Population of Depok has colorful past

Bambang Nurbianto and Remmy Faizal, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Valentino Jonathans, an executive director of the Cornelis Chastelein Foundation in Depok, was furious recently when he was asked to explain about the origins of the ethnic group Belanda Depok or "Depok Dutch" in the municipality.

"We should stop talking about Belanda Depok. We are all the same. We are all Indonesians," said Valentino, who happens to be one of the so-called Belanda Depok people.

Cornelius Chastelein, recognized as the founder of Depok, was a 17th century colonial landlord who recruited some 200 slaves from Makassar, Bali and Timor to work in his coffee and pepper plantation, the site of the modern city.

The worker-slaves and their descendants were known as the Belanda Depok, who had many privileges during the colonial era.

A team of writers from the University of Indonesia's Political Science Laboratory wrote of the plantation's transformation into the city in their book, Depok: Dari Tanah Partikelir ke Kota (From Private Land to the City). In it, they find that Chastelein bought in 1696 some 800 hectares of land from other landlords bordered by two large rivers -- Pasanggrahan in the east and Ciliwung in the west.

A devout Protestant, Chastelein wanted his workers to convert to his religion. He had some success, with 120 of his 200 slaves following his call. Those who converted were freed and given some of his land to work.

Chastelein grouped his 120 former slaves into 12 clans -- the Jonathans, Laurens, Bacas, Loens, Sudiras, Isakhs, Samuels, Leanders, Josephs, Tholenses, Jacobs and Zadokhs.

With 58,676 adherents, Protestantism is now the second-largest religion in Depok after Islam, which has 1.11 million followers. Coming in third is Catholicism with 21,730 followers, Hinduism 2,650 and Buddhism 579, according to the area's Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The 12 clans, who considered themselves the "original people" of the area, received special treatment from Chastelein compared to other indigenous residents (penduduk asal) or migrants (penduduk pendatang), particularly the Chinese.

Privileges received by penduduk asli, who were also known as Belanda Depok (Depok Dutch) included paying less taxes, going to better schools and enjoying a closer relationship with Dutch society.

Later, the descendants of the 12 clans also took important positions in the first Depok Civil Administration in 1872 on the private land of Chastelein.

From 1898, people from many parts of the country flocked to Depok to study Protestantism and the area's schools began to widen their curriculum from religion to include reading and writing, mathematics and Dutch language and history, making Depok residents some of the most educated in the colony.

The domination of the 12 clans ended in 1949 when the Indonesian government scrapped private land ownership or tanah partikelir title, which covered land mostly owned by Dutch people.

The clans, who had inherited the land from Chastelein were made to hand over their property to the state and given a certain amount of compensation.

In 1952, the government established the Pancoran Mas village on former Chastelein's land. Another significant jump of population growth in Depok took place in late 1970s after state- owned housing company PT Perumnas developed several housing complexes there, followed by private developers.

The population grew in the city a whopping 43.38 percent to 203,499 for the year to 1980, up from 131,252 in 1979.

In 1982, the government ungraded Depok's status into an administrative city led by a mayor.

By 1999, Depok was the municipality with six districts -- Beji, Sukmajaya, Pancosan Mas, Limo, Cimanggis, and Sawangan -- covers some 20,000 hectares and is home to some 1.3 million people.