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My Passion in Photograph

INSIDE THE GREEN-TILED DOME OF A.V.R.O.S.

May 20, '09 5:44 PM
for everyone

“..They say that at the empty ground in front of the Roman Catholic Church,
the capitalists intend to build an enormous office that competes with the Harrison & Crosfield building. If this all will be realized, we will see from one end to the other of the Kesawan giant beautiful buildings, the people of Medan will appreciate this…”
Pewarta Deli, 29th of July 1917

AVROS, Present day Sumatra Planters Association - 2009

AVROS – 1931
Source: KITLV

ON MISSION

Since the Dutch governance settled in Sumatra’s east coast, Medan had grown and developed into an important trade centre as the planters started the new plantation in outskirt of Medan, end of 19th century. The plantation companies need labors for their business. For the reason of that, they recruited the labor from Java and China. Why Javanese and Chinese? Because local labor was in short supply and native Malay was not interested work in the plantation company.

On Thursday 14th of May 2009, my last day in Medan. I prepared to observe the premises of Algemeene Vereeniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatera (AVROS), the “General Association of Rubber Planters in East Coast of Sumatera”.

It was sited on the hook of Paleisweg and Sukamuliaweg, now Jl. Pemuda and Jl. Palang Merah, Medan, North Sumatra.

At least two reasons which get a hold of me to observe this building. First, there is archive about five hundred thousand fingerprints in AVROS, and I planed to search the coolies’ fingerprints who had worked in some Sumatra’s East Coast plantations that went before. Second, I want to know about inside the clock tower.

Since 1967, the premises of AVROS is property of The Sumatra Planters Association – BKS-PPS (Badan Kerja Sama Perusahaan Perkebunan Sumatera).

The Sumatra Planters Association has the role as a mediator of labor among about 150 plantation companies that consist of private domestic ownership, private foreign ownership, and the state ownership. The major commodities are rubber, cacao, sugar, and palm oil.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would express my obliged to Pak Prabudi Gunawan, Head of Secretary in BKS-PPS who permitted me to observe their beautiful building that recognized by its green-tiled dome. The AVROS building will not be successfully cruised without the best companion by Pak Yahya, a clerk of BKS-PPS, also my partner in journey Amarlin S. Naibaho. Thanks for all.

Prabudi Gunawan on his desktop
Head of Secretary BKS-PPS , The Sumatra Planters Association

MAP OF MEDAN CITY 1945

Published by Survey Production Centre, South East Asia, September 1945
Courtesy of Hatmanto Sri Nugroho
The red point is the position of AVROS building.

ACROSS THE AVROS HISTORY

Woman Involved in Rubber Tapping, Medan - probably early 1900s
Copyright of Prentenkabinet Leiden/Medan Studio

Deli Planters Vereeniging:
The First Planters Organization

There were the various cultural enterprises begun with the common interests. This had put a stop to the competition between the companies.

The major sponsor was J.T. Cremer, from 1871 to 1883 Administrator of the Deli Maatschappij. In his proposal in 1877 and 1878 were the first planters agreements concluded, which the planters are interconnected to common measures in respect of production and trade in tobacco and job recruitment.

Cremer in 1879 led to the creation of the first association and the Deli Planters Vereeniging (DPV) which endeavors in agriculture and industry to promote East Coast of Sumatra. The daily management of the DPV was entrusted to a committee, the Planters Committee.

The meeting elected the first committee consisted of JT Cremer, M.J. Tiele and J. Cramer. Direct response to the founding of the DPV was to arrange all working uniformly.

Algemeene Vereeniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatera (AVROS):
The Second Planters Organization

A second organization, the General Association of Rubber Planters for the east coast of Sumatra, AVROS short, was founded in 1910 and set itself the objective scientific approach to all cultural matters, the interests of agricultural crops and related industries (excluding tobacco) to represent.

The management was entrusted to 6-10 members, including a president. An executive looked current affairs. The decisions of the associations were binding on all members. The DPV and AVROS would each in their own land to become the official voice of their members who are tobacco and rubber companies.

