SEAToday.com, Jakarta-The image of Dutch economic giant VOC in Indonesia was poor. They were condemned as nothing more than a colonizer who only knew to monopolize spice trade without developing the locals' prosperity. However, not all VOC employees had ill will.

Take Cornelis Chastelein for example. The Dutch official was famous for his generosity. He was the one who developed the Depok area, and was involved in the emergence of the term "Belanda Depok" or Depok Dutch.

Cornelis Chastelein never had difficulties in joining the VOC. Born in Amsterdam on August 10, 1657, he had important qualities to land a job in the economic force, one of them was him being a Christian, not Catholic.

The other was having Cornelis van Quaelbergh as his uncle. Cornelis was an important figure in the VOC hierarchy, as he was an executive member of the Hindia Committee. With those qualities, Cornelis traveled all the way to Nusantara in 1675.

He landed a job as a VOC officer in Batavia (now Jakarta). His accurate calculations paved way for his career. He also lived the comfortable lifestyle of a VOC warehouse supervisor.

"Cornelis Chastelein's family saw him as a smart man, good in math and trading. That claim was proven by his descendants, as Belanda Depok is a group of people who is good with numbers and trading," said Rendi Paulwin Bacas, a descendant of one of the slaves Cornelis freed.

Becoming a VOC Official and Landowner

Cornelis started buying potential lands throughout Batavia. Weltevreden-Senen, Gambir, Lapangan Banteng, and Pejambon were once his. He also had the opportunity to become an Opperkoopman or major merchant in VOC in the year 1691.

He was only 34, but his instincts in trading was unmatched, bringing him in a lot of relations. He was good with people, including VOC Governor General.

However, he felt his work for VOC was against his values as a Christian, as he saw how corrupt the officials were.

The corruption was carried out even in the lower level of management. His reports of it were left unanswered.

"Cornelis wrote that corrupt landdrost (equivalent to police) and their "kaffer" often put plaintiffs and suspects behind bars. Both parties kept paying to be released. Therefore, there were no Javanese or other people from different ethnicities reported one another," said Historian Bondan Kanumoyoso in the book "Ommelanden: Perkembangan Masyarakat dan Ekonomi di Luar Tembok Kota Batavia" (2023).

His incompatibility with the VOC was seen in the era of Governor General Willem van Outhoorn (1691-1704). Cornelis chose to resign from the VOC and sold his land in Weltevreden.

The money from the sale was used to buy a land in South of Batavia, Srengseng, Mampang, and Depok in 1696. His career was switched from VOC official to landowner. His slaves came from many regions in Nusantara, such as Bali, Sulawesi, and even Sri Lanka.

Freeing the Slaves

Slavery was a trend among VOC officials and former officials as they needed cheap labor. The slaves were used to take care of their gardens, farms, and all sorts.

Cornelis was thankful for the slaves. He had hundreds of them, which meant he was well off. At that time, having many slaves was a symbol of prosperity and could boost one's status.

However, Cornelis was different than other former VOC officials. If other former officials treated their slaves carelessly, Cornelis treated his with benevolence. The slaves were empowered to manage his farms and gardens.

The slaves grew peppers, sugarcanes, coconuts, and others. Cornelis saw his slaves as special people and wanted a good relationship between the two.

The relationship he fostered with his slaves were like a father-children relationship. The slaves felt special as he treated them like family.

"They had a patron-client working relationship. This relationship obliged the clients to live in different house than their patron, but within the patron's land. The clients serve the patron and the patron's family, while the patron protected the clients and brought food to their table," said Tri Wahyuning M. Irsyam in the book "Berkembang dalam Bayang-Bayang Jakarta: Sejarah Depok 1950-1990-an" (2017).

Cornelis taught his slaves about Jesus. He also taught them math, how to trade, and how to speak Dutch.

His love for the slaves was timeless. Although he passed on June 28, 1714, the 150 slaves he had, which belonged to 12 families of Bacas, Isakh, Jonathans, Jacob, Joseph, Loen, Laurens, Leander, Tholense, Soedira, Samuel, and Zadokh, received inheritance.

They were freed. Other significant inheritance was his lands, spanning from Mampang to Depok.

The lands were expected to prosper the slaves. However, he left a note that the lands should not be used as a place to gamble or conduct other unethical activities. In his will, Cornelis said the lands must be developed and not sold.

Belanda Depok

The lands must be used for the prosperity of the 12 families, which were then called the "Belanda Depok". They were considered as the elderlies of Depok because they could speak Dutch and even had their own government.

"When Sudjarwo was a teacher, he led an aubade of the Depok students at the time Bung Karno tried out the Jakarta-Bogor electric locomotive. He stayed for 15 minutes at the Depok Lama Station. Sudjarwo said, Depok was just a village at that time. The residents were called the "Belanda Depok", although they were pure Indonesians who were freed from the slavery by Cornelis Chastelein in the 18th century," said Alwi Shahab in the book "Maria van Engels: Menantu Habib Kwitang" (2006).

That nickname lived on even until Indonesia reached its independency. However, the "Belanda Depok" people looked nothing like the Europeans. They were pure Indonesians.