Uwa's story: almost slaughtered by the Dutch
Uwa's story: almost slaughtered by the Dutch
(For those not familiar with the Dutch society struggling with their dark past of colonialism, there is an on-going research on the war of independence in Indonesia in the period of 1945-1949. In contrast to the Dutch society who has a rooted writing culture, orality is much more prevalent within the Indonesian society. The unfavourable consequence is that historical accounts fade away with the passing of generations. This blog post and an earlier one (Aki's story) are just a small contribution to preserve the Indonesian perspectives from first hand authentic accounts. I got in touch with one of the research leaders when I wrote a book commemorating 100 years of higher engineering education in Indonesia, and I am privileged to have an opportunity to converse with him since then, amongst others through this letter below).
Dear,
After reading the section "getuigen & tijdgenoten" I am not sure if what I am about to tell you here falls under this category. In contrast to "Cerita Aki" which was personally written by my father, it is a story verbally told to me by my uwa. Uwa means uncle, and in this case he was the older brother of my mother.
First, let me tell you the background of my grandfather, in order to present the picture and context as complete as possible. My grandfather was a prominent figure in the village of Kalapanunggal, Sindangkasih, near Tasikmalaya, West Java (https://goo.gl/maps/
He was a teacher who was addressed by his community as "mama guru". Mama in sundanese means father, so mama guru is "teaching father". It was neither a dutch school nor a religious one, so I believe it was a sekolah rakyat. I have just searched his name "Natadipradja" in delpher.nl. One hit could possibly be just right about him, from De Preanger-Bode, 12 December 1921:
Inlandsch onderwijs. Benoemd tot hulp-onderwijzer Mas Soepartapradja, thans tijdelijk als zoodanig werkzaam aan de school der 2de klasse te Salawoe (Tasikmalaja); Djajawisastra en Mas Moeljadinata, thans idem aan de school der zelfde klasse te Sitoebatoe (Tasikmalaja); Raden Natadipradja, thans idem aan de school derzelfde klasse te Bandjar (Tasikmalaja).
He was also a successful businessman. His business included trading of household items between cities. He also had a factory in the city of Tasikmalaya. I don't know when his business was flourishing, before or after the independence. But my mother once told me about the impact of the great depression of 1929 (but I cannot recall about any specifics). The circumstances must have been told by my grandparents afterwards, as in 1929 my mother was just 3 years old.
He was not part of any governmental or administrative structure. He did not speak dutch. He originally came from eastern Ciamis regency, West Java. My grandfather was a progressive man for his era, in a number of ways. For example, our family is recognized as descendants of Galuh monarch (Galuh was a Sundanese kingdom), as such that I am also entitled to the noble title "Raden" (probably comparable to "von" in Germany). See the above newspaper clip which writes "Raden Natadipradja". One reason to believe that it is indeed my grandfather. But this noble title was never maintained in the family. He was a nationalist and an admirer of Soekarno. My mother recalled him frequently saying "My offsprings will be like ir. Soekarno, who will learn such kind of knowledge and have such title".
He gave equal opportunities to his sons and daughters, and did not press on what they had to become. So I guess my uncle did not continue after MULO, if not HBS. He was more an artist. He could make beautiful sketches and drawings of plants and flowers. Such background of my grandfather must have been the reason why and how he let my mother pursue education in MULO, HBS and tertiary education in Bandung. Finally, he allowed her to go abroad to study to the USA as I told you in my previous email.
My grandfather had a large house in the village. In the period of the second world war until the last Indonesian-Dutch conflict of 1945-1949, to my recollection there were several incidents:
1) In the beginning of the 2nd world war, ultimately the japanese troops arrived at the village. A Japanese officer politely came to the house and met my grandfather. Probably because of this incident, my mother recounted that "The Japanese combatants were respectful, but the occupying troops were horrible".
2) After the Dutch came back to Indonesia, in two occasions the family had to leave the house to refuge. In one occasion to the city of Tasikmalaya and in the other occasion to a mountain. In one of the occasions it was because the Dutch troops came and wanted to seize the house and make it as their base. My mother did not mention any violence in the process. Because she spoke dutch, she could even converse with the Dutch soldiers.
3) Another incidence involved the Indonesian rebels DI/TII who robbed and plundered the house. DI/TII was formed somewhere in 1949, I believe. A remarkable story was that when my grandfather warned them "don't disturb or take anything from that room; it is my prayer's room" and they stayed away from the room.
4) This incident is the one that is closely related to your research: the uncle's story, cerita Uwa. He was telling this in the dining room in his house in the village, where there is a window with a view to the mountain with a sawah field in the foreground (see attached the photo that I took in 2006, the last time I saw him). He was telling the story while pointing to the mountain, "Gunung Cupu (mountain Cupu) is where I was almost slaughtered by the Dutch. The Dutch did a sweeping operation in the village and took all young men including me. We were brought to a place outside the village. There I saw many young men. They must be from other villages. We were ordered to march up the mountain. Our hands were tied in the back. We were tied in groups together by a long rope around our necks, just like cattle going to a slaughter house. There were some civilians assisting the dutch soldiers. I recognized one of them, and I called his name. I explained that I am son of Aki [my grandfather]. I could speak a little bit dutch. He knew Aki. He explained to the dutch soldiers that I should be released. The soldiers agreed. In turn, I asked him if I could bring people from the village home as they were only peasants. I was allowed to point persons I knew. Finally, I could bring down all people I knew back to the village. I don't know what happened to the other people from other villages."
I think it would be interesting if you have any record about (i) a dutch military base in the village, and (ii) dutch military operation that my uncle told me. Even now I would have a sense of relief for the families of those young men if in the end they were released to go back to their homes, not murdered.
Looking forward to meeting you and your colleagues on Thursday.
Best regards,
