Importing Specialists to Indonesia or Bringing Back "the Colonials”?

AFTER completing his medical study, Bruno F.M. Menne worked as a volunteer at the clinic of the University of Freiburg, Germany, the university he graduated from. His wife, Gertrud Menne, had to be the family's breadwinner. Germany at that time was in the middle of imminent postwar economic turmoil, so when they heard that Indonesia was in need of medical personnel, they took the chance. 

In September 1955, the family sailed to Indonesia from Rotterdam. "We spent two and a half months on the sea traveling with a six-year-old and a baby," said Gertrud Menne, published in the German online media suedkurier.de, 14 May 2008. "There's no dictionary, no translator, nothing."

In Jakarta, dr. Menne and his family stayed at the Ministry of Health's dormitory for two months for orientation and training purposes. Dr. Menne was subsequently assigned in Kalimantan; first in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, and later in Martapura, South Kalimantan. He wasn't only responsible for the patients in the central hospital, but also in numerous clinics, the farthest of which could only be reached by traveling along the Kalimantan rivers and through the forest for two weeks. 

"He was the only doctor for an area as big as Switzerland."

Aside from Menne, there were many other German doctors who worked in Indonesia in the early 1950s. The arrival of those German doctors was the result of the Indonesian government’s effort in solving the shortage of specialists during the nation’s early days.

The Exodus of the Dutch

After Indonesia gained its independence, many Dutch people chose to leave the country although some of them later decided to return after seeing a chance for the Netherlands to reclaim the colonized territory. The sovereignty recognition in 1949, in particular, drove them to do an exodus.

"Officially Indonesian leaders voice regret at the hurried exodus of thousands of skilled Dutch workers whose places are extremely hard to fill," Morning Bulletin wrote on 6 August 1951. This exodus clearly caused the shortage of doctors, engineers, trained administrators, and technicians in Indonesia.

In fact, Indonesia didn't lack human resources, as seen from the increasing number of civil servants since the country's independence. However, this boost wasn't necessarily matched with better and efficient services; a situation the government was well-aware of. According to Herbert Feith in The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia, from the Hatta Cabinet until the Sukiman Cabinet, the government had been trying to cut the number of employees to almost half, but to no avail. Meanwhile, the Wilopo Cabinet took another route. Instead of implementing the staff reduction policy, government institutions were prohibited to accept new employees unless those with special expertise.

The central problem actually sat with these employees who possessed specialized skills, because most of them who held strategic positions were Dutch. In accordance with the agreement concluded at the Round Table Conference, Dutch specialists still received salary for two years according to Betalingsregeling Ambtenaren en Gepensioneerden or BAG, the regulation of 1949. After that, the contract could be extended, but no one could guarantee their stay in Indonesia amid the rising of the anti-Dutch sentiment.

To solve the problem, the government established a policy to recruit foreign specialists. In 1950, the General Directorate of the Ministry of Personnel Affairs formed PUTABA, Panitia Urusan Tenaga Ahli Bangsa Asing or Committee for Foreign Specialists Affairs to find and recruit foreign specialists who would fill the positions in the government services.

"They would thus be working under an Indonesian boss and with Indonesian colleagues and subordinates," wrote Farabi Fakih in his dissertation at Leiden University titled “The Rise of the Managerial State in Indonesia”.

After studying and surveying various ministries, PUTABA estimated the need of foreign experts to be around 1,700-2,000.

Language Requirements

In June 1950, PUTABA sent a team led by Prof. Gunarso from the Faculty of Engineering in Bandung (now Bandung Institute of Technology); Prof. Sukarja, a medical practitioner; and Marsoro, head of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Personnel Affairs, to visit several European countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark.

"The team did not go to England, instead focusing on ‘Germanic language’-speaking countries," wrote Farabi.

However, a good command of English was still one of the requirements to be accepted, aside from being able to speak German, Dutch, or Indonesian. "French and Italian aren't mentioned. However, some of the experts coming from those countries were still accepted. The absolute requirement was that they have to be able to speak one of the languages mentioned above," wrote Dunia Internasional, Vol. 3 of 1952.

The other qualifications, Farabi wrote, are that the candidate must possess six to eight years of working experience and must be between 30 to 45 years old. 

In Europe, the team established connections with the local governments, unions, and organizations, as well as visited the local officials. They conveyed information through mass media, and published advertisements about the job vacancies. In an advertisement displayed in Austria, for instance, a whopping amount of Rp1,810 per month was offered as a salary, in addition to f13,000 bonus that would be paid in Austrian currency after three years of contract.

To ensure the recruitment success, PUTABA opened an office in The Hague, the Netherlands, under the leadership of Hermen Kartowisastro, financial and economic advisor of the Indonesian High Commission, a temporary embassy. The office had two important roles as the Secretariat Division and the Dispatch Division (see infographics below).

Its criteria of selection include not only the applicants' competence in their fields but their attitude toward independent Indonesia.

According to W. Petersen in Some Factors Influencing Postwar Emigration from the Netherlands, the employment bureau in The Hague intended to recruit around 2,000 foreign experts, a large number of whom were Dutch. Three-year contracts were offered to 400 physicians, 200 engineers, 200 shipping experts, 30 professors of various subjects, a considerable number of secondary school and trade school teachers, and a smaller number of economists, accountants, textile technicians, geologists, sociologists, and statisticians.

"Its criteria of selection include not only the applicants' competence in their fields but their attitude toward independent Indonesia and all this that implies for the status of the whites there," Petersen wrote.

"Co" (cooperative) and “non-co” indeed became two important issues in Indonesia, where the two terms were particularly assigned to the Dