Planter and Peasant: Colonial Policy and the Agrarian Struggle in East Sumatra 1863-1947

213 Pages·33.344 MB·English

by  Pelzer, Karl. J.

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PLANTER AND PEASANT
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This study is dedicated to
Elizabeth Clark-Pelzer
Dr. Chris Pelzer-White
Ms. Ingrid Pelzer-Burg
and my grandson Eli Pelzer Burg
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VERHANDELINGEN
VAN HET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT
VOOR T AAL-, LAND-EN VOLKENKUNDE
84
KARL J. PELZER
PLANTER AND PEASANT
COLONlAL POLICY AND THE AGRARIAN STRUGGLE
IN EAST SUMATRA
1863-1947
'S-GRAVENHAGE - MARTINUS NIJHOFF 1978
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I.S.B.N. 90.247.2174.1.
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PREFACE
This study had its beginnings as far back as the fall of 1940 when,
unexpectedly, I was forced to spend seven weeks, instead of an
anticipated one week, in Medan, the capital of the great, prosperous
plantation region which stretches along the Strait of Malacca from
the Aru Bay in Aceh to Labuan Batu on the Barumun Panai River.
During the course of this enforced stay, 1 first learned about the great
tug of war which was going on between planters, the Indonesian
sultans, and the Netherlands Indies Government. The object of this
tug of war was the land occupied by the plantations under lease
arrangements, but to which the subjects of the sultans had alienable
rights. All three parties were anxious to see a disentanglement of the
intertwined agrarian rights of Western planters and Indonesian
peasants, but they could not agree on the terms necessary to protect
the future of both the planters and the peasantry without affecting
the financial interests of the sultans.
The late Dr. H. Loos, Chief of the Agricultural Service for Sumatra,
and the late W. E. K. Baron van Lynden, in charge of a special office
to investigate the problems of this agrarian disentanglcment (Bureau
van Conversie) we re the first to guide me in my study of the agrarian
problems of East Sumatra. I also had occasion to hear the views of
the late Sultan of Langkat on the issue during an interview arranged
by my gracious host, the late Dr. Mohammed Amir, practicing physician
in Tanjung Pura, a town in the Sultanate of Langkat.
Since my pre-war research was concerned with government-sponsored
agricultural colonization in Southeast Asia, I made na attempt to in
clude an account of this agrarian conflict in Pioneer Settlement in the
Asiatie Tropïes, referring to it only briefly in a footnote. (Pelzer, 1945,
p. 201.) In my capacity as regional specialist for Southeast Asia in
thc Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture from 1945 to 1947, I had the opportunity to follow the
development of the agrarian conflict in the immediate post-war
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VI Planter and Peasant
years more closely than would otherwise have been feasible.
A generous grant from the Ford Foundation together with liberal
support from Yale University gave me an opportunity to resume my
studies of the agrarian problem in 1954. During the academie year
1954-55, I was ab Ie to delve into the history of East Sumatra prior
to the arrival of the first planters. In this, I was assisted by Joachim
Hurwitz, at the time a graduate student in the Southeast Asian Studies
Program, and later Director of the Museum of Anthropology in Rotter
dam. In September 1955, I returned to East Sumatra and conducted
my research with the assistance of Clark E. Cunningham, then a
student at Yale University, and now Professor of Anthropology in
the University of Indiana, and Kampto Utomo, a graduate in rural
sociology of the College of Agriculture in Bogor, Java, presently
Professor of Rural Sociology in the same college, and known now
as Professor Sajogyo. The present study benefited greatly from the
field work undertaken by these two untiring assistants, who spent
weeks in squatter settlements, where they of ten had to overcome the
suspicion of the squatters who doubted our motives. Clark Cunningham
concentrated his efforts on the role of the Toba Batak as a squatter,
while Kampto Utomo investigated Javanese squatter communities.
Clark Cunningham has presented some of his field data in the mono
graph: The Post War Migration of the Toba-Bataks to East Sumatra,
Yale Southeast Asia Studies, Cultural Report Series, no. 5. Kampto
Utomo, alias Sajogyo, has used some of his research data in a
Ph.D. thesis presented to the College of Agriculture of the University
of Indonesia under the sponsorship of Professor W. F. Wertheim.
While Clark Cunningham and Kampto Utomo were making obser
vations in squatter settlements, I searched the files of government
agencies, of plantation companies, and of the Sumatra Planters Asso
ciation for historical and current data. Among the companies which
assisted me in my efforts, I must mention especially: Verenigde Deli
Maatschappijen (V.D.M.), Senembah Maatschappij, Handels-Vereniging
Amsterdam (H.V.A.), Goodyear Company, Hollandsch-Amerikaansche
Plantagen Maatschappij (H.A.P.M.), and a number of plantations
affiliated with Harrison and Crosfield.
I found the officials of the Department of Interior (Kementerian
Dalam Negeri), the Department of Agrieulture (Kementerian Perta
nian), and the Department of Agrarian Affairs (Kementerian Agraria)
most helpful, and owe them special thanks. I wish to express thanks
especially to Mr. Sumarman, Secretary General, Kementerian Dalam
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Preface VII
Negeri, and to Ir. Gunung Iskander, Secretary General, Kementerian
Pertanian, who se acquaintance I first made in 1940 during a visit to
South Sumatra. Letters of introduction from the Ministeries in Jakarta
opened most doors in Medan but did not always bring forth the
support the letters of introduction called for.
En route to Indonesia, I spent a few days in the Netherlands
discussing the agrarian situation with former N.E.1. officials who
had first-hand knowledge of East Sumatra. I owe special thanks to
Ir. R. van de Wal, who graciously permitted me to microfilm a large
collection of pre-war unpublished documents. The Secretary of the
Oostkust van Sumatra Instituut, the late Ir. F. J. J. Dootjes, helped
me in my search for historical material.
I must not fail to express my special thanks to Ridder van Rappard,
the late Ir. N. van der Molen and their colleagues and assistants in
the V.D.M., who se generous help I greatly appreciate. The same
generous support I found in the office Tata Bumi, headed by Radjamin.
I returned to Indonesia in January 1967 in order to search the
archive of the former AVROS, now called GAPPERSU, for records
covering the years 1954 to 1958 in order to bring my data to the
nationalization of the Dutch enterprises in 1958.
To all these and all the other individuals who gave me support
and hospitality during my stay in East Sumatra, I am greatly indebted.
I owe my wife, Elizabeth C. Pelzer, and my colleague, Adrienne V.
Suddard, for years the faithful editor of the publications issued by Yale
Southeast Asia Studies, more than I can express in words. I am deeply
indebted; and without their frequent encouragement the book might
not have been completed.
July 1, 1977 KARL J. PELZER
New Haven, Connecticut Professor Emeritus,
Yale University
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