CHILD OF ALL NATIONS
Book Title : Child of All Nations.
Author : Pramoedya Ananta Toer.
As the second sequel, this book describes the sorrow of Javanese
people under Dutch
colonialism. First, letters of Jan Dapperste a.k.a Panji Darman told that Annelies was so depressed that she did not want to do anything. On board she was sick so Jan took care of her. In the Netherlands she was neglected and before long she died in sorrow.
Then Pramoedya describes the
evil of the boss of
sugar factory, Frits Homerus Vlekkenbaaij, pronounced pejoratively as Plikemboh in Javanese. He was a drunk, ferocious and a womanizer. When he saw Surati, Sastro’s daughter, he had an evil ideas. One day the factory’s
money (Sastro’s responsibility) was lost. Plikemboh was ready to help on one condition that Sastro must give Surati to him. Surati agreed but she set a plan to retaliate. She went to a village that was quarantined due to plague. She managed to get in eventhough it was heavily guarded. There she met a dying baby with his parents passed away nearby. Shortly after that the baby died in her hands. The next morning she went to Plikemboh. Soon he was infected. A few days later they died.
Pramoedya also describes
farmers’ sorrow. Minke met Trunodongso, a farmer. He was terrorized to give up his land to sugar factory. He had five bau of land and the factory had hired three bau for eighteen months but in reality two years except he agreed to prolong the contract for the next season. In addition, he never received the money in full. The agreed price was eleven picis but he received three talen so he lost thirty five cents. Minke promised to report this case in newspaper. But Nijman rejected his report.
Kommer revealed that Herman Mellema was in conflict with a local official who then moved to Bondowoso. Then he was in conflict with another local official who then disappeared. Ontosoroh was surprised when she recalled long time ago people found a dead body. Rumours said he was the local official who was attacked by a buffalo. She was sure it was Mellema’s dirty action.
The influence of European liberalism is described by his meeting with Ter Harr who was on his way to Semarang to work for De Locomotief newspaper. He told Minke the evil of colonialism. Van Deventer and van den Berg disclosed a case of corruption on Javanese farmers’ money by the Dutch royal family. The amount was 951 million guilders. Modern time is a victorious time for capital. They controlled agriculture, forestry, transportation and mining. Those who stand on their way will be destroyed. Sugar factory became monster and their victims were countless. An example was Van de Putte. When he was minister of colony, he passed a law on sugar. Later on people realized he owned the largest sugar cane plantation in Besuki –Bondowoso. The farmers of Priangan were also easy prey. Once they had many buffaloes. They roamed free. They were poisoned to death in great number. Soon plague followed. Then farmers were easily forced to give up their lands. Tea plantations flourished while people’s cattle gone.
The evil of colonialism is completed with the character of Maurits Mellema, son of Herman Mellema with his first wife. He was the one who would take over Ontosoroh’s company because Amsterdam’s trial passed a verdict that he was the legal inheritor of Herman Mellema.
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