An introduction to the Indonesian Peranakan literature in the library of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Ding Choo Ming’s 1978 article introduces the collection of Indonesian Peranakan (Chinese) literature assembled by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Library at Bangi since 1973, arguing that this holdings of over 1,500 titles constitutes the only single collection outside Jakarta capable of matching the Museum Pusat library and that it opens significant new avenues for social and literary historical research into colonial Indonesia.
Summary
The article addresses a persistent gap in the historiography of modern Indonesian literature. Standard reference works by Teeuw (1967) and Jassin (1957) concentrate almost exclusively on Balai Pustaka and Pudjangga Baru writers, a relatively small group, thereby giving a misleading impression of the breadth of published material and its readership. Ding traces the slow correction of this bias: Nio Joe Lan’s 1962 study first suggested the richness of Peranakan published material; Pramoedya Ananta Toer and colleagues attempted a full rewrite through the cultural page Lentera (1962–1965) but never published their findings in book form; and more recently, Watson (1971), Ajip Rosidi (1973), Chambert-Loir (1974), and especially Lombard-Salmon (1971, 1972, 1974, 1977) have demonstrated the scope and value of Peranakan Chinese literary output as a source for social history.
Ding then turns to the research potential of the UKM collection itself. He identifies several productive lines of inquiry: the njai (European–Javanese mistress) relationship, illustrated by multiple versions of the Njai Dasima story and related texts; crime novels whose incidental detail can be compared across texts to reconstruct social movements; the Peranakan drama tradition, which served as a fundraising mechanism for community organizations and charities; and political history, with texts referencing Boven Digoel and Kotoni offering indigenous perspectives on colonial events. He notes that while Java has received some attention, the same social dynamics in Sumatra and Kalimantan remain virtually unexplored.
The article closes with a brief annotated list of 68 titles drawn from the collection, spanning the period 1904 to 1953, with publication details, page counts, and microfiche references. The most prolific Peranakan authors represented include Juvenile Kuo, Monsier d’Amour, Njoo Cheong Seng, Tio Ie-soei, Tan Boen Kim, and Kwee Tek Hoay, the last of whom Ding singles out as a writer of considerable importance whose full significance remains to be assessed.
Key Findings
- The UKM Library collection comprises more than 1,500 titles of Indonesian publications (1870–1950), with well over half already microfiched (p. 57).
- The collection is described as unique and the only single collection that can “possibly match” the Library of the Museum Pusat in Jakarta (p. 54).
- Ockeloen’s 1940 catalogue, the only comprehensive bibliographical tool of the period, is characterized as “woefully incomplete” (p. 54).
- The annotated list includes 68 titles spanning 1904 (Oei Soei-tiong, Tjerita Njai Alimah) to 1953 (Boe Beng-sie, Sam Po Lang), with publishers concentrated in Batavia, Surabaya, and Bandung (pp. 58–60).
- Kwee Tek Hoay is identified as a prolific author of novels, plays, philosophy, and religious works whose importance has been underappreciated (p. 57).
- The Njai Dasima story appears in at least three distinct versions in the collection (nos. 11, 16, 62), illustrating the popularity of the njai theme in Peranakan fiction (p. 55).
Conclusion
Ding’s definitive takeaway is that the Peranakan Chinese literary corpus, long marginalized in favour of the Balai Pustaka canon, constitutes an indispensable primary source for the social history of colonial Indonesia that has been “surprisingly neglected by modern historians.” The existence of a substantial, accessible, and microfiched collection at UKM removes the principal practical obstacle to research in this field and should make it “impossible for future scholars to neglect this area of research.”
Context
- The article draws on the UKM Library’s own collection at Bangi and references the holdings of the Museum Pusat (Jakarta) and Leiden University Library as comparative benchmarks.
- Historiographically, the piece positions itself within the 1970s revisionist turn that challenged the Balai Pustaka-centric narrative of modern Indonesian literature, building on the work of Lombard-Salmon, Watson, and Chambert-Loir to argue for the integration of Peranakan Chinese fiction into the broader literary and social historical record.