Public Art : Multatuli Statue
Sculptor : © Hans Bayens (12th November, 1924 -19th
Description: A bronze sculpture of famed Dutch writer
Eduard Douwes Dekker who was better known as Multatuli, perched on a red marble plinth.
Date Unveiled: In 1987 Queen Beatrix unveiled the
statue to mark the 100th anniversary of Multatuli.
Funded By : Publisher GA van Oorschot in
collaboration with the board of the Multatuli Society
Location : The Multatuli statue can be found at the
Torensluis over the Singel, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
So who was Multatuli? : Eduard Douwes Dekker (2 March
1820 – 19 February 1887) was a popular Dutch satirist who enjoyed nothing more than criticising Dutch
Dekker was born in Amsterdam, the son of a ship's captain. The mere thought of following in his
daddy's footsteps lead him to flee to Java at 18 to take a job as a civil servant . Six years of living in the
Dutch East Indies was enough for him to see the scandals and abuses of colonialism first hand and he
began openly protesting it. After being told to hold his tongue or be dismissed, Dekker resigned and returned
to the Netherlands a very angry ant.
To the papers he went, writing numerous articles about the abuse. It all pretty much fell on deaf
ears until in 1860 he decided to put pen to paper and write the novel Max Havelaar under his pen name Multatuli
(Latin for 'I have suffered much'). Now that got everyone's attention. The book became a hit amongst European
readers who suddenly became concious that the wealth everyone was enjoying in Europe at the time was the result of
suffering in other parts of the world.
With his success came more novels all with an underlying satirical tone.
What Upset Dekker?: When the Dutch East India Company
(VOC) went bankrupt in 1800 it passed colonial control of the Dutch East Indies (now known as Indonesia) over to
the Dutch government, who in turn implemented a series of polices to increase venue. They gave it the flash
name Cultivation System and then set about forcing Indonesia farmers to grow commercially tradable crops like tea
and coffee instead of their staple food crops like rice. They then also introduced a tax collection system whereby
the collecting agents were paid by commission. A recipe for disaster. The end result was abject poverty and
widespread starvation among farmers in Java and Sumatra. For the years Dekker spent as a civil servant in Asia he
became more and more angry at what his government were doing to the people of Indonesia. He was also frustrated
that most Europeans, half a world away, were oblivious to the extent of the 'free labour' inflicted on the
Indonesia citizens by the Dutch government.
Trivia : Dekker was one of Sigmund Freud's favourite
Ernest Douwes Dekker, a famous Indonesian freedom fighter and politician, was related to Eduard
Douwes Dekker. Yes, Eduard's brother was Ernest's grandfather.