Leslie H. Palmier - Social Status and Power in Java

Managing Editor: Anthony Forge

The Monographs on Social Anthropology were established in 1940 and aim to publish results of modem anthropological research of primary interest to specialists.

The continuation of the series was made possible by a grant in aid from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and more recently by a further grant from the Governors of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The Monographs are under the direction of an Editorial Board associated with the Department of Anthropology of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS MONOGRAPHS ON SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY No. 20

by
LESLIE H. PALMIER

First published 1960 by Athlone Press

First edition, 1960
First paperback edition, with corrections, 1969

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Leslie H. Palmier, 1960, 1969

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ISBN 13: 978-1-84520-006-0 (hbk)

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this book but points out that some imperfections from the original may be apparent.

Two year-long visits to Indonesia in 1951-52 and 1953-54 provided material for this book, which forms a revised part of a thesis accepted for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of London in 1956. The full costs of preparation for that degree were met by the United Kingdom Treasury Committee for Studentships in Foreign Languages and Cultures, to whom go my sincere thanks.

My intellectual debts are many, and especially great to the London School of Economics and Political Science. It was in undergraduate courses conducted by Mrs Jean Floud, now of the Institute of Education, University of London, that the problem of social class first came to interest me; and Professor Edward Shils, now of the University of Chicago, spent much time in explaining Max Weber to a small group in which I sat. Professor Raymond Firth exercised much patience and gave much encouragement over a long period in the supervision of my graduate work; to him I must express my profound gratitude.

Those who helped me most directly in the field are indicated in the text (though for reasons stated there I give neither names nor places). Here I would like to mention in addition the late Resident of the area, widely known for the wise and honourable gentleman he was, who made it easy for me to work in the region of his responsibility; and the Head of the District in which lay the smaller town I mention, a very experienced servant of his people, who helped me greatly during my stay there. My Javanese teacher, who will recognise himself in this description, and the Postmaster of the same town, gave me the benefit of their friendship and insight, in good times as in bad. Since he is no longer in Java, I may mention Frans Bakker and thank him for many morale-building hours when they were most needed, and very unprofitable for him. Though I single out these persons here, and others in the text below, my gratitude is no less to many, too numerous to mention, who also were kind to a stranger.

In Jakarta, I was helped by Mr A. G. Pringgodigdo and his family; Mr Sunario (later Foreign Minister); Mr Rosihan Anwar of the newspaper Pedoman; Mr Subagio and Mr Suwito, of the Ministry of Informations Foreign Relations Department (the latter being now Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs); the English section of Radio Republik Indonesia; the late Professor Held of the University of Indonesia; and Dr Roolvink of the Jakarta Museum. All these lightened my task in academic or other ways, as did Professor Djojodiguno, of the University of Gadjah Mada at Jogjakarta, and his family. I am most grateful also to Madame Subandrio, wife of the then Indonesian Ambassador in London (he is now Foreign Minister) for the information and encouragement she gave me when I was preparing to visit her country.

Several Dutch authorities have freely helped me from their unique and profound store of knowledge about Indonesia. I should like to thank them all in the person of Professor W. F. Wertheim of the University of Amsterdam. to whom I have perhaps referred most.

The majority of those who read this book will probably know no Indonesian or Dutch. So where possible instead of (sometimes as well as) giving any necessary expressions in those languages, I have translated them. Where Indonesian terms have been reproduced, since the letter 'j in that tongue has the sound not of the English j, but of the y, I have substituted the latter. The Indonesian dj and tj', however, I have left unchanged, as their English pronunciation does not do too great violence to the Indonesian sound. I have not altered the sj either, since in the text it occurs only in the word Masjumi, but I must note here that its sound approximates to sh in English.

The Cambridge University Press and Mr J. S. Furnivall very kindly gave permission to base the map of Indonesia on that used in his Netherlands India. For the plan of the small town, I am indebted to its Public Works Department. The Map Laboratory of the Sterling Library at Yale University prepared both maps for publication. My thanks go to that Universitys Southeast Asia Studies Program (where I was Research Fellow for 1956-57) and to its then Director, Professor Stephen Reed, for meeting the cost of the maps and for other financial assistance towards preparing this volume for the press. For help both in compiling the index and generally throughout the book, as for many other things, I am indebted to my wife.

Needless to say, though I have been guided by many, I have strayed alone.

Victoria University of Wellington,
New Zealand.
April 1959

L. H. P.