Anak-kolong — literally “child of the kolong” — was the term by which the children of K.N.I.L. soldiers identified themselves, even as adults: not as “child of a soldier” but as “anak-kolong” to indicate they had grown up in the tangsi. The anak-kolong had their own adat and sfeer, distinct from kampong children. In Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. the anak-kolong is the figure through whom Dames makes his argument about the multi-generational transmission of the tangsi culture.
The kolong
The kolong — the space under the slaaptafel (sleeping-table) — was where the soldiers’ children slept on a matje (small mat) and played. The kolong was the child’s first world: the space under the sleeping-table of the tangsi, where the child played while the parents worked and slept above. The anak-kolong — the child of the kolong — was the child whose first world was the tangsi.
The tangsi and the adat
“De anak-kolong konden de oude adatsfeer van de kampong missen, de tangsi gaf hen een eigen sfeer, een eigen adat, een eigen stijl…” The anak-kolong could miss the old adat atmosphere of the kampong; the tangsi gave them their own sfeer (atmosphere), their own adat (custom), their own stijl (style). The anak-kolong was therefore not a kampong child but a tangsi child: a child whose adat was the adat of the colonial army, not the adat of the village.
The kindergeleider
“De kindergeleider” — the children’s guide — was an old Oom assigned to escort the anak-kolong to and from school. “De troep” marched model in het gelid (in formation as a model), with Oom martial with snor and rottinkje (moustache and little stick). The commands “Geeft acht!”, “Hoofd Rechts!”, “Links-twee-drie-vier” were properly executed. The kindergeleider was therefore the Oom who transmitted the tangsi culture to the anak-kolong: the child who marched to school in formation was the child who would, in turn, become the soldier.
The voorzanger
“Zelfs een 13-14 jaar oud anak-kolong” could lead the voorzanger role in the Marechausseelied — a child of the tangsi who had grown up with the song. The anak-kolong was therefore not just the child of the tangsi but the carrier of its culture: the child who knew the songs, the adat, and the stijl of the colonial army.
Significance
The anak-kolong is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the figure through whom Dames makes his argument about the multi-generational transmission of the tangsi culture. The book’s argument is that the anak-kolong — the child of the kolong — was not a kampong child but a tangsi child, with its own adat and stijl. The anak-kolong was therefore the mechanism by which the tangsi culture was transmitted across generations: the child who marched to school in formation was the child who would, in turn, become the soldier. The dissolution of the tangsi culture with the disbandment of the K.N.I.L. in 1949 was therefore the dissolution of the anak-kolong’s world.
See Also
- Tangsi
- Oom Ambon
- kamponggemeenschap
- Kolong
- Slaaptafel
- Kindergeleider
- Adat
- Marechausseelied
- K.N.I.L.
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Souvereiniteitsoverdracht (27 December 1949)
Source
Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “Tangsi en Tante.”