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Taken from :
paper tabled at the 'Ethnic Contact and Ethnic Conflict' symposium
Gotheborg University, Sweden, 1998
Eurasians in the Netherlands : ethnic processes within the Dutch-Indo population
Pim ten Hoorn
Introduction: approaches to Eurasian ethnicity
The Eurasians of the Netherlands East Indies were among the first groups of migrants that came to the Netherlands after the Second World War. The Eurasian group has always been considered well-assimilated into Dutch society. Their adaptation to Dutch society has been called a success story and an example to other migrant groups. In the last ten to fifteen years there has been a remarkable revival of Eurasian culture in the Netherlands. After many years of silence, Eurasians are starting to express themselves in literature, films and in other ways. Today social science also gives attention to the Eurasians in the Netherlands and since 1989, symposia on the subject of the Eurasian ethnic group in the Netherlands have been organized regularly.
The inauguration in 1988 of the 'Indisch Monument' (the monument to remember the victims of the war with Japan) in the Hague has been of great significance to the Eurasians in the Netherlands and since then this monument has often been visited by Eurasians. It is also the scene of yearly remembrances on 15 August. 1995 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the end of Second World War which not only marked the capitulation of Japan, but also the declaration of the independence of Indonesia. This was a turning-point for the Eurasians in the Dutch colony and the beginning of the end of their existence in the Indies. But the commemoration of these events was not the final attention paid to the Eurasians. More than ever before, so it seems, there are meetings and publications on the subject of Eurasian ethnicity and culture. More and more Eurasians are making themselves visible and they seem to be gaining in self-confidence. The suddenness of this ethnic revival is striking.
But what is the meaning of the Dutch Eurasian ethnicity? To answer this question one should bear in mind that ethnicity is not a one-sided phenomenon. Literature on ethnicity shows a rather rough division between primordialists and circumstantialists. Glazer and Moynihan (1975) have described these two approaches:
The two poles of analysis by which we try to explain the persistence or revival or creation of ethnic identities seem to waver between what we may call 'primordialists': "Men are divided thus and so, the reasons for their division are deep in history and experience, and they must in some way be taken into account by those who govern societies"; and what we may call 'circumstantialists': "We are doubtful of any such basic division and look to specific and immediate circumstances to explain why groups maintain their identity, why ethnicity becomes a basis of mobilization, why some situations are peaceful and others filled with conflict",
(Glazer and Moynihan, 1975, pp. 19-20)
As to the Eurasian case, both approaches certainly have some relevance. Eurasian ethnicity in the Netherlands has been influenced by today's Dutch society, but the Eurasian group is also a product of colonial society. As far as history plays an important role in Eurasian ethnic identity, primordial elements make up Eurasian ethnicity. In the colonial society of the Netherlands East Indies the social status of the Eurasians was, as we shall see, different from both the Dutch and the Indonesians. Several times it has been necessary for Eurasians to stand up for their rights and situational factors could stimulate an ethnic allegiance among Eurasians. Today this necessity is less tangible in the Netherlands, at least for younger generations of Eurasians. These generations are primarily interested in their Eurasian descent and history. In this way primordial elements seem to have become a relatively more important issue to younger Eurasians today in the construction of Eurasian ethnicity.
A synthetic approach, containing both primordial and circumstantialist elements, as some authors advocate (Horowitz, 1985; Kipp, 1996), seems more appropriate to Eurasian ethnicity. In this paper an effort will be made to consider Eurasian ethnicity in this way.
Origin of the Eurasian group in the Netherlands East Indies
The origin of the Eurasians in the East Indies dates back to the days of the Dutch East India Company (the VOC). Already in those days, in the 17th and 18th centuries, children were born from relationships between Europeans and Asians. There were people of mixed European Asian birth (mestizos) and freed slaves of Portuguese Asian origin (mardijkers). During the days of the VOC many Europeans went to the East Indies as merchants or planters. After the dissolution of the VOC the East Indies became a colony under the Dutch Crown and many more came to serve in the army or to work for the colonial government as civil servants. Junior civil servants were not allowed to take their wives to the colony; their stay in the Indies was supposed to be of a temporary nature.
The housekeeping for these young Dutchmen, who had just arrived in the colony, was done by local Indonesian women who also introduced the men to the colonial society, the Indonesian language and habits in the Indies. These relationships often became more intimate and produced children of mixed birth. These children could be legitimized by their (Dutch) fathers, enabling them to become official members of the European group in the colony. Sometimes the father married the Indonesian mother, but in most cases there was no marriage and the Indonesian mother had to stay in the background. However, most of these children were not legitimized. Even where marriages did take place, wives would often return to their Indonesian villages and families, taking their children with them. In these cases, the children and their offspring were legally Indonesians, and absorbed into the Indonesian population. Even today some Indonesians are descendants from this mixed Dutch-Indonesian ancestry.
