In and Out of Magelang Asylum A Social History of Colonial Psychiatry in the Netherlands Indies, 1923-1942 Master Thesis History and Philosophy of Science Utrecht University August 2, 2015 Student Sebastiaan Broere - 3214265 [email protected] Supervisors Prof. dr. Joost Vijselaar (Utrecht University) Prof. dr. Hans Pols (The University of Sydney) Acknowledgements Exactly one year ago, Prof. dr. Hans Pols (The University of Sydney) invited me on a trip to Indonesia. At that time, I was staying at The University of Sydney, whose Unit for the History and Philosophy of Science had been so kind to receive me as a visiting scholar. In addition to a quiet environment which greatly stimulated my scholarly activities, The University of Sydney offered the opportunity to discuss my work with Prof. Pols, who is one of the world’s leading experts in the history of psychiatry in Indonesia. A journey that was likely to become great, turned out to be unforgettable. Not only did Prof. Pols become Hans and a valuable tutor to me, I also spent a month investigating colonial patient records on Java. A special thanks therefore goes to Prof. dr. Hans Pols. From the very beginning of this project, Hans has supported me in many different ways. Without his unbridled enthusiasm and encouragement, his generosity, and his supervision, this project would not have been possible in the first place. While in Indonesia, I had the pleasure to meet two beautiful people: Jay Nathan and Setyo Purnomo. Both deserve a big Thank You. Jay, thank you for helping me to archive medical records at Magelang and, above all, for the good times we had in Yogyakarta, Magelang, and Lawang. It is too bad that you live on the other side of the world. Setyo, saya ingin mengucapkan berbanyak terima kasih atas bantuannya pada setiap waktu. Thanks for everything you have done for me. I sincerely hope that we will meet again in the near future. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Rumah Sakit Jiwa Prof. Dr. Soerojo in Magelang for granting me permission to use its medical records for research purposes. When I returned from my journeys in Australia and Indonesia, the real work was yet to begin. I consider myself very lucky to have had Prof. dr. Joost Vijselaar as my main supervisor. While Joost was working assiduously to meet the deadlines of his project on castration of sexual offenders in the Netherlands between 1920 and 1970, he always made time to answer my questions and to give detailed feedback on first drafts. From a methodological point of view, too, Joost’s experience with NVivo proved to be indispensable. Thank you, Joost, for all your lessons, suggestions, and advice. Throughout my research and writing process, I have been provided information by several people. I would like to thank Prof. dr. Frank Kortmann (Radboud University Nijmegen) for receiving me at his home on a late December afternoon to share with me his experiences as a transcultural psychiatrist. I am equally thankful to Dr. Remco Raben (Utrecht University) and Patrick Bek for answering my questions concerning the history of the Netherlands Indies in general and the history of Netherlands Indies psychiatry in particular. One of my fellow History and Philosophy of Science-students, Peter Barker, helped to upgrade my English — thank you! I would also like to express my gratitude to Prof. dr. Floris Cohen (Utrecht University) for his support over the last couple of years and especially for hiring me as an editorial assistant for the academic journal Isis. Noortje Jacobs, PhD candidate at Maastricht University and one of my former colleagues at Isis, commented extensively on large parts of my thesis, for which I am extremely thankful. This thesis marks the end of my Utrecht student days. Due to the care, love, and unconditional support of my parents, their partners, and my brother, I was able to fully develop myself and to continuously push my intellectual boundaries. Thank you all so much for believing in me and for providing me the means, the strength, and the chances to do what I like. In the next few years, I will be far away, but you will always be very close to my heart. Writing a thesis is a demanding task that comes with many ups and downs. The person who was dragged along in my emotional roller coaster deserves my final and highest praise: my girlfriend Lisa Barsties. Regardless of my mood, Lisa was always there for me to make a cup of coffee, buy some nice Tony’s Chocolonely Chocolate, or give me a pat on the arm. Apart from that, she has reviewed and criticized my entire thesis. Liebe Lisa, vielen Dank für deine Zärtlichkeit, unser Zusammensein und die Freude womit du jeden Tag meines Lebens erleuchtest. Unsere Zukunft ist wunderschön. 