Jakarta (ANTARA) - We have found a better word than \u201ckuli\u201d in\n\u201cburuh\u201d. \u201cBuruh\u201d sounds fairer, more humane, more suitable to print on\nbanners, and more pleasant to utter in speeches.<\/p>\n
However, like many other things in our lives, the word is not always\nsufficient to ensure that the substance behind it truly changes.<\/p>\n
The inadequacy of the word is most felt every 1 May. On this special\nday, we seem to attend a solemn yet somewhat awkward celebration.<\/p>\n
The streets in industrial areas, such as Bekasi, Karawang, and\nCimahi, are filled with groups of workers setting off together, carrying\nbanners and demands that we have mostly memorised.<\/p>\n
For a few hours, they become the centre of attention; a rare\nprivilege that seldom occurs on ordinary days, when they instead form\npart of the nearly invisible background.<\/p>\n
The streets may be noisy, demands voiced, and convictions produced in\na form neat enough to be believed collectively. Yet, behind the low\nrumble of the demonstration, there is a layer rarely touched upon,\nnamely the memory of bodies that have long worked in silence. It is\nthere that an old word glows dimly: kuli.<\/p>\n
We may rarely utter this word now, but the traces of its mentality\nhave not been fully left behind. \u201cKuli\u201d and \u201cburuh\u201d remind us that\nchanging labels does not necessarily erase the legacy of the past.<\/p>\n
Regarding the kuli, in Max Havelaar, Multatuli wrote in a tone of\nnear despair: \u201cIk wil gehoord worden!\u201d (I want to be heard!). A simple\ncry, but one that took a long time to be truly heeded.<\/p>\n
That cry, to this day, seems to come from the same space. From the\ntime when work was not a choice, but an obligation imposed from outside\nthe self.<\/p>\n
In the 19th century, through the forced planting system, labour was\nregulated with a precision that left almost no room for negotiation. The\nland was planted not for one\u2019s own needs, but for distant markets. The\nresults flowed to places unknown to those who worked.<\/p>\n
If that system was called efficient by some, it was perhaps because\nit succeeded in ensuring that those who worked did not need to bother\ntoo much thinking about where the fruits of their labour went.<\/p>\n
In East Sumatra, that efficiency became more concrete. In the Deli\nplantations, contract coolies lived in a neatly organised system:\ncontracts were signed, rules enforced, and violations handled with\nmechanisms that were considered normal at the time.<\/p>\n
Johannes van den Brand\u2014a bold Dutch advocate known for defending\nnative coolies in East Sumatra in the early 20th century\u2014recorded it in\ncold sentences. \u201cThe kuli is a number, not a human,\u201d he wrote in his\nfamous pamphlet De Millioenen uit Deli (Millions from Deli). A sentence\nthat, with a slight adjustment of terms, might still be found in another\nform today.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/celebrating-workers-forgetting-coolies-1777607687", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }