with their lot. This would only have led, even if the organization had kept functioning, to consolidating the priyayi in their positions and strengthening their privileges.
As soon as it became clear that the organization could not do that, especially as it required of them new responsibilities, they dropped it. It collapsed.”

“And it was the original intention of the Sarekat to unite the educated and advanced groups,” Wardi explained, “but it didn’t turn out that way.”

It seemed that both of them were hoping that I would try to defend myself. But I didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, the key thing is that the idea behind the Sarekat was correct. Indeed, it still needs to be carried out somehow. The real question is, exactly who are the educated and advanced groups in the Indies?” Douwager continued. “Not the priyayi. It is my observation, my friend, that in the Indies, as soon as a person receives a position with the government he ceases to act as an educated person. He is immediately assimilated into the priyayi mentality—inflexible, greedy, corrupt, and with an insatiable appetite for others to bow down to him. I think the people we have to try to unite are not the priyayi but perhaps those who do not hold any position with the government.”

“Those who hold no position, Mas, we can call them ‘the independent people,’ not servants of the government; their ideas and activities are not fenced in by any allegiance to the government.”

No government position, free and independent people—this concept awakened my consciousness. The two of them were right.

“Continue, Mr. Douwager.”

“The farther away from any government position a person is, the more free their spirit becomes, the bolder their ideas. This is because their thinking is more flexible and dynamic. They can be more productive and creative. They have more opportunity to take initiatives. They’re not closed off and haunted by the fear of being dismissed at any time.”

“It’s very rare to come across an Indo who does not work for the government.”

“Forgive me, my friend. If you use the word
Indo
there always seems to be a racial connotation. Perhaps it’s better if we use the word
Indisch
meaning ‘of the Indies.’ The word
Indo
doesn’t seem to really carry any political meaning. But
Indisch
does have that connotation.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“This is precisely the matter we wish to discuss. From what
I have heard from Wardi, you hold the view that the Indies is made up of many peoples and that its character is multiracial”

“Yes, I told him that this was your view, Mas.”

“In my opinion, this is where we have slightly different views. The Indies is not multiracial in character. The Indies has only one people, the Indisch. This idea means that every Indisch, every citizen of the Indies, no matter what his racial origin—Arab, Javanese, Indian, Dutch, Chinese, Malay, Buginese, Acehnese, Balinese, Mixed-Blood Chinese, even a Pure-Blood European who lives and dies in the Indies and is loyal to the Indies—they are all a part of the Indies people, Indisch.”

It was a startling idea, except that he was an Indo. It was another case of wanting to lose one’s identity, like Haji Moeloek. But it was only an idea. The reality was that such a thing would never happen in this century. Who would be willing to merge their identity into this “Indisch people”? Would the Natives or the Indos be willing? Or the other peoples?

“And what is the language of your Indisch people to be, my friend?”

“All the educated and advanced people use Dutch, of course,” said Douwager without hesitation. “It is not only the language of society and organization, but it is also an internationally recognized language in the world of education and science.”

“So you ignore the languages of the twenty-five million Javanese and the two million Malays, not to mention the other people who use their languages?”

“Yes, to set out on this path will mean we face many difficulties. But however that may be, this is the path that we must tread. It is only the educated and advanced thinking people who can lead. The others must follow.”

“What is your opinion about the Samin movement?”

“The Samin? Yes, there are one or two educated Europeans who admire them, but without educated leaders they will not get anywhere. They are a movement produced by the end of an age.”

“The end of an age?” Wardi asked, amazed.

“The teachings of the Samin mix beliefs that are more-or-less religious with politics.”

“Religious beliefs and politics?” I cried.

“Europe has separated politics and religion.”

“But Saminism is not a religion.”

“Before humankind knew the kind of politics we have today,
my friend, religion was politics, as it is with the Samin movement now. And the followers of Samin also believe that their politics is their religion and vice versa.”

“But Saminism is not a religion!” I repeated hotly.

“No, you’re right, it’s not a religion. But that’s where it is heading, and where it would have been already, if they hadn’t lost their spiritual leader so quickly. In the past, that was always the way men built power and the way they went about using it. That’s why some people say, and I agree with them, that the Samin movement is a product of the end of an age.”

“You are going too far, Meneer, to think that, or even to agree with such an idea.”

“Hasn’t the boldness of Europe’s intellectual tradition now been passed on to the world? And also pioneered by Multatuli? Wasn’t Multatuli himself prepared to die in misery and in exile in the name of intellectual integrity? And are you yourself not an admirer of Multatuli, if I am not mistaken?”

“But your ideas mean challenging the enemy before we can stand on our own two feet!” I exclaimed. “You have to take into account the social reality in the Indies.”

“Every beginning is difficult. But fundamental ideas need not always be checked against reality. Reality must be made to conform to a fundamental idea, or the idea will be destroyed by it.”

“But that is not the way to unite people. It is an invitation to conflict and strife among ourselves,” I said, in all honesty. “Your ideas about organizing are not right. You will end up isolating yourself from the real developments. Perhaps what you suggest could take place in Europe. But here in the Indies? What about you, Wardi?”

“Yes, I agree. His views are too extreme on this,” he replied. “You never mentioned any of this to me, Edu.”

“What is it exactly that we wish to discuss? About our own personal views on different things or about the question of organization? If it’s one’s personal views on things, it’s best just to write them up and publish them oneself. If we’re talking about organization, then we are talking about common interests, and we shouldn’t be aiming to become prophets over or among our fellow countrymen. What is the common interest that binds together the peoples of the Indies?

“Every new opinion and idea always attracts its opponents,”
Douwager went on. “Such new ideas are themselves born out of opposition to existing ones with all their deficiencies. What we need is not an organization that has thousands of members but that can do nothing. What we need is a small organization that can lead because its ideas cannot be refuted, and therefore they have to be accepted without conditions, an organization that can be the brains of the Indisch nation.”