MDDP - In the Press - Reconnecting through our roots

Reconnecting through our roots

17th & 18th July 2004 (Saturday & Sunday)
The Atlas Ice Building, Malacca
(An International Gathering of Dutch descendants)

On July 17th and 18th 2004, an event entitled 'Reconnecting through our roots - International gathering of Dutch descendants' will be held in 'The Atlas Ice Building' (a.k.a. the 1673 building) located at 20, Jalan Hang Jebat (Jonker Street), Malacca.

The event is organised by members of the Dutch descendants in Malaysia participating in the Malaysian Dutch Descendants Project and under the auspices of H.E. John C.F. von Mühlen, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Malaysia.

Other co-operating organisations involved in this event are : The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Malaysia, the Melaka Museums Corporation (PERZIM), Malacca Heritage Trust and the Maritime Archaeology Museum at Malacca.

The focus of the 2 day event will be on the 3 Dutch descent communities found in Malaysia, ie. Dutch Eurasians originating from Malacca, Dutch Burghers originating from Sri Lanka and Dutch Indos originating from Indonesia.

The Malacca Dutch Eurasians are descended from those who came to Malacca between its capture from the Portuguese in 1641 to 1824, when Malacca was surrendered to the British. Their forefathers were the Dutch administrators and traders who were based at Malacca.

Dutch Burghers refers to the people of Dutch ancestry from Sri Lanka. The word 'Burgher' means "citizen" in Dutch but it also refers to as being from a member of a "mercantile class". Burghers first arrived in Malaya in the late 19th century when they were brought in by the British to assist in administration into the country.

Dutch Indos refers to Eurasians who were born and lived in Indonesia during the Dutch era but were repatriated to the Netherlands in the 1950s, after Indonesia obtained independence.

The purpose of this coming event is to show the historical and ancestral ties between the 3 communities and to allow those of a common heritage to reconnect with each other. The event will also attempt to present the history and heritage of the Dutch community and will show the existence of these communities in Malaysia, although they are thought to be extinct.

It is appropriate to have this event in Malacca because of the town's existing rich historical remnants from its Dutch era, such as the Stadthuys and Christ Church, which was previously the Dutch Reformed Church.

The venue for the event will be at a recently rediscovered Dutch building, now known as the 'Atlas Ice Building'. Located at Jonker Street within the old 'Kampung Belanda' (Dutch Village) vicinity in Malacca, the building is also known as the '1673 Building' because the year that the building was built has been fixed on its facade. The building is said to be originally the 'boomkantoor' or tax-office for the VOC (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie - Dutch East-Indies Company) where the 'havengelden' or harbour taxes could be collected in Malacca during Dutch times. In the beginning of the 20th century, the Atlas Ice Company purchased the building from the Dutch Eurasian families Baumgarten and de Wind. Recently, the Malacca State government acquired the building and has restored it.

Activities for the event will include an exhibition on the history of the Dutch descent communities, talks and discussions about the communities, a 'Kampung Belanda' (Dutch Village) heritage walkabout and a first-ever gathering of Dutch descendants.

The organiser's special guest for this event will be drs. Pim ten Hoorn from the Netherlands. Drs. ten Hoorn is a Dutch Indo who was born in Indonesia but he now resides at The Hague, where he is involved in various Eurasian organisations in The Netherlands. His background is anthropology and ethnic studies, and he will be delivering a talk on the Dutch Eurasian community in the Netherlands.

We have also received confirmation for the participation of Mr. Martijn Maarleveld from Amsterdam who will be delivering a talk on research sources in the Netherlands for genealogical research. Mr. Maarleveld is particularly interested in the genealogy of the Malacca Dutch Eurasians and he would be interested to exchange genealogical data with other family researchers.

The highlight of the event will be a first-ever international gathering of Dutch descendants at The Atlas Ice Building on Sunday, 18th July at 10.30 a.m. This historic event will be attended by Dutch descendants from Malaysia, Singapore, the Netherlands and other parts of the world.

As part of a coinciding event, the Westerhout worldwide family reunion will also take place in Malacca and members of the Dutch Eurasian Westerhout family will participate in this gathering. Descended from Sjauwke Jansz Westerhout who came to Malacca in 1757, this illustrious family has a rich historical connection to Malacca, where one of their ancestors was appointed as the Superintendent of Naning and the Assistant Resident of Malacca in the early 19th century.

It is planned for the Sunday's gathering to be officiated by Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam, the Chief Minister of Malacca and H.E. Ambassador John von Mühlen of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Malaysia.

Reconnecting through our roots - Mini exhibition

The 'Reconnecting through our roots' event will feature a mini exhibition on the historical and ancestral background of some families from the Dutch Eurasians originating from Malacca, the Dutch Burghers originating from Sri Lanka and the Dutch Indos originating from Indonesia. The exhibition will attempt to display the connection between these 3 communities during the time of their forefathers.

The exhibition over the two day event will essentially be divided into 3 parts, with each part dedicated to each of the abovementioned communities.

For the Malacca Dutch Eurasians, there will be translations of seldom seen genealogies obtained from the Central Bureau of Genealogy located at The Hague, genealogies from private research, old family pictures from private collections and reproductions of Dutch records obtained from Arkib Negara.

Some of the genealogies are able to show early migration patterns of Eurasian families to Malacca, as well as to other countries from Malacca. For instance, there are records to show that the Westerhout family came from a town called Jeverland which is currently located on the Dutch-German boarder. The van der Beek family, now found in Singapore and Australia, came to Malacca from the Dutch town of Delft. Whereas, the De Witt family arrived in Malacca from Cape Town, South Africa.

There is also evidence to show that the descendants of the Westerhout and Koek families held substantial amount of landed property in Malacca during the Dutch era. However, by far the largest estate was held by the de Wind family, which covered about 280 square miles.

For the Ceylon Dutch Burghers, the exhibition will include genealogy of some families from private research, reproductions of genealogical data published in the extremely rare Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union in the early 1900s at Ceylon, some old Burgher family pictures from private collections and reproduced extracts from a diary of an adventurous Dutch Burgher named Cyril Ephraums.

Cyril Ephraums and his younger brother Wilfred, both descendants of Coenraad Christiaan Ephraums who came to Ceylon from Amsterdam around 1800, arrived at Penang as young boys in the 1870s after the death of their parents in Ceylon. They both attended the Jesuit College in Penang. Cyril became involved in tin mining at Perak and was a noted big game hunter in his time. His amazing jungle trek from Gopeng to Kota Bahru and back again to Gopeng in 1900 was documented, although never before seen by historians. Wilfred became Chief Treasurer of the Malay Federation in Kuala Lumpur. Cyril died suddenly of peritonitis at only 40 years of age.

The Dutch Indos will display from private collections some old family pictures of Indos during their time in Indonesia, the genealogy of some families and some information regarding the 'Pasar Malam Besar' held annually at The Hague.

There are genealogies that show how the descendants of Abraham Couperus and Jan Samuel Timmerman-Thijssen, who were both Dutch governors of Malacca, eventually made their way to Indonesia in the early 19th century. After Indonesia obtained independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1949, most of the Dutch Indos were repatriated to the Netherlands.

Source: MDDP Pressrelease.
Author: Dennis de Witt.
Published: 17-06-2004

Dutchmalaysia.net

Official website of the Malaysian Dutch Descendants Project

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