|
MDDP Events
MDDP Forum
Extract of from :
Life in Dutch Town: A Vignette of Social Life in Melaka
By Dr. Nordin Hussin
History Department
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Presented at the 'Traders as Historians' Symposium
Singapore 6 September 2002
The presence of the Dutch in the east over a long period of time and their possession of several colonial-ports meant that there developed an overseas Dutch community, both official and unofficial, with mutual and complementary interests and the opportunity to enter into friendships or familial relationships. This situation was assisted by the tendency of the VOC to appoint men not only based on merit but also on family ties, and the policy of moving officials from one colony to another. Over the decades, as the officials and other Dutch men spent long periods of time in the east and as the colonies flourished and living conditions improved, more men set up homes in the colonies with their families and more women came out to the east. This greatly eased the problems of gender imbalance although there were usually more European men than women in the colonies. In early Melaka and Penang there was a pattern of widows who remarried due to this gender imbalance. Nevertheless, the ingredients for the formation of a permanent overseas Dutch community already existed, a situation that was assisted, in later years, by the fact that there were burgher communities in Batavia, Colombo and other Dutch towns in the East which allowed some of the burgher males to meet or seek their brides in these places rather than in Europe. For example, some of the Melakan burghers had chosen their brides from other Dutch settlements in the East, such as Makassar, Batavia, and Colombo".
Since the Dutch ruled Melaka for more than a century, the white population that lived in the town could also become a close-knit society. This was also helped by the fact that some families had been there for several generations and had married among themselves. For example, the Baumgarten, Dieterich, Koek, Kraal, Neubronner, Overree, Rappa, Velge, Westerhout, de Wind, and Williamson were families that had been in Melaka for several generations. Adriaan Koek, who later became a prominent member of the society, was born in 1759 in Melaka to the family of van Joost and Catharina de Roth and Gerrit Leendert Baumgarten, was born in Melaka in 1789 to the family of van Christiaan Godfried and Maria Catharina Velge. Note that Baumgarten's mother was a Velge, one of the leading families in Melaka. Adrian Koek later married a Maria Dionicia Wilhelmina Dieterich from Melaka, while Jansz Sjouke Westerhout married Anna Maria Magdalena, a Burgher girl also from Melaka.
In any colony, whether or not there was a close relationship between the Dutch official and the unofficial community, would have depended on particular circumstances. In Melaka, at least, it would appear that the European community as a whole, was a united group, as the officials, being small in numbers, were much dependent on the co-operation and goodwill of the burgher community to run the day to day affairs of the town. As we have seen, burghers were involved in many of the governmental as well as the non-governmental activities in the town such as helping the administration with social and welfare issues like the administration of orphans and children. They were also involved in maintaining security and in managing roads and bridges. In 1824, Gerrit Leendert Baumgarten worked as pakhuismeester (warehouse master), in the weeskamer (orphan chamber), the diaconie (Church administration) and as a predikant (Calvinist preacher). One of his brothers, Johan Willem Baumgarten, became a member of the Council of Justice in 1820-1824. Adriaan Koek became the captain-lieutenant of the Burghers, Deputy Governor of Melaka, President of the Council of Justice, and a Church minister. Thus, the presence of the burgher community was an asset to the colonial town. Their role was more institutionalized than was the case with the unofficial European community in Penang.
In Melaka, the Europeans lived close together in one particular area in substantial brick houses. Many led a comfortable or even lavish lifestyle served by a bevy of slaves. The records show that the Dutch in Melaka owned the most number of slaves compared to the other communities. So good was the life in the town and so attached were they to Melaka that many did not even leave when the Dutch administration withdrew in 1824. As noted by Newbold:
"The Dutch formed a highly respectable and wealthy class of the community. They are mostly the descendants of the officers of the old Dutch governments; who preferred, on the place being given up to the English, to remain without employment, rather than quit Malacca for Batavia, (the capital of the possessions of Holland, in India) and are much attached to the soil. Some of them find employment in the government offices, others are engaged commerce and agriculture, while a few live on the annual sum paid by government for the transfer of their landed rights."