The concubinage of European (mainly Dutch) men and Asian (mainly Indonesian) women has been important for the origin of the Eurasian group in the Netherlands East Indies. Even the relaxation by colonial government of measures concerning mixed marriages did not lead to a decrease in concubinage. Many of the Eurasians, now living in the Netherlands, are offspring from these mixed relationships.
In the Netherlands East Indies a legal distinction has been traditionally made between Europeans and Indonesians. Since 1920 there was a distinction between three groups: Europeans, Indonesians and Foreign Easterners (e.g. the Chinese and Japanese who lived in the Indies). Legally the Eurasians were regarded as Europeans, but the colour of their skin (in many cases darker) and their accent led to discrimination against this group.
The Eurasian group was socially heterogeneous. On the one hand there was a relatively small wealthy group, which had been rooted in the Indies for several generations. On the other hand there was a rather big group of Eurasians for whom unemployment and poverty were major problems. At the end of the 19th century, the policy of the Dutch government led to new problems for the middle class Eurasians. This new policy, which was called the 'ethical policy', was aimed at the moral and intellectual elevation of the Indonesian population by improving education and creating better and higher paid jobs for them. This meant more competition and even more unemployment for the Eurasians. Also, expressions of nationalism among Indonesians were becoming a threat to many Eurasians, especially in the upper classes, who felt they had nothing to gain with an independent Indonesia.
Eurasians as a group between the Dutch and the Indonesians
The Eurasians in the Netherlands East Indies were legally Europeans but were not regarded as 'real Dutch' by many of the Dutch. Many prejudices existed against the Eurasians; they were supposed to be touchy, secretive, suspicious and arrogant towards Indonesians. As a group, the Eurasians were distrusted by the Dutch and by the Indonesians.
Wertheim (1947) called the Eurasians a group of 'marginal men', people living between two cultures, and according to him many of the special characteristics of Eurasians in the Indies are understandable when their social position in the colony is being considered. Douglas pointed out that the marginal person, who has no place in the social system, is usually distrusted: '... he remains in the margins, with other people who are similarly credited with unreliability, unteachability, and all the wrong social attitudes' (Douglas, 1969, p. 97). As a marginal group, the Eurasians of the East Indies suffered from these prejudices, but they considered themselves both different from the Dutch and from the Indonesian population, and had their own way of life. The Eurasian way of living in the East Indies, which was a colonial one, was an important element in Eurasian ethnicity. This was based on the position the Eurasians had in colonial society and on their value-orientation.
Basically the Eurasian value-orientation can be traced back to the attitude of being 'alus'; 'alus', an Indonesian word, meaning sensitive, gentle and considerate to other people. Also, characteristic of 'alusness' is more introverted and intuitive behaviour (Filet, 1984, pp. 68-94; Ellemers and Vaillant, 1985). 'Alusness' was a much-valued attitude among Eurasians in the Indies and still is, especially among the older generation Eurasians in the Netherlands. For them it marks the difference between Eurasians and Dutch, whom they consider 'kasar', i.e. rude, more extrovert and not at all considerate to other people. In fact, the 'alus-kasar' opposition seems to define, for the most part, the ethnic boundary between Dutch and Eurasians in the East Indies and for the older generation of Eurasians in the Netherlands today. For most Eurasians, modesty and hospitality were the main values. Eurasians considered themselves more formal and self-controlled than the Dutch who, by Eurasian standards, were inhospitable, rude, noisy and boisterous. However, for many younger Eurasians born and raised in the Netherlands - many are married to Dutch men and women - the attitude of being 'alus' no longer seems to mark their ethnicity as much as it is used to for the older generation of Eurasians.
Unlike the Indonesians, the Eurasians stressed their European descent and education. The ethnic and social boundaries between Eurasians and Indonesians were defined by upbringing and education, i.e. for Eurasians their European status was marked by their Dutch-orientated upbringing. In stressing this status it was quite common among Eurasians to ignore their Asian ancestry.
Economically, the Eurasians in the East Indies felt squeezed between the Dutch and the Indonesian population. Their social and economic subordination to the Dutch in the Indies has been an important factor in the awakening of their ethnic consciousness.
As I have mentioned already, with the improvement of education for the Indonesians, they became a threat to the Eurasians in the labour market. Here was another factor to evoke Eurasian ethnicity.
In the Netherlands East Indies, Eurasian organizations existed as early as the 19th century. There was an increase in these organizations at the beginning of the 20th century when the Eurasian economic position was threatened. Some of these organizations had political aims and they provoked the colonial government by striving for independence of the East Indies. Consequently, these organizations were banned by the government. However, for the biggest organization, the IEV (Indo Europees Verbond: Union of Indo-European or Eurasians in the Netherlands East Indies, founded in 1919 and supported by most Eurasians) independence was not an issue. Their aim was the improvement of the social and economic position of the Eurasian group whose ethnic identity was seen as primarily European. Only a minority among the Eurasians stressed the uniqueness of Eurasian identity and the differences between both Dutch and Indonesians by striving for a homeland for Eurasians. But for most Eurasian organizations recognition of a unique Eurasian identity was not at stake.
During the Japanese occupation of the Netherlands East Indies the Dutch population was interned in camps. The greater part of the Eurasian population stayed outside the camps because of their Asian ancestry. All at once it had become important for many Eurasians to have an Indonesian ancestor, a fact that had been ignored by many until the war.
However, even outside the camps it was a hard time for the Eurasians. Many men, Dutch and Eurasian, were taken by the Japanese as prisoners of war. Bank accounts of Europeans (and of Eurasians who were legally Europeans) were frozen. The Japanese distrusted the Eurasians and tried to win them over to the Japanese cause, but, at the same time, they did not know what to do with people who were not 'real Asians' and who were loyal to a European nation. In fact, most Eurasians kept seeing themselves as Europeans and stayed loyal to the Dutch.
Two days after the capitulation of Japan, the Indonesians proclaimed themselves independent from the Netherlands. This was the start of a turbulent period, known as 'Bersiap', with many outrages and acts of violence. As Dutch colonial government and authority could not yet be restored there was room for anarchist young Indonesians (called pemudas) to act against all symbols and representatives of the old colonial regime. Eurasians, who were seen as Dutch, were in many cases victims of these outbreaks of violence. In order to protect them from these violent outbreaks, many Eurasians who had stayed outside the camps during the war, were now interned. This period of Bersiap only ended in 1949 when Indonesia was granted independence by the Netherlands.
Migration to the Netherlands
As early as 1945, immediately after the war, many Dutch, liberated from the Japanese camps, came to the Netherlands. For some of them their stay in the Netherlands was meant to be a period of recovery before returning to the East Indies. At the time an independent Indonesia was unthinkable for most of them. Most Eurasians only started to migrate to the Netherlands in 1950 and the years following.
Before the end of 1951 Eurasians had to opt for Dutch or Indonesian nationality. Their history and position in the colony made it obvious that many Eurasians did not hesitate to opt for Dutch nationality, in spite of pressure from the Dutch government to make them choose in favour of Indonesian nationality. The prospect of so many migrants from the old colony was of course not attractive to the government which had to cope with the redevelopment of the Netherlands after the Second World War and German occupation. Notwithstanding their subordinated position to the Dutch population in colonial society, most Eurasians certainly did not consider themselves Indonesian as their education and training in school had been Dutch.
Before 1950 and 1963 there were several 'migration-waves' of Eurasians to the Netherlands. The last of these waves was in the period 1958-63, prompted by the tensions between Indonesia and the Netherlands concerning Western New-Guinea (now Irian Jaya), then still Dutch territory.
Dutch policy concerning the Eurasian migrants was aimed at assimilation. Eurasians had to find their own way and merge into Dutch society. For Eurasians too, assimilation was the way to manage and cope with this new situation, Clearly there was no possibility of returning to the country of their birth, so their only option was to become 'real Dutch' in the Netherlands and maintain a low profile. For Eurasians, as well as for the Dutch government, Eurasian ethnicity was unnecessary and undesirable. This was the start of the 'success story' of Eurasian migration to the Netherlands. So smooth was this process of migration, that the Eurasians in the Netherlands became a forgotten group.
It was only in the 1980s, after the arrival of other migrant groups to the Netherlands that Eurasians started to gain a higher profile. Not only did third generation Eurasians, curious about their roots, show that Eurasian ethnicity was still alive, but first generation Eurasians also made it clear to the Dutch public that they too had been victims of war and decolonization. For this they claimed compensation and Eurasian ethnicity became an issue once more.
At the moment, the number of Eurasian organizations in the Netherlands is about 600. The reasons to organize can be very different (reunions, remembrances, trying to obtain support and compensation, promoting Eurasian culture and, are preservation of Eurasian history), but at present a notable number of young Eurasians, born in the Netherlands and looking for their roots interested in Eurasian culture and history, thus showing a revival of Eurasian ethnicity.
There are interesting similarities between the Eurasian population in the Netherlands and migrant groups in other countries. Talai (1989) has done research among the Armenian population of London. In many ways the Armenians in London and the Eurasians in the Netherlands can be compared. Both are relatively small groups, with a rather high socio-economic standard. Like the Armenians, Eurasians are residentially dispersed, and there is no occupational clustering. Like the Eurasians until the 1980s, the Armenians in London are an 'invisible' group, only showing their ethnicity in their own organizations. Talai has called Armenian ethnicity in London a 'part-time ethnicity, restricted largely to the domain of leisure' (Talai, 1989, p. 113).
In this paper I have tried to show that, in the Eurasian case, ethnicity has often been used as a strategy. On the other hand one should not forget the primordial side of ethnicity. This means that, although 'invisible', ethnicity is still there and can act as an 'invisible force'. For Eurasians, not showing their ethnicity to the public immediately after migrating to the Netherlands, has been a strategy to gain a higher standard of living. As a marginal group, Eurasians were used to adapting to other groups and to new situations: in the Netherlands, merging into Dutch society seemed the most appropriate thing to do. So, contrary to Talai, I think 'part-time ethnicity' is not really a useful concept in the case of the Dutch Eurasians. While 'part-time ethnicity' implies that in some situations ethnicity is non-existent, in the Eurasian case the issue is not whether ethnicity does exist, but what factors will lead to manifest ethnic behaviour.
Eurasian ethnic revival: looking for recognition
The history of the Eurasians shows want of recognition. One gets the impression that they are a group that really should not have been. The origin of this group started with children born out of wedlock, legitimated by the good will of their European fathers. And even then, these children did not form a distinct ethnic group but became legally Europeans; officially, a separate category of Eurasians did not exist in the Netherlands East Indies.
Neither did the Indonesians know where to place the Eurasians. Obviously there were resemblances between both ethnic groups, but most Eurasians kept their distance from the Indonesians, seeing themselves as Europeans according to their education and way of life. However, the Eurasian way of life was not really a Dutch way of life; there were too many differences in value-orientation between the Eurasians and the Dutch. The Eurasian way of life was a colonial one, based on values that the Eurasians themselves considered more Asian and certainly different from Dutch values. The fact that the Eurasians had to opt for a nationality after the independence of Indonesia, and the Dutch efforts to make them opt for Indonesian nationality, certainly made it clear that the Eurasians, however legally Dutch, were essentially not considered to be really Dutch. When, after migration to the Netherlands, Eurasians were called 'Indonesians' by the Dutch, many Eurasians considered this a striking example of Dutch ignorance of their own colonial history.
All this contributed to the uncertainty of Eurasians about their ethnic identity. On the one hand they did not form a distinct ethnic group legally; on the other hand they were neither really Dutch nor Indonesian. In the past and also at present, there has been much discussion among Eurasians about their identity. The heterogeneous character of the group will guarantee a never-ending discussion.
Returning to the question on the first page of this paper about the meaning of 'Dutch Eurasian ethnicity', history makes clear that there are many different answers.
The case of the Eurasians shows that the maintenance of ethnic boundaries is dependent on what is socially relevant (Barth, 1969). For Eurasians in the East Indies the 'alus' attitude and their European status defined the ethnic boundaries. Today neither one nor the other seems to have much relevance for younger generation Eurasians who are born in the Netherlands. For them, ethnicity means expressing themselves in their own cultural forms, in their literature and music. They also see Eurasian culture and history as a way to look for their roots, and in looking for these, attention is paid to Asian ancestors who have been ignored by older generations. While the position of Eurasians in the colonial East Indies had been of major importance to their ethnic identity, today primordial elements are playing their part in the construction of Eurasian ethnicity by younger Eurasians in Dutch society.
For younger and for older Eurasians today this ethnic revival is an expression of their wish to be recognized at last as a group with its own history and culture, a group that has suffered in its own way during war and decolonization, and therefore a group with its own identity. While people's identity is formed by recognition by others (see, for example, Taylor,. 1992), lack of this has made Eurasians what they are now. But primarily, recognition means that Eurasians should recognize their Asian ancestry. Ignoring the Asian part of Eurasian ethnic identity by Eurasians themselves has, in the past, also led to ignoring the Eurasians as a separate ethnic group by Dutch and Indonesians. Only now are younger generations of Eurasians showing more interest in the Asian part of their ancestry.
MDDP Project supporter
This Project is supported by Drs. W.R.A. ten Hoorn of the 'Indisch Wetenschappelijk Instituut' (I.W.I.) and the 'Federatie van Internationale Culturele- en Vriendschapsverenigingen in Nederland', Den Haag, The Netherlands.
Drs. Pim ten Hoorn studied psychology and anthropology at the universities of Leiden and Amsterdam in The Netherlands and he has an keen interest in the subject of 'ethnic identity'. He is a member of the Indisch Wetenschappelijk Instituut and Forum Nederland-Indonesia. He is currently the Hon. Secretary for the Federatie van Internationale Culturele- en Vriendschapsverenigingen in Nederland. Drs. Pim ten Hoorn visited Malaysia in May 2001
paper tabled at the 'Ethnic Contact and Ethnic Conflict' symposium
Gotheborg University, Sweden, 1998
Eurasians in the Netherlands : ethnic processes within the Dutch-Indo population
Pim ten Hoorn
Introduction: approaches to Eurasian ethnicity
The Eurasians of the Netherlands East Indies were among the first groups of migrants that came to the Netherlands after the Second World War. The Eurasian group has always been considered well-assimilated into Dutch society. Their adaptation to Dutch society has been called a success story and an example to other migrant groups. In the last ten to fifteen years there has been a remarkable revival of Eurasian culture in the Netherlands. After many years of silence, Eurasians are starting to express themselves in literature, films and in other ways. Today social science also gives attention to the Eurasians in the Netherlands and since 1989, symposia on the subject of the Eurasian ethnic group in the Netherlands have been organized regularly.
The inauguration in 1988 of the 'Indisch Monument' (the monument to remember the victims of the war with Japan) in the Hague has been of great significance to the Eurasians in the Netherlands and since then this monument has often been visited by Eurasians. It is also the scene of yearly remembrances on 15 August. 1995 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the end of Second World War which not only marked the capitulation of Japan, but also the declaration of the independence of Indonesia. This was a turning-point for the Eurasians in the Dutch colony and the beginning of the end of their existence in the Indies. But the commemoration of these events was not the final attention paid to the Eurasians. More than ever before, so it seems, there are meetings and publications on the subject of Eurasian ethnicity and culture. More and more Eurasians are making themselves visible and they seem to be gaining in self-confidence. The suddenness of this ethnic revival is striking.
But what is the meaning of the Dutch Eurasian ethnicity? To answer this question one should bear in mind that ethnicity is not a one-sided phenomenon. Literature on ethnicity shows a rather rough division between primordialists and circumstantialists. Glazer and Moynihan (1975) have described these two approaches:
The two poles of analysis by which we try to explain the persistence or revival or creation of ethnic identities seem to waver between what we may call 'primordialists': "Men are divided thus and so, the reasons for their division are deep in history and experience, and they must in some way be taken into account by those who govern societies"; and what we may call 'circumstantialists': "We are doubtful of any such basic division and look to specific and immediate circumstances to explain why groups maintain their identity, why ethnicity becomes a basis of mobilization, why some situations are peaceful and others filled with conflict",
(Glazer and Moynihan, 1975, pp. 19-20)
As to the Eurasian case, both approaches certainly have some relevance. Eurasian ethnicity in the Netherlands has been influenced by today's Dutch society, but the Eurasian group is also a product of colonial society. As far as history plays an important role in Eurasian ethnic identity, primordial elements make up Eurasian ethnicity. In the colonial society of the Netherlands East Indies the social status of the Eurasians was, as we shall see, different from both the Dutch and the Indonesians. Several times it has been necessary for Eurasians to stand up for their rights and situational factors could stimulate an ethnic allegiance among Eurasians. Today this necessity is less tangible in the Netherlands, at least for younger generations of Eurasians. These generations are primarily interested in their Eurasian descent and history. In this way primordial elements seem to have become a relatively more important issue to younger Eurasians today in the construction of Eurasian ethnicity.
A synthetic approach, containing both primordial and circumstantialist elements, as some authors advocate (Horowitz, 1985; Kipp, 1996), seems more appropriate to Eurasian ethnicity. In this paper an effort will be made to consider Eurasian ethnicity in this way.
Origin of the Eurasian group in the Netherlands East Indies
The origin of the Eurasians in the East Indies dates back to the days of the Dutch East India Company (the VOC). Already in those days, in the 17th and 18th centuries, children were born from relationships between Europeans and Asians. There were people of mixed European Asian birth (mestizos) and freed slaves of Portuguese Asian origin (mardijkers). During the days of the VOC many Europeans went to the East Indies as merchants or planters. After the dissolution of the VOC the East Indies became a colony under the Dutch Crown and many more came to serve in the army or to work for the colonial government as civil servants. Junior civil servants were not allowed to take their wives to the colony; their stay in the Indies was supposed to be of a temporary nature.
The housekeeping for these young Dutchmen, who had just arrived in the colony, was done by local Indonesian women who also introduced the men to the colonial society, the Indonesian language and habits in the Indies. These relationships often became more intimate and produced children of mixed birth. These children could be legitimized by their (Dutch) fathers, enabling them to become official members of the European group in the colony. Sometimes the father married the Indonesian mother, but in most cases there was no marriage and the Indonesian mother had to stay in the background. However, most of these children were not legitimized. Even where marriages did take place, wives would often return to their Indonesian villages and families, taking their children with them. In these cases, the children and their offspring were legally Indonesians, and absorbed into the Indonesian population. Even today some Indonesians are descendants from this mixed Dutch-Indonesian ancestry.
The concubinage of European (mainly Dutch) men and Asian (mainly Indonesian) women has been important for the origin of the Eurasian group in the Netherlands East Indies. Even the relaxation by colonial government of measures concerning mixed marriages did not lead to a decrease in concubinage. Many of the Eurasians, now living in the Netherlands, are offspring from these mixed relationships.
In the Netherlands East Indies a legal distinction has been traditionally made between Europeans and Indonesians. Since 1920 there was a distinction between three groups: Europeans, Indonesians and Foreign Easterners (e.g. the Chinese and Japanese who lived in the Indies). Legally the Eurasians were regarded as Europeans, but the colour of their skin (in many cases darker) and their accent led to discrimination against this group.
The Eurasian group was socially heterogeneous. On the one hand there was a relatively small wealthy group, which had been rooted in the Indies for several generations. On the other hand there was a rather big group of Eurasians for whom unemployment and poverty were major problems. At the end of the 19th century, the policy of the Dutch government led to new problems for the middle class Eurasians. This new policy, which was called the 'ethical policy', was aimed at the moral and intellectual elevation of the Indonesian population by improving education and creating better and higher paid jobs for them. This meant more competition and even more unemployment for the Eurasians. Also, expressions of nationalism among Indonesians were becoming a threat to many Eurasians, especially in the upper classes, who felt they had nothing to gain with an independent Indonesia.
Eurasians as a group between the Dutch and the Indonesians
The Eurasians in the Netherlands East Indies were legally Europeans but were not regarded as 'real Dutch' by many of the Dutch. Many prejudices existed against the Eurasians; they were supposed to be touchy, secretive, suspicious and arrogant towards Indonesians. As a group, the Eurasians were distrusted by the Dutch and by the Indonesians.
Wertheim (1947) called the Eurasians a group of 'marginal men', people living between two cultures, and according to him many of the special characteristics of Eurasians in the Indies are understandable when their social position in the colony is being considered. Douglas pointed out that the marginal person, who has no place in the social system, is usually distrusted: '... he remains in the margins, with other people who are similarly credited with unreliability, unteachability, and all the wrong social attitudes' (Douglas, 1969, p. 97). As a marginal group, the Eurasians of the East Indies suffered from these prejudices, but they considered themselves both different from the Dutch and from the Indonesian population, and had their own way of life. The Eurasian way of living in the East Indies, which was a colonial one, was an important element in Eurasian ethnicity. This was based on the position the Eurasians had in colonial society and on their value-orientation.
Basically the Eurasian value-orientation can be traced back to the attitude of being 'alus'; 'alus', an Indonesian word, meaning sensitive, gentle and considerate to other people. Also, characteristic of 'alusness' is more introverted and intuitive behaviour (Filet, 1984, pp. 68-94; Ellemers and Vaillant, 1985). 'Alusness' was a much-valued attitude among Eurasians in the Indies and still is, especially among the older generation Eurasians in the Netherlands. For them it marks the difference between Eurasians and Dutch, whom they consider 'kasar', i.e. rude, more extrovert and not at all considerate to other people. In fact, the 'alus-kasar' opposition seems to define, for the most part, the ethnic boundary between Dutch and Eurasians in the East Indies and for the older generation of Eurasians in the Netherlands today. For most Eurasians, modesty and hospitality were the main values. Eurasians considered themselves more formal and self-controlled than the Dutch who, by Eurasian standards, were inhospitable, rude, noisy and boisterous. However, for many younger Eurasians born and raised in the Netherlands - many are married to Dutch men and women - the attitude of being 'alus' no longer seems to mark their ethnicity as much as it is used to for the older generation of Eurasians.
Unlike the Indonesians, the Eurasians stressed their European descent and education. The ethnic and social boundaries between Eurasians and Indonesians were defined by upbringing and education, i.e. for Eurasians their European status was marked by their Dutch-orientated upbringing. In stressing this status it was quite common among Eurasians to ignore their Asian ancestry.
Economically, the Eurasians in the East Indies felt squeezed between the Dutch and the Indonesian population. Their social and economic subordination to the Dutch in the Indies has been an important factor in the awakening of their ethnic consciousness.
As I have mentioned already, with the improvement of education for the Indonesians, they became a threat to the Eurasians in the labour market. Here was another factor to evoke Eurasian ethnicity.
