Dr D. J. Hulshoff Pol was the Dutch medical officer to whom De Roo de la Faille dedicated Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java (Den Haag, March 1954), and whose early career — as an Officier van Gezondheid (Medical Officer) at Tandjoeng Poera with the K.N.I.L. Leger — gave him a personal acquaintance with the Aroe country that the book places at the centre of early Malay history. De Roo de la Faille’s dedication frames Hulshoff Pol as the ideal reader of the book — a man with “open ear for the chatter of the earthly parrot Bajan Boediman”, i.e. for the bedekte taal of Malay-Javanese tradition, and with first-hand knowledge of the very east-coast landscape the book seeks to recover.
Dedication of the Curiositeiten
The dedication of Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java opens: “Aan Dr D. J. Hulshoff Pol, die, tot mijn groote blijdschap open oor hebbend voor het gesnap van het aardige papegaaitje Bajan Boediman, mij aanmoedigde tot het voortzetten van de publicatie daarvan” — i.e. “To Dr D. J. Hulshoff Pol, who, to my great joy, having an open ear for the chatter of the pleasant little parrot Bajan Boediman, encouraged me to continue the publication thereof”. The “Bajan Boediman” is the Speaking Parrot of Malay folk tradition — the figure whose chatter conceals, in bedekte taal form, the older sacred history of the Malay Archipelago.
Hulshoff Pol and Tandjoeng Poera
Hulshoff Pol began his career as Officier van Gezondheid at Tandjoeng Poera — the very east-coast polity whose identification with Sjahroe’n Noewi of the Sadjarah Malajoe is the central claim of De Roo de la Faille’s chapter Over Sjahroe’n Noewi. The dedication thus frames Hulshoff Pol as the man whose first-hand knowledge of the Aru country gave him the standing to judge De Roo de la Faille’s bedekte taal identifications — and whose encouragement sustained the publication of the book.
Significance
For AcehWiki, Dr D. J. Hulshoff Pol’s significance is as the dedicatee and ideal reader of Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java — the figure whose medical-officer’s acquaintance with Tandjoeng Poera and the Aru country gave him the standing to encourage and judge De Roo de la Faille’s bedekte taal reading. His career at Tandjoeng Poera also makes him the principal Dutch colonial witness to the survival of the east-coast place-world that the Atjehnese conquest of Aroe had overwritten.
See Also
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
- P. de Roo de la Faille
- Tandjoengpoera
- Aroe
- Sjahroe’n Noewi
- Bedekte taal
- K.N.I.L.
- Bajan Boediman
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), dedication page.
Dr D. J. Hulshoff Pol was the Dutch medical officer to whom De Roo de la Faille dedicated Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java (Den Haag, March 1954), and whose early career — as an Officier van Gezondheid (Medical Officer) at Tandjoeng Poera with the K.N.I.L. Leger — gave him a personal acquaintance with the Aroe country that the book places at the centre of early Malay history. De Roo de la Faille’s dedication frames Hulshoff Pol as the ideal reader of the book — a man with “open ear for the chatter of the earthly parrot Bajan Boediman”, i.e. for the bedekte taal of Malay-Javanese tradition, and with first-hand knowledge of the very east-coast landscape the book seeks to recover.
Dedication of the Curiositeiten
The dedication of Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java opens: “Aan Dr D. J. Hulshoff Pol, die, tot mijn groote blijdschap open oor hebbend voor het gesnap van het aardige papegaaitje Bajan Boediman, mij aanmoedigde tot het voortzetten van de publicatie daarvan” — i.e. “To Dr D. J. Hulshoff Pol, who, to my great joy, having an open ear for the chatter of the pleasant little parrot Bajan Boediman, encouraged me to continue the publication thereof”. The “Bajan Boediman” is the Speaking Parrot of Malay folk tradition — the figure whose chatter conceals, in bedekte taal form, the older sacred history of the Malay Archipelago.
Hulshoff Pol and Tandjoeng Poera
Hulshoff Pol began his career as Officier van Gezondheid at Tandjoeng Poera — the very east-coast polity whose identification with Sjahroe’n Noewi of the Sadjarah Malajoe is the central claim of De Roo de la Faille’s chapter Over Sjahroe’n Noewi. The dedication thus frames Hulshoff Pol as the man whose first-hand knowledge of the Aru country gave him the standing to judge De Roo de la Faille’s bedekte taal identifications — and whose encouragement sustained the publication of the book.
Significance
For AcehWiki, Dr D. J. Hulshoff Pol’s significance is as the dedicatee and ideal reader of Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java — the figure whose medical-officer’s acquaintance with Tandjoeng Poera and the Aru country gave him the standing to encourage and judge De Roo de la Faille’s bedekte taal reading. His career at Tandjoeng Poera also makes him the principal Dutch colonial witness to the survival of the east-coast place-world that the Atjehnese conquest of Aroe had overwritten.
See Also
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
- P. de Roo de la Faille
- Tandjoengpoera
- Aroe
- Sjahroe’n Noewi
- Bedekte taal
- K.N.I.L.
- Bajan Boediman
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), dedication page.