Preserving the Resources: Plantations and Mines Workers’ Hygiene

Abstract

This article examines the role of physicians in the colonial state of the Dutch East Indies in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, especially in Sumatra. Being assigned mainly for assuring the health of the Europeans in the colony, their task expanded as they also had to maintain the health of the plantations and mines workers. This additional duty was crucial to ensure the workers’ productivity which eventually resulted in economic benefits for the colonial state. The cultivation system (sistem tanam paksa) resulted in a high rate of mortality among workforce. Doctor Willem Bosch expressed his concern by criticizing the colonial government and later suggesting for a healthcare system that would reduce the death rate in the colony. When large plantations were opened as a result of the implementation of liberal politics, attention to workers’ conditions increased, although not entirely thorough, to ensure a healthier population as the main driving force for businesses. In many cases, however, these workers experienced awful treatments, including from the plantation doctors themselves. Using European physicians’ reports, this article discusses their views on workers’ health issues concerning the political economy of the colonial state.