Weaving Hope in Tanah Deli: Life and Healthcare of Plantation Workers in the East Sumatra’s Plantation Belt, 1870-1940

Main Article Content

Junaidi
Lila Pelita Hati https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3359-455X
Nurhabsyah https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8473-0933
Kiki Maulana Affandi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9529-9284

Keywords

coolie ordinance, diseases, East Sumatra, healthcare, plantation worker, the Dutch East Indies

Abstract

The economic growth in the form of the plantation industry in East Sumatra changed the landscape and societal structure in this region. The plantation industry took in plantation workers from outside East Sumatra, namely Chinese, Javanese and Indian. The increasing number of plantation workers had elevated the industrial economy, yet it also caused social and health problems in East Sumatra. These plantation workers were recruited and bound by a regulation called the Koeli Ordonnantie 1880. This ‘Coolie Ordinance’ (Koelie Ordonnantie 1880) regulated the rights and obligations of employers and workers, including health services. This paper aims to explain the life and healthcare of plantation workers in East Sumatra from 1870 to the 1940s. The results of this study reveal changes that occurred in the life and health of plantation workers at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries. The quality of health among plantation workers increased since the early 20th century due to better policies introduced by plantation companies to maintain the health of their workers. The efforts made were curative and preventive actions, as well as the eradication of infectious diseases and epidemics. The curative efforts were carried out by building health facilities and infrastructures such as polyclinics and hospitals. Meanwhile, the preventive efforts carried out included providing better food supplies, adequate drinking water, settlement development and good sanitation. Efforts to eradicate epidemic diseases were made by conducting research and establishing a disease research institute, namely the Medan Pathology Laboratory.

