Hans Ras - Student Years and Travels

Student Years and Travels

In 1946, Ras enrolled for the special course of Indonesian studies for future employees with the Dutch colonial civil service. However, the political developments in the then Dutch East Indies made him realize that there was no future for Dutch civil servants in that country. After switching to economics for a while, he left the Netherlands for France, where he found a job on a dam construction project. Here his knowledge of Arabic, acquired in his Indonesian studies course, stood him in good stead, as most of the workers were North Africans. He acquired a taste for travelling and travelled on to Libya, Egypt and Aden. On his return to the Netherlands, he did his national service training and after that, at the age of 24, applied for a job with the Rotterdam firm of Internatio (now called Internatio-Müller). He was sent to Indonesia, where he worked in then Batavia. Later he was sent as representative to Banjarmasin, in Southeast Kalimantan, to buy rubber from local growers. This was not without its dangers in the precarious relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia in those years. The local leftist trade unions were hostile to colonial capital, of which they regarded Internatio as a typical representative. In some of the violent demonstrations Ras was repeatedly threatened personally. For instance, once some workers who had been sacked used traditional medicine men to cast a spell on his house. As it became impossible to do his work here any longer, he returned to the Netherlands.

His stay in Borneo had given Ras an even keener interest in Indonesia in all its aspects, however. He was accordingly advised by the then Professor of Malay, Drewes, to try to get the recently introduced Indonesian interpreter/translator’s certificate. He passed the exams for this certificate, which qualified him for enrolment at a university.

In the course of the exams, he had met Widjiati Soemoatmodjo. Widjiati, who was an employee of the Indonesian embassy, was transferred to Brussels in 1960. In the following period, Ras braved the weather in countless scooter rides between Leiden and Brussels. He was not to be deterred, even after a serious accident in which he got severe concussion.

Meanwhile, Ras diligently applied himself to his studies, including the compulsory courses in the Arabic language and Sanskrit. He tried to learn the vocabulary of these languages by pinning lists of words and idioms on the walls of his room, which he tried to learn off by heart even while he was shaving!