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.