Red and White School

Red and White School

By A.D. Donggo

The scouts' flag in our school, an emergency junior high
school in a small town in Nusa Tenggara, was red and white with a
triangle in the upper left corner.

Our junior high school was considered an emergency school
because the facilities were limited, including the number of
teachers and lessons. It existed in the territory occupied by
Dutch colonial troops in the post-World War II era.

In Indonesian, junior high schools are known by their
abbreviation S.M.P., or Sekolah Menengah Pertama. At the time the
acronym had a double meaning for us, that is, Sekolah Merah
Putih, or the Red and White School.

In November 1947 -- one year after Nica, the Dutch occupation
army, and its government apparatus recaptured our town -- the
local fighters, if they could be called that since most were
teachers who did not want to cooperate with the Dutch,
established a junior high school to accommodate elementary school
graduates from the time of the Japanese occupation. In general
they were idle or had returned to their villages to work in
rice fields because they could not continue their studies. It was
therefore not strange that the students were young men averaging
16 years in age.

There was an understanding that the school should have two
objectives. First, the school should be a normal place for study
although the lessons given were not adequate at all. We were
taught more about the history of the struggle for independence
than the other subjects usually taught at junior high schools
like algebra and geometry. I still remember how difficult it was
to hire teachers for certain subjects. It was very hard to get
someone to teach English. There were several people who had
graduated from a Dutch middle school who knew English. They were
expected to contribute their knowledge and teach full-time at our
high school, but it was not possible because they worked with the
Dutch government in the morning. Some of them were willing to
teach in the afternoon, but that would bring other problems.

However, those difficulties about the English lessons did not
discourage the board of the school or the students. Everybody was
aware of the limitations and the emergency situation.
Nevertheless, the school continued to exist with general
knowledge dominating the subjects taught.

We students knew from conversations that the teachers and the
members of the board were people who did not want to cooperate
with the Dutch.

Imagine how hard it was to set up on Dutch territory a high
school that did not want to be subjected to the Dutch government.
And that junior high school was the only one established at the
time. The Dutch, immediately after their landing, re-established
the colonial administration and set up a teachers' school, which
was called Normal School. The adroitness with which the Dutch
rebuilt an educational system was, according to the founders of
our school, solely aimed at winning the sympathy of the people.
They wanted people to regard them as the best. They were going to
lead the Indonesian nation again.

But it did not work at all with the local fighters. They
resisted and refused to bow to the colonial power. To emphasize
their rejection they set up a junior high school and took pride
in their Sekolah Merah Putih name instead of Sekolah Menengah
Pertama.

Red and white? The two colors haunted the colonial forces.
They became apprehensive and were easily enraged when they saw
the colors in a flag. The scouts' flag had a white base and some
red lines, but when you mentioned the colors, you got red and
white, red and white, and so on, which haunted the Dutch
obsessively. That was the flag of our scouts. And so the school
was continuously supervised by the colonial authorities.

I said that the school had two focuses. One was the activities
of the scouts with their flag. Our teachers and board members
always said it was not possible to fight the Dutch physically. We
did not have any firearms. The Dutch had reinforced their
military equipment. Their soldiers, most of them our countrymen,
were well trained in warfare. We were not capable physically of
confronting the Dutch power. We could only mount occasional
surprises. The scouts and their flag would serve as an
instrument. We could annoy and taunt them a little, said our
teachers.

Some day the colonialists might feel they were being ridiculed
by the colors of the scouts' flag. Why were the colors red and
white, and not green and yellow or red and black, etc. There
should not have been red and white as long as the Dutch were in
power. There was only red, white and blue, the Dutch flag. All
other colors were the enemy, especially red and white.

Angered by the derision, a number of Dutch soldiers came to
our school one day. They asked justification from the school
principal why the scouts' flag was red and white. It was not
common. A scouts' flag normally had one color, green or yellow
only, with a picture of an animal as a symbol. This was taunting
the Dutch authority!

The principal avoided the issue and explained that there was
not the slightest intention to oppose the Dutch power because
with that flag it was not possible to conquer the Dutch. The
Dutch could only be conquered with arms. Our school had no
firearms.

Second, there was no law against making and flying a red and
white flag. What was banned was the hoisting of the red and white
flag to the top of a mast. And we did not do that, he said.

