Today it is exactly 150 years ago that Multatuli completed his great work 'Max Havelaar, or the coffee auctions of the Dutch Trading Companies'. Multatuli – pseudonym for Eduard Douwes Dekker – was one of the first whistleblowers in the Netherlands.
Multatuli (Latin for 'I have worn a lot') was a civil servant in the then colony of the Dutch East Indies. With his book he fought against the exploitation of the Javanese population. Each native had to cultivate one-fifth of his land for the government and give up the proceeds. It earned the Dutch treasury millions. His publisher Jacob van Lennep foresaw a political uproar when he published the work in its current form. He changed place names and dates, making the book more of a literary work than a political argument. This to the great dissatisfaction of Multatuli, who wanted to wake up colleagues and politicians with his book. The work appears for the first time in mid-May 1860. Public opinion was positive. Multatuli was instantly a well-known writer. Although the book did not immediately achieve the result he had in mind, the story did contribute to the abolition of the culture system in 1870.
Multatuli is one of the first whistleblowers in the Netherlands. He bites into a bad business, encouraged by the population, but runs into closed doors with the ruling top layer. Whistleblowers have often been in the news in the Netherlands in recent years. After all, exposing wrongdoing can have major consequences. An example of a contemporary whistleblower is Ad Bos. His shadow accounting led to the construction fraud affair in 2001.
'150 Years of Max Havelaar' is in the spotlight this season in various ways. The University of Amsterdam highlights the book and the writer with an exhibition. The exhibition can be visited from 2 February to 25 May 2010 in the library of the University of Amsterdam, Special Collections Department (Oude Turfmarkt 129, Amsterdam).
Read more?
Language in the canon (Knowledge link article) An indictment of exploitation (NRC)