Bifurcation of Commercial Tradition in West Indonesia, 1850–1930

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI: 10.1163/156853112X632557

Asian Journal of Social Science 40 (2012) 100–132 brill.nl/ajss

Bifurcation of Commercial Tradition in West Indonesia, 1850–1930, as Reflected in Contemporaneous Malay Print Publishing

Waruno Mahdi*Fritz Haber Institute

AbstractTo establish the branching-offf of a novel tradition, 4 parts of the paper consider: (1) the Austrone-sian commercial tradition, and precolonial emergence of fĳinancial tradition up to the dissolution of the VOC in 1799; (2) continuation of traditional indigenous shipping and trade throughout the 19th and half the 20th centuries; (3) parallel development of divergent, industrial-age forms in indigenous trade and fĳinance since c. 1850, particularly as reflected in commercial advertise-ments, noting slower modernist development in trade and fĳinance than in indigenous society in general; (4) some post-1930 consequences of the belated modernisation in trade and fĳinance, and the gradual overcoming of the developmental ambiguity after 1945.

KeywordsMalay/Indonesian commercial tradition, shipping, colonial history, Western culture influence, economic culture interaction, inter-ethnic relations, business middle class, pre-WWII advertise-ments, limited companies, finance and banking

Introduction: Historical Roots of Indigenous Commercial Tradition

In the early 20th century, economists became increasingly aware of what appeared to be alternative principles of economic motivation altogether dif-ferent from that in the industrial economies they had studied that far. With regard to Indonesia, the problem was addressed explicitly by Julius Herman

* I am deeply indebted to the former director of the Physical Chemistry Department of the Fritz Haber Institute, Gerhard Ertl, and to the present director, Martin Wolf, for generously allow-ing me to use Institute facilities in my linguistic studies. My sincerest thanks to Ernst Ulrich Kratz for calling my attention to J.H. Boeke’s “dualistic ecoomy”. I also wish to express my gratitude to co-workers of libraries where I found the quoted 17th–20th century publications and newspapers: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague; Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Leiden; and the Universiteitsbibliotheek, Leiden.

W. Mahdi / Asian Journal of Social Science 40 (2012) 100–132 101

Boeke in his 1910 dissertation, and subsequently formulated in his concept of ‘dualistic economy’, distinguishing between a ‘Western’ economically orien-tated motivation and an indigenous more socially orientated one (Wertheim et al., 1961:10–14; Yamada, 2007:334 fn. 1). One soon realised, however, that this diffference was neither genetically, nor geographically conditioned, but that the ‘pre-modern’ economy had also characterised Western society in the pre-capitalist period (cf. van der Kolfff, 1941:419), while many ‘third world’ countries are developing modern economies (Reid, 1999:3).

Indeed, researchers also observed that besides a socially motivated indige-nous communal economy there also was indigenous commerce and Boeke (1936:38) himself, for example, mentioned Malay traders acting as mediators between the local (communal agriculturalist) population and European and Chinese enterprises. The author also noted motor-driven rice-hulling mills being used by indigenes in some places (ibid., 1936:39). Pigeaud (1962:504) then called attention to investment of capital in commercial enterprises by royal courts. Conversion to Islam in the 15th–16th centuries, furthermore, appar-ently occasioned novel emphasis on stricter work ethics (Reid, 1993:131).

We will return to this in greater detail further below. At this point it seems signifĳicant to note that one was increasingly aware that profĳit-orientated com-merce per se was not a novel feature in indigenous culture and tradition. Indeed, long-distance maritime trade throughout the Malayan Peninsula and Archipelago and to distant destinations in the north and the west, in which Malay or Malayic dialects were spoken by the seafarers, looks back over a period of two millennia or more (Wolters, 1967:31–70; Solheim, 1980:334; Mahdi, 1994:188–191, 1995:162–165, 2009; Bellina and Glover, 2004:73–80).

In the second millennium CE, the ethnicity of the seafarers and the language they spoke underwent further diversifĳication. With the take-over of Sri Vijaya by the Central-Javanese Shailendra dynasty in the late 8th century (Poerbatja-raka, 1958:256; Mahdi, 2008:127–128, 134), Central Java would play a recurrently important political role. After the Chola invasion of 1025, Srivijayan control over the trade routes gradually declined, until political paramountcy in the 13th and 14th centuries moved to Javanese Singhasari and then Majapahit (Majumdar, 1935; Hall, 1981:64–73). Javanese shipping, reaching Malacca, as well as the Moluccas, grew markedly (Meilink-Roelofsz, 1962:93–115; Reid, 1993:39), while the Javanese interior too became increasingly involved in the trade (cf. Hall, 1985:133–135, 209–210, 216–217, 232–233).

This was also the period of transmission of Islam throughout the Malayan Peninsula and Archipelago and of formation of Islamic coastal polities and emporiums, so too of settlement of Arabic, Persian, and Indian Muslim mer-chants in the Peninsula and Archipelago (Tjandrasasmita, 1978). Meanwhile,

102 W. Mahdi / Asian Journal of Social Science 40 (2012) 100–132

the Yuan invasion of 1293, though ending after a preliminary success in failure, signalised a rise of Chinese influence in the region. Chinese immigrant settle-ments in Sumatra and Java began to play an active role in the local inter-insular trade (Slamet Muljana, 1968:64–92; Reid, 1999:60–62; Ptak, 1992), contributing at the same time to the above-mentioned Islamisation process (Slamet Mul-jana, 1968:92fff.; de Graaf and Pigeaud, 1984).

It seems self-evident from the above that an indigenous mercantile tradition must indeed have had a long history and very early origins. Concrete archaeo-logical evidence is provided by reliefs on the gallery walls of the c. 800 CE Borobudur temple in Central Java, that depict a market scene and a shopkeeper (Bernet Kempers, 1976:249–250, Plates 169 and 171 respectively). But the excep-tional chronological depth of mercantile tradition already amongst the Austro-nesian ancestors of the Malays is linguistically attested by the dispersal area of reflexes of the protoform *beli ‘buy’, cf. a.o.:1

(1) Paiwan veli, (2) Tagalog bilí, (3) Malay beli ‘buy’, Merina-Malagasy vídy, (4) Bare’e oli ‘price’, Makassarese balli ‘buy’, (5) Buru fĳili-n ‘price’, Manggarai weli, (6) Motu hoi, Fiji voli-a ‘buy’ (Brandstetter, 1910:21; Dempwolfff, 1938:27; Zorc, 1994:558, 573; Wolfff, 2010:765).

The indigenous origin of the tradition is further supported in that the proto-form was perhaps a semantically specialised secondary doublet of *[ba-]liw ‘change, exchange, return’, cf. a.o., fĳirst without the *ba- prefĳix:

1. Ami pa-liw ‘work on another’s fĳield (in place of payment)’, 2. West Bukidnon-Manobo liw-an ‘replace (something)’, 6. Samoa liu ‘change’, ta-liw ‘return’;

and with *ba-:

1. Saisiat baliw ‘buy’, ši-baliw ‘sell’, Pazeh bariw ‘buy, sell’, 2. Cebuano baylu2 ‘exchange’, 3. Malay kem-bali ‘return’, Kelabit baliw ‘transform’, 4. Bugis bali ‘answer’, Muna bhalu ‘buy’, 5. Manggarai wali ‘exchange, return’, 6. Samoa m-aliu ‘go, come’ (Dempwolfff, 1938:22; Zorc, 1994:558, 571; Wolfff, 2010:894).

Compare also the same root with a diffferent prefĳix *sa-liw ‘give in exchange’:

1 This is a skeletal listing with examples from various parts of the entire dispersal area, i.e., 1 — Taiwan; 2 — Philippines; 3 — West Indonesia, Malaysia and Madagascar; 4 – Central Indonesia; 5 – East Indonesia; 6 – Papua-New Guinea and South Pacifĳic.

2 With l/i-metathesis.


1. Amis caliw ‘borrow, lend’, Thao θariw ‘buy, sell’, 2. Ata3 saliu ‘trade’, 4. Sangir saliu ‘exchange’, Bolaang Mongondou mo-taloy ‘buy’, 5. Buru sali ‘recieve’, 6. Fiji soli (< *seli < *seliu < *saliu < *saliw) ‘be given’(Blust, 1989:163 #542; Zorc, 1994:558, 589; Wolfff, 2010:895 sub *caliw).

It seems likely from the above, that reflexes of *[ba-,sa-]liw were sporadically used for ‘exchange’ and ‘barter’ since very early in the Austronesian dispersal. A reflex of *ba-liw then apparently specialised semantically as expression for ‘buy’ (or perhaps ‘acquire through barter’), and was distributed by contact through activity of trading communities, leading to a secondary cognate set represent-ing the efffective protoform *beli. Whatever the case, one may doubtlessly con-clude that trade was an early internal development amongst Austronesians.

In Malay itself, the replacement of archaic salaka by the Old Khmer loan-word pérak as word for ‘money, silver’ can presumably be dated to the time of Funan paramountcy over the perimeter of the Gulf of Thailand in the 3rd cen-tury CE. As the word for ‘money’ or ‘silver’ in Central and North Maluku and in West Papua was typically borrowed from the earlier salaka, while in the Philip-pines and Taiwan it typically reflects pérak, we may apparently conclude that Malay-speaking seafarers and traders already used silver for payment and played a leading role in the clove trade before the period of Funan para-mountcy, while navigation through the Philippines by those same mainly gained signifĳicance since that period (Mahdi, 1994:185–189). The early date of Malay clove trade is further confĳirmed by Indian and Chinese sources (Mahdi, 1999:213–215).

The words puhawang ‘shipmaster’ and baniaga ‘merchant’ already appear in earliest inscriptions in Old Malay as puhāvaṁ and vaṇiyāga respectively (de Casparis, 1956:350, 353). The former is original Malay (< *e[m]pu ‘master’ + *qabaŋ ‘ship’), the latter an apparently very early borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit vāṇijyaka ‘trader’. It probably reflected contacts with earliest visitors from India, leaving archaeological remains on the Peninsula dated around the 1st century CE (Bellina, 2009).

Both terms occurred in Old Javanese as well, but the texts suggest that par-ticularly baniaga referred to foreigners (Barrett Jones, 1984:25), albeit as seen from a Javanese perspective. One source text identifĳies them as saŋkāriŋ dwīpāntara ‘coming from other islands’ (loc. cit.). Sanskrit dvīpāntara, lit. ‘other islands’, referred to the Malayan Archipelago (see Lévi, 1931). It was semi-calqued in Old Javanese as nūsāntara ‘other islands’ (Pigeaud, 1963:139;

3 Spoken in Mabinay, Negros Oriental, Central Philippines, not to be confused with Atta or Ata-Manobo.


Zoetmulder, 1982:1203–1204), i.e., ‘islands of the Archipelago other than Java’. The baniaga must thus have been (non-Javanese) Indonesians at least to a sub-stantial part.

Whereas baniaga apparently referred to a mercantile actor who was not immediately part of the local ruling hierarchy, the Malay term orangkaya (lit. ‘rich person’, cf. Mahdi 2007:230–252) generally denoted elite personages of the local hierarchy, including such that were involved in commerce. Reid (1993:115) notes that it could be equally well interpreted as ‘wealthy aristocrats’ or ‘merchant elite’. Indeed, in the 15th–16th centuries, rulers of coastal empori-ums of Java seem, for example, to have directly provided capital for shipbuild-ing and commerce (Lapian, 2008:59–65).

Questions of merchandise value, taxation, and moneylending are already topicalised in earliest Malay legal texts. In the c. 1304 Trengganu inscription, the 4th legal article (on face B) refers to orang perpihutang ‘creditor, money-lender’ (Paterson, 1924:255, 257). Article 33 of the Laws of Malacca governs the loaning of capital, and regulates the division of the profĳit (Liaw, 1976:146–147, cf. also Reid, 1993:50–51), and the involved Malay words modal ‘capital’ (from Tamil mutal) and laba ‘profĳit’ (from Sanskrit lābha)4 are not unusual in con-temporaneous Malay literature. In Java, the legal codex of Majapahit translated by Slametmuljana (1967:130–139) dedicates articles 117 till 153 (in the transla-tor’s numeration) to borrowing and lending, and to interest on loans.

Nevertheless, the socio-political structure never advanced to the emergence of a legally independent socio-political counter force to the monarch and nobility, neither as a politically established third estate, nor as mercantile and artisan middle-class controlled cities (Burger, 1975:9; Reid, 1993:251–258). Numerous regional communities represented various stages of development of political organisation, from tribal leagues to non-absolutist kingship,5 while the main centres of political power had only reached forms of absolute monar-chy. Socio-politically furthest advanced were perhaps some Islamic mercantile polities, such as Demak, Banten and particularly Acheh where an efffective orangkaya oligarchy could form itself at one period (Reid, 1993:265), somehow reminiscent of the doges of Venice.

The rise of the Sultanate of Demak at the end of the 15th century and down-fall of Majapahit was followed by incursions of the Portuguese and Spanish in the 16th century, joined in the 17th century by the Dutch and British. In after-math to the Portuguese conquest of Malacca in 1511, indigenous shipping

4 Jones, 2007:205 and 177.5 For a concise characterisation of the development in East Indonesia, see Andaya (1993). For

the opposite end of the Archipelago, cf. the dual territorial division with “two kings” in Barus (Drakard, 1990), and tripartite with “three kings” in Minangkabau (Drakard, 1999:97–102).


circumvented the Strait of Malacca by sailing along the Sumatran west coast, leading to a rise in influence of Acheh and Banten.

The most signifĳicant efffect of increasing presence of European shipping, however, probably was the loss of indigenous monopoly in the westward spice trade.6 This had apparently been the main source of revenues of Islamic coastal polities. Loss of this economic basis of power at fĳirst prevented the Sultanate of Demak from advancing to a new over-all paramount like Majapahit had been before it, or Sri Vijaya even earlier, and probably was the factor leading to its subsequent downfall. It led to the restoration under Mataram of socio-economic relations that had existed under Majapahit. This circumstance prob-ably contributed to the return, from a mercantile economy with its more stringent work ethics, to a prevalently communal economy in Java.

In the 17th century, the Dutch United East-India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie — VOC) gained control of the spice trade in the Archipelago, to gradually impose its monopoly on it. Nevertheless, in conse-quence of the great expanses of the Archipelago, and the high degree of diver-sity in socio-economic sophistication, indigenous trade and navigation found numerous free spaces left unoccupied by the VOC. The extent of indigenous shipping was merely narrowed down to local routes and trade in wares remain-ing outside VOC control: Malays and Orang-Lauts in the Riau-Lingga and Strait of Karimata region, Madurese in the Java Sea, etc., but the main volume of indigenous maritime trade in the Archipelago apparently moved to the Makas-sarese and Buginese (Lapian, 2008:47).

The respective fĳields of activity of indigenous and Dutch economic actors remained to a substantial degree distinct and separated, having but limited points of contact up to the dissolution of the VOC at the end of 1799 (see Wertheim, 1978:20–22). In that period too, the nobility continued to be fĳinan-cially involved in trade (Houben, 1994:63–64; Nagtegaal, 1994). Interaction between indigenous commerce and European administration seems to have practically been restricted to the few directly European-ruled emporiums, e.g., Malacca since 1511 and Batavia since 1619. Cf. in this respect the list of taxes for retail salesmen and shopkeepers in Batavia, cited by van Rechteren (1635:24; quoted and translated in Mahdi, 2007:274 fn. 303).

One exception was shipping, particularly shipbuilding. Arriving in South and Southeast Asia, the Portuguese noted that indigenous ships were superior

6 The northward trade had by this time already moved into the hands of Chinese merchants and shipping. A major role was played by locally settled Chinese in the Archipelago, for which reason their activity was more advantageous than detrimental to the economy of local empori-ums. Subsequently, Gujarati shipping took over a major part formerly performed by Malay and Javanese shipping in the Indian Ocean (cf. Manguin, 1993:203–204).


in various respects: cargo and passenger capacity, as well as seaworthiness (Manguin, 1980). Hence the Portuguese, and subsequently the Dutch, relied on indigenous shipbuilding since very early. With regard to the VOC, particularly well known is its massive use of Moluccan coracora (kora-kora) since a plate depicting a VOC coracora fleet was published by Valentyn (1724: betw. pp. 184 and 185). A recount of participation in a VOC fleet of 16 coracoras had been given even earlier in the memoirs of Johann Sigmund Wurfffbain, fĳirst pub-lished in 1686 (Wurfffbain 1931:80–81; see also Mahdi 2007:230).

