Exhibition conveys lessons from Indonesia's past

Political cartoons by 11 Dutch artists show contempt for imperialism

Jakarta Post
Monday, March 20, 2006

By Andi Haswidi and Margaret Agusta

"Towards the Birth of the Republic"
Lontar Gallery, Jl Utan Kayu, East Jakarta
until March 24

Jakarta --- An exhibition of political cartoons at Lontar Gallery carries many disturbing mementos from Indonesia's colonial past. However, strangely enough, their message is still relevant, as much of the injustice and suffering experienced by people in the colonized Dutch-Indies still exist in today's Indonesia.

The exhibition, titled Towards the Birth of the Republic, features 70 caricatures by 11 Dutch artists published in the Netherlands between the end of the 19th century and the 1950s. It was this era that spawned socialism and the emancipation of laborers both in Europe and Indonesia. The Dutch occupation of areas that are now Indonesian territory ran from the 17th century to 1942.

Every caricature that is displayed at the exhibition bears critical contempt for Dutch imperialism and colonialism in what is now Indonesian territory.

The artists, some of whom were social democrats, tried to redefine and deconstruct the hypocrisy of religious parties, militarism and capitalism in the Dutch motherland.

They saw capitalism as being supported by the mass production of goods, which depended on cheap raw materials and labor and which inspired an unquenchable thirst for colonial soil.

This reality inspired a caricature by Johan Coenraad Braankensiek titled Nederland's Kostbaarst Sieraad (The Netherlands' most precious jewel), which was printed in De Amsterdammer during World War I.

The caricature depicts an aristocratic lady wearing royal garb and holding a necklace that resembles the chain of islands in Indonesian archipelago.

It was Coenraad's way of reminding his fellow Dutchmen of how dependent they were on "the belt of emerald" around the equator.

Such inequalities and inevitabilities are still present in the area today. Factory owners cannot survive in today's global competitive market without subjecting their employees to terrible working conditions and minimum wages.

Production still means the exploitation of natural resources. Bribery and the monopoly of information is the secret recipe in most success stories.

And the list goes on.

Those were the very same grievances that inspired the artists to sneer on behalf of human suffering and injustice.

Critical journalism in the form of satirical magazines had its golden age from the late 19th century to the 1930s. In the Netherlands, satirical magazines began to appear in the 1840s, after the first Netherlands Constitution, which ensured the freedom of opinion, was ratified in 1848.

The most famous weekly in that period was Het Zondagsblad (the Sunday supplement of Het Volk daily), which was later named De Notenkraker (the nutcracker), making reference to the Dutch expression for "solving problems".

The supplement was famous primarily for the cartoons by Albert Hahn Sr., in which Abraham Kuyper, leader of the Christian Protestants and their political wing, the Anti Revolutionaire Partij, was often a target of Hahn's ridicule.

One of his works on display at the exhibition shows three men wearing long black jackets and black top hats, the typical garb of Dutch Christian politicians, giving a Bible to people starving in colonized lands. The caption reads "The Bible substitutes for bread."

Hahn also aimed his criticism at the Dutch government's Ethical Policy, which was supposed to encourage the expansion of educational opportunities for the Dutch-Indies people, improvements in agriculture and transmigration.

In his caricature titled Ons Doel In Indie (Our Mission In the Dutch Indies), he beautifully illustrates how the Ethical Policy was warmly welcomed by all political parties in the Netherlands only because of their private economic interests in the area.

Another caricature from Hahn is titled In de Feestdagen (On the anniversary), where he illustrates the hypocrisy of the Dutch in commemorating their country's independence while at the same time strengthening their grip on the Dutch-Indies colony.

Apart from the topic of hypocrisy, many drawings also depicted the terrible fate of many Dutch-Indies women under the Dutch occupation, as has been depicted by many writers from both Indonesia and the Netherlands, such as Pramudya Ananta Toer in Gadis Pantai, and Madelon Hermine Szekely Lulofs' Kooli.

Every single caricature in this show is filled with "loaded" images and opinions from the largely forgotten past that can help us to shape the future. Through the funny and expressive paintings one can recognize how some of the underlying problems in Indonesia today have their roots in its colonial upbringing, and even beyond.

The interwoven power play between politicians, businessmen and hypocritical clerics never ceases to repeat the same pattern of deceit.

The exhibition will close in Jakarta on March 24 and will travel to Semarang and several other cities in Indonesia.

The exhibition also presents some very rare and valuable Dutch film recordings of several historical events prior to Indonesia's independence and after, some of which are Dutch propaganda films supporting the occupation.

The curator of the exhibition, Jaap Erkelens, said that the exhibition was initially going to be held for the 60th anniversary of Indonesian Independence on August last year, but apparently more time was needed to gather all of the caricatures.

"I started searching for the caricatures in 2004, right after Goenawan Muhammad contacted me and shared his idea of organizing this exhibition," Jaap said.

Date Posted: 3/20/2006