Life in Dutch Town: A Vignette of Social Life in Melaka
By Dr. Nordin Hussin
History Department
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Presented at the 'Traders as Historians' Symposium
Singapore 6 September 2002
The presence of the Dutch in the east over a long period of time and their possession of several colonial-ports meant that there developed an overseas Dutch community, both official and unofficial, with mutual and complementary interests and the opportunity to enter into friendships or familial relationships. This situation was assisted by the tendency of the VOC to appoint men not only based on merit but also on family ties, and the policy of moving officials from one colony to another. Over the decades, as the officials and other Dutch men spent long periods of time in the east and as the colonies flourished and living conditions improved, more men set up homes in the colonies with their families and more women came out to the east. This greatly eased the problems of gender imbalance although there were usually more European men than women in the colonies. In early Melaka and Penang there was a pattern of widows who remarried due to this gender imbalance. Nevertheless, the ingredients for the formation of a permanent overseas Dutch community already existed, a situation that was assisted, in later years, by the fact that there were burgher communities in Batavia, Colombo and other Dutch towns in the East which allowed some of the burgher males to meet or seek their brides in these places rather than in Europe. For example, some of the Melakan burghers had chosen their brides from other Dutch settlements in the East, such as Makassar, Batavia, and Colombo".
Since the Dutch ruled Melaka for more than a century, the white population that lived in the town could also become a close-knit society. This was also helped by the fact that some families had been there for several generations and had married among themselves. For example, the Baumgarten, Dieterich, Koek, Kraal, Neubronner, Overree, Rappa, Velge, Westerhout, de Wind, and Williamson were families that had been in Melaka for several generations. Adriaan Koek, who later became a prominent member of the society, was born in 1759 in Melaka to the family of van Joost and Catharina de Roth and Gerrit Leendert Baumgarten, was born in Melaka in 1789 to the family of van Christiaan Godfried and Maria Catharina Velge. Note that Baumgarten's mother was a Velge, one of the leading families in Melaka. Adrian Koek later married a Maria Dionicia Wilhelmina Dieterich from Melaka, while Jansz Sjouke Westerhout married Anna Maria Magdalena, a Burgher girl also from Melaka.
In any colony, whether or not there was a close relationship between the Dutch official and the unofficial community, would have depended on particular circumstances. In Melaka, at least, it would appear that the European community as a whole, was a united group, as the officials, being small in numbers, were much dependent on the co-operation and goodwill of the burgher community to run the day to day affairs of the town. As we have seen, burghers were involved in many of the governmental as well as the non-governmental activities in the town such as helping the administration with social and welfare issues like the administration of orphans and children. They were also involved in maintaining security and in managing roads and bridges. In 1824, Gerrit Leendert Baumgarten worked as pakhuismeester (warehouse master), in the weeskamer (orphan chamber), the diaconie (Church administration) and as a predikant (Calvinist preacher). One of his brothers, Johan Willem Baumgarten, became a member of the Council of Justice in 1820-1824. Adriaan Koek became the captain-lieutenant of the Burghers, Deputy Governor of Melaka, President of the Council of Justice, and a Church minister. Thus, the presence of the burgher community was an asset to the colonial town. Their role was more institutionalized than was the case with the unofficial European community in Penang.
In Melaka, the Europeans lived close together in one particular area in substantial brick houses. Many led a comfortable or even lavish lifestyle served by a bevy of slaves. The records show that the Dutch in Melaka owned the most number of slaves compared to the other communities. So good was the life in the town and so attached were they to Melaka that many did not even leave when the Dutch administration withdrew in 1824. As noted by Newbold:
"The Dutch formed a highly respectable and wealthy class of the community. They are mostly the descendants of the officers of the old Dutch governments; who preferred, on the place being given up to the English, to remain without employment, rather than quit Malacca for Batavia, (the capital of the possessions of Holland, in India) and are much attached to the soil. Some of them find employment in the government offices, others are engaged commerce and agriculture, while a few live on the annual sum paid by government for the transfer of their landed rights."