Other products of indigenous shipbuilding were likewise employed by the VOC, even if not as massively as the coracora. A particularly remarkable result of mutual interaction between indigenous shipbuilders and European ship-ping was apparently a single-masted sailing ship used in port-to-port commu-nication and transport in the Archipelago. It became known in Malay as selup, apparently borrowed from Dutch chaloup. The ship type is frequently men-tioned in use by the VOC since the 17th century, but apparently also by indig-enous shippers, and the Malay name for it seems to have become the precursor of English sloop (Francillon, 1988; Mahdi, 2007:232–236).

Under the VOC, the Chinese in the Archipelago were in a diffferent position than indigenes. Chinese commercial and social contacts with the Dutch com-munity were so profound, that the VOC actually felt infĳiltrated and being cor-rupted, fĳinally leading it to take extreme measures that peaked in the 1740 massacre of the Chinese in Batavia (Vlekke, 1965:213–215). The position of Chinese, however, just as that of other non-indigenous Asians, remained diffferent from that of the indigenes, forming a kind of socio-economic bufffer between European and indigenous ethnic communities.

The 19th century witnessed fundamental changes in economy, political and social structure, and culture of colonial Indonesia (Netherlands East Indies). European culture influence had prevalently manifested itself in Christian mis-sioning chiefly limited to the East (Banda, Ambon, Menado). After dissolution of the VOC in 1799, that influence centered more specifĳically in the West (particularly in Java and Sumatra). It manifested itself in fundamental changes in the economy as a result of direct European capital investment in plantations and mines and subsequently in steam-powered transport. This had strong repercussions on indigenous social structure and culture. The change was just as sudden as it was profound, but only involved a limited part of the commu-nity, so that the new tradition in indigenous culture appeared not to be a con-tinuation of the existing one, but a parallel development that branched-offf from it. The development of the “imported”, so-called “post-traditional”, modes of trade and fĳinance took place in parallel to continued persistence of “tradi-tional” forms. It resulted in another economic “dualism” besides that described


by Boeke above, being not between a “social” or communal and an “economy” or commerce orientated tradition, but between distinct modes of commercial practice: a “traditional, and a “post-traditional” one.

Of course, novel features, seeming to be alien to the traditional, are gradu-ally taken up into local tradition. Hence, the tradition of any non-primeval eth-nic community in the world predictably encompasses features that were once introduced from external sources. In Indonesia too, features presently felt to be “traditional” may ultimately be of Chinese, Indic, Persian, Arabic, or other origin. But the present article is specifĳically concerned with novel features of industrial-age economy introduced in the 19th–20th centuries, so that I will refer to “traditional” and “post-traditional” features (henceforth without quo-tation marks) in the explicit context of this change.

Traditional Indigenous Commerce and Shipping in the Post-VOC Period

The parallel existence of relatively separated indigenous and European com-munities during the two preceding centuries was not suddenly dissolved by the 19th century reforms. Not only did traditional forms of trade and fĳinance continue to persist throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, but besides devel-opment of a post-traditional indigenous socio-economic culture within the sphere of European influence, there were continued contrary examples of Europeans taken up into a traditional indigenous culture sphere.

A trivial example was the Javanese shipowner in Makassar, reported by Wal-lace (1890:310) to have a Dutch wife. More extreme was the instance of an entire community of Dutch and other European former soldiers on the island of Kisar after the fort was closed in 1819. When J.G.F. Riedel, Dutch colonial resident at Ambon, visited Kisar in November 1880 he found a community of light-skinned, partly blond-haired and blue-eyed “natives” who had European names (Meyer, 1882a, 1882b; Riedel, 1886:400–404; van Hoëvel, 1890:215–216).

It is understandable, therefore, that although indigenous shipping would gain numerous contacts with the colonial administration and European com-munity, to be considered below, a great deal of indigenous maritime activity continued almost unnoticed by European observers. A noteworthy observant exception was de Bruijn Kops (1854) who described various indigenous water-craft operating in interinsular navigation during the early 19th century. Well known, meanwhile, are Makassarese maritime traders who acquired bêche-de-mer (sea cucumbers, trepang) from North Australia for the Chinese market (Cense 1952; Macknight 1976). Well into the 20th century, traditional Makas-sarese, Buginese and Madurese vessels remained active in trade throughout


the Archipelago, also calling at ports in Singapore and the Peninsula (Gibson-Hill 1950).

Less apt to escape colonial administrative registration was shipping in inland waterways in Java, that was systematically recorded (cf. Houben, 1994:72–73). But maritime shipping too, calling at offfĳicially administrated ports, came to be duly recorded. The number of registered arrivals of indige-nous vessels at some major ports, compared with that of European steam- and wind-powered ships on domestic routes in 1908 in Table 17 provides a picture of the relative role of indigenous shipping even in the 20th century.

It was noted in the previous section that traditional shipping had been the scene of greatest interaction between indigenous and European activity since the beginning. This continued in the 19th century, ironically enough in conse-quence of dramatically increased activity of Ilanun and other sea rovers

Table 1: Respective number of calls at various ports by different categories of vessels on domestic routes in 1908

Name of the Port Steamers Sailing ships with

European rigging

Indigenous rigging

Padang 96 – 72Palembang 223 61 371Telukbetung 216 – 175Batavia 427 95 102Semarang 30 18 172Surabaya 266 5 104Gresik – 12 222Pontianak 26 2 107Banjarmasin 48 92 260Balikpapan 27 – 52Makassar 183 – 328Kupang 13 – 6Ambon 60 – 13

Source: Handelingen der Staaten-Generaal 1909–1910, I. Nederlandsch (Oost-)Indië, Bijlage YY, pp. 2–5.

7 The number of “indigenous” sailing ships perhaps includes some non-indigenous Asian vessels, but as only ships on domestic routes were included, the discrepancy must have been marginal.


throughout the Archipelago, and of Sea-People (Orang Laut) freebooters pay-ing allegiance to the Sultans of Acheh, of Riau, and of Siak (see references in Mahdi, 2008:135 fn. 78; and St. John, 1849; Piracy, 1849–1851; Berigten, 1855; so too de Bruijn Kops, 1854:106–108). To fĳight them, the colonial administration commissioned numerous indigenous boats referred to as cruise proas (kruisprauwen).8

This was not the only instance of systematic 19th-century use of indigenously built vessels. Whole fleets of proas were also used for transportation on various inland waterways, so too indigenous ferries. Photo-illustrations in Wachlin (1994:40, 78) show flat-bottomed proas of the Bataviaasch Praauen Veer com-pany used for transport between the city and ships on the roadstead, and river proas of the same company before the Cikao warehouse, that carried the cofffee harvest from plantations along the Citarum.

Besides that, relatively large indigenously built ships continued to be used in maritime expeditions of Europeans, such as the Tartar Galley of Forrest (1779; see Mahdi, 2007:224 fĳig. 30b), the Experiment used in the expedition of Reinwardt (1858; see painting by J.Th. Bik in Brommer, 1979:96), or the 70-ton “native prau” on which Alfred Russel Wallace sailed from Makassar to the Aru Islands (Wallace, 1890:308–317). In the 20th century, Collins (1937) sails from Makassar to Selayar Island on a Buginese palari (see also C.N. 1938).

Hence, through the 19th century and half the 20th, traditional shipbuilding continued under intensifĳied interaction between indigenous and European communities. This interaction did not fail to also occasion European influence on shipbuilding, in the construction of the hull, as well as in the rigging (see Horridge, 1986:32fff., 57–58).

With regard to fĳinancing too, traditional forms apparently continued to thrive throughout the country. The following quotation from the 19th-century Tuhfat al-Nafĳis of Ali Haji will illustrate the routine indigenous attitude with regard to shipping and trade capital:

Maka lalu diberi oleh saudaranya sebuah pencalang, cukup modalnya serta alat senja-tanya. Maka berlayarlah dari Betawi, lalu ke Siantan.9

Then his relatives gave him a penchalang10 sailing ship with sufffĳicient capital and equipment. He thereupon sailed forth from Batavia, on to Siantan.

8 See Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië 1821 no. 37, p. 99. 9 Quoted from Munir bin Ali (1965:38), adapted to modern standard spelling. 10 A penchalang was a traditional single-masted Javanese transport ship.


On land too, traditional forms of trade continued to persist, only that it was now subject to immediate colonial administration and taxation (cf. Houben, 1994:70–72).

The Incipient “Post-Traditional” Development

Direct Interaction with Colonial Administration and European Enterprises

The social groups directly influenced by the 19th-century economic reforms were an increasing number of communal (désa) peasants that became wage-earners as either free or contract labourers, and the nobility that gained privi-leged access to education in Dutch schools and was included into the administrative hierarchy. The indigenous trade and agrarian middle class at fĳirst experienced the least tangible post-traditional influence, and novel fea-tures in indigenous commerce only developed very gradually.

On the one hand, there continued to be signifĳicant fĳinancial participation of nobility and gentry in commerce, and as these had increased access to Dutch schooling, this enhanced post-traditional developments in trade and fĳinance. On the other hand, access to schools with instruction in Dutch led to abandon-ment of rural places in favour of urban residency and pursuit of positions in the administration (HIO-Commissie, 1930:17–21). In summary, a post-traditional merchant and business middle class developed much more slowly than either a post-traditionally educated nobility or a post-traditional labour force.

The 19th-century reforms brought about a dramatic increase of urban cen-tres having European as well as indigenous and non-indigenous Asian inhabit-ants, predictably bolstering up the retail trade. Although this mainly involved traditional forms of trade, the previously subordinated territories outside the colonial centers, that had retained traditional structures under thalassocratic paramountcy of the VOC, now come under direct colonial administration, and hence into direct contact with its legal formalities.

An 1888 Malay edition of legal texts on use of free lands as market places, and rules for free market places (Regensburg, 1888) will illustrate this. It includes the Malay translations Atoeran pasar mardika (“Rules for free mar-kets”, translated from StbNI 11 1827, no. 111), Atoeran tanah mardika disebelah koelon Kali Tjimanoek (“Rules for free lands south of the River Cimanuk”, StbNI 1836, no. 19), Atoeran pasar atas itoe tanah-tanah mardika (“Rules for markets on the free lands”, StbNI 1854, no. 1), and some court sentences on the subject.

11 StbNI = Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië (the offfĳicial gazette of Netherlands East Indies).


The edition implies a sufffĳiciently large expected readership in Latin-script (instead of more traditional Jawi-script) Malay at time of publication.

In Java, small privately initiated European schools for indigenes apparently began appearing sporadically since the 1820s, e.g., the Hoofdenschool (school for indigenous nobility) in Cianjur, run by Robert L.S. van der Capellen (brother of the Governor General), mentioned by van Dijk (1986:12). Schools for indige-nous teachers of government schools were opened in Surakarta in 1851, in Bandung in 1866 (Kroeskamp, 1974: 304–305). Government regulations for school education of indigenes were decreed in 1871 (StbNI 1872, no. 99). Hence, there must indeed have been a stratum of indigenous gentry and merchants involved in market trade by 1888 that was literate in the Latin-script Malay taught in European-run schools.

So far, we have only touched upon offfĳicial contacts with colonial adminis-tration, whereby post-traditional features occurred “at the interface” in deal-ings with European administrative counterparts. Noteworthy were also “unofffĳicial” contacts with European enterprises. In 1848 the Netherlands enacted a new, liberal constitution. The economy of the colony was gradually reorganised, leading to a fundamental increase of European capital investment in plantations, mining, and steam-powered transport. As Gonggrijp (1930:18–19) points out, European plantations (of tea, cofffee, tobacco, sugar cane) led not only to employment of former peasants as wage-labourers. In West Java, indig-enous peasants began cultivating tea themselves;12 in Central Java, peasants not only cultivated sugar cane for traditional production of sugar, but also delivered to European-run sugar factories. In East Java, indigenous cultivators of tobacco, originally producing for personal consumption only, began to trade in it in the late 18th century (Carey, 1986:88–99; Houben, 1994:68), then sharply (and profĳitably) increased their output in cooperation with European enter-prises. In general, therefore, the presence of industrial-age forms of agriculture at European-run enterprises led to changes in the productive and marketing process of indigenous enterprises as well.

Post-Traditional Enterprise as Reflected in Press Advertisements

One important consequence of European capital investments was an increase of urban settlements. This, as already noted above, could not fail to enhance retail trade. Since 1855, meanwhile, an increasing number of newspapers began to appear in Malay, to a lesser degree also in Javanese (Adam, 1995:184–190). Malay-language newspapers in the 19th century were Dutch edited, occasionally

12 17th-century European sources indicate that tea was imported to the Peninsula and Archi-pelago from China (cf. Mahdi, 2007:215–218).


also Chinese edited. A signifĳicant portion of Dutch-language newspapers, so too of newspapers in Malay, was dedicated to announcements of festivities and offfĳicial appointments, public auctions, etc., and in particular also to com-mercial advertising. Commercial newspaper advertisements became a feature of daily urban life.

Nevertheless, even in the Malay-language newspapers, the advertisements were as a rule commissioned by European businessmen, in the last two decades of the 19th century also by Chinese and other non-indigenous Asians. Advertisements by indigenes were extremely rare. One example was in the 31 August 1880 issue of the Dutch-language newspaper Het Indisch Vaderland that appeared in Semarang:13

Mas Sastrodiredjo die Kampoeng Petolongan, Steen-Graveur, bikin letter kerkhof, satoe letter 30 cent.

Mas Sastrodiredjo in the Petolongan quarter, stone engraver, does churchyard texts, 30 ¢ per letter.

Whereas earliest indigenous advertisers (as above) apparently addressed Euro-pean potential customers, later advertisements also aimed at a wider public, including indigenes. The following in the Soenda Berita of 7 February 1904, advertises a traditional product, pisang salai (a.k.a. pisang salé[h]) ‘sun-dried bananas’:

Sale-Pisang jang sanget rapi pembikinja, bagoes roepanja dan ledzad rasanja, apa lagi kalau di minoem dengan Thee Priangan roepa-roepa merk, bolih dapet bli arga 1 kati ƒ 0,25 lain onkos kirim[;] bli banjak dapet moerahan 20 pCt. Hanapi Pasirhajam.

Sun-dried bananas very neatly made, look good and taste delicious, especially if taken with Priangan Tea of various brands, can be bought at a price of ƒ 0.25 per catty besides delivery costs; large quantities can be obtained 20 pct. cheaper. Hanapi Pasirhajam.

In the above examples, the names of the advertisers seem obviously indige-nous. In other instances it can be more difffĳicult to discern between indigenous and non-indigenous advertisers. The already quoted issue of Het Indisch Vader-land of 31 August 1880, also carried for example:

Roemah di Konijnen-Straat, siapa maoe sewa dateng sama saja[,] Salih Alhabsi di Kam-pong Mlayoe.

13 Here and further the head word(s), printed very large in the original, will be given in bold face.


House on Konijnen Street, whoever wishes to rent it do come to me, Salih Alhabsi in Kampung Melayu.

The Arabic surname (al-Habshi) makes it possible that the person was of Arabic or Indian-Muslim descent, particularly because indigenes, though sometimes having two or more “fĳirst” names, did not typically carry a surname.14

Another circumstance that complicates identifying the ethnic origin of a Non-European advertiser is that, after 1910, trade in various products and ser-vices, whether country-specifĳic or imported, was apparently not ethnicity spe-cifĳic, but could be performed by indigenous as well as non-indigenous Asians.

This can be demonstrated by the advertisements for sarongs and/or batik cloths reproduced in Figure 1.15 In the early 20th century, Javanese batik pro-duction underwent considerable post-traditional expansion through colour-ing by the stamp procedure (instead of through application of wax negative by hand) and introduction of aniline dyes (Dobbin, 1994:89). I will, however, mainly refer to the reflection of the trade in the print media.

The texts of the presently considered advertisements of batik agents are rather long, so I will only gloss excerpts. The fĳirst (Figure 1, top left) was of a Mandailing-Batak commissionary agent from Pekalongan, Central Java, in the Pewarta Deli of May 22, 1912:

Agent Koemisi . . . Djangan loepa memesen barang-barang batik Pekalongan, Solo dan Djocja, Poerworedjo, haloes dan kasar, saroeng, tjelana, kain pandjang, dan lain-lain batik, kepada Hadji Abdulmadjid, orang Mandahiling jang doedoek di Pekalongan tele-gram adres: ABDULMADJID. Pekalongan . . .