Especially in the field of labor and agricultural systems (conversion) played both associations as pressure groups. It was an influential institution with over three hundred member plantations at that time.

The DPV members were mostly Dutch enterprises, while the AVROS consisted of not only Dutch but also American, British,German, and French-Belgian enterprises.

THE PRESIDENT
V. Ris (1910 - ?)
R. Nolen (1951 - 1956)
J. Fernhout (1956 - 1958)

V. Ris - The First President of AVROS in Medan
Source: KITLV

Dr. Abraham Arnold Lodewijk Rutgers
General Director of Research Laboratory of AVROS in Medan (1916 – January 1923)
Director of Agriculture, Industry and Trade in Buitenzorg (January 1923 – May 1928)

THE RECRUITING AGENCIES
UNDER AVROS

Inside the AVROS management, there were three organizations took charge of immigrant laborers up to the middle of the 1930s. They were JIB, ADEK, and VEDA. The members of the AVROS obtained contract laborers through them.

JAVA IMMIGRANTEN BUREAU (JIB)

In the beginning 1912 the AVROS organized an immigrant reception bureau named JIB (Java Immigrants Bureau) in Medan. In the first half of the 1930s, the JIB functioned partly as a recruiting agency, providing the external members of the AVROS with 3,790 laborers!

ALGEMEEN DELISCH EMIGRATIE KANTOOR (ADEK)

In 1916 ADEK (General Deli Emigration Bureau) was established in Bandung in partnership with the DPV and the AVROS. This agency opened offices to conduct business, and to accommodate emigrants, located the depots in three port cities of Java, Batavia, Semarang, and Surabaya, and in the hinterland.

VRIJE EMIGRATIE VAN DPV EN AVROS (VEDA)

In 1928 a new recruiting agency, the VEDA (Free Emigration of DPV and AVROS), was established to prompt “free emigration” in Semarang. The port city of Semarang had been a stronghold of DPV labor recruitment and of a private agency. “Free emigration” means recruitment that based on links between “laukehs” (old countrymen who had worked in the plantation) and “sinkehs” (new comers) in the same village.

VEDA had branches in Purwokerto, Purworejo, and Madiun, later in Meester Cornelis (Batavia) and Surabaya and sub-branches everywhere in Java.

THE ARCHITECTURE

The Premises of AVROS was built in 1918–19, designed by G.H. Mulder. Influenced by rationalism in early 20th century, this four-storey building was designed in concrete construction and has simple decoration in art-deco. Mulder designed the first floor until third floor has balcony for open gallery. The gallery was designed for protecting the rooms inside from the sun, so inner interior always cool. It is architectural adjustment for the tropical climate.

Mulder also provided the fresh air circulation in roof, the gable in each side was designed has ventilation in art-nouveau design.

Principal Entrance

There are three pieces lovely vertical pivoting stained glass on the corner of second and third floor. It has pattern of simply colored floral.

A Striking and Large Vertical Pivoting Stained Glass

The Charming Stairways Made of Mahogany

Stairway From First Floor

The Interior
Full of Vintage Furniture of 1930s

Crowned by beautiful green-tiled dome dated “1918” and “1919”. This dome is also functioned as clock tower made by Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry dated 1920. Every hour, people surrounding this building will hear the recite sounds of Eijsbouts’ carillon.

INSIDE THE GREEN TILED-DOME:
CHAMBER OF CARILLON AND MASTER CLOCK

Forbidden Stairways towards Chamber of Carillon and Master Clock

Inside The Green-Tiled Dome:
Chamber of Carillon and Master Clock

“Nederlandschefabriek Torenuurwerken B. Eijsbouts – Asten”
Clock Tower by Bonaventura Eijsbouts from Asten – The Netherlands 1920

History of Royal Eijsbouts

1872

Bonaventura Eijsbouts from Asten, The Netherlands, laid the foundations for the present day Royal Eijsbouts. Originally trained as a watchmaker, his great enthusiasm for bells and clocks led Bonaventura to start a “factory for tower clocks” in a modest workshop behind his house.
Thanks to the excellent quality and accuracy of his clocks, orders came thick and fast. Business quickly outgrew the workshop and in 1905 new premises were chosen. Having undergone several phases of alterations and extensions over the years, this complex continues to house the company as we know it today.

1893

The company was joined by Bonaventura’s 15 year old son, Johan. Proving a more natural businessman than his father, Johan expanded the Eijsbouts product range by introducing striking and swinging bells. At that time, Eijsbouts did not have in-house casting facilities and had to purchase bells from reputable foundries abroad. From then on, Eijsbouts supplied and installed both tower clocks and pealing tower bells.

1924

Johan’s oldest son, Tuur Eijsbouts, joined the company. Like his grandfather, Tuur was technically-minded and inventive. He regarded the process of perfecting the carillon as a fully-fledged musical instrument as a tremendous challenge. It was Tuur who took the initiative to cast bells himself, although it took years of experimentation until an in-house bell foundry was finally installed in 1947. This formed the catalyst for the rapid growth of the company which quickly assumed a prominent position.

FROM THE LOCKER OF DACTYLOSCOPIC BUREAU:
INSEARCHING THE CONTRACT LABORERS FINGERPRINTS

"Awas Tangan Tadjepit" - see the warning board in the upper right corner
Tobacco and rubber company in Soengei Bamban, Deli 1939
(Holland-Sumatra Tabak Maatschappij)
Source: KITLV

This green tiled-dome building held a Dactyloscopic Bureau where over five hundred thousand fingerprints of contract laborers were registered. The Dactyloscopic Bureau store this archive since AVROS established 1910 until today, and they still use this system.

Identification based on dactyloscopic (classification of fingerprints) for labors register have prevented the contract laborers moving from one plantation to another to earn more income. On the other hand, it prevented planters from appropriating staff from other companies.

Undersiege:
Insearching the Contract Laborers’ Fingerprints

Found! The Contract Laborers’ Fingerprints:
Files of Amat Damanik and Martodikromo

REMARKS

The Premises of AVROS is one of the heritage buildings in Medan. In the ninety years on, the building still stunning in the busy quarter. The architecture, both of exterior and interior are still preserved: the decoration in main building, stained glass, mahogany stairs, typewriter, even the archive of laborers’ fingerprints. They are still there!

I suggest to Pak Prabudi Gunawan in his room, that they should maintain the original desaign as well as the furnitures. However, the archive of laborers’ fingerprints suffers the high humidity causing deteriorating files. However, several files has been discarded subject to the shortage of space.

It is time to pay the attention about the heritage of Medan, not for remembering the golden colonial and feudalistic period, but emphasize preserving our history.

REFERENCES

"Agencies and Clients: Labour Recruitment in Java, 1870s-1950s"
by Yoko Hayashi
CLARA Working Paper, No. 14, Amsterdam, 2002.

“Bridges To New Business
The economic decolonization of Indonesia”
By J. Thomas Lindblad
KITLV Press, Leiden, 2008

“Medan; A Plantation City on the East Coast of Sumatra 1870-1942”
(Planters, the Sultan, Chinese and the Indian)
by Dirk A. Buiskool
The 1st International Conference On Urban History,
Surabaya,August 23rd – 25th 2004.

“History of Royal Eijsbouts”
http://www.eijsbouts.com/index.php

“Inventaris van het archief van de NV Deli Maatschappij,
Dochtermaatschappijen en Gefuseerde Bedrijven, (ca. 1700) 1869-1967“
By M. W. M. M. Gruythuysen R. T. M. Guleij A. M. Tempelaars
Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, 1988

“Medan: The Challenges In The Heritage Conservation of A Metropolis”
by Soehardi Hartono Badan Warisan Sumatra (Sumatra Heritage Trust),
The 1st International Conference On Urban History,
Surabaya,August 23rd – 25th 2004.

“Rutgers, Abraham Arnold Lodewijk”
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/fmcollectors/R/RutgersAAL.htm

“Tours through Historical Medan and Its Surrounding”
by Dirk A. Buiskool and Tjeerd Koudenbourg,
PT Tri Jaya Wisatapermai Tours & Travel, Medan,1999.

Clock Tower and Gable
2 Comments

Detail of Green-Tiled Dome

Gallery

Ventilation in Art-Nouveau

The Architect

Decorated Tile

Vintage Latch

Fanlight in Principal Entrance
2 Comments

Built in Bench

Open Gallery

Ring of Flag Rope

Sun Shine

Vintage Furniture

Small Round Table

Round Chair

Bench

Old Fashioned Lamp

Ash Tray

Ceiling in Art-Deco

Primary Meeting Hall
2 Comments

Tile and Mahogany

Dusty Book

ROYAL HH Series - 1955

Archives

Stone Stairways

Wooden Stairway

Downstairs

Semi-sircular Stairs - 2nd Fl.

Semi-Sircular Stairs - 4th Fl.

Stairway

Semi-Sircular Stairs - 1st Fl.

Chamber of Carillon
4 Comments

Inside the Chamber Carillon

Master Clock

Tower Clock Maker: B. Eijsbouts - Asten

Resonance for Carillon

Chamber of Carillon

Door Handle

Door Latch

Door Handle

Hook

Old Fan

Lamp in Primary Meeting Hall

Vintage Table and Bench

Swan Neck

LIPS - Dordrecht
1 Comment

Safe Deposit Box
4 Comments

Wooden Cabinet

Dactyloscopy Archive Chamber

Fingerprints of Laborers

Magnifying Glass for Dactyloscopy
2 Comments

Amarlin S. Naibaho - Partner in Journey

Cruelly Traveler

Tags: medan

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37 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

weebisons wrote on May 21, '09

Masuk majalah Angkasa ga nih? :)

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 21, '09

weebisons said

Masuk majalah Angkasa ga nih? :)

Haha..ini gak ada konten militer2nya....
Mas bagaimana misi kita buan Juni? Jadikah?

weebisons wrote on May 22, '09

mahandisyoanata said

Haha..ini gak ada konten militer2nya....
Mas bagaimana misi kita buan Juni? Jadikah?

iya ayo... saya lg nyiapin 'sesajen' buat bu Ita... hehe... secara doi mintanya udah dari tahun 2007...

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 22, '09

weebisons said

iya ayo... saya lg nyiapin 'sesajen' buat bu Ita... hehe... secara doi mintanya udah dari tahun 2007...

Waduh ada "sesajen"-nya juga ya...apa itu? dulu2 dengan saya gak pernah ada sesajen2an mas hehehe...

Boleh, atur aja mas jadualnya yg jelas hari sabtu ajah.

youfy wrote on May 22, '09

wow! peralatannya lengkap yah dan segitu telitinya ngeliatin fingerprints..

youfy wrote on May 22, '09

mahandisyoanata said

The gallery was designed for protecting the rooms inside from the sun, so inner interior always cool. It is architectural adjustment for the tropical climate.

*catet*

youfy wrote on May 22, '09

ijin masuknya susah tak?

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 22, '09

youfy said

wow! peralatannya lengkap yah dan segitu telitinya ngeliatin fingerprints..

Inilah satu2nya cara buat ngejagain koeli2 biar ngk asal pindah ke perkebunan lain sesuka hati. Btw, BKS-PPS sampai sekarang masih pake cara manual buat dectyloscopy.

Kadang (dulu) kepolisian sering minta data sidik jari ke kantor ini secara datanya lengkap-kap dan komplit-plit.

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 22, '09

youfy said

*catet*

Terima kasih sudah bersusah-susah meluangkan waktu membaca tulisan saya :)

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 22, '09

youfy said

ijin masuknya susah tak?

Mudah dan ramah kok. Saya langsung ke Kepala Sekretariat BKS-PPS. Ruangannya djadoel banget, dari lantai sampai furniture-nya kayu semua...

deluhi wrote on May 23, '09

WOW!!!! mantep bgt d liputannya :)

kipas anginnya jadul amet

deluhi wrote on May 23, '09

ada liputan laen slain Lonsum & AVROS?

weebisons wrote on May 23, '09

mahandisyoanata said

Waduh ada "sesajen"-nya juga ya...apa itu? dulu2 dengan saya gak pernah ada sesajen2an mas hehehe...

Boleh, atur aja mas jadualnya yg jelas hari sabtu ajah.

nggak kok... dia cuma pengen foto ereveld yg di menpul aja... :)

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 23, '09

deluhi said

WOW!!!! mantep bgt d liputannya :)kipas anginnya jadul amet

Avros, engkau masih seperti yang dulu... :)
Iyah semuanya preserved! Sepertinya waktu terhenti di Avros dan anda terjebak di Medan 1930s...

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 23, '09

deluhi said

ada liputan laen slain Lonsum & AVROS?

Ngga sih cuman dua itu aja...subject to my duty. Dari rencana 5 sites, cuman dapet 2 sites. Ya sudahlah kapan2 kalo sempet ke Medan lagi.

Horas!

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 23, '09

weebisons said

nggak kok... dia cuma pengen foto ereveld yg di menpul aja... :)

Oww...ic

obendon wrote on May 23, '09

weitzzz ...mo ke ereveld mana lagi nih? ikutan donk

rettynhakim wrote on May 24, '09

wah ada bangunan keren begitu ya di Medan? Thanks for sharing....

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 24, '09

obendon said

weitzzz ...mo ke ereveld mana lagi nih? ikutan donk

Boleh, nanti Mas Wibi akan buat izinnya...

mahandisyoanata wrote on May 24, '09

rettynhakim said

wah ada bangunan keren begitu ya di Medan? Thanks for sharing....

Sebagai kota yang tumbuh karena perkebunan era kolonial, Medan banyak menyisakan bangunan perkantoran dan rumah2 tua perkebunan.

1dgo74 wrote on Jun 23, '09

fotonya bagus! pake camera apa ya?

mahandisyoanata wrote on Jun 23, '09

1dgo74 said

fotonya bagus! pake camera apa ya?

Lumix FZ-50
gear for every moment, every journey!

andywg wrote on Jun 24, '09

oy............tipe yang sama nech....hehe si "madam" masih ada temannya nech tapi jauh di medan ya mas

andywg wrote on Jun 24, '09

BUSET dah ........masih sering digosok nech kuningan ampe mulai aus

mahandisyoanata wrote on Jun 24, '09

andywg said

oy............tipe yang sama nech....hehe si "madam" masih ada temannya nech tapi jauh di medan ya mas

"Madam" yang di Sindang Laut mas?
Btw lokasi safe deposit-nya justru di dekat pintu masuk utama, biasanya di gedung2 lain agak di dalam ruangan/kamar.

andywg wrote on Jul 27, '09

bukan .....madam "Brankass" yang dikantor saya....(dicirebon), dipanggil madam karena suka da penampakan hehehe.....(asli serius), tapi kok deket pintu masuk utama ..pd banget ya....emang seh cuman kejepit pintunya ya minimal .......gepeng seh, buat bukanya enteng banget mas....cuma ya gampang buka --gampang nutup, kudu diganjel ma tubuh kita

mahandisyoanata wrote on Jul 27, '09

andywg said

Oh si Madam itu penampakan? Ada ghost story juga di kantor mas Andy ya...

Btw, pintu brankas buatan Dordrecht itu lumayan sadis juga yah kalo buat njepit maling ck..ck..ck..

andywg wrote on Jul 27, '09

ya kira - kira begitu....Mas... ga tau Belanda jaman segitu udeh memperhitungkan kenyamanan kerja buat para employee nya, wong mantel utama (lembaran pintu tebalnya hampir 15 cm baja padat), blum mantel kedua (ada 3 mantel dinding pintunya mas), itu yang portable, klu yang model kluis apalagi, udara ja gak bisa masuk