Recent Dutch-Language Publications

Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 174 (2018) 363–379 bki brill.com/bki Recent Dutch-Language Publications Harry A. Poeze kitlv/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies [email protected] Daud Aris Tanudirjo (ed.), Voorouders en rituelen in Indonesië. Gent: Snoeck, 2017, 208 pp. isbn: 9789461613752. Price: eur 38 (hardback). Every two years in Brussels the Europalia Arts festival is organized. In 2017 Indonesia was chosen to be the focus in its series of cultural events and expo- sitions. Europalia was a prestigious event that was honored by the patronage of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and the Belgian King and Queen. The Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture was deeply involved in the plan- ning of Europalia, as well as counterparts in the Belgian government and in cultural institutions. This Europalia must have taken years to prepare. One of its features was an exposition in the Paleis voor Schone Kunsten (Center for Fine Arts) in Brussels (October 2017-January 2018) about ancestors and rituals in Indonesia. This theme was chosen as the remembrance of ancestors throughout the history of the Archipelago—a lasting and recurrent feature that is common to all parts of Indonesia, however different the format of this homage and the rituals surrounding it. Moreover, the theme is excel- lently suited for an exhibition as there are many objects that from a scholarly as well as an artistic viewpoint are interesting. In the catalogue of the exhibition about 125 objects are pictured, of which about 80 are accompanied by extensive explanations by experts from Indonesia and Europe. They adhere to a high scholarly standard, and expect their readership to have some basic knowledge of the subject. The objects date from the prehistory to the present, and originate from all parts of Indonesia with an emphasis on East Indone- sia and North Sumatra. Nine Indonesian and five European institutions loaned from their collections, with most of them from the National Museum in Jakarta, which shipped a number of its top objects to Brussels. Composition and mate- rial are very heterogeneous, ranging from stone, bronze, and gold to textiles, and much more. Four essays (20 pages), by Daud Aris Tanudirjo, Heddy Shri Ahimsa, Abdul Munir Mulkhan, Pieter ter Keurs, and Nico de Jonge, give back- ground and also trace the influence of the rituals in present-day Indonesian © harry a. poeze, 2018 | doi:10.1163/22134379-17402024 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the prevailing cc-by-nc license at the time of publication. Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 04:04:40PM via free access 364 recent dutch-language publications society,which are alive as ever. In all, this book is separate from a fine-illustrated catalogue as well a scholarly publication. Editions in English and French are also available. Albert G. van Zonneveld, Traditionele wapens van Borneo: De uitrusting van de koppensnellers. Deel ii Speren en blaasroeren. Leiden: Sunfield Publishing, 2017, 159 pp. isbn: 9789081927437. Price: eur 60.00 (to order via sunfieldpublishing @gmail.com) (hardback). Growing from a personal fascination, Albert van Zonneveld (1951) studied and studies traditional weaponry from Indonesia, and has published a few reference books on the subject. He is now in the process of publishing three volumes on the traditional weapons of Borneo. The original inhabitants were notori- ous for their head-hunting practices, which were deeply rooted in their traditional beliefs. In 2015 the first volume (still available) was published on shields and war clothes, with an introduction to put Borneo society in perspective, including the head-hunting. Volume two, recently published, deals with spears, blowpipes and their arrows, quivers, and the poison used to make the arrows lethal. A third and last volume will deal with the swords and knives that were used when head-hunting. The second volume, with 460 illustrations, mostly in color, with old photographs added, contains exhaustive discussions of the weaponry—manufacturing, typology, use, origin, present depository. The pro- fessional skill and craftsmanship of its makers is astonishing. And that goes as well for the admirable meticulousness thatVan Zonneveld invested in this book series. Piet Hagen, Koloniale oorlogen in Indonesië: Vijf eeuwen verzet tegen vreemde overheersing. Amsterdam/Antwerpen: Arbeiderspers, 2018, 1024+32 pp. isbn: 9789029507172. Price: eur 59.99 (hardback). The journalist Piet Hagen (1942), after completing a voluminous biography of social-democratic politician P.J. Troelstra in 2010, spent his time in writing a even more bulky monograph on five centuries of colonial wars in Indonesia. Reading Peter Carey’s The Power of Prophecy, on the Java War (1825–1830), led by Prince Diponegoro, triggered him to delve deeper in the colonial history of Indonesia. He systematically collected data on the colonial conflicts, and at last compiled a list of more than 500 armed conflicts from 1500 (the first Portuguese looking for trade opportunities) until 1975 (East Timor occupied by Indonesia). Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en VolkenkundeDownloaded 174from Brill.com09/29/2021 (2018) 363–379 04:04:40PM via free access recent dutch-language publications 365 All these conflicts centered around trade and profits.The European powers Por- tugal, Spain, Netherlands, France and England, clashed with each other and the local rulers. In the twentieth century Japan also played a pivotal role. For the Dutch it was the voc, more and more acting as a state, which succeeded in becoming the main power in the archipelago. After the voc’s bankruptcy, it was thanks to European power politics that the Dutch in 1816 were able to return, after a British interregnum which began in 1811 with a classical battle of a British invasion force against a French-Dutch army in Batavia, resulting in thousands of dead. The colonial state in effect continued the voc procedures. It is a litany of cruelty and violence beyond bonds, of plunder and robbery, slavery and forced labor, capital punishment, banishment, and forced financial and territorial compensation, all serving to reinforce the position of the voc or colonial state. Hagen primarily concentrates on the colonial wars and the resis- tance against these. In his descriptions of the conflicts Hagen underlines the roles of the indigenous parties, who often aligned with the voc/Indies state to foster their own aims. It often ended with shifting alliances and betrayal. Hagen systematically reports about the casualties, which run into astounding numbers, with the indigenous forces typically losing far more soldiers. Thus for the main part his book relates the battles fought and the backgrounds of these battles. Surprisingly his review leaves out the voc exploits in Formosa, India, and Ceylon as they are beyond his geographical boundaries, but these battles were essential and violent pawns in the voc power game. Inevitably, this all often results in an enumeration. Hagen himself calls his work a reference book, which can be digested in parts. Of the clashes as to the number of Indone- sian victims the bloodiest are Coen’s massacre on Banda (1621—10,000 dead), the Amboina Wars (1624–1660—25,000), the struggle for Batavia (1628–1629— 20,000), the Java War (1825–1830—200,000), the Bali invasion of 1849 (10,000), the Aceh War (from 1873 on—70,000) and the Independence War/Civil War (1945–1949—300,000). Hagen estimates the total number of Indonesian casualties at three to four million. After 400 pages, when arriving in the year 1900, Hagen’s approach changes to become a history of Dutch rule. Violence, although far from absent, became a less prominent feature. Other forms of repression, in their combined effi- ciency, served to subjugate the Indonesians. It is a long list: monopolization, land expropriation, forced labor, forced deliveries, segregation, discriminatory language and education policies, police surveillance, restriction of democratic rights, criminal persecution, all brought together in a commendable last chap- ter summary on the colonial system. But this recent history is presented in a somewhat fragmentary and dutiful manner. It does not open new perspectives, for which there would have been ample room, for instance, on the impor- Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 174Downloaded (2018) 363–379from Brill.com09/29/2021 04:04:40PM via free access 366 recent dutch-language publications tance of the years 1940–1942 with the Netherlands occupied and the Japanese drawing nearer. The Indonesian leaders went through an apprenticeship that prepared them for independence. Hagen’s account of the Japanese occupation serves its purposes better. The account of the complex developments during the War of Independence does have some flaws, in particular in explaining the course of affairs on the Indonesian side. Better is Hagen’s overview of the mili- tary aspects of the conflict. But, already by its sheer volume Hagen cannot add too much to Rémy Limpach’s recently published story and analysis. It is a pity that the last chapters (in particular) contain a number of errors. To serve its purpose as a reference book the readers should be able to find their way easily between the text and its 991 notes. Not using headers, as this book has unfortunately chosen to do, results in awkward and annoying searches. And even worse, the subject index is far from exhaustive. Regrettably, a great number of geographical names are not included in it. Robert Egeter van Kuyk, Een groen respijt: Over het sultanaat Pontianak / Away from the crowds: About the Sultanate of Pontianak. Den Haag: U2pi, 2018, 138 pp. isbn: 9789087597443. Price: eur 15.00 (to order via www.jouwboek.nl) (paper- back). The author (1941) of this bilingual book—with the Dutch faithfully translated in English—found in Pontianak with his mother a safe place to stay in the last part of 1945, with Java in turmoil.

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