Footsteps (66 page)

This was a serious matter and we couldn’t conclude a discussion on it in just one or two hours. I asked that the discussion be postponed so that we could discuss it with the whole branch leadership.

Then I called over one of the people who was there to join up. It happened that he was a farmer. You could tell from his tattered pants and his farmer’s bamboo hat. His legs were filthy from working in mud every day and never having known soap. He approached bowing all the time and then crawled along on the floor.

I looked at my host and he didn’t seem to be bothered by this scene. Rather he waved to the man that he approach closer.

I wanted to tell him to sit in a chair. But these were not my chairs and this was not my house. I would have to find another time to discuss this matter, while making sure I did not offend anyone.

“What is your name?”

“Krio, Ndoro.”

“Don’t crawl like that, Krio. Stand up.”

His eyes showed nervousness. He wiggled his fingers nervously. But he still remained glued to the floor.

“Forgive me, Ndoro, but it is better like this.”

“You are applying to join the Sarekat?”

“Yes, Ndoro.”

“Stand up,” I ordered.

Hearing me speak in such a sharp voice, he stood. He kept his hands clasped before him.

“What kind of work do you do?”

“A farmer, Ndoro, sometimes a coolie,” he answered, while wiggling his thumb.

“Don’t call me Ndoro; use Sudara.” He didn’t respond. “Why do you want to join the Sarekat?”

“All my neighbors have joined, they often go to Sarekat meetings…”

“What do they talk about?”

“I am not allowed to attend, so I don’t know. That is why I am asking to join.”

I waved my hand and he left.

His answer was enough. The people needed somewhere they could gather together as a group and become a part of a bigger union. The question of cheaper prices was not important to them. And it was true that they did need the protection of being in a bigger grouping. They needed leadership.

Haji Samadi requested very vigorously that we stay at his house, and we granted his request.

That night the meeting with the Solo branch leadership took place. There were ten people gathered. I was introduced to them one by one. There was one young man with a haji’s cap on his head who sat a few yards away from the table. His body seemed bloated even though he was quite a tall man. Because he was so big, he seemed short. His two hands always rested on his lap. He didn’t wear a batik kain like the others but a plain sarong.

As gently as I could I explained that it was not the Sarekat’s
function to collect money from those who wanted to be organized, who wanted to learn about organizing, to form capital for the use of any other particular group. I told them that what the branch had done in using the money to buy the materials for batik-making was a useful thing, but it was not the real aim of the Sarekat. The real aims were still those set out in the Constitution—comradeship, to develop confidence in our own efforts, to build unity through joint endeavors, to face troubles and problems with a united approach, and to build a joint fund for the members’ mutual benefit. So the appearance of a small group that decides what is in the common interest is not correct unless approved of by all members.

They were not ready to hear about nationalism at that stage, so I proceeded to discuss other things first. They were still preoccupied with their businesses and hadn’t yet glimpsed the outside world. It would be necessary to spend time educating them on other things before we began discussing nationalism.

There was one thing that they had studied well, however, and that was the ins and outs of the boycott. But that weapon was not yet needed in Solo. The social and economic life of the town was still in Native hands.

It was only when the clock indicated nine o’clock that I started to introduce them to the foundation stones of Indies nationalism, but without using those terms. What I told them was based on the reality that our ancestors had left us, not just on the daydreams of one or two people, as was the case with Douwager. I explained how it would be the Native middle class that determined what happened in the Indies, how Islam was the foundation of a brotherhood among everyone, and how independent endeavor and commerce were the basis of our communal life. And I told them also that the unity that would give birth to Indies nationalism would stretch beyond Java to wherever there were people who spoke Malay, who were Moslems, and who engaged in independent endeavor.

Sosrokoornio took down all that I said as soon as I said it.

The young man in the haji’s cap and sarong picked up his chair and brought it closer so that he could hear better.

“Yes, here, closer,” I said.

Close up he looked even more swollen, huge, his body swollen with muscles. His fingers were huge like bananas.

“What is your name, Sudara?” I asked.

“Haji Misbach.”

We greeted each other. I introduced him to the people in my entourage. With those huge, strong fingers of his, if we had shaken hands European style my hand would have been crushed. There are obvious advantages in the Islamic style of greeting, where your hands just briefly touch, and then you pull them back to touch your heart.

I explained to them that in Siam there are thirty thousand people who speak Malay, and in Malaya everyone except the Chinese speaks Malay. There were more in Singapore and in the Philippines. In the Indies we could say that everyone understood Malay.

“So, my brothers, our nation is not just that of the Javanese, but includes many other peoples as well, bound together by the things that I have explained to you. It is much greater than that which people have described as the Indisch nation or the Indies nation. As for its name, I do not have one yet. Perhaps we will need a new name for it. And the Javanese are only a part of this great nation.”

I understood that they weren’t all that interested in this kind of story—a story that did not promise some new monetary gain! I had to add some fire to this story for them.

