The Algemeene Vereeniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatra — the General Association of Rubber Planters on Sumatra’s East Coast, known by its acronym A.V.R.O.S. — was the planters’ organisation of the great Deli Cultuurgebied to which, De Buitenbezittingen records, “de meeste ondernemingen” of the European cultures in the Afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh were affiliated, and through whose gerede bemiddeling they supplemented their contract-koelie populations as the plantings expanded. Although seated outside the gewest — in the heart of the Sumatran plantation belt — A.V.R.O.S. exercised, by 1917, a coordinating influence over the young rubber, oil-palm, and coffee cultures of Langsa and Tamiang that the handbook explicitly notes.
Function as labour intermediary
The European cultures of the Afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh were wholly dependent on imported contract-labour. The zeer aantal contract-koelies present on the Atjehsche undertakings “nam met de uitbreiding der aanplantingen snel toe” — grew rapidly with the expansion of the plantings. “De meeste ondernemingen zijn aangesloten bij de A. V. R. O. S. … en maken, voor de aanvulling van hun koelies, gebruik van de gerede bemiddeling dezer vereeniging.” This mediation was the principal day-to-day function of A.V.R.O.S. from the perspective of the Atjehsche planter: the Association’s recruitment and placement network, drawing contract-koelies from Java and China, was the indispensable supplement to the Cultuurgebied’s own labour administration. In the first months of the 1914–1918 war, when “de financieele regelingen voor vele buitenlandsche ondernemingen … geheel ontwricht waren,” the Belgisch kapitaal oil-palm plantations of Tamiang were hit particularly hard, and “een groot aantal [koelies] … naar hun stamland teruggezonden” — 996 in 1914 against 93 in 1913 and 161 in 1915.
Coordination with the colonial state
The Association coordinated not only labour but also the koelie-verzorging — the medical and provisioning regime of the contract-koelies — which in Atjeh was “gedreven op de wijze, … welke in het groote Cultuurgebied ter Oostkust van Sumatra regel is.” The undertakings of the gewest “staan ook onder toezicht van de Arbeidsinspectie aldaar,” the same inspection service that supervised the Deli belt itself; De Buitenbezittingen refers the reader forward to the forthcoming aflevering on the Oostkust van Sumatra for full detail. The centrale koelieschappijen — two of them, founded through the samenwerking of the various ondernemingen — erected the large hospitals at Langsa and Tamiang where, in 1916, ”± 278 zieken dagelijks … verpleegd” were tended, with a sterftecijfer of 1.9% that had fallen, for Tamiang, from 6% in 1913.
Significance
The prominence of A.V.R.O.S. in De Buitenbezittingen’s account reflects the structural fact that the European cultures of Atjeh’s Oostkust were an extension — a vreedzame penetratie — of the Deli plantation economy rather than an indigenous growth. Of the 49 landbouw-concessies with ±105,000 H.A. in the gewest, twelve maatschappijen with seventeen ondernemingen (eighteen concessions) were established in Tamiang alone; in Langsa, “behalve het Gouvernement met zijn rubber-onderneming, 8 maatschappijen … met de contróle over evenveel ondernemingen (14 concessies).” The totaal kapitaal of these geïnteresseerde lichamen was ƒ17,250,000 in Tamiang and ƒ13,750,000 in Langsa — sums that made the Atjeh Oostkust, in capital terms, a province of the A.V.R.O.S. world.
See Also
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Langsa
- Tamiang
- Afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh
- Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij
- Atjeh-tram
- Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 234, 239–240.
The Algemeene Vereeniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatra — the General Association of Rubber Planters on Sumatra’s East Coast, known by its acronym A.V.R.O.S. — was the planters’ organisation of the great Deli Cultuurgebied to which, De Buitenbezittingen records, “de meeste ondernemingen” of the European cultures in the Afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh were affiliated, and through whose gerede bemiddeling they supplemented their contract-koelie populations as the plantings expanded. Although seated outside the gewest — in the heart of the Sumatran plantation belt — A.V.R.O.S. exercised, by 1917, a coordinating influence over the young rubber, oil-palm, and coffee cultures of Langsa and Tamiang that the handbook explicitly notes.
Function as labour intermediary
The European cultures of the Afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh were wholly dependent on imported contract-labour. The zeer aantal contract-koelies present on the Atjehsche undertakings “nam met de uitbreiding der aanplantingen snel toe” — grew rapidly with the expansion of the plantings. “De meeste ondernemingen zijn aangesloten bij de A. V. R. O. S. … en maken, voor de aanvulling van hun koelies, gebruik van de gerede bemiddeling dezer vereeniging.” This mediation was the principal day-to-day function of A.V.R.O.S. from the perspective of the Atjehsche planter: the Association’s recruitment and placement network, drawing contract-koelies from Java and China, was the indispensable supplement to the Cultuurgebied’s own labour administration. In the first months of the 1914–1918 war, when “de financieele regelingen voor vele buitenlandsche ondernemingen … geheel ontwricht waren,” the Belgisch kapitaal oil-palm plantations of Tamiang were hit particularly hard, and “een groot aantal [koelies] … naar hun stamland teruggezonden” — 996 in 1914 against 93 in 1913 and 161 in 1915.
Coordination with the colonial state
The Association coordinated not only labour but also the koelie-verzorging — the medical and provisioning regime of the contract-koelies — which in Atjeh was “gedreven op de wijze, … welke in het groote Cultuurgebied ter Oostkust van Sumatra regel is.” The undertakings of the gewest “staan ook onder toezicht van de Arbeidsinspectie aldaar,” the same inspection service that supervised the Deli belt itself; De Buitenbezittingen refers the reader forward to the forthcoming aflevering on the Oostkust van Sumatra for full detail. The centrale koelieschappijen — two of them, founded through the samenwerking of the various ondernemingen — erected the large hospitals at Langsa and Tamiang where, in 1916, ”± 278 zieken dagelijks … verpleegd” were tended, with a sterftecijfer of 1.9% that had fallen, for Tamiang, from 6% in 1913.
Significance
The prominence of A.V.R.O.S. in De Buitenbezittingen’s account reflects the structural fact that the European cultures of Atjeh’s Oostkust were an extension — a vreedzame penetratie — of the Deli plantation economy rather than an indigenous growth. Of the 49 landbouw-concessies with ±105,000 H.A. in the gewest, twelve maatschappijen with seventeen ondernemingen (eighteen concessions) were established in Tamiang alone; in Langsa, “behalve het Gouvernement met zijn rubber-onderneming, 8 maatschappijen … met de contróle over evenveel ondernemingen (14 concessies).” The totaal kapitaal of these geïnteresseerde lichamen was ƒ17,250,000 in Tamiang and ƒ13,750,000 in Langsa — sums that made the Atjeh Oostkust, in capital terms, a province of the A.V.R.O.S. world.
Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Avros — the Algemeene Vereeniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatra (AVROS), the General Association of Rubber-planters of the East Coast of Sumatra — was the planters’ association of the Oostkust van Sumatra, with its research station at Medan. The association represented the great rubber-estates of the East Coast and sponsored agricultural research through its proefstation (research station) at Medan, to which the soil-chemist F. C. van Heurn was attached.
The Paja Tjitjem Project
A few years before Broersma’s visit, the Avros had its eye on the extensive terrains of the Paja Tjitjem swamp in the onderafdeeling Lho Soekon of the afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh, to begin large-scale rice-cultivation there in order to obtain an adequate supply of rice for the contract-labourers of its members. That was an important plan. It asked for and obtained erfpacht (hereditary lease), although the volkshoofden concerned consented reluctantly; expensive surveys were made — ‘vrij dure opmetingen werden gedaan.’ Then came the turn, followed by business depression, and the Avros let its Tjitjem-plans go, so that the great rice-enterprise did not take place and the paja lay untouched. The Avros’s withdrawal from the Paja Tjitjem is the type-case of the abortive post-war attempt at large-scale rice-cultivation in the swamps of the Atjehnese coast.
Significance
Avros is the principal planters’ association of the Oostkust van Sumatra and the principal sponsor of agricultural research in the planting-district. Its research station at Medan is the principal centre of agricultural science in northern Sumatra, and its Paja Tjitjem project is the type-case of the abortive post-war attempt at large-scale rice-cultivation in the Atjehnese swamps.
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapters II, VIII, ‘Tamiang’ and ‘Lho Soekon, licht en donker’, pp. 8, 55.
See Also
- Afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh
- Atjeh-tram
- Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij
- Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij
- F. C. van Heurn
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Langsa
- Lho Soekon
- Medan
- Noordkust van Atjeh
- Oostkust van Sumatra
- Paja Tjitjem
- Tamiang
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Sources
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 234, 239–240.
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim; Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (1932), for the Koloniaal Instituut and Handelsmuseum.