In the Netherlands East Indies, Eurasian organizations existed as early as the 19th century. There was an increase in these organizations at the beginning of the 20th century when the Eurasian economic position was threatened. Some of these organizations had political aims and they provoked the colonial government by striving for independence of the East Indies. Consequently, these organizations were banned by the government. However, for the biggest organization, the IEV (Indo Europees Verbond: Union of Indo-European or Eurasians in the Netherlands East Indies, founded in 1919 and supported by most Eurasians) independence was not an issue. Their aim was the improvement of the social and economic position of the Eurasian group whose ethnic identity was seen as primarily European. Only a minority among the Eurasians stressed the uniqueness of Eurasian identity and the differences between both Dutch and Indonesians by striving for a homeland for Eurasians. But for most Eurasian organizations recognition of a unique Eurasian identity was not at stake.
During the Japanese occupation of the Netherlands East Indies the Dutch population was interned in camps. The greater part of the Eurasian population stayed outside the camps because of their Asian ancestry. All at once it had become important for many Eurasians to have an Indonesian ancestor, a fact that had been ignored by many until the war.
However, even outside the camps it was a hard time for the Eurasians. Many men, Dutch and Eurasian, were taken by the Japanese as prisoners of war. Bank accounts of Europeans (and of Eurasians who were legally Europeans) were frozen. The Japanese distrusted the Eurasians and tried to win them over to the Japanese cause, but, at the same time, they did not know what to do with people who were not 'real Asians' and who were loyal to a European nation. In fact, most Eurasians kept seeing themselves as Europeans and stayed loyal to the Dutch.
Two days after the capitulation of Japan, the Indonesians proclaimed themselves independent from the Netherlands. This was the start of a turbulent period, known as 'Bersiap', with many outrages and acts of violence. As Dutch colonial government and authority could not yet be restored there was room for anarchist young Indonesians (called pemudas) to act against all symbols and representatives of the old colonial regime. Eurasians, who were seen as Dutch, were in many cases victims of these outbreaks of violence. In order to protect them from these violent outbreaks, many Eurasians who had stayed outside the camps during the war, were now interned. This period of Bersiap only ended in 1949 when Indonesia was granted independence by the Netherlands.
Migration to the Netherlands
As early as 1945, immediately after the war, many Dutch, liberated from the Japanese camps, came to the Netherlands. For some of them their stay in the Netherlands was meant to be a period of recovery before returning to the East Indies. At the time an independent Indonesia was unthinkable for most of them. Most Eurasians only started to migrate to the Netherlands in 1950 and the years following.
Before the end of 1951 Eurasians had to opt for Dutch or Indonesian nationality. Their history and position in the colony made it obvious that many Eurasians did not hesitate to opt for Dutch nationality, in spite of pressure from the Dutch government to make them choose in favour of Indonesian nationality. The prospect of so many migrants from the old colony was of course not attractive to the government which had to cope with the redevelopment of the Netherlands after the Second World War and German occupation. Notwithstanding their subordinated position to the Dutch population in colonial society, most Eurasians certainly did not consider themselves Indonesian as their education and training in school had been Dutch.
Before 1950 and 1963 there were several 'migration-waves' of Eurasians to the Netherlands. The last of these waves was in the period 1958-63, prompted by the tensions between Indonesia and the Netherlands concerning Western New-Guinea (now Irian Jaya), then still Dutch territory.
Dutch policy concerning the Eurasian migrants was aimed at assimilation. Eurasians had to find their own way and merge into Dutch society. For Eurasians too, assimilation was the way to manage and cope with this new situation, Clearly there was no possibility of returning to the country of their birth, so their only option was to become 'real Dutch' in the Netherlands and maintain a low profile. For Eurasians, as well as for the Dutch government, Eurasian ethnicity was unnecessary and undesirable. This was the start of the 'success story' of Eurasian migration to the Netherlands. So smooth was this process of migration, that the Eurasians in the Netherlands became a forgotten group.
It was only in the 1980s, after the arrival of other migrant groups to the Netherlands that Eurasians started to gain a higher profile. Not only did third generation Eurasians, curious about their roots, show that Eurasian ethnicity was still alive, but first generation Eurasians also made it clear to the Dutch public that they too had been victims of war and decolonization. For this they claimed compensation and Eurasian ethnicity became an issue once more.
At the moment, the number of Eurasian organizations in the Netherlands is about 600. The reasons to organize can be very different (reunions, remembrances, trying to obtain support and compensation, promoting Eurasian culture and, are preservation of Eurasian history), but at present a notable number of young Eurasians, born in the Netherlands and looking for their roots interested in Eurasian culture and history, thus showing a revival of Eurasian ethnicity.
There are interesting similarities between the Eurasian population in the Netherlands and migrant groups in other countries. Talai (1989) has done research among the Armenian population of London. In many ways the Armenians in London and the Eurasians in the Netherlands can be compared. Both are relatively small groups, with a rather high socio-economic standard. Like the Armenians, Eurasians are residentially dispersed, and there is no occupational clustering. Like the Eurasians until the 1980s, the Armenians in London are an 'invisible' group, only showing their ethnicity in their own organizations. Talai has called Armenian ethnicity in London a 'part-time ethnicity, restricted largely to the domain of leisure' (Talai, 1989, p. 113).