Abstract 159 | PDF Downloads 132

References

1. Stoler AL. In the company’s shadow: Labor control and confrontation in Sumatra’s plantation history, 1870-1979. In dissertation Ph.D. Columbia University; 1983.
2. Breman J. Koelies, planters en koloniale politiek: Het arbeidsregime op de grootlandbouwondernemingen aan Sumatra’s Oostkust in het begin van de twintigste eeuw. Leiden: KITLV Uitgerij; 1992.
3. Agustono B, Junaidi, Kiki MA. Pathology laboratory: An institution of tropical diseases in Medan, East Sumatra, 1906-1942. Cogent Arts & Humanities 2021; 8(1):1-14.
4. Anderson W. Colonial pathologies American tropical medicine, race, and hygiene in the Philippines. Durham and London: Duke University Press; 2006.
5. Pols H. Nurturing Indonesia: Medicine and decolonisation in the Dutch East Indies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2018.
6. Klaveren Mv. Death among coolies: Mortality of Chinese and Javanese labourers on Sumatra in the early years of recruitment, 1882-1909. Itinerario 1997; 21:111-124.
7. Makdoembaks N. Foute dokters en de tabaksindustrie van Sumatra: (K)NMG en de tientallen miljoenen oversee. Zierikzee: Uitgeverij de Woordenwinkel: 2019.
8. Itawan D. The origin of the child healthcare in the east coast of Sumatra, 1900s-1940s. Lembaran Sejarah 2020; 16(1):71-83.
9. Jaelani GA. Preserving the resources: Plantations and mines workers’ hygiene. Archipel 2023; 104:33-56.
10. Ochsendorf F. Colonial corporate social responsibility: Company healthcare in Java, East Sumatra and Belitung, 1910-1940. Lembaran Sejarah 2018; 14(1):83-97.
11. Sciortino R. Menuju kesehatan madani. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press; 2007.
12. Boomgaard P. The development of colonial health care in Java; An exploratory introduction. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde 1993; 149(1):77-93.
13. Said M. Koeli kontrak tempo doeloe dengan derita dan kemarahannya. Medan: PT Harian Waspada; 1990.
14. Pelzer KJ. Planter and peasant colonial policy and the agrarian struggle in East Sumatra. ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff; 1978.
15. Cummings WP. Cultural interaction in a Sumatra state, Deli, 1814-1872. In MA Thesis. University of Hawaii; 1994.
16. Agustono B, Junaidi. The Dutch colonial economic policy: Coffee exploitation in Tapanuli Residency, 1849-1928. KEMANUSIAAN The Asian Journal of Humanities 2018; 25(2):49-71.
17. Anderson J. Mission to the east coast of Sumatra. Edinburgh: Blackwood; 1826.
18. Anwar S. Deli dan Sumatera Timur dalam pusaran politik kawasan kolonial Belanda. MUKADIMAH: Jurnal Pendidikan, Sejarah, dan Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial 2022; 6(2):466-474.
19. Volker T. Van oerbosch tot cultuurgebied: Een schets van de beteekenis van de tabak, de andere cultures, en de industrie ter Oostkust van Sumatra. Medan: De Deli Planters Vereeniging; 1918.
20. Thee KW. Plantation agriculture and export growth an economic history of East Sumatra, 1863-1942. Jakarta: National Institute of Economic and Social Research-LEKNAS LIPI; 1977.
21. Kouwenaar. De gezondheidszorg ter Oostkust van Sumatra 1911-1935. n.p.: n.pub.; 1936.
22. Bool HJ. De Chineesche immigratie naar Deli. Utrecht: Oostkust van Sumatra Instituut; 1903.
23. Janssen CW, Bool HJ. Senembah Maatschappij 1889-1939. Amsterdam: Boek- en kunstdrukkerij v/h Roeloffzen-Hübner en Van Santen; 1939.
24. Algemeene Secretarie: Seri Grote Bundel Besluit 1891-1942, No. 1145. Jakarta: National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia.
25. Broersma R. Ooskust van Sumatra, II de ontwikkeling van het gewest. Deventer: Dixon; 1922.
26. Staatsblad van Nederland-Indie 1880, No. 133.
27. Devi TK. Poenale sanctie: Studi tentang globalisasi ekonomi dan perubahan hukum di Sumatera Timur (1870-1950). Medan: Program Pasca Sarjana USU; 2004.
28. Alkema B. Arbeidswetgeving in Nederlandsch-Indie inzonderheid met het oog op de Oostkust van Soematra. Haarlem: NV. HD. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon; 1929.
29. Anonymous. Catalogus van de inzending van de Oostkust van Sumatra op de eerste hygienische tentoonstelling in Nederlandsch Indie (EHTINI) te Bandoeng, 25 Juni tot 10 Juli 1927. Medan: Varekamp & Co.; 1927.
30. Locher-Scholten E. The nyai in colonial Deli: A case of supposed mediation. In Sita van Bemmelen et.al., editors. Women and Mediation in Indonesia. Leiden: KITLV Press; 1992. p. 265-280.
31. Deventer MKL. Arbeidswetgeving in Nederlandsch Indie (Hoofdzakelijk voor het gewest Oostkust van Sumatra). Deventer: Drukkerij Davo; 1921.
32. Algemeene Secretarie: Seri Missive Gouvernement Secretaris 1892-1942, No. 4268. Jakarta: National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia.
33. Kartodirdjo S, Djoko S. Sejarah perkebunan di Indonesia, kajian sosial ekonomi. Yogyakarta: Aditya Media; 1991.
34. Algemeene Secretarie: Seri Grote Bundel Besluit 1891-1942, No. 1076. Jakarta: National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia.
35. Kuenen, WA. De prophylaxis tegen het invoeren van ziekten op cultuur-ondernemingen. Batavia: Javasche Boekhandel & Drukkerij; 1914.
36. Junaidi. Smallpox vaccination in Nias Island, Indonesia, 1854-1915. Med Histor [Internet]. 2023 May 11 [cited 2023 Jun. 18];7(1):e2023005. Available from: https://mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/MedHistor/article/view/14138
37. Schoute D. De geneeskunde in Nederlandsch-Indie gedurende de negentiende eeuw. Batavia: G. Kolff & Co.; 1934.
38. Snijders EP. Het leven van den geneeskundigen kring S.O.K. van 31 Januari 1896 – 31 Januari 1921. Geneeskundig Tijdschrift Voor Nederlandsch-Indie 1921; LXI (61):XLV–LXI.
39. Schuffner WAP, Kuenen WA. Die gesundheitlichen verhaltnisse des arbeiterstandes der Senembah Maatschappy. In C. Mense, editor. Archiv fur Schiffs- und Tropen Hygiene. Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth; 1912. p. 277-304.
40. Schuffner WAP, Kuenen WA. De gezondheidstoestand van de arbeiders, verbonden aan de Senembah-Maatschappij op Sumatra, gedurende de jaren 1897 tot 1907. Amsterdam: De Bussy; 1910.
41. Loedin AA. Sejarah Kedokteran di Bumi Indonesia. Jakarta: Pustaka Utama Grafiti; 2010.
42. Algemeene Vereeniging Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatra 1892-1985, No. 358. Jakarta: National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia.