HET BATIK [Il batik/Batik] (NL, 1912-1913/1923)
regia/dir, photog: J.C. Lamster. prod: Koloniaal Instituut. copia/copy: 35mm, 286 m., 13′ (18 fps), b&w, imbibito e virato/tinted & toned; did./titles: NLD. fonte/source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.

During the late-19th century the Javanese population was at its poorest and most populous. Wages were lowered while the long drawn-out Aceh Wars had raised taxation; famines scourged a number of districts. After decades, the Dutch government finally responded to insistent criticism of its lack of consideration for the indigenous populations. A variety of measures, collectively called the “Ethical Policy”, were gradually implemented in the early 1900s to improve their well-being, materially as well as immaterially. One of these measures was aimed at stimulating indigenous industries, in combination with new credit facilities. With regard to batik [the hand-printing of textiles using wax], this was meant to bypass Chinese entrepreneurs and moneylenders who had managed to control the industry, degrading and europeanizing this characteristic product of central and east Java.

Nico de Klerk

 

BLINDENINSTITUUT EN OOGLIJDERSGASTHUIS TE BANDOENG [L’istituto per i ciechi e la clinica oculistica di Bandung / Institute for the Blind and Eye Clinic, Bandung] (NL, 1912/[1918])
regia/dir, photog: J.C. Lamster. prod: Koloniaal Instituut. copia/copy: 35mm, 138 m., 7′ (18 fps), b&w, imbibito/tinted; did./titles: NLD. fonte/source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.

The foundation of this film’s Institute for the Blind and eye clinic was made possible by a donation from the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, in 1908, thanks to intensive lobbying by its director, ophthalmologist C.H.A. Westhoff. They were the first and only such establishments in the colony. The first part of the film is a clear instance of filming scenes outdoors that commonly took place inside – a form of “arranging” that was anathema to the film’s sponsor. Unique, however, is the film’s one indoor scene, showing an eye operation. Of course impossible to move into the open air, still one wonders whether it, too, had been arranged by having the operation performed near a sunlit window.

Nico de Klerk

 

MEISJESSCHOOL BANDOENG (KAOETAMAÄN ISTRI) [Scuola femminile a Bandung (Kautamaän Istri) / Girls’ School, Bandung (Kautamaän Istri)] (NL, 1912-1913/1923)
regia/dir, photog: J.C. Lamster. prod: Koloniaal Instituut. copia/copy: Digi 2893-4 / KoP 1128312, 66 m., 3′ (25 fps), b&w, imbibito/tinted; did./titles: NLD. fonte/source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.

Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929), the first female M.D. in the Netherlands, sojourned in the Netherlands East Indies in 1913 (partly to propagandize for women’s rights, for which she was an internationally recognized advocate). In a letter she describes the activities she witnessed in a school for indigenous girls. As if she had been there during this film’s recording, she writes about lessons in needlework, washing, cooking, and ironing. However, she also mentions an assignment in practical arithmetic involving shopping, payment, and calculating the change, a scene probably never recorded as it did not lend itself easily to the film’s tableau style. Unwittingly perhaps, the film is a small tribute to Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879-1904), the aristocratic Javanese woman (now one of Indonesia’s National Heroes) who advocated for women’s rights and education for indigenous girls.

Nico de Klerk

INLANDSCHE VEEARTSENSCHOOL TE BUITENZORG [Scuola veterinaria per studenti indigeni a Buitenzorg / Veterinary School for Indigenous Students at Buitenzorg] (NL, 1912-1913/1923)
regia/dir, photog: J.C. Lamster. prod: Koloniaal Instituut. copia/copy: 35mm, 134 m., 7′ (18 fps), imbibito/tinted; did./titles: NLD. fonte/source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.

The colonial government’s interest in cattle breeding was aimed at improving the Indies’ livestock, which had “declined sharply due to neglect” (by the indigenous population, that is). It stimulated many new initiatives, such as stock farms, an inspection service, disease control, livestock shows, and research. The veterinary school hospital in Buitenzorg (today’s Bogor) became the centre of research. The film shows the school as a model of the Ethical Policy, where “young men of every nationality” are instructed by European veterinary surgeons. The film includes a spectacular tracheal operation on a horse.

Nico de Klerk

 

GOURVERN. PROEFRIJSTBEDRIJF ‘SELATDJARAN’ PALEMBANG [L’impresa governativa sperimentale per la produzione del riso “Selatdjaran”, Palembang / The Government’s Experimental Rice Company ‘Selatdjaran’, Palembang] (NL, [1922])
regia/dir: ?. prod: Charls en Van Es & Co. copia/copy: 35mm, 175 m., 8′ (18 fps); did./titles: NLD. fonte/source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.

The government company Selatdjaran was in business between 1920 and 1923, and was liquidated in 1924. This promotional film shows agricultural technology in action: irrigation locks, machinery, crop rotation. A late instance of what may be construed as promoting the “Ethical Policy”, in its combination of social concerns and economic interests the latter clearly prevailed. Rice production at the time was insufficient to feed the Netherlands Indies population, making imports necessary. Set up to find out whether domestic, mechanically cultivated rice could be competitive employing the innovations developed on this experimental farm, it was concluded in 1923 that this goal was economically unfeasible.

Nico de Klerk

 

KOLONISATIE VAN JAVANEN OP EENE DELISCHE TABAKSONDERNEMING [Insediamento di lavoratori giavanesi in una piantagione di tabacco di Deli / Settling Javanese workers on a Deli Tobacco Plantation] (NL, [1920])
regia/dir: L. Ph. de Bussy. prod: Koloniaal Instituut. copia/copy: 35mm, 140 m., 7′ (18 fps); did./titles: NLD. fonte/source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.

Persistent criticism of the punitive coolie system on Sumatra’s east coast forced the colonial government to investigate allegations of systematic ill-treatment. The Rhemrev Report (1904), named after the public prosecutor charged with this investigation, confirmed the excesses. Alarmed, the colonial and national governments suppressed its publication. But due to leaks in the press, at a time when the “Ethical Policy” was gradually being implemented, a change in public opinion led to some improvements, and even the odd conviction of an abuser. Nonetheless, the coolie system was left intact until 1931, when economic interests were threatened by America’s refusal to import Sumatra’s famous tobacco cultivated under these conditions. The improved housing facilities in this film, although in reality few and far between, are evidence of the Rhemrev Report’s effect on public relations.

Nico de Klerk