“Here in Solo business and commerce are already quite advanced. You are all receiving a good living due to the blessings of God Almighty. This would be even more the case if our nation were to become much bigger, covering the peoples outside the Indies as well, and if all the business and commerce were in the hands of Natives. Try to imagine how great will be the prosperity from God that you, my brothers, will be able to harvest. And all this can come to pass if the Sarekat can grow and expand in all the corners of the Indies, and even outside it. If the Sarekat does not strive to achieve this, then it will all just remain dreams and nothing else. The Sarekat will try to form an army of propagandists who will be sent off to all the regions.”

And so they began to pay more attention. One interrupted to ask that I put my ideas on this question of nationalism in writing so they could study it more closely and develop the ideas more easily.

I promised I would do that.

“Today our biggest factories cover an area equivalent to fifteen houses. When we establish our new nation, then our factories
will expand in accordance with how big our nation is. Perhaps they will become as big as whole towns, as in Europe and America.”

Then discussion ensued—and in this there was something very strange—about just how to unite all the component peoples, exactly how we could go about doing it. But not a single person even mentioned the fact that the Indies was under the political control of the Dutch.

“And just think, if everything is in the hands of the Natives as it is here in Solo, then there will be no more Knijpers, TAI, or Zweep, because we will be deciding everything. And also what the government is allowed to do will be up to us.”

I saw their eyes shine with idealism, as if they wanted to convince me that they had grasped the essence of what I was saying. The government would bow to us, without resorting to arms as they had in Bali, as they had against Diponegoro, Imam Bonjol, Troenodjojo, Troenodongso, and Surapati. It was enough for us to be united, it was enough for the Islamic Traders Union, the Sarekat, to be strong and resolute.

To close the meeting I recommended that they put right their leadership methods. They mustn’t allow the membership to end up losing faith in them. The membership needed clear leadership.

The clock struck twelve times and the meeting adjourned.

As soon as I returned home from Solo I began making plans for the expansion of the Sarekat to all Malay-speaking areas, in and outside the Indies. In the article I wrote, I also included the Malay-speaking peoples of Ceylon and South Africa. For the time being I called them all the Greater Malay Nation.

As soon as it was printed it was distributed to all Sarekat branches and down to the sub-branches too.

The decision that the Sarekat would use
Medan
as its beacon meant that our circulation jumped up again. But we still couldn’t catch up to
Sin Po
, which was the beacon for the young Chinese nationalists in the region.

Requests for legal assistance no longer came only direct to Frischboten. The Sarekat branches now also received cases. Hendrik had to employ several assistants.

And the Central Leadership, namely myself, had also prepared its plans for the coming year, 1913. Because there were no longer any disputes over the question of religious versus modern education, it was now time for the SDI to start its own schools. They
would provide a general, modern education, with religious instruction provided in the afternoon. I drew up the curriculum myself. I took the ELS curriculum as my base, except that I cut out Dutch history and replaced it with Indies history. Dutch language lessons were cut by two hours a week, which were to be used for instruction in Malay.

A two-month course for propagandists was held in Buitenzorg. There were delegates there from all the branches in Java. I, Sandiman, and sometimes also Frischboten spoke to them—Frischboten about the law. The two months passed and they returned home, taking with them resources they did not possess before.

These sixty propagandists immediately began work. They also took back ideas on how to improve their organization. The result was even further increases in membership. And not just in Solo. Everywhere! Outside Java too. So I dared come to the conclusion that all these developments proved that we had chosen the right basis upon which to build the organization. We were indeed providing what the people needed in the way of organization. It was now clear that a great movement, encompassing tens of thousands of the peoples of the Indies, as well as the Malay-speaking peoples outside the Indies, was possible. All that was needed was for just one propagandist to take on the task of visiting the new areas.

Rono Mellema never wrote.

He was right. The bigger the victory, the less vigilant one became. And lack of vigilance was the path to one’s demise. I must be cautious in enjoying the fruits of these victories.

The last portion of
Nyai Permana
was published. The letters that came in, all from men, almost all asked: If women were given the right to divorce their husbands, what then would become of the position of men? Was not such an idea leading people astray? Did it not violate the laws of religion?

These were all very important matters. But for the time being I put them aside.

The land question that I had also discussed in my story did not, however, elicit any reaction at all.

No matter.

There were so many organizational needs pressing in on us that the question of reestablishing a competent, honest, and most important of all, a courageous Central Leadership became urgent. I myself had decided that I should become the Central Leadership’s main propagandist. I planned to travel from region to region, both within the Indies and outside.

I summoned the presidents of the Solo and Jogjakarta branches, and all those branches where Native commerce was expanding or at least holding its own, to Buitenzorg. We held a small conference that discussed the questions of the Central Leadership and of our long-range propaganda activities. Of course, it is not of interest to note here all the ins and outs of the discussions. What needs to be noted down are the decisions. The conference agreed to the proposal that I begin propaganda work, with the condition that I be accompanied by my wife. Second, on my own recommendation, the general chairman of the Sarekat, namely myself, should transfer the mandate of Central Leadership to Haji Samadi in Solo.