Footsteps (68 page)
“Where do you keep the revolver, Meneer?”
“In the bedroom. Under the pillow.”
“Fetch it,” he ordered one of his men in Malay.
“Do you still remember me?” he asked in Dutch.
“Pangemanann,” I answered, standing up.
He saluted me, held out his hand, and greeted me: “I carry out an unpleasant task against a human being I much admire and respect,” he said, “a person who has begun to change the face of the Indies.”
My spittle fell and splattered on the floor.
“That is right, Meneer. It is right for you to humiliate me. And it is also right that I still respect and admire you.” He turned to his men. “Get outside, all of you,” he ordered in Malay. “I am taking you away from here today, and you will not return.”
“I cannot go today. I am waiting for my wife.”
“Your wife? Yes. The Princess will not be accompanying you. She is not allowed to leave Java.”
“So I will be taken off Java?”
“Not yet, not now. Get whatever things you need. Do it now.”
The policeman who had gone into my room came out with the revolver and handed it to his superior.
Pangemanann examined the papers with it and counted the bullets.
“None of the bullets have been used,” he spoke aloud to himself. “Good. There will be no additional complications. Why have you not asked the reason for your arrest, Meneer?”
I shook my head.
“You have been detained for not paying your debts.”
“Debts?”
“You have received reminder letters several times now and you have never replied.”
“Reminder letters?”
He showed me the letters demanding payment and pointed out that they had been signed as received by one of my clerks—Dolf Boopmjes, that child whom I had taken off the streets. But
even if there had been no such letters, I would never have been able to pay the debts that now fell upon me.
Pangemanann dropped his gaze. He whispered: “The debts of your people, Meneer, which you will have to pay yourself.” He cleared his throat. “I am not saying that just to humor you, Meneer. Nobody could have done more than you have done.”
His voice made me bow my head. Without realizing it, my hand had reached into my pocket and taken out a handkerchief. I wiped my face. He looked the other way.
“Yes, power has its own kind of face and heart. It can peel off its morals according to need. Please forgive me, Meneer. I understand that you will not be able to forgive me. But I have asked forgiveness all the same.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Oh, don’t forget, Meneer. I respectfully request that you return to me my manuscript of
Si Pitung.
You have not had a chance to publish it yet.”
I opened the bureau where I kept all my papers. I pulled out his manuscript from among the others. I gave it a brush in case there was dust on the packet. I put it on the table and inspected it page by page.
“Please return the receipt I gave you,” I said.
He took out a piece of paper from his top pocket and gave it to me.
“Check the pages again,” I requested, and I studied and then tore up the receipt. “There is not a single mark on them.”
I left the two of them standing there. I sat down at my desk and wrote a letter to my wife. I stole a glance at them and saw that Pangemanann had sat down in the lounge chair without even asking first.
Princess, the moment of our separation has arrived at last. You are still my wife, so it is your duty to listen to what I say. All that I have built has been destroyed. You will find out for yourself about those who have pierced me from the front and stabbed me from behind. Your life, which has just started, need no longer be devoted to your husband. My future now is very uncertain. Thank you for all your love and all your sacrifices. Thank you for the happiness I have enjoyed as your husband. I
will take the memories of that happiness to wherever it is that I go now. Consider this letter as a valid and legal divorce. Marry a man who will not demand of you so much sacrifice. You are still very, very young, beautiful, charming, educated, patient, and courageous. You are not yet twenty years old.
You are still my wife. Do this which I tell you. Take this letter to a
penghulu
as proof of
talaq.
Good-bye, my darling, drink of life to the very dregs of the cup. Make sure you achieve all of your youthful dreams, be they ones that reach up to the heavens. Seize from life all that is rightfully yours. Give my greetings to Mir and Hendrik. My respects to your father, the Raja. All from the bottom of my heart. And to Sandiman, Marko, Djamiloen, Wardi, Douwager, Tjipto, all the branches and sub-branches and members of the Sarekat.
Pangemanann has said that I will never return to this house and that I will be leaving Java. So do not be emotional over this separation. Things will go hard for me now. I have always been hard with the world. You too must be hard with the world, so that your sleep will not be disturbed by bad dreams.
Tomorrow, when you enter this house, know that your husband will be in some place and time unknown. All that I own is now yours. With this letter, I also attach an authority for you to withdraw the little savings we have in the bank. I hope the bank has not frozen the account. Princess, go now into the world and face life without tears, and do not think of your husband, because, as soon as you read this letter, your husband will then be only an ex-husband. May peace be with you, Princess. Good-bye.
“Piaah!” I called.
The maid appeared in the distance. Her whole body shook with fear.
“Over here. Come closer!” She shook even more, even though she moved no closer. “Listen, I am going off, I don’t know where, perhaps far away, very far away. You stay in this house until your mistress returns.”
“I will do as you say, Master.”
“Tell the men from Banten to return to their homes. Tell them thank-you from me. And I thank you too, Piah. Bring me the suitcase in the storeroom.”
“The old dinted and dented suitcase that’s used for the rice, Tuan?”
“Used for the rice?” I put aside my surprise. “Fetch it.”
She almost ran as she left the room. When she came back, she was shaking less. In her hand she was carrying an old suitcase, brown, with even more dints and dents in it now, and with the rust around it even merrier.
“Stand there, Piah, I will still need you.”
“Yes, Tuan.”
I shifted my papers from the bureau into the suitcase.
“Fetch me a towel, toothbrush, and toothpaste, Piah.”
She ran out the back again. She returned, no longer shaking, carrying all that I had asked for as well as some unironed underclothes and Princess’s towel.
“Why have you brought me mistress’s towel?”
“Take it, Tuan, so that you can take with you at least one thing of my mistress’s.” Her voice suddenly broke; she was sobbing. Without saying any more, she put the towel in my suitcase.
“Don’t cry, Piah, don’t leave here before the mistress returns. Don’t let in any guests.”
“I will not leave, Tuan.”
“Even so, Piah, I want you to swear before me and these others that you will not leave.”
Suddenly she squatted at my feet. In a very gentle voice, but pregnant with protest: “How can you demand an oath from me, my master? An oath for my master, for my leader? Is it not enough that I am a member of the Sarekat?”
“Piah!” I could not hold back my tears. Piah, my servant, a member of the Sarekat! The second woman member out of fifty thousand men. I stood and raised her up: “Why do you, a member of the Sarekat, kneel before your leader?”
“I feel that you are going far away, Tuan, and will not return.”
“Very well, Piah. I will not demand an oath from you. Stand up. Tomorrow give this letter to your mistress.”
“Yes, Master.”
“If you love your mistress, then stay with her always.”
“Do not forget or neglect my mistress’s towel, Master. It is Tuan’s duty to always look after it and to remember the wife of my leader, who is also my leader.”
“I will always remember, Piah.”
I glanced at Pangemanann and he was wiping his eyes. When he noticed me looking at him, he brought himself under control, and asked: “Are you ready?”
“Piah, I cannot go without leaving you something. All the keys are with your mistress. All I have is…I searched around in my pockets. There were only some coins, about three guilders or so. I grabbed them all and held them out for her. “For you, Piah, take them.”
She took them and then put them back in my pocket.
“You will need them on your journey.”
“No.”
“You will need them.”
“Then give them to the men from Banten.”
“No, it is we who should be helping you, Tuan. Leave me behind some words, Tuan, good words that I may remember all my life.”
“Very well, Piah. Become a propagandist for the Sarekat. Call upon all women to join. Become their leader.”
“I will remember, Tuan, and I will do what you ask.”
“I must go now, Piah.”
“You will always be in our hearts, Tuan.”
As I walked down the front steps of the house, I couldn’t help but turn and look back at her—Piah, a pearl whom I had never got to know all this time. Princess had taught her.
And I didn’t notice that I wore no shoes.
Buru Island Prison Camp, 1975
LOSSARY
| assistant resident | For each regency there was a Dutch assistant resident in whose hands power over local affairs ultimately resided. |
| bahu | A measure of area, equivalent to about one and three quarters acres |
| Bandung | Bandung was, and still is, the major town in West Java outside Batavia (now Jakarta). |
| Bandung Bondowoso | A figure in folk mythology who built one of the Prambanan temples in one night |
| bapak | Literally “father,” used to indicate respect |
| Bathara Narada | A figure in wayang, a messenger for the gods |
| batik | A Javanese process for decorating cloth by using wax to prevent some areas from absorbing dye; material made by this process |
| bendi | Vehicle similar to a surrey |
| bendoro | A term of address equivalent to “master” or “lord” |
| benggol | A 2 1 ⁄ 2 cent coin |
| Betawi | The Malay name for Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, now Jakarta. |
| Bharatayuddha | A famous Hindu epic, depicting a great war between two families of nobles |
| Boedi Oetoma | Organization formed in 1908 which drew support from priyayi, officials, and students to promote education and social reform among Natives. This organization collapsed in 1935. |
| brahman | The priestly Hindu caste; the highest caste |
| bupati | The title of the Native Javanese official appointed by the Dutch to assist the Dutch assistant resident to administer a region; most bupatis could lay some claim to noble blood. |
| canting | A small tool used in “writing” batik on cloth with hot wax |
| cokek, dogar, gambang kromong | Forms of folk drama and dance Culture System The system of forced cultivation of certain crops enforced by the colonial authorities; under this system, Javanese peasants had to grow export crops such as coffee and sell them to the Dutch authorities at extremely low prices. |
| dalang | The puppet master who recites the stories and manipulates the puppets at wayang performances |
| delman | A kind of horse carriage |
| denmas | Short for the title “raden mas” |
| destar | An East Javanese form of headdress; a kind of headband |
| dokar | A two-wheeled horse cart |
| dukun | Traditional Javanese magician and/or healer |
| durian | A highly aromatic and popular tropical fruit |
| Dutch East Indies Company (VOC); the Company | Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie , United (Dutch) East India Company; the major power in the Indies until 1798 when it was taken over by the Dutch government. |
| ELS | Dutch-language primary school |
| encik | Term of respect for a woman by a younger person; “aunt”; used by Chinese Javanese |
| engkoh (abbreviation koh ) | Chinese for “uncle” |
| Ethical Policy | A liberal concept dating from 1899 that called on the Dutch government to accept greater responsibility for the welfare of Native people. Also associated with policies of reduction of the government’s role in the economy and the encouragement of private investment. |
| Roorda van Eysinga | A writer (1852-1887) expelled from the Indies in 1864 because his writings were regarded as harmful to the colonial government |
| forum privilegiatum | The right to appear before the “White Court” |
| Francis, G. | Eurasian author of the early Malay-language novel Nyai Dasima |
| gamelan | Traditional Javanese percussion orchestra |
| garuda | The mythical magical bird upon whom the gods rode |
| guling | Or Dutch Wife: a long round cushion or an open frame of rattan used in beds in tropical countries as a rest for the limbs and an aid to keeping cool |
| gus | A term of affection used among the families of the Javanese aristocratic elite by parents toward their male children; short for gusti |
| gusti kanjeng | A term of address used for higher aristocracy, meaning “exalted lord” |
| haji | Title of a Javanese Moslem who has gone on the pilgrimage to Mecca |
| HBS | The prestigious Dutch-language senior high school |
| Dr. Snouck Hurgronje | A Dutch scholar who was an influential adviser on Native Affairs to the colonial government |
| ibu | Literally “mother”; used as a term of address for respected women |
| ikat | Binding, belt, etc. |
| Indisch | A Dutch term referring to racially mixed people or cultures; also to the diverse residents of the Dutch East Indies as a group |
| Indo | A term used to refer to Dutch-Indonesian Mixed Bloods |
| Java Doctor | Someone trained in the Dutch-run medical school, STOVIA |
| jeruk | A sweet citrus fruit, a sort of cross between a lemon and a mandarin |
| kabupaten | The formal local term for the administrative area that an assistant resident (through the bupati) administers |
| kain | Traditional dress worn by Javanese women; a kind of sarong wrapped tightly around the waist and legs |
| kampung | A village within a city environment |
| kecap | Indonesian soy sauce, sweetened with thick palm sugar syrup |
| kedasih | A type of bird |
| kenanga | A kind of flower |
| keris | Traditional curved-bladed Javanese dagger |
| kliwon | One of the days of the Javanese five-day week |
| kontrolir (controller) | The junior Dutch administrative officer in charge of a subdistrict, one level below an assistant resident; being close to the grass roots, they often wielded much power on a day-to-day basis. |
| kopiah | A traditional Javanese-style Moslem fez |
