The luxurious houses of the Estate were built in the Victorian style. … the legendary Belgian peeing mannequin … .
… a square cage decorated with Roman pillars. It was the home of the English pigeons, voracious but tame.
…Victorian rosewood sofa. Sitting on it, one felt like an exalted king. TRT: 33
The luxurious physical description of the Estate above refers to European style. Therefore, to show the houses elegant style, Europe becomes the reference.
In comparison to the Estate dwelling, the natives live outside the Estate’s wall with their opposite condition:
Just an arm’s length outside of those fortress walls spanned a strikingly contradictory sight, like a village chicken sitting next to a peacock. There lived
the native Belitong-Malays, and if they didn’t have eight children, then they weren’t done trying. They blamed the government for not providing them with
enough entertainment, so at night, they had nothing to do besides make children. …
It would be an exaggeration to call our village a slum, but it would be not wrong to say it was a laborer’s village shadowed by an endless eclipse since the dawn
of the industrial revolution. TRT: 39-40
Peacock is the symbol for the Estate, whereas the native Belitung-Malays’ compound is a village chicken. It indicates the deprived condition of the natives’
compound, although the word slum is mentioned as hyperbolical choice. To contrast the settlement area of the native Belitungese and the company
people, the European style becomes Ikal’s choice to strengthen the imbalance condition. In my opinion this is part of constructing the intangible part,
particularly the attitude of the colonized on seeing their environment. When the natives Belitung need to describe their own society they will compare themselves
with the PN Timah as the extension of the colonial rules. Since the standard that they know and they learn are from the company people as the controller and the
highest class in Belitung.
2. The Table Manners
The second different lifestyle is the table manners. Ikal describes it as follows:
The occupants of the house ate dinner wearing their best clothes—they even put on their shoes for the meal. After placing their napkins on their laps, they ate
without making a peep while listening to classical music, maybe Mozart’s Haffner No. 35 in D Major. And no one put their elbows on the table. TRT: 34
Unlike at the Estate, when eating, the PN coolies were not accompanied by Mozart’s Haffner No. 35 in D Major. Their meals were accompanied by
bickering, husbands complaining about the menu—always the cheapest fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The complaint was then countered by a hysterical
blast from the wife, “I should have been the wife of a worker in the Estate instead. You are just a coolie, be grateful for your fish”
In the midst of their terrible fight at the dinner table, a calm backsound entered and harmonized the lyrics of their whimpering children, lined up neatly like
boards in a fence, asking their parents to buy them new scout uniforms. TRT: 42
He describes the table manners of the Estate people compare with the natives. The sentences, ”placing their napkins on their laps” and ”ate without making a peep
while listening to classical music” are the way to show a solemn atmosphere. Whereas for the natives, husbands are complaining about the menu and wives
regret for being coolies’ wives. Then, words that are used to describe the situation at the dinner table are “terrible fight” and “whimpering children”. Those create a
chaotic atmosphere identical to the natives’ table manners. The table manners that he describes are his reference to Western tradition.
It can be seen from the way they eat and also the kind of music. Those become the style of the highest class in Belitung when they are eating. Ikal takes Western
table manners as being the solemn style of the company people. This is how the natives adopt the colonizers’ attitude construction on describing the changing of
their own societies opting for the Western style by comparing the natives and the company people table manners.
In contrast, the Indonesian version describes it in a different way:
Unlike at the Estate, when eating, this urban people did not know about appetizer, main course or dessert. For them, there was only one main menu.
…When they eating, they were not accompanied by Mozart’s Haffner No. 35 in D Major. Their meals were accompanied by whimpering from their children
who asked to buy scout uniform.
Every dawn the wives blew the siong or bamboo canes pieces, to light the firewood. Smoke billowed inside the house then blew through a crack in the
boards. It woke up the ducks that caged under the rumah panggung. A plume of smoke made people inside the house coughed. Yet, it was also necessary to
smoke fat cow that had been purchased in previous month. The fat cow was hung like laundry hang-dangling above the fireplace, a traditional stove that
using firewood. It was their breakfast menu every morning. Coolies were not drinking Earlgrey tea or cappuccino before they left for working. Water of palm
sugar blended with jadam to energize them to work all day was their drinking.
73
[My translation]
It is different because there is not any complain from husbands and wives, as it is mentioned in the English version. This version portrays the local habit that is
appropriate with their needs to work and also to eat. In my opinion, this is a unique local habit of the native which is not highlighted. Furthermore, there are
positive cause and effect related to what the wives do at the fireplace. For example, a plume of smoke that is produced by the firewood along the cooking
process is important to smoke the fat cow, which becomes their supply for breakfast. As for the drink, it is a wise choice. Water of plam sugar blended with
jadam is what they need to help energizing them to work all day. Therefore, a chaotic atmosphere does not appear in this version, as it is described as the
common habit of the natives.
3. The Daily Life