2 Contents Introduction ‧ Magelang. Center of the Garden of Java 7 Chapter 1 ‧ Asylums in the Netherlands East Indies 19 § 1.1 ‧ The Development of Mental Health Care in the Netherlands Indies 20 § 1.1.1 ‧ 1860-1900 20 § 1.1.2 ‧ 1900-1942 24 § 1.2 ‧ Netherlands Indies Regulations on Mental Health Care 30 § 1.3 ‧ Buitenzorg, Lawang, Sabang, and Magelang Compared 33 § 1.4 ‧ Concluding Remarks 40 Chapter 2 ‧ Patients and Their Afflictions 43 § 2.1 ‧ The Demography of Magelang Asylum 43 § 2.1.1 ‧ Sex, Age, and Ethnicity 44 § 2.1.2 ‧ Ethnicity and Geographic Distribution 48 § 2.1.3 ‧ Occupation and Financial Situation 52 § 2.1.4 ‧ Javanese Aristocracy 56 § 2.2 ‧ Afflictions 57 § 2.3 ‧ Concluding Remarks. The Historian vs The Psychiatrist 64 Chapter 3 ‧ The Reasons for Hospital Admission 67 § 3.1 ‧ Neglected or Maintained? Sick at Home and in the Desa 68 § 3.1.1 ‧ Maintained by Family 69 § 3.1.2 ‧ Sick and Neglected 72 § 3.1.3 ‧ Accused or Convicted 74 § 3.2 ‧ The Motivations for Hospital Admission 74 § 3.2.1 ‧ Signs of Insanity 75 § 3.2.2 ‧ Symptoms and Social Environment 80 § 3.3 ‧ Requested on Whose Behalf? 85 § 3.4 ‧ Concluding Remarks 88 Chapter 4 ‧ The Routes Into and Out of Magelang Asylum 91 §4.1 ‧ Routes to Magelang 91 § 4.1.1 ‧ Temporary Accommodation for the Mentally Ill 92 3 § 4.1.1 ‧ Long-Term Facilities for the Mentally Ill 95 § 4.2 ‧ Discharge, Transfer, and Morbidity Rates 96 § 4.2.1 ‧ Discharge from Magelang Asylum 100 § 4.2.2 ‧ Neglected or Maintained? Death and Evacuation 104 § 4.3 ‧ Concluding Remarks 108 Concluding Remarks ‧ In and Out of Magelang 111 Appendices 119 Bibliography 125 4 5 Map of Central Java published in 1937. Atlas van Nederlandsch-Indië (Groningen 1937). 6 Introduction ‧ Magelang. Center of the Garden of Java Introduction ‧ Magelang. Center of the Garden of Java ‘Come to beautiful Magelang,’ a 1936 propaganda pamphlet published by the city council of Magelang exclaimed to its readers enthusiastically. ‘How many of us nowadays do not long for a Javanese mountain city, a place with a lovely climate, located in a beautiful environment, and with inexpensive standards of living?’ The reasons for moving to the Center of the Garden of Java were numerous. The streets were clean, taxes were low, the schools were excellent, and the price of land was favorable. On top of that, Magelang housed a lively community counting 4,500 European souls — 60,000 if one included Indonesians and Chinese — supplied with every conceivable comfort a modern city could provide. Once a month a tattoo was performed by the local military band at the city’s aloon-aloon (central square) and no less than two theaters screened the latest movies. Both spectacles could probably be attended with a cold beer and a cigar at hand, as the city harbored a number of ice and cigar factories. From a medical-hygienic point of view, too, Magelang had much to offer. Not only was the town center connected to surrounding kampongs by an elaborate system of drainage-canals that greatly reduced the chance of malaria infection or worse, citizens of Magelang also had several medical institutes at their disposal. Alongside a clinic for phthisis sufferers, a missionary hospital, and the native clinic “Boedi Rahajoe”, Magelang’s medical arsenal included a first rate military hospital and the reputable mental hospital Kramat. If the city council was to be taken at its word, Magelang was the place to be.1 Did any of this cross the mind of Mas Hardjosentono as he was transferred from his son’s house in Temanggung to the mental hospital of Magelang? Judged by his background, the answer is possibly yes. At the time of admission, Hardjosetono, a Javanese man of aristocratic descent, had passed the age of 50 and entered retirement. For many years he had worked as a mantri (a “Native functionary”) for a European finance company where he accrued a respectable pension. Yet, 1 Magelang. De Bergstad van Midden-Java. Middelpunt van den Tuin der Java. Een opwekking om kennis te komen maken met Magelang, er te komen wonen en er Uw bedrijf te vestigen (Djokjakarta 1936). 7 according to his family, it was financial sorrows that had made him bingung (confused). As the father of seven children — six of whom were still minors — Hardjosetono had begun to worry when the pay out of his pension was delayed. As a consequence of this stress, he started to speak to himself and suffered from auditory hallucinations and persecutory delusions. After seven days, his children decided to bring him to the mental hospital near Magelang.2 Dimin, a man aged 36, was also hospitalized at Magelang, yet his story could not have been more different.