| kromo | High Javanese spoken to and between the upper classes |
| kroncong | A form of music and song adapted from Portuguese folk music |
| ksatria | knight; nobleman; the caste below brahman |
| kyai | An Islamic teacher or leader |
| landschap | A territory ruled by a king or under the sway of customary law |
| lasting | A kind of plain material |
| lenong | A form of urban folk drama popular in Betawi and performed in the colloquial Malay of the Betawi people |
| Liberal Movement | The Liberal Movement was a political movement based among the Dutch bourgeoisie in Holland and the Indies; it called for the government to implement policies to improve education and irrigation in the Indies and to promote transmigration (then called emigration) out of Java. |
| londo godong | Literally “Dutch page”; a Javanese who has been given the same legal status as a Dutchman |
| losmen | Inn |
| magreb | The name of the prayers that are carried out after the sun has set but before it is dark; the Moslem creed sets down five obligatory times for prayer. |
| Mahabarata | Epic story in which the Pandawa and the Korawa wage war for possession of the realm of Ngastino |
| makmum | In Islamic practice, when more than one person is carrying out ritual prayer, the group selects the oldest or most knowledgeable man to lead the prayers; the others, known as the makmum, stand behind him and follow as he guides them through the prayer ritual. |
| mantri | Village official below the wedana |
| mas | Javanese term of address literally meaning “older brother”; used by a young woman toward a man, it indicates an especially close, respectful affection; it can also be used between men, indicating respectful friendship; by a sister to her older brother; and also by a wife to her husband; a title of the lesser nobility |
| Max Havelaar | Novel by Eduard Douwes Dekker (Multatuli) |
| meneer | Dutch for “sir” or “Mr.” |
| mevrouw | Dutch for “madam” or “miss” |
| Multatuli | Pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker, an outspoken humanist critic of Dutch colonialism and author of the anticolonial novel Max Havelaar |
| musyrik | Fearing other than God, elevating others to the level of God, giving God partners, idolatry |
| ndoro | A term of address used by a lower-class person when speaking to someone in the feudal class or of similar status |
| nenenda | “Grandfather,” a term of great respect used when speaking to an elderly person, usually of one’s grandparents’ generation or older |
| nyai | The Native concubines of Dutchmen in the Indies |
| Nyai Dasima | The heroine of G. Francis’s popular Malay-language novel |
| nyo | Abbreviated form of sinyo, used to refer to young Dutch boys, or Dutchified Eurasian or Native boys |
| om | “Uncle,” used also as form of address for an unrelated older man |
| oma | Familiar term for “mother,” used as honorific for unrelated older women |
| pasopati | Magical weapon used by Arjuna in the Bharatayuddha |
| patih | The chief executive assistant or minister to a bupati |
| pendopo | A large roofed veranda or reception area at the front of a Javanese dignitary’s residence |
| penghulu | Local chief; (religious) headman |
| pici | Small black velvet cap, originally a sign of Islam |
| Prambanan | A great Hindu temple complex located near the town of Jogjakarta |
| Priangan | A large region in West Java |
| priyayi | Members of the Javanese aristocracy who became the salaried administrators of the Dutch |
| raden ayu | Title for aristocratic Javanese woman, especially the first wife of a bupati |
| raden mas | Raden and mas are titles held by the mass of the middle-ranking members of the Javanese aristocracy; raden mas is the superior title. |
| raja | King |
| ringgit | 2 1 ⁄ 2 rupiah |
| rodi | The right of the government, through the local Native administrators, to require villagers to provide free labor for government or other projects as directed |
| rujakpolo | Mythical weapon used to completely destroy your enemy |
| rupiah | Basic unit of currency (100 cents) |
| sarekat | Of Arabic/Islamic derivation, meaning “union” or “association” |
| selangka | Collarbone |
| selir | The “unofficial wives” of Javanese aristocrats |
| sembah | Homage, tribute, respect, reverence |
| silat | A Malay form of self-defense |
| sinkeh | Term used to refer to a Chinese immigrant |
| sinse | A traditional Chinese healer |
| sinyo | Form of address for young Dutch and Eurasian men or Europeanized Native young men, from the Portuguese senhor |
| songkok | Black Moslem fez |
| STOVIA | School Tot Opleiding van Inlandsche Artsen (School for the Education of Native Doctors); the STOVIA was the only institute of higher learning established by the Dutch colonial authorities during the early twentieth century. |
| sudara | Brother |
| sudra | The lowest Hindu caste; the mass of ordinary people |
| Sugar Syndicate | The sugar planters’ association |
| Sultan Agung | One of the most powerful of the early Moslem rulers of Java |
| surjan | Traditional Javanese topcoat or shirt, worn with a batik sarong |
| talaq | The Moslem divorce procedure whereby a husband can divorce a wife through unilateral decree |
| talen | Dutch East Indies currency, a quarter of a rupiah |
| tape | Fermented rice mixture |
| taqwa | Worship of only one god; fear or awe of God |
