post-colonial_translation

Composing the other 91
other than the legendary Jan Pieterszoon Koen), 165, 182–3, 192
and 246. The fear of corruption is so great because it links up with
the other fear, that of the ‘natives’, as stated in the form of an ‘epic
allocution’ on pp. 182–3:
But you, who shamelessly go against the laws,
And live far too bitter with the natives of the land,
Hold them in bondage, and want to flay the skin off their
bodies,
To increase your riches through their poverty,
You yourselves are the cause of the rebellion of the common
folk,
You give birth to this mutiny, and to the city’s fall with it.
Can your conscience still bear such a gnawing
When you want to risk everything because of your greed,
And dare to involve yourself, the city, and so many souls,
Yes the state and the Maatschappij in this evil with such bad
intent
Finally, the fear of corruption also links up with the fear of the
Portuguese, or rather, with the fear of the bad example the Portuguese
had set and the Dutch are now about to follow, against the better
advice of their leaders: ‘Through such an evil did the Lusitanian see
his fall, / Where he cruelly oppressed the peoples of the land, / When
right and justice were everywhere moved aside in favour of greed’
(p. 183). As was to be expected, Haafner is more matter of fact about
this corruption. He states that the members of the High Council of
the Dutch Indies ‘have mostly achieved this rank by means of the
lowest corruption and by the money they have extorted from the
poor Indians in their former, subordinate positions’ (p. 117). He
also describes in detail the custom of the yearly visit the governor of
Amboina pays to all locations on the island. During that visit, the
governor appoints ‘native’ officials, or ‘orangcayas’, everywhere,
who are responsible for the yearly tribute. Haafner goes on to say
(p. 121):
If one such Indian chief, who has not applied for this hateful
position, nor desires it, might refuse to fulfil the governor’s wishes,
his fate is terrible – a certain governor of Amboina once had one
of these unfortunate men, and for that reason, tied before the