Maybe influenced by the reasonable argument of our courageous
principal, the soldiers who came to seize the flag went away
empty-handed. They looked disappointed. There was dissatisfaction
and outspoken resentment in their eyes. They looked as if they
would get even with the principal the next time. The flag had to
disappear from the colonial sky!

Encouraged by the small victory, the scouts increased their
activities. Nearly every occasion was seized, mornings and
evenings, to do marching exercises through the small town. Those
were not ordinary exercises, but a statement of our existence in
Dutch territory by carrying red and white flags.

We usually marched in rows of four. One of us used to carry
the flag in front. He led us, and those who walked behind were
very happy because our friend with the flag walked with his head
held high and his steps were in harmony with the whistle blown by
our leader. We listened to his steps because we had no drum. We
hardly had uniforms. There were some given as a gift from a
person who did not want his name mentioned. He was a strong
Republican, meaning a staunch fighter for the Republic of
Indonesia. By the way, our handkerchiefs were red and white too.
So, everything was red and white. The derision was complete.

When we were marching, all people, old, young, teenagers,
children, men and women, came out of their houses to see the
scouts with their red and white flag. Admiration radiated from
every face because they saw their children march valiantly. They
admired us because we were the only ones who dared to use red and
white flags.

On the contrary, the faces of the colonial authorities who
were passing or conducting patrol trips showed anger and hatred.
However, they did not dare forbid the marching exercises or
confiscate the flags.

One day our school joined a torch parade, I do not remember
what occasion it was, perhaps Maulud (the birthday of Prophet
Muhammad). Dutch-owned schools and community groups also
participated in the parade. Our school carrying the scouts' flag
was the third group in front. They were to be up front with the
flag to give the command, but it was not allowed. Too
conspicuous, some people said, especially because of the flag.

The flag could lead to different interpretations. It was still
possible for the soldiers supervising the parade to get annoyed
and take action. They could disperse the parade if we acted
unpredictably, another said. I remember that at the time there
was some dispute about where we should be in the parade. The
principal remained quiet, we did the same. We knew that we had
the sympathy of the community. It made no difference to us where
we were in the ranks. Finally it was decided that we should march
in the third row from the front.

The torch parade was lively and received a warm welcome from
the community. The applause grew in volume wherever we passed.
Some groups of youths who could not restrain themselves shouted,
"Long live the red and white, long live the red and white!" while
close to them armed soldiers with raised bayonets were standing
on guard.

The cries changed into taunting, not directed at us but the
soldiers. The soldiers were enraged and went into action. Not
against the youths but against the flag. One of the soldiers got
hold of the flag, but our flag carrier strongly held his own. A
tug of war followed for some time. The soldier was bigger and
stronger than our friend but he did not succeed in taking the
flag. The red and white flag remained firmly in our friend's
hands.

What force assisted him in holding on to the flag? We were
astounded to see our friend's strength. He was slightly built. It
was strange that we did not come to his rescue and just looked on
open-mouthed. There was disorder in the parade. People did not
know what to do except look on.

Finally, sensing that he would not be able to seize the flag,
the soldier became desperate. "Attention!" he cried out.

Hearing the command, his colleagues simultaneously raised
their arms as if prepared to shoot. Sizing up the situation, our
principal moved to the front and cried out, "Give them the
flag ..." Hearing the principal's order, our friend, the flag
still in his hands, suddenly weakened. The inexplicable strength
vanished as if wiped out by a storm. Listlessly he handed over
the flag to the soldier. The soldier seized the flag, seething
with anger. With the flag in its possession, the group of
soldiers left. The torch parade also dispersed.

The flag incident became a memorable story in the small town.
All praised the fortitude of our friend in defending the flag
although it had finally been relinquished on the principal's
orders. It was done solely to avoid irrational steps that might
have been taken by the Dutch soldiers. If they hadn't succeeded
in seizing the flag, they might have shot in our direction and we
all knew the consequences. You are still young, it is not yet
time to become victims, said the principal.

When we asked our friend the flag carrier where he got the
strength, he only smiled and raised his hands like somebody
testifying that the strength had come from heaven.

Translated by S.H.

A.D. Donggo was born in Bima, Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, on
Dec. 21, 1931. He has been writing short stories, essays and
novels since 1953. He has worked as a journalist and editor at
several newspapers and magazines. He is now a freelance writer
and novelist.