Commisionary agent . . . Be sure to order batik-ware from Pekalongan, Solo and Yogya, Purworejo, fĳine as well as rough [quality], sarongs, trousers, open sarongs [not circu-larly sewn together at the ends], and other batiks, from Haji Abdulmadjid, a Mandail-ing with seat in Pekalongan. Telegram address: abdulmadjid, Pekalongan . . .

The following (Figure 1, bottom left) was of a Muslim from Samarinda, East Kalimantan, who — judging from the name — perhaps was non-indigenous. It was in the Dutch-language West Sumatran newspaper De Padanger of 17 February 1928:

14 Only members of ethnic groups having clans (e.g., Bataks) would often use their clan name as surname.

15 I apologise for unclear reproductions due to poor print quality and paper decay of the originals.


Attentie — Attentie. Indien U mooie, tevens goedkoope Sarongs wilt bezitten of daarin handel drijven, bestelt ze bij A. Dahrie bin Hasan & Co. Samarinda (Borneo). . . .

Attention — Attention. If you want to own some nice but nevertheless cheap Sarongs, or wish to do trade in these, order them from A. Dahrie bin Hasan & Co. Samarinda (Borneo). . . .

The third comparative advertisement (Figure 1, right) was by a Chinese agent from Pekalongan, placed in the Bintang Tiong Hoa (Padang) of 20 February 1915:

. . . Batik Handel / Pekalongan (Java) . . . saja bikin besar perniagaan segala Batik-batik kloewaran Pekalongan dan Solo, Djokdja en Toeloeng Agoeng, Lasem dan kleurnja soeda terpili model paling baroe. Seperti sarong kain pandjang dan tjelana[,] Slendang Soetra, en ikat Kepala; moeleij dari harga f 0.90 beroeroet-oeroet sampe harga f 14 Roepiah perpo-tong, . . . , dan ada djoega batek aloes atawa kasar [s]aja poenja kloewaran fabriek sendiri kleurnja model baroe lagi. Jang Menoenggoe pesenan / Dengen Hormat / Tan Pang Liep.

Figure 1: Three advertisements of sarong and/or batik cloth wholesale agents: in the Pewarta Deli of 22 May 1912, by a Mandailing-Batak (top left); in De Padanger of 17 February 1928, by a likely non-indigenous muslim (bottom left); and in the Bintang Tiong Hoa

(Padang) of 20 February 1915, by a Chinese.


. . . Batik Handel,16 Pekalongan ( Java) . . . I have stepped up trade in batik cloths pro-duced in Pekalongan and Solo, Yogya and Tulungagung, Lasem[,] and of choice colours from the newest fashion. Amongst others loose-end as well as sewn sarongs and trou-sers, silk veils and head bands; starting from a price of 0.90 rising gradually till 14 guil-ders per piece, . . . , and there are also fĳine as well as rough batik cloths produced at my own factory with colours of the new fashion. Awaiting your orders, respectfully, Tan Pang Liep.

The three quoted texts show that indigenous traders were joining their non-indigenous Asian peers not only in advertising in newspapers, but also in rely-ing on modern modes of communication (e.g., the telegraph) and transport (package deliveries). Besides that, Chinese traders were also becoming involved in production management, as already noted by Dobbin (1994:93) for West Java.

Indigenous craftsmen and traders were no longer retricted to traditional indigenous crafts and goods. The following announcement in Dutch appeared repeatedly in the newspaper de Expres (editors: E.F.E. Douwes Dekker and Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo) — seen in the issues of 8 and 21 January and 5 and 23 February 1914:

W. Abdul Rachman, Kleermaker van Batavia. Bandoeng — Residentsweg 28. Steeds in voorraad keurige stofffen, als Drills, Linnen, Tricots, enz. enz. Goed en vlug werk. Concur-reerende prijzen / Wit Drill Costumes van af 7,50 tot f 8,50 / Khaki Drill 1e kwaliteit ” 8,50 / Russisch Linnen No. 1 ” 17,50. Aanbevelend.

W. Abdul Rachman, Tailor from Batavia. [In] Bandung, Residentsweg 28. Elegant fab-rics always in store, such as [cotton] drill, linens, tricots, etc., etc. Good and quick work. Competitive prices / White drill suit from 7.50 to 8.50 guilders / 1st quality khaki drill 8.50 guilders / No. 1 Russian linen 17.50 guilders. At your service.

The spelling of the name Abdul with u rather than oe was common, and did not necessarily imply non-indigenous descent (an Arab would probably have been named Abdurrachman). It is noteworthy that the apparently indigenous tailor worked with European textiles, producing articles of European-style clothing, and presumably using a mechanical sewing machine, scissors, etc.

Indigenous traders were increasingly offfering European-made products as well. Figure 2 cites an indigenous agent for imported industrial products beside non-indigenous peers. It is the advertisement of a drugstore fĳirm in Kampung Jawa (K[ampoeng] Djawa), Padang, West Sumatra, offfering amongst others patented German, Dutch, French, British, and American pharmaceutical and cosmetic products (including Aspirin and Nivea cream). It appeared in the

16 Dutch handel means ‘trade’, hence the name of the fĳirm literally means ‘Batik Trade’.


Sri Sumatra of 31 October 1916, and listed three agents for other towns: the indi-gene Datoek Sampono Sati for Bukittinggi (Fort de Kock), and two Chinese, Lie Hwee Soen for Padang Panjang, and Tan Te Hong for Payakumbuh (Pajacombo).

Indigens also came to deal with imported products independently, of course. An apparently indigenous — judging from his single name — shop owner named Daoed of the same Kampung Jawa advertised in the Bintang Tiong Hoa of 23 February 1915 (see Figure 3), announcing a.o.:

Baru Terîma Lagi / Tempat tidoer besi boeatan Ingles (England) / Jang soedah masjhoer koeatnja serta endah boeatannja. Lekas beli soepaja djanan sampe kehabisan. . . . . Den-gan hormat / Toko Daoed . . .

Just received again: Iron beds of English make (England) that have become famous for their strength and beautiful make. Be quick to buy so as not to fĳind it sold out. . . . Respectfully, Daoed’s Shop . . .

Not only were European goods on sale by indigenes, various services too could adopt European forms. Providing lodgings and provisions for travellers had

Figure 2: Advertisement of a West Sumatran drugstore offering imported pharma-ceutical products, placed in the newspaper Sri Sumatra of 31 October 1916.


been a fĳirmly established traditional custom. Quite new was, however, the organisation of a lodging facility as a hotel with its private rooms, individual sanitation, room service, etc. (it was even relatively new in Europe). The fol-lowing advertisement of — judging from the spelling of his name — a Bante-nese or Sundanese hotelier was in the Dutch-language Pengharapan Banten of 1 December 1923:

Hotel Spoor, Serang — Bantam. Zindelijke, nette kamers, W.C. met stromend water. Bij bestelling smakelijk bereid eten verkrijgbaar. Billijke prijzen. Beleefd aanbevelend, de Eigenaar, S. Padmawidjaja.

Hotel Spoor,17 Serang — Banten. Tidy, nice rooms, WC with flowing water. Tastily pre-pared food is available on order. Fair prices. Respectfully at your service, the owner, S. Padmawidjaja.

17 The word serving as name of the hotel, spoor, is Dutch for ‘railway’.

Figure 3: Advertisement of an apparently indigenous salesman in Padang offering imported English iron beds, placed in the Bintang Tiong Hoa of 23 February 1915.


Serang is the capital of present Banten Province on the western tip of Java. Such hotels were run by indigenous and non-indigenous Asians in Sumatra too. The following two very similar advertisements in the Chinese-run Sri Sumatra of Padang show how ethnically unspecifĳic the advertisements could be. The fĳirst is from 15 February 1916:

Awás / Ingat djangan loepa pada Hotel Melajoe kampoeng Tjarotjok Sibolga / Ada sedia tempat tidoer dan lain2 dengan teratoer satjoekoepnja dengan bersenang hati, enkoe, dan sobat, kaloe ada soeka menginap kami terima dengan hormat, dari sagala onkos2 boleh berdamai. / Saja menanti dengan hormat / Noerdin / gelar Soetan Morlaoets / led S.I.

Attention / Remember not to forget Hotel Melayu, Carocok quarter, Sibolga. / Is happy to provide orderly and sufffĳicient beds and so forth, if you my sirs and fellows should care to overnight, we would respectfully receive you, all the costs may be bargained. / I remain respectfully / Noerdin / gelar Soetan Morlaoets / member of S.I.

