Colonial treatment of Chinese
Most of us, even quite a few respected historians, hold the view that the Dutch offered preferential treatment to Chinese and thus the Chinese have until now benefited from it.
Following is an excerpt from a book written by Fukuda Shozo titled With Sweat and Abacus first published in 1939 in Japanese, and in English in 1995 edited by George Hicks. The book has been lauded by JAC Mackie as a magnum opus (masterpiece).
Mr. Fukuda Shozo quotes Mr. Takei Juro's elucidation of the Dutch treatment of Chinese as follows: "They (Chinese) were treated as a Chinese race but not recognized as a Chinese nation. In Law and socially they were treated as natives. Yet, while the natives had government protection the Chinese had none... Without any second thought, the Dutch did not hesitate to treat the Chinese with every possible insult, abuse and humiliation, in word and in deed, even in writing. This continued until the 'ethical Colonial Policy' was adopted... They were treated as natives but worse than they were. They were merely regarded as serviceable instruments of the Dutch and denied recognition not only as a nation, but even as having human rights.
"...In business it is true that the Chinese skillfully exploited the weaknesses of European businessmen and profited by unfair methods, but at the same time officials -- from the highest to the lowest -- exacted bribes from Chinese businessmen, failed to return borrowed goods and set them unreasonable tasks, harassing them in a way that was pitiful to behold. The Chinese of course also had numerous sins which they did not consider wrong, but the Dutch attitude towards them was beyond description. Java, which I had regarded as an uncivilized country, I found, had a history of splendid culture 2,000 years old and I was amazed at the pervasiveness of its development and the thoroughness of its modern, advanced facilities. At the same time, I was amazed and appalled at the uncivilized and barbaric attitude of the Dutch towards Chinese."
Mr. Fukuda Shozo states that the Dutch, by blaming the Chinese entirely for the impoverishment of the natives, used them as an ultimate shield against native resentment. At the same time, by restricting and oppressing the Chinese, they maintained their commercial supremacy (page 109-110).
Please remember that Mr. Fukuda Shozo was not a Chinese and by no means pro-Chinese, but his was a scholarly view that also took into account that the Japanese had just waged a war campaign in China. After the completion of this book, he was appointed director of the third research committee of the East Asia institute. After World War II, he was a professor of economics at Chuo university in Tokyo from 1958 until his death in 1973.
I would like to recommend to those who are concerned with present controversy to read this book. And to the children and grandchildren of Mr. Fukuda Shozo, I would like to say Kono kessaku o makoto ni arigato gozaimashita via the Japanese Embassy here.
SIA KA MOU
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