Tjalie Robinson - Life in The Dutch East Indies

Life in The Dutch East Indies

Born in Nijmegen the Netherlands he spent the first 44 years of his life in the Dutch East Indies. When he was a 3 month old baby his family returned to the Dutch East Indies. As a child he lived and went to primary school in Meester Cornelis (now Jatinegara). He attended secondary schooling (MULO) in Batavia (now Jakarta). Although an eager and astute student he was also an avid and allround athlete and boxer, winning the Silver medal at the high jump and the Gold medal at the pentathlon during the Athletics Championships of Java in 1933. After completing college and obligatory military service he got married and went on to become a teacher at the so-called 'Wild (unsubsidised) Schools' on Java and Sumatra. In 1936 he became a contributing editor for the 'Batavian Newspaper' (Dutch: Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad), founded in 1885 by author P.A.Daum. It was one of the leading newspapers in the Dutch East Indies, that had also employed other important Indo writers like Karel Zaalberg, Ernest Douwes Dekker, Victor Ido and the iconic E. du Perron.

During World War II (1942–1945) he was interned in various Japanese concentration camps such as Tjimahi and the infamous Changi Prison. Imprisoned in Tjimahi Tjalie Robinson kept on writing. He was part of a small group of intellectuals (including Leo Vroman and Rob Nieuwenhuys) that engaged in cultural activity. For a while Tjalie Robinson was even able to print a camp periodical named 'Kampkroniek' (Camp Chronicles) and a pamphlet named 'Onschendbaar Domein' (Inviolable Domain). The gruesome war experience obviously influenced his life philosophy, nevertheless Tjalie Robinson never wrote much about his years as a POW. On occasion he tried to reflect with an uneasy mix of shame and fascination:

"Sometimes I reluctantly look back at that time I am supposed to hate. (60 years and 60 thousand emotions packed into 1 night.) Surrounded by life threatening situations and you know your alone against Fate. Fight, Johny Brown, fight. Ulcers, malaria, diphtheria, bullits and landmines. Knowing physical exhaustion, the stench of swamps, the rattling of snakes, anachoic hunting grounds."

After the war he survived the bedlam of the Bersiap period (1945–1946) and even worked as Editor in chief for the magazine 'Wapenbroeders' (Brothers in Arms), where he was also the creator of the popular 'Taaie & Neut' cartoon series. In 1946 he was promoted to captain and served as war correspondent for the KNIL's Public Relations Office (Dutch: Leger voorlichtings dienst) in amongst others the volatile region of Kediri, East Java.

After Indonesia gained independence he remarried in 1950 and moved to Borneo with his new wife, who was working for the Bruynzeel corporation in the timber industry. There he adopted the alias 'Vincent Mahieu' (named after Indo icon Auguste Mahieu (1865–1903), founder of the Komedie Stamboel Indo opera) and wrote much of his work for the books 'Tjies' & 'Tjoek'.

His wife Lillian Ducelle recalls:

...he was home writing. We lived outside of the city along a river. Rats as big as cats ran through our little house. Sometimes we had no water or electricity - but he had the time of his life. In our time there he wrote most of his 'Vincent Mahieu' oeuvre. Typewriter on a wooden case turned over, he just kept on typing. He said: "This is where I live."

Scholar, translator and poet E.M.Beekman describes the work as follows: "These stories show a refined talent, a powerful imagination, an inquisitive intellect and a whole lot of feeling." Both books were translated into Indonesian in 1976 by H.B.Jassin. The latter book into German in 1993 by W.Hüsmert. English translations by M.Alibasah were published in 1995.

From 1952 to 1954 he worked as journalist for the newspaper 'Nieuwsgier' where he was continuously reflecting on life in his ever changing homeland and wrote most of his often re-printed work 'Piekerans van een straatslijper.' 'Piekerans' (Musings) is the Petjok word Tjalie Robinson used to name his weekly essays in the newspaper, which in essence do not significantly differ from the work of his famous Dutch contemporary in the Netherlands Simon Carmiggelt. Together their work grew into a separate genre in Dutch literature and found successors in among others Rudy Kousbroek. He also became contributing editor with the cultural and literary magazine 'Orientatie', which published many of his short stories. In his story writing he excelled as a literary interpreter of everyday life of Indos in the Dutch East Indies.