Max Havelaar, Or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company

In 1859, Edward Douwes Dekker, a highly frustrated official in the Dutch East Indies wrote this novel using the pseudonym Multatuli (“he who has borne much”). It is a ferocious condemnation of the hypocrisy and abuses that Dutch rule wreaked upon Indonesia by a tax system intended to make the Indies profitable (for the Netherlands) while paying lip service to protecting its people. The system generated a great deal of money for the Netherlands…at the price of famine and extreme exploitation of the poorer classes. The frame tale is narrated by a coffee broker who is the epitome of a petty bourgeois: an unimaginative, self-important, miserly man—a one-man symbol of Dutch exploitation. His commentary regularly intrudes as the show more somewhat complicated frame story surrounding the guts of the work: a manuscript by Max Havelaar, midlevel Dutch colonial official. This tale is heavily based on what the author experienced in Java in the 1840s and 1850s. Havelaar speaks for the oppressed population of Java; his complaints and efforts on behalf of the Javanese are routinely thwarted by his superiors leading to his eventual dismissal from the colonial service. Storylines are interwoven with a deft touch, illustrating the practical consequences of Dutch policies. The book ends with a passionate plea directly to the King (stepping outside the frame of the novel) to accept responsibility for and finally address the endemic abuses and corruption. As may be guessed, the plot is secondary; Douwes Dekker expressly invokes Uncle Tom’s Cabin and although he writes well and compellingly, the novel also reads from time to time as what it is: a powerful if occasionally heavy-handed indictment of colonialism. Even today, it remains one of the most popular and important novels in Dutch history and is well worth the time. show less

Fascinating book - the fictionalised story of a Dutch colonial functionary in Indonesia in the 1850s. The functionary tries to raise abuse of the ordinary people by their traditional leaders/rulers who operate under the knowing blind eye of the colonial administrators. The book is written in quite a quirky style, which hasn't aged well, but the story, and the message, still shines through.
This is effectively an early example of a whistle blower. And, according to Wikipedia, the novel raised quite a storm, and changes were made in colonial administration as a result.

Max Havelaar adalah cerita fiksi yang terasa nyata. Kisah ini sendiri didasarkan atas apa yang dialami oleh Douwes Dekker saat menjadi pegawai pemerintah Hindia Belanda 18 tahun lamanya. Membaca kisah ini akan segera sadar apa sebenarnya politik divide et impera yang diterapkan Belanda.
Pemerintah Kerajaan Belanda sadar atas apa yang mereka lakukan selama ini di Hindia Belanda. Rakyat pribumi yang mereka paksa bertanam kopi dan teh tak ubahnya mesin bagi mereka. Kondisi diperburuk dengan banyaknya masyarakat Hindia Belanda yang belajar sifat makelar lewat instingnya mempertahankan hidup. Ada yang hidup nyaman dengan menjadi makelar budak untuk Belanda, tapi ada yang hidup mengabdikan diri bekerja selamanya untuk mereka agar keluarganya show more tidak dihancurkan. Semua yang mengubah tatanan itu dianggap merusak keseimbangan yang terjadi di Hindia Belanda dan Douwes Dekker adalah salah sedikit di antaranya.
Douwes Dekker lewat sudut pandang Stern dan Drogstoppel menunjukkan kisahnya di masa yang berbeda. Stern menceritakan dirinya saat menjadi asisten residen sementara Drogstoppel yang terus-terusan memanggilnya Sjaalman bercerita saat dia hidup miskin di Belanda. Namun lewat sudut pandang Multatuli, Douwes Dekker terus memastikan ceritanya akan terus dibaca dan menjadi usahanya menghentikan ketidakadilan walaupun dia sendiri terbelenggu dalam sikap white man's washing complex yang selalu menyerang warga kolonial yang hendak membebaskan masyarakat jajahan dari pemerintahan negaranya sendiri.
Cerita ini menjemukan bagi rakyat Indonesia, karena mengingat masa lalu tidak pernah mudah. Cerita ini berakhir dengan tragis karena pahlawan kita harus gugur sebelum berperang. Namun cerita ini telah dibaca dan akan terus dibaca. show less

Max Havelaar adalah cerita fiksi yang terasa nyata. Kisah ini sendiri didasarkan atas apa yang dialami oleh Douwes Dekker saat menjadi pegawai pemerintah Hindia Belanda 18 tahun lamanya. Membaca kisah ini akan segera sadar apa sebenarnya politik divide et impera yang diterapkan Belanda.
Pemerintah Kerajaan Belanda sadar atas apa yang mereka lakukan selama ini di Hindia Belanda. Rakyat pribumi yang mereka paksa bertanam kopi dan teh tak ubahnya mesin bagi mereka. Kondisi diperburuk dengan banyaknya masyarakat Hindia Belanda yang belajar sifat makelar lewat instingnya mempertahankan hidup. Ada yang hidup nyaman dengan menjadi makelar budak untuk Belanda, tapi ada yang hidup mengabdikan diri bekerja selamanya untuk mereka agar keluarganya show more tidak dihancurkan. Semua yang mengubah tatanan itu dianggap merusak keseimbangan yang terjadi di Hindia Belanda dan Douwes Dekker adalah salah sedikit di antaranya.
Douwes Dekker lewat sudut pandang Stern dan Drogstoppel menunjukkan kisahnya di masa yang berbeda. Stern menceritakan dirinya saat menjadi asisten residen sementara Drogstoppel yang terus-terusan memanggilnya Sjaalman bercerita saat dia hidup miskin di Belanda. Namun lewat sudut pandang Multatuli, Douwes Dekker terus memastikan ceritanya akan terus dibaca dan menjadi usahanya menghentikan ketidakadilan walaupun dia sendiri terbelenggu dalam sikap white man's washing complex yang selalu menyerang warga kolonial yang hendak membebaskan masyarakat jajahan dari pemerintahan negaranya sendiri.
Cerita ini menjemukan bagi rakyat Indonesia, karena mengingat masa lalu tidak pernah mudah. Cerita ini berakhir dengan tragis karena pahlawan kita harus gugur sebelum berperang. Namun cerita ini telah dibaca dan akan terus dibaca. show less

The story of Max Havelaar is a social commentary on colonialism as well as a political statement of the abuse of government and the ineffectiveness of Christianity without charity. The story is set in 1853 or there abouts in Indonesia (Java) at that time and is the story of why change is almost impossible in systems that are as large as governments and even a good person is basically unable to make any good change.

This is a 4 star read for me. I hated the poor condition of my kindle edition and having to constantly correct the typos and other errors in my head to make any sense out of some of the sentences but I fell for this social commentary of the abuse of people by colonialism but also by their own people. The book was a little show more difficult. I believe it is what is called a frame story. A story within a story. It seems like we had the story that was being told by Mr Drystubble (what a social commentary of whited sepulcher), Stern's story taken from Max Havelaar's (shawlman's notes) and then the story written by Multatuli as the author of the whole social commentary. Loved the love story, made me want to cry. Cry for the water buffalo and cry for the poor boy. That alone made this a 4 star story for me. I will never look at a water buffalo in the same way again. show less

Finalmente l'ho finito dopo averlo preso e riposto per due mesi.
Una grande delusione per il mio amore per i Paesi Bassi. Un libro mortalmente noioso e sconclusionato.
Intanto è un libro di Iperborea. Meritevolissima casa editrice, non c'è che dire. Ma le 360 pagine del romanzo rendono scomoda la lettura nel formato iperboreo. Scomodità che sarebbe sostenibile se il libro filasse via come una lippa (vedi le 496 pagine di Long John Silver).
Ma il testo è ostico per almeno la metà delle pagine e ci si stufa di tenere aperte a fatica le strette pagine.
La struttura del romanzo - in cui consiste la sua originalità - stenta a far lievitare la storia.
Dopo la metà migliora, ma ormai non si smette di arrancare: il fastidio iniziale ha show more frustrato il lettore.
Eppure, letta l'ultima pagina, viene voglia di ricominciare.
Dove ho sbagliato con questo libro mi sono detta?
La storia è grandiosa: un donchisciotte olandese di carta che parla a nome del donchisciotte olandese in carne e ossa che ha scritto il libro; storie d'amore tenere e senza speranza; satira durissima contro l'ipocrisia calvinista dell'affarista olandese; una perfetta vivisezione dell'indifferente crudele macchina burocratico-coloniale; commenti purissimi e entusiasmanti sulla letteratura e la sua funzione sociale.
Alla faccia del tulipano gentile, tollerante, operoso e cordiale dello stereotipo.
Insomma un grande libro, un libro la leggere - per me da rileggere - assolutamente.
Per ora gli lascio le stelline del disinganno apparente. Ma sono sicura che quando lo rileggerò il loro numero, per lo meno, raddoppierà. show less

A very interesting read - a 19th century Dutch novel, written to highlight the injustices of the Dutch control of Java. The author - Eduard Douwes Dekker (Multatuli is a pseudonym) - was not pleased that people found it 'entertaining' - and yet it is, for various reasons (all of which make it a 'Classic', rather than a book-of-its-time). Firstly, the author uses a most interesting narrative structure, with multiple voices which continually calls attention to the fictitious nature of the narrative - Charlotte Bronte's "Reader, I married him" pales into insiginifcance. Secondly, the book genuinely is entertaining: there are parts where I felt the description of politicing in the Indies was too long, but mostly the movement from one kind show more of writing to another is done so neatly, at exactly the right point, that oral storytelling techniques, humour, description, dialogue and suspense are all played in turn in an elegant sufficiency. Also fascinating those words which Multatuli felt needed glosses which are now familiar to English readers: gong, batik, sarong, gamalan. show less