LAND OF PLENTY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4562, 20 April 1942, Page 7

LAND OF PLENTY

MORE GLIMPSES OF JAVA

MALANG AND SOURABAYA

(By

S.K.)

The narrow strait which connects Gili-Manock, one of the most western tips of Bali, with Banjoewangi, a little port of Eastern Java, in times of peace serves as the “land route” from Java to Bali.

Those who wished to take their cars with them had to go that way, and from Banjoewangi the fairy boat took them over to the “Island of Passing Dreams,” as Bali was called by so many.

• And those who were fairly acquainted with the situation of the Insulinde all bought secondhand cars—Ford 1936 models costing 300 guilders, equivalent to between £A7O and £A9O then. Petrol was cheap and native drivers could be hired for £1 a week.

The islands are rich. Happy and proud Dutchmen are living there, who had the habit of buying new cars and giving aw&y their hardly used “oldies” for a nominal sum. Mostly foreigners and tourists bought them, who ill due course sold them cheaper still, or abandoned them when leaving Java.

From Banjoewangi the South Smeru road, tidy and smooth as everywhere in the Dutch East Indies, leads to Java. Little villages with picturesque names and of no significance are passed by as we come into mountainous country. To build fortifications and prepare for Japanese assaults was easier for the Dutch here, not having swarms of natives in their way. The scenery is enchanting. Rich vegetation, peaceful ricefields, then the dsungel. Well inland is the Bromo Sand Sea—a rare part of this island where nature turned into sandy death instead of green, virile life. CULTURAL CENTRE The first important place on this route is Malang, a growing city about 56 niiles south of Sourabaya, on a fertile plateau surrounded by mighty mountains. Its main attraction is the pleasant climate, where in the mountains the sticky heat that enervates is modified, while the nights, especially during the dry season, are pleasantly cool. Old Dutch pensioners who did not want to return to Holland found a final home here, as others did in Bandoeng. People from Sourabaya came here to get “refreshment,” even if only for a couple of days. Probably that was one of the reasons why Malang has 90 schools and colleges—a huge number for a city with 100,000 inhabitants, of which only 11,000 are Europeans. It is an educational centre for the whole of East Java. From every part ofXthe Insulinde Dutch were sending their children to the healthy climate of Malang—the spring city of East Java. Its streamlined boulevards and up-to-date hotels give people the most modern convenien-

ces that colonial life can offer. Malang is very young. Twenty-five years ago it was an insignificant inland town; to-day it is a go-ahead city. '■ INDUSTRIAL HUB From Malang the roads winds for 65 miles down from the mountains to Sourabaya, the industrial centre of the Insulinde. Sourabaya occupies a dominant position on the route to Australia, and has the best navigational communications with Pacific countries. It is a city unique in the Dutch East Indies, being “industrialminded.” The peak of each season was the annual exposition of the Sourabaya Annual Fair Association, to which competitors came from every part of the country. The municipal councils of the city and other public services proposed “invitations for prosperity” to people whom they thought fit to start business enterprises and new industries. The price of building materials, labour and the scale of taxation are lower than in any other part of the Indies. There are technical schools for Europeans and natives, and there is no obstacle against anyone who wishes to make progress because of his origin, his financial standing or his place in society. FAITHFUL CHINESE Of the 400,000 inhabitants, about 300,000 are natives, 30,000 Europeans, 50,000 Chinese, 5000 Arabs and about 1000 other Orientals. The vitality of Sourabaya is due to a proportionally greater number of Europeans—Eurasians included —and the Chinese, who are deeply nationalist and faithful allies to the Dutch. They are cultured and have many organisations and clubs—a greater number than in any other Javanese city.

Even in the Indies, where the Dutch during the la::; few decades have been treating the natives with goodwill, and their guiding influence was beneficent, the native sentiment might be on a precarious balance. In that respect Sourabaya, the leading city of the island, might be expected to set an example of loyalty to the Dutch. After the Dutch-British alliance the Hollanders gained greater support from the Chinese, who in many respects always were “Anglophiles” in that part of the universe. While in Sourabaya one hears Dutchmen complaining that the Chinese first learn Malayan—for that is necessary for their business life—then English. Dutch is learnt “only if time and circumstances permit.” The business and social life of Sovrabaya is centralised in the middle of the city, among the shops, shipping offices, night clubs and the leading hotel “Oranje,” which every Sourabayan wanted to see rebuilt. They felt inclined to believe that they lived in a city “without real hotels” when compared with those in Batavia, Bandoeng or even Malang. The centre of social life is the “Vereeniging Simpang,” the club so important in Dutch colonial life, “A town without a club,” Dutchmen say, “is like a man without a soul.”

On the way from Sourabaya toward Batavia it can be seen that in

addition to oil, rubber and rice, sugar

is an important item among many other products in this “earthly paradise.” Sugar cane fields can be seen for miles. The traveller passes small villages and townships, one after another. The highway itself seems like a city street, as far as traffic is concerned. Cars,, bicycles, native beggars, children playing, marriage processions, workmen, musicians, old men chatting by the roadside—a happy, harmless community. , EMPEROR WHO RESTS In Solo—on the main road to Batavia—is the head quarters of the Soesoehoenan—“Emperor”—of Soerakarta, a native potentate with a certain amount of autonomy, but deeply indebted to the Dutch, commanding his own little army. He has the title of Major-General in the East Indian army, and is one of the most decorated sovereigns on earth. He is reputed to have more than sixty decorations, and on every possible occasion he proudly displays them. Among his numerous titles js “The Nail of the Universe.” One of the principal holidays in Solo is the occasion when the “Soesoehoenan rests for 24 hours in ceremonial fashion, so that the universe, which revolves round him as on a pivot, may rest likewise. The Emperor himself most probably does not believe in what he is doing, but most of his subjects do—otherwise he would not please them by doing it.