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It is interesting how an old
painting can provide a snapshot of the past and make history come alive. Taylor
(2006) has perfectly demonstrated this fact through his observation of the work
of Dutch painter, Jacob Coeman, titled “Pieter Cnoll and His Family” (1665). The
painting (above) shows Cnoll, a Dutch senior merchant in the Dutch East Indies (now
Indonesia), with his Eurasian (Dutch-Japanese) wife Cornelia van Nijenrode,
their children, and their servants in the fading background. The painting
provides us with a glimpse of the social relations within the Dutch colony during
the time and the background to the political and gendered context.
Sex,
Power, and Concubinage
The social relations reflected
in Coeman’s painting illustrate the years of colonialism and imperialism that
had taken place in the Dutch East Indies. Policies that regulate social relations,
including race and gender relations, were put in place in order to support the
political and economic domination of the colonial state. The regulation of
gender and sexual relations, as discussed below, had played an important role
in efforts to establish a superior western culture and secure power. The United East India Company (VOC, 1602–1799)
and later the Dutch government, continuously adjusted gender-related policies
and regulations to the changing goals of the colonial state.
In the 17th century,
due to the lack of European women in the East Indies, many VOC officials and
officers practiced concubinage—the bondage of indigenous women, where under
cohabitation, these women (referred to as nyai)
worked to provide sexual and domestic services to VOC officials or
officers and other Europeans.
"The painting provides us with a glimpse of the social relations within the Dutch colony during the time and the background to the political and gendered context."
For women who were concubines
to high ranking Dutch officials, this relation was a means to acquire economic
mobility, as they were awarded with money, clothing, and jewelries. However,
children from these relationships were not legally recognized by their father
and the colonial state (Republika,
2016). For the VOC government, the Eurasian children of the concubines
manifested the taboo of interracial sexual relationships.
The VOC government,
particularly under the Governor-General and founder of Batavia (now Jakarta), Jan Pieterszoon Coen, had a conservative view
of extramarital relationships and a discriminative stance toward interracial sexual
relationships. The latter, in particular, was perceived as weakening the colonial government. In 1620,
in an attempt to control these sexual relationships, Coen issued a prohibition
of concubinage and launched a policy to bring single Dutch women to Batavia to
become prospective wives. The policy lasted for about ten years and raised the
number of marriages of the Dutch people in Batavia but was unsuccessful in
curbing the practice of concubinage (Bosma and Raben, 2008).
With the changing views of subsequent leaders, the practice of concubinage continued
to be facilitated throughout the 18th century.
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| Family Meal, Jan Steen (between circa 1658 and circa 1666) |
The
Western Family and the Ethical Policy
Women and the family were seen
as playing an important role in maintaining political power by perpetuating the
colonizer and colonized dichotomy as well as raising the superiority of western values
and civilization. This was clearly reflected in the migration policies that
targeted women in the 18th century and until the end of Dutch
occupation.
In the 18th century,
the VOC government placed restrictions on Dutch women immigrating to the Dutch
East Indies. Many of the women who previously came to Batavia were from the
Dutch lower class and in the eyes of the colonial government did not exhibit
the image of the ideal “respectable woman” of western society commonly
represented by women of higher class. So except for male Dutch high officials,
other men were not allowed to bring their wife and family to the East Indies (Tung
2011).
Under the Dutch government, the
second half of the 19th century saw a western style capitalist
economy developing in the Dutch East Indies where agricultural, trading, mining,
and extraction companies were founded to exploit corps and natural resources
(Brill.com, 2016). Migration policies during this time were less rigid towards
Dutch women who wanted to enter the East Indies. With the economic expansion,
the government was seeking for long term occupation of the region and needed
the strong presence of European families in the Dutch East Indies. Women were then
coined the custodian of welfare and supporter of colonial men (Tung, 2011).
"Policies that regulate social relations, including race and gender relations, were put in place in order to support the political and economic domination of the colonial state."
Entering the 20th
century, with the technological advancement in Europe, the Dutch government saw
the need to modernize and transfer efficiency to its colonies. This was a way to mark their power,
success, and prestige as a colonial state. In order to achieve this transition
to modernization, attempts were made by the colonial government to secure
control over the population by increasing the number of Dutch families in
the East Indies. Modernization for the government also meant
reaching a level where superior European values ruled over the local values. To strengthen western values, stable Dutch middle-class families were needed to end the current social
promiscuity and populate the East Indies.
To achieve its economic and
political objectives, the Dutch government lifted family restrictions and sponsored
Dutch families to migrate to and start a new life in the plantations of Sumatra.
The Dutch empire also reopened its gate to single Dutch women who wanted to
settle in the East Indies. Before departure there were courses in the Colonial
School for Girls and Women (founded in 1920) that a Dutch woman had to take to ensure that she would adapt easily to her new home in the East.
These courses were mainly on cooking and cleaning, as these Dutch women will
not only be doing these chores in their new home, but through culinary and domestic
lifestyle, they were expected to bring along a set of western values
to transfer to the colony (Brill.com, 2016). With the arrival of these new
modern women who were sent to be agents of change, came the strengthening of the
Dutch middle-class ideology in the East Indies.
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| School for indigenous girls |
The 20th century
saw a more liberal attitude towards women’s role and the education of the
indigenous people. This was the period of the ethical policy where education
was made available for indigenous people. Schools for indigenous women were
also established. This era produced middle-class educated local women’s political
groups which were critical of the local tradition of the family and marriage
institutions. One of the issues they advocated was the elimination of polygyny
(Locher-Scholten, 2000). This was of course in line with the colonial
government’s agenda of making the western nuclear family and monogamy the norm
in the East Indies.
In 1937, with the support of a
number of local women’s groups, the colonial government launched the draft of
Ordnance 1937 which required the marriage institution to be monogamous.
However, this draft was soon dropped as it raised so much opposition, first
from Islamic groups and later from nationalist groups, causing the women’s
groups to withdraw their support. Interestingly, according to Locher-Scholten
(2000), this opposition emerged more as a nationalist reaction to colonial
government intervention of local institutions rather than the support of
polygyny itself.
The rise of the educated
younger generation in the East Indies and their awareness of right to
sovereignty constituted a challenge for the Dutch Government in furthering
their goals in the 20th century. Moreover, the colonial government was
disrupted during World War II with the Japanese occupation of the East Indies.
The subsequent events that led to the independence of the East Indies ended all
attempts by the Dutch to reclaim power over the region. In 1949, after plans
to reopen, the women’s schools which aimed to send Dutch women on the task of
modernizing a colony finally closed its doors for good.
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| The 20th century saw the rise of women's political groups |
Gender
and Colonialization
Coeman’s painting of Cnoll and
his family provides the backdrop against the economic and political power the VOC
had over the indigenous people and the reality of the racial and gender hierarchy, as
well as the marginalization of the slaves who in the painting are standing in
the shadows. However, the painting does not exhibit the western family and
their moral values which the colonial government wished to present in the 18th
century and onwards.
Gender relations have always been at the core of a
culture’s moral values. Colonialization is not only about economic exploitation
and political subordination, but also cultural hegemony, which aims to establish the superiority
of the colonizer’s moral values. Thus, as shown in the Dutch East Indies case,
the regulation of sexual relations, gender roles, and women’s mobility were adjusted
around the economic, political, and hegemonic interests of the colonial state.
References
Bosma, Ulbe and Remco Raben (2008) Being "Dutch" in
the Indies: A History of Creolisation and Empire, 1500-1920 [online] <https://books.google.co.id/books/about/Being_Dutch_in_the_Indies.html?id=47wCTCJX9X4C&redir_esc=y>
[31 May 2020].
Brill.com (2016) Women in the Netherlands East Indies, Parts
1–2 [online] <https://brill.com/view/package/9789004205369> [25
May 2020].
Locher-Scholten, Elsbeth (2000) Women and the Colonial State, Essays on
Gender and Modernity in the Netherlands Indies 1900–1942. Amsterdam:
Amsterdam University Press. [online] <https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n2p0> [27 May 2020].
Republika (2016) ‘Kisah Nyai dan
Pergundikan di Batavia.’ Bagian 2 [online] <https://republika.co.id/berita/nasional/umum/16/02/19/o2qyfh385-kisah-nyai-dan-pergundikan-di-batavia-bagian-2habis>
[27 May 2020].
Taylor, Jean Gelman (2006) ‘Meditations on a Portrait from
Seventeenth-Century Batavia.’ Journal
of Southeast Asian Studies Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 23-41 [online]
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/20072684> [26 May 2020].
Tung, Justin (2011) Gender Regulation in the Dutch East Indies
in the 19th and 20th centuries [online] <https://justintung.com/community/gender-regulation-in-the-dutch-east-indies-in-19th-and-20th-centuries/>
[26
May 2020].
Illustrations: Wikipedia, Pinterest