In this paper I have tried to show that, in the Eurasian case, ethnicity has often been used as a strategy. On the other hand one should not forget the primordial side of ethnicity. This means that, although 'invisible', ethnicity is still there and can act as an 'invisible force'. For Eurasians, not showing their ethnicity to the public immediately after migrating to the Netherlands, has been a strategy to gain a higher standard of living. As a marginal group, Eurasians were used to adapting to other groups and to new situations: in the Netherlands, merging into Dutch society seemed the most appropriate thing to do. So, contrary to Talai, I think 'part-time ethnicity' is not really a useful concept in the case of the Dutch Eurasians. While 'part-time ethnicity' implies that in some situations ethnicity is non-existent, in the Eurasian case the issue is not whether ethnicity does exist, but what factors will lead to manifest ethnic behaviour.
Eurasian ethnic revival: looking for recognition
The history of the Eurasians shows want of recognition. One gets the impression that they are a group that really should not have been. The origin of this group started with children born out of wedlock, legitimated by the good will of their European fathers. And even then, these children did not form a distinct ethnic group but became legally Europeans; officially, a separate category of Eurasians did not exist in the Netherlands East Indies.
Neither did the Indonesians know where to place the Eurasians. Obviously there were resemblances between both ethnic groups, but most Eurasians kept their distance from the Indonesians, seeing themselves as Europeans according to their education and way of life. However, the Eurasian way of life was not really a Dutch way of life; there were too many differences in value-orientation between the Eurasians and the Dutch. The Eurasian way of life was a colonial one, based on values that the Eurasians themselves considered more Asian and certainly different from Dutch values. The fact that the Eurasians had to opt for a nationality after the independence of Indonesia, and the Dutch efforts to make them opt for Indonesian nationality, certainly made it clear that the Eurasians, however legally Dutch, were essentially not considered to be really Dutch. When, after migration to the Netherlands, Eurasians were called 'Indonesians' by the Dutch, many Eurasians considered this a striking example of Dutch ignorance of their own colonial history.
All this contributed to the uncertainty of Eurasians about their ethnic identity. On the one hand they did not form a distinct ethnic group legally; on the other hand they were neither really Dutch nor Indonesian. In the past and also at present, there has been much discussion among Eurasians about their identity. The heterogeneous character of the group will guarantee a never-ending discussion.
Returning to the question on the first page of this paper about the meaning of 'Dutch Eurasian ethnicity', history makes clear that there are many different answers.
The case of the Eurasians shows that the maintenance of ethnic boundaries is dependent on what is socially relevant (Barth, 1969). For Eurasians in the East Indies the 'alus' attitude and their European status defined the ethnic boundaries. Today neither one nor the other seems to have much relevance for younger generation Eurasians who are born in the Netherlands. For them, ethnicity means expressing themselves in their own cultural forms, in their literature and music. They also see Eurasian culture and history as a way to look for their roots, and in looking for these, attention is paid to Asian ancestors who have been ignored by older generations. While the position of Eurasians in the colonial East Indies had been of major importance to their ethnic identity, today primordial elements are playing their part in the construction of Eurasian ethnicity by younger Eurasians in Dutch society.
For younger and for older Eurasians today this ethnic revival is an expression of their wish to be recognized at last as a group with its own history and culture, a group that has suffered in its own way during war and decolonization, and therefore a group with its own identity. While people's identity is formed by recognition by others (see, for example, Taylor,. 1992), lack of this has made Eurasians what they are now. But primarily, recognition means that Eurasians should recognize their Asian ancestry. Ignoring the Asian part of Eurasian ethnic identity by Eurasians themselves has, in the past, also led to ignoring the Eurasians as a separate ethnic group by Dutch and Indonesians. Only now are younger generations of Eurasians showing more interest in the Asian part of their ancestry.
MDDP Project supporter
This Project is supported by Drs. W.R.A. ten Hoorn of the 'Indisch Wetenschappelijk Instituut' (I.W.I.) and the 'Federatie van Internationale Culturele- en Vriendschapsverenigingen in Nederland', Den Haag, The Netherlands.
Drs. Pim ten Hoorn studied psychology and anthropology at the universities of Leiden and Amsterdam in The Netherlands and he has an keen interest in the subject of 'ethnic identity'. He is a member of the Indisch Wetenschappelijk Instituut and Forum Nederland-Indonesia. He is currently the Hon. Secretary for the Federatie van Internationale Culturele- en Vriendschapsverenigingen in Nederland. Drs. Pim ten Hoorn visited Malaysia in May 2001