The second is from 4 August 1916:

Awás / Djangan loepa pada Hotel (Losmen) / di / Moeara-Sipongi Djalanan Padang-Sibolga / Teratoer dengan rapi, Tempat tidoer, Makanan, Kamar-mandi, serta dengan Kakoesnja, diterima penoempang dari segala Bangsa, Toean2, Liatwiesianseng, Hoed-jin2, Ankoe2, dan Sobat2, kalau ada soeka menginap, kami terima dengan hormat dari hal onkostnja derekan sederhana. / Saja bernanti dengan hormat / Moehamad Joesoep / Peranakan Kling

Attention / Do not forget the Hotel (Inn), at Muara-Sipongi on the Padang-Sibolga road. / Neat and orderly, beds, food, bathrooms, with toilets, receive boarding guests of all nationalities, Malay, Chinese, or Minangkabau gentlemen, fellows,18 should you care to overnight, we would respectfully receive you, the matter of cost will be reck-oned19 quite simply. / I remain respectfully / Moehamad Joesoep / of Indian descent.

The gelar title of the former hotelier identifĳies him as indigene, confĳirmed by his S.I. (Sarékat Islam) membership. The second hotelier identifĳies himself as being of Indian descent. Remarkably, he spells the second component of his name with fĳinal -p rather than -f, suggesting advanced assimilation into the indigenous speech community.

18 Toean is Malay tuan ‘mister, sir’, liatwiesianseng and hoedjin are Xiamen-Chinese liét ui ‘all of you [polite]’ + sian seng ‘mister’ and hu jîn ‘lady’ (Jones, 2007:182, 287, 115), ankoe (also enkoe) is Minangkabau angku ‘mister, sir, uncle’, sobat is a colloquial variant of sahabat ‘friend, fellow, pal’.

19 The word spelled derekan corresponds to modern Indonesian diréken, passive voice form of meréken loaned from Dutch rekenen ‘to count, to reckon’. In the given context it suggests the price was negotiable.


That the two similar advertisements, of an indigene and of an Indian, were in a Chinese-run medium suggests a relaxed interethnic relationship in the post-traditional sector. This did not mean that ethnic groups partook in it at an equal pace.

The Chinese were not only the fĳirst to appear in that sector, they were also by far the most numerously represented. Signifĳicantly, most shops in urban centres were either European or Chinese-run, and the common word for ‘shop’, toko, was borrowed from Xiamen-Chinese thó-khò ( Jones 2007:324). Words like kedai (from Tamil kaṭai; ibid.:148) and indigenous warung, were only used for traditional small shops or stalls.

With regard to newspaper advertisements, entries of Chinese advertisers were already frequent before the turn of the century, and made up by far the largest Non-European contingent up to World War II, followed at some dis-tance by other non-indigenous Asians. Entries of indigenous advertisers formed the smallest group. Nevertheless, throughout the period before WWII, cooperation between indigenous and non-indigenous Asian groups proceeded relatively well in the post-traditional business sector as well as in the political. It was thus not unusual that both indigenous and other Non-Chinese Asian businesses, though in the overwhelming majority Muslim, advertised in Chinese-run newspapers as in the above examples.

Post-traditional Modes of Legal Discourse and Finance

Advertisement in newspapers not only served to promote sales and services. Already since very early it also became an aspect of formal legal discourse. Thus, the Batavian Dutch-edited Malay weekly Biang Lala in its issue of 30 December 1869, carried a notifĳication on the passing away of a businessman named Rasidi Besar:

Koetika di hari Selasa pada tanggal 30 November 1869, djam poekoel 12 tengah hari / Rasidi Besar, / di Kampong Blandongan, Betawi telah, poelang Krohmatoellah Ta-ala di negri jang Baku (mati) dan barang-barang siapa jang handa minta oetang ataoe mem-bajar oetang kapada Rasidi Besar dan boleh datang minta ataoe bajar kapada Abdul Adjiet, di Kampong Blandongan, anak-nja jang berkoewasa dari pada itoe boedel Rasidi Besar. / Abdul Adjiet.

It was Tuesday on the 30th of November 1869, at 12 o’clock midday when / Rasidi Besar, / in Blandongan quarters, Batavia, passed away to God’s Mercy on High in the land of Eternity ([i.e., he] died) then whoever may wish to demand a debt from or pay his debt to Rasidi Besar then he may come and demand it from or pay it to Abdul Adjiet, in Blandongan quarters, his son who is administrator for Rasidi Besar’s estate. / Abdul Adjiet.


Dutch boedel means ‘estate, property’, and the phrase jang berkoewasa dari pada itoe boedel is apparently an attempt to translate the Dutch standard expression boedelbezorger (also boedelbewaarder) ‘assignee, executor, estate administrator’, demonstrating the kind of linguistic problems arising even in quite traditional transactions in the environment of European legal formali-ties. The call upon all former business associates and acquaintances of the deceased to solve remaining debts and credits was (and is) quite a routine tra-dition in indigenous Muslim society.

Linguistic difffĳiculties were ubiquitous on both sides in early contacts between indigenous traditional and European modes of discourse. The Dutch editor was apparently taken aback by the circumscription of “passing away” formulated by the advertiser following traditional decorum. Besides misspell-ing ke Rahmatoellah ‘to the Mercy of God’ with the preposition ke incorporated into the expression head as one word, he felt necessitated to add in parenthe-ses mati ‘died’, in case the reader would be just as perplexed by the lengthy circumscription as he himself apparently was.

The announcement was entered by the son of the deceased, whose name was spelled Abdul Adjiet, i.e., with u instead of oe, just as in the name of the tailor Abdul Rachman cited earlier above. In the present example, the indige-nous ethnicity is even more likely. While the fĳirst name component represents Arabic abdu ’l- ‘servant of the’ (originally followed by a reference to God),20 the etymology of the second element (read: ajit) is unclear to me. The Muslim name Abdulajid occurs in the Philippines, and the apparent cognate in Indone-sia and Malaysia typically appears as Abdul Ajid or A. Ajit. However, the second element may have been confounded with Hindi ajit ~ ajith , a frequent proper name in India deriving from Sanskrit ajita ‘not conquered, unsubdued, invin-cible’. The second component of the father’s name presumably reflects Malay besar ‘big’.

Financial aspects of indigenous enterprise mainly preserved traditional modes of money lending and investment sharing. For a relatively advanced example, Dobbin (1994:91) mentions the fĳinancial cooperative at Bataran, Tulungagung, East Java, which provided credit for indigenous batik entrepre-neurs. Indigenes participated very hesitatingly in post-traditional banking and corporate shareholding. Interesting is an announcement of the fĳinancial asso-ciation Goena Perniagaän (‘pro-commerce’) in every 1913 issue21 of the Hindia Serikat (chief editor: Abdoel Moeïs), journal of the Sarékat Islam:

20 In the example of the tailor named Abdul Rachman, the whole translates as ‘servant of the Benevolent’.

21 Seen in monthly nos. 1 till 11 (I did not have access to no. 12) of 1913.


Vereeniging / “Goena Perniagaän” / Bandoeng / Simpen dan oetangkan wang kepada lid-lid / 1 simpenan tiap-tiap boelan à f. 2,50. / Pada taon 1913, berkapitaal f. 20.000,— / Minta ketrangan pada / Directie GOENA PERNIAGA-AN.

Association “Goena Perniagaän”,22 Bandung. Saves and lends money to members. 1 deposit per month @ 2.50 guilders. Has in 1913 a capital of 20,000. — gldrs. Ask for information from GOENA PERNIAGA-AN management.

The alternative spellings of perniagaän ~ PERNIAGA-AN was conditioned by the uppercase mode of the latter occurrence, that did not allow for dieresis notation on the a.

Another advertisement that likewise appeared in each of the seen 1913 monthly issues of Hindia Serikat was perhaps noteworthier, in that it refers to an incorporated company:

N.V. Cultuur en Handelsmaatshapij / “Krido-Mardi-Kismo”. / perhimpoenan tani dan dagangan Boemipoetera / di Bandoeng. / Modalnja f 50.000,— / satoe aandeel harga f 10.10 dengen ongkos aan-geteekend f 10,30. / Ini aandeel boleh ditjitjil, seboelan paling se-dikit saben aandeel f 1, —. / Katrangan jang lebih djaoeh boleh minta di Bandoeng pada Directie.

The Culture and Trade Company “Krido-Mardi-Kismo”,23 N.V., indigenous peasant and trade association in Bandung. With a capital of 50,000 — guilders; one share for 10.10 guilders, with registration fee 10.30. The shares may be acquired in rates of at least 1. — guilder a month. Further information may be requested in Bandung from the management.

It was not new to collectively fĳinance a joint venture by shares. Such shares were traditionally known in Javanese as séro, a term also used in vernacular Malay,24 and the jointly fĳinanced enterprise was designated perséroan. But the organisation of a legally independent enterprise (legally “personifĳied” as an “individual” on its own) for which the shareowners only held limited liability, was new. Not only did one take recourse to Dutch N.V. ‘Ltd., Inc.’ (abbreviation of naamloze vennootschap, lit. ‘nameless partner-association’, cf. French S.A. = société anonyme), but the shares too were referred to by Dutch aandeel. Javanese séro and Malay saham only came to be used with that novel meaning gradually. The term P.T. (perséroan terbatas) only replaced N.V. in indepen-dent Indonesia.

22 The name of the association means literally ‘pro-commerce’.23 Literally ‘Movement for Enlightenment of the Country’.24 The present Indonesian term, the Arabism saham, only gained currency in the course of the

20th century.


Indigenes engaged in this form of incorporated enterprise very hesitatingly. The offfĳicial list of corporations or limited companies (N.V.) registered in the Netherlands East-Indies in 1912 only included the very few possibly indigenous enterprises named in Table 2.

The fĳirst entry (no. 17) is likely to be the precursor of Krida-Mardi-Kismo mentioned earlier above. There were numerous other entries denoted as Cul-tuurmaatschappij (lit. ‘culture society’) followed by an indigenous name, usu-ally a place name, e.g., no. 51 C.-m. Kali Grendjeng (Batavia), but they typically had a relatively large capital and individual share — in the latter example ƒ 1,000,000 / ƒ 1,000 — making it less likely that they were indigenous-run foun-dations like no. 17. Entry no. 174 actually seems not very likely to have been indigenous, because the Malayism klapper (Malay kelapa ‘coconut’) was a common feature of Indies Dutch. It is in Table 2 as marginal example, i.e., as perhaps “likeliest” of all unlikely entries.

By comparison, of the 235 entries in the original source, 55 can be identifĳied by their names as being Chinese-run. For the greater part they are given as handelsmaatschappij ‘trading company’. The disparity between the number of indigenous and Chinese-run corporate enterprises probably reflects the actual numerical relation between participation of the respective ethnic groups in post-traditional business at that time.

A signifĳicant particularity of the indigenous corporations is that at least two of the three indigenous ones listed in Table 2 (nos. 17, 34, 230) were socially-oriented. It is noteworthy in context of what Boeke had described as “economic dualism”, noted in the introduction above.

Table 2: Possibly indigenous enterprises included in the official list of limited companies (N.V.) registered in the Netherlands East-Indies in 1912

No. Type and name of the company Seat Capital � Share �

17 Cultuurmaatschappij Mardi Kismo

Jogyakarta 60,00030–60–120

34 Inlandsche Handelmaatschappij Ati Boediman

Batavia 5,000 25

174 Klapperonderneming Belang Belang

Surabaya 84,000 50

230 Handelmaatschappij Sarikat Boedi Oetomo

Batavia 6,000 25

Source: Handelingen der Staaten-Generaal 1912–1913, I. Nederlandsch (Oost-)Indië, Bijlage E, pp. 2–8.


A social orientation also characterised the beginnings of post-traditional banking. The fĳirst major indigenous bank was found in 1895 by Raden Bei Patih Aria Wirjaatmadja — a nobleman as his lengthy title indicates — in Purwokerto, Central Java: the Hulp- en Spaarbank der Inlandsche Bestuurs Ambtenaren, i.e., ‘aid and savings bank for indigenous civil servants’. In the 20th century it became partly Dutch administrated, and amalgamated with similar so-called Volksbank-s (Dutch; lit. ‘people’s bank’) in other towns in 1934 to form the Algemene Volkscrediet Bank, subsequently renamed Bank Rakjat Indonesia by the Indonesian authorities in 1946 (Shadily, 1980:395–396).

The prevalence of declared social motivation of indigenous corporate busi-ness gave way to a more business-orientated attitude around 1928–1930. In 1929, the Indonesische Studie Club, a culture organisation that was meant to encompass wider, more middle-class circles of indigens than the Boedi Oetomo, set up the N.V. Bank Nasional Indonesia in Surabaya (Pringgodigdo and Shadily, 1973:154). Though founded by an apparent social organisation, this latter was chiefly interested in stimulating the indigenous business elite (Post, 1996:618).

Other indigenous banks now also appeared on a basis of purely business interests. Thus, the Bank Abuan Saudagar was set up in 1932 in Bukittinggi (Rizky and Majidi, 2008:29).

Indeed, corporations with social bias, so characteristic of the preceding period, were prevalently set up in Java, at the initiative of members of Javanese nobility and gentry. On the one hand, these latter were the principal benefĳicia-ries of European education provided by the colonial government, and hence most apt to adopt new forms of fĳinance and business organisation introduced from Europe. On the other hand, the downfall of Demak and the return under Mataram to the communal socio-economic structures of the Madjapahit period had led to restoration of the primacy of communal social motivation in production observed by Boeke. But more important was perhaps the tradi-tional role of the gentry and orangkaya in fĳinancing commerce. It was demon-strated by Post (1996:612–613), that development in some regions outside Java had been quite diffferent, and indigenous profĳit-orientated business flourished there, in part even in Java.

Transition from Colonial Accommodation to National Self-reliance

The period around 1928–1930 marked a turning point in which the post-tradi-tional sector of indigenous society gained increasing self-reliance in cultural, socio-economic, and political respect. Indigenous Indonesians began to inter-fere in language policy (e.g., through the journals Timboel and Poedjangga Baroe), school education (the founding of Taman Siswa), to fĳinally assume


collective political responsibility in the face of disturbing international devel-opments in 1939.25

Business people too were drawn into this process of transition. Having started to make themselves politically vocal with the founding of the Sarékat Islam in 1912, indigenous businessmen gradually widened their representation in various social and political organisations.

Around 1928–1930 advertisements of indigenous businesses occasionally even appealed directly to nationalist sentiments of potential customers or cli-ents. An early such instance is the advertisement of the batik company of a Yogyakartan saleswoman in the Soeara Kita (chief editor: Ki Hadjar Dewantoro) of 15 September 1928:

Zoehrijah / Batikkery en Batik Handelaars[ ]ten / Djagalan Bedji p.a. Mataram / (Djokjakarta). / Sedia segala matjam batik Mataram (Djokjakarta) haloes dan sedang jang pantas dan manis dipakai oleh Poetri-poetri dan poetra-poetra Indonesia, begitoe djoega hal kembang warna dan babarannja tidak perloe dipoedji, karena kebaikannja telah tersoehoer di seloeroeh Indonesia. / Menoenggoe dengan hormat, / Zoehrijah.

Zoehrijah batik manufactury and batik traders at Jagalan Beji in Mataram (Yogya-karta). Have in supply Mataram (Yogyakarta) batik cloths, fĳine as well as ordinary, that are suitable and sweet for being worn by daughters and sons of Indonesia, so too the flower colours and dyes do not need to be praised, because their quality is renowned over all Indonesia. I remain respectfully, Zoehrijah.

On the whole, the years 1848–1850 marked the beginnings of an isolate post-traditional sector in indigenous commerce, particularly in consequence of replacement of a previous European political paramountcy by direct territorial administration and a binding legal regime,26 contact with industrial-age agri-cultural, mining and transport enterprises, but also as a result of urbanisation and appearance of newspaper media. The years 1928–1930 apparently signa-lised the advancement of that sector to a degree of influence that exhibited an altogether new quality of national consciousness. This was the underlying circumstance that led me to emphasize the period of 1850–1930 in the title of this article.

25 In her account of the events, Abeyasekere (1976:27–28) fails to mention the Indonesian offfer — in return for a democratic parliament — to mobilise the nation to defend the colony against an invasion (cf. Pané, 1939:21), that was rejected by the government, merely noting the subsequent Indonesian rejection of a kind of forced-labour employment in civil defence.

26 Providing protection of property from an arbitrary sovereign (cf. Meilink-Roelofsz, 1962:8; Reid, 1993:130, 1999:262).


In Lieu of an Epilogue

It became apparent above, that post-traditional economy had not emerged as a development of the traditional, but as an at fĳirst insignifĳicant incipient fea-ture. One consequence seems to have been that, even till long after 1930, a strong tendency persisted in Indonesian politics to consider modern indus-trial-age business culture as being in contrast with genuinely national identity (kepribadian nasional ). This was further enhanced, on the one side, by the above-mentioned restoration of communal custom in social culture under Mataram, and on the other side by the exclusive access for children of nobility to modern school education in the 19th century, both of which should probably be seen as likewise underlying the social rather than achievement-oriented economy culture noted by Boeke.

Besides that, a culture barrier was formed in indigenous society by the two parallel school systems, respectively with indigenous-language traditional orientation, and with Dutch-language post-traditional. In West Java, in the direct vicinity of the administrative centre Batavia (i.e., Jakarta), sharp enmity even arose between a post-traditionally and a traditionally educated elite (see Yong, 1973:2–12).

A particular manifestation of the disparity between the traditional and post-traditional economic culture was contradicting views on work ethics. A con-cise formulation of the traditionalist perspective on this was once given by Hatta (1936:2–3):

Orang Barat sangat mengemoekakan hasil. Hasil ditaroknja dimoeka, laloe ia berichtiar mentjapai hasil jang sebesar-besarnja jang dikehendakinja itoe dengan membanting tenaganja jang ada. [. . .] Orang Timoer mengemoekakan tenaga. Tenaga ditaroknja dimoeka, dan dengan tenaga jang paling sedikit terpakai hendak ditjapainja hasil jang sebesar-besarnja. Ia sedikit mempergoenakan tenaga, sebab itoe hasil jang moengkin dit-japainja dengan tenaga jang sedikit itoe sedikit poela djoemlahnja. [. . .] njatalah, bahwa perbedaan sikap bekerja antara orang Timoer dengan orang Barat, jang sering dikemoekakan itoe, tidak bersangkoet dengan ada atau tidaknja motif ekonomi.

A westerner gives priority to result. He places result fĳirst, and strives to achieve the greatest result that he aims for by exerting all the strength that he has. [. . .] The oriental gives priority to energy. He places energy fĳirst, and with a minimum of energy he wishes to achieve the greatest possible result. But as he uses little energy, the result that he could possibly achieve with that little energy is little as well. [. . .] it is thus evident, that the diffference in attitude to work between orientals and westerners, that is often brought forward, is not connected with whether there is economic motivation or not.

The author attributes this to diffferent demands on productive efffort to uphold subsistence under diffferent climatic conditions — a widespread view at that


time. That a similar disparity in work ethics existed, for example, between coastal (pesisiran) and inland Java, or between ethnic groups with pronounced mercantile culture (e.g., Buginese and Madurese) and such with communal agrarian orientation, remained obscure for a long time.

One factor encouraging the distrustful attitude towards post-traditional economic features was that Indonesia emerged from its colonial past in a state of greatly diversifĳied stages of socio-economic development, with an elite chiefly originating from the nobility. This situation only alleviated slowly, and only in the most recent decades has more industrious work ethics gained influ-ence, as the middle-class part of the elite continues to grow.

One perhaps not so well-known side-efffect of the negative attitude towards industrious work ethics was the deteriorated attitude towards Chinese. Also after independence, Chinese business was often accused of secret collusion against the Non-Chinese. A more likely basic cause of the distrust was probably the disparity in work ethics. For reason of dire survival, immigrant Chinese who had often been brought in as contract coolies were “drilled” since early childhood to work hard. Only with progressive spreading of more industrious work ethics in the indigenous middle-class did Anti-Chinese sentiments begin to recede.

After 1930, the bifurcated condition of development has mainly remained evident in shipbuilding and maritime transport. Although modern motor-powered steel ships of various capacity, in part even domestically built (Dick, 1987:18–37, 110–114), now dominated interinsular navigation, traditional sailing ships remained omnipresent (see photo documentation in Hawkins, 1982:8, 19–24, 56–57, 62, 66, 71–73, 86–87, 91–93, 110–116, 120–127). Traditional ship-building persisted in a large scale, particularly the construction of large Buginese pinisi (cf. Hollander and Mertes, 1983:216–232). Traditional trading vessels also continued to be built by Madurese and Balinese (cf. Horridge, 1987:58–66, 91–109).

These wooden sailing ships even “saved the day” when, after nationalisation of the former Dutch shipping company KPM (Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij) in 1957, the entire interinsular transportation system threat-ened to collapse. According to Dick (1987: 24–25), the situation was particu-larly severe in East Indonesia, where one had to resort to traditional sailing proas. Actually, the crisis was probably far worse, even encompassing the entire Archipelago, being particularly aggravated by the contrast in population density and manufacturing capacity between Java and the other islands. Only by extensive implementation of traditional shipping, particularly Buginese pinisi, Sumatran perahu nadé, Madurese janggolan, golékan, and other boat types,27

27 See descriptions of the vessels in Horridge (1986:26–27, 38–39, 19–21, 24–25).


was a famine in Java, and an economic slump from lack of manufactured goods in the other islands, avoided.28

But like the gradual adoption of various European construction features in preceding times, traditional shipbuilding is making acquisitions from modern industrial technology. Most noteworthy is that in the last three or four decades, wooden vessels are beginning to be equipped with motors, resulting in so-called perahu layar motor ‘motor sailing ships’ (Hawkins, 1982:126).

In fĳinance, independent government predictably demanded the establish-ment of a modern fĳinancial infrastructure. After the preparatory establishment of Jajasan Poesat Bank Indonesia (‘central foundation for an Indonesian bank’) on 14 October 1945, the Bank Negara Indonesia was set up as national central bank on 7 July 1946 (Shadily, 1980:394–395). Also in 1946, the former Algemene Volkscrediet Bank (see above) was renamed to Bank Rakjat Indonesia. The cen-tral bank of the colonial period, the N.V. De Javasche Bank, persisting in the Dutch occupied zones until transfer of sovereignty, was nationalised in 1951 and became the new central bank with an indigene, Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, as bank president. In 1953 it was renamed to Bank Indonesia, completing the “Indonesianisation” of the state fĳinancial infrastructure.

In spite of this and the emergence over the years of numerous further state and private banks, pension funds, etc., traditional forms of fĳinance persisted, though in ever smaller scales. This concerned traditional fĳinancing in the indigenous population, but also in non-indigenous Asian communities, par-ticularly of Arabic, Indian and Chinese origin. Only in the most recent decades are services of modern banks and capital funds progressively displacing the traditional forms.

I have not touched upon pawning, already known in earliest Malay litera-ture as gadai. Pawned objects changed with the times, but I am not aware of fundamental changes in the principle. A novelty since the 19th century was the lottery, introduced by Europeans. I found no evidence of indigenous lottery holders before 1930 in the press. Meanwhile, one traditional form of micro-fĳinancing not only survived, but even gained popularity since the 1970s. It is a rotating savings and credit association known as arisan, originally an institu-tion amongst peasants in Central Java (cf. Geertz, 1956). Besides becoming widespread among not well-to-do urban people, it is now also fashionable amongst upper-class women.

In the retail trade, traditional kedai- and warung-stalls have been steadily receding to the hinterland, replaced by post-traditional shops in the towns and

28 Personal communication of persons who had been in responsible offfĳicial positions at that time.


even villages. In the cities, even in the provinces meanwhile, shopping malls have become ubiquitous. Street venders with their wares in twin baskets hang-ing from a carrying pole (pikulan) have been changing to vending tricycles or even motorvans. Nevertheless, traces of traditional retail modes are far from having disappeared altogether.

So even after over 65 years of independence, traditional forms in trade and fĳinance continue to exist in the face of a meanwhile generally established mod-ern “post-traditional” business culture. Indeed, this modern aspect in the national economy has gradually gained precedence, with traces of traditional features seeming either “exotic”, or appearing as “tradition-” or “nationality-specifĳic” curiosities in an increasingly integrated cultural whole, as Indonesia proceeds to traverse the threshold towards a developed country.

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Bifurcation of Commercial Tradition in West Indonesia, 1850–1930

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