Leiden: KITLV Press, 2012. vi, 358 pp. (Maps, illustrations.) €34.90, paper. ISBN 978-90-6718-393 -2.
This volume nominally collects together reminiscences of indigenous former administrators in Netherlands New Guinea. However, as the editor highlights, it goes further to provide a mix of accounts of the move through the UNTEA period, the “Act of Free Choice” and on into Indonesian government of the provinces of Papua and West Papua. Those whose stories are included have occupied a variety of roles over the years, being posted to various locations, and being subject to shifts in the political climate too, often resulting in demotion, resignation or a career “dead-end.” The bulk of the book is made up of edited transcripts of multiple interviews carried out with each of the participants in 1999–2000. According to the introduction, these were semi-structured, but followed a similar series of questions “in order to obtain a comparable, yet highly diverse set of data that together would provide a more coherent historical picture than … just a series of idiosyncratic memoirs” (17). Fortunately, though, this does not translate to a stilted or formulaic set of narratives. Each interviewee maintains their voice and seems to have been free to determine the length and direction of the varied digressions that occur.
In relation to such tangents, the editor suggests that they are in fact demonstrative of overlaps between these narratives and indigenous forms of storytelling—particularly, an interest in the details of journeys; places visited and those encountered along the way. Grievances with superiors and slights received are often recounted with relish, particularly when retribution or exoneration has been attained at some later date. But the stories do not always follow a predictable pattern. In the first chapter, Trajanus S. Boekorsjom recounts a number of instances of violence: throwing a chair at a superior administrator, brawling with another, punching another so hard that he fell and took down his office wall with him. Yet, none of these result in much fall-out, with his career continuing apace. A further anecdote from Dolf Faidiban suggests though that violence may not have been considered unusual in the colonial administration, and, indeed, may have functioned as part of an economy of paternalistic affect. Describing the closeness of his working relationships during his posting in Teminabuan, he recalls being beaten by the Resident: “When I was staying at his home, I came home late, so he beat me. He beat me with a rod, but he only beat people he cared about. He told me to lie on the table, then he struck me on the rear with the rod. But I knew he was affectionate, because if it were someone he did not know, he would not strike the person. Apparently everyone knew that if someone who was close to Van der Veen made a slight mistake, he got beaten. So we felt we were treated as children” (66).
A recurrent theme in the various chapters is development and the allure of the undeveloped “interior.” The interest that most of the officers appear to have had in visiting and working in “traditional” parts of the provinces stands in contrast to the indigenous former colonial officials I have interviewed in Vanuatu, many of whom viewed the less developed areas of the archipelago with trepidation; places of danger. “Touring” in those circumstances was left predominantly to the foreigners. One factor that may account for this difference is the training received by the Papuan employees at OSIBA (School for Indigenous Administrators) and, later, the Academy of Domestic Government (APDN). The editor suggests in the Introduction that their training emphasized development, particularly in relation to the introduction of democratic institutions such as Regional Councils (14), and students were conversant in theories of development administration such as Fred Riggs’ “prismatic society” (3). On a slightly different note, one OSIBA student recalls also being “motivated by films about Africa” and inspired by accounts of Livingstone (124). Amidst this, they were encouraged—through the study of ethnology—to consider and utilize indigenous culture as “an asset, not as a threat, to development” (14). The extent to which this was put into practice is not always clear, with attempts to modify indigenous clothing, architecture, diet and so on—often in the name of health—forming part of the administrative duties remembered here.
The betrayal of developmental goals forms part of a common narrative of decline from 1961 onwards. Unsurprisingly, most of the interviewees spend a large amount of their narrative on the upheavals, uncertainties and dangers faced between the withdrawal of the Dutch administration and the “Act of Free Choice” in 1969. The fortunes of the interviewees during this period and after are mixed, with some being imprisoned for a period of time and some continuing in a variety of administrative positions up to retirement. The narratives do not follow a strict timeline so there is no clear point of conclusion to many of them, and, if so inclined, the reader is left to discern the viewpoint of each interviewee on the provinces’ trajectory since 1969. The editor is clear at the outset that this volume is not designed as a political/historical account, privileging instead the “everyday” and “ordinary” (8–9). This does bring to the fore the variety of voices amongst this group of Papuan civil servants, and allows participants to choose where to focus their storytelling. For those not familiar with the history of this period though, the lack of any timeline of key events is frustrating. Events recounted in interviews are also often unlocated in time, taking for granted prior knowledge on the part of the reader. As such, the volume would appeal most directly to scholars of the region, but there is much of comparative interest here regarding colonial administration, as well as numerous—often funny and puzzling—anecdotes.
Benedicta Rousseau
University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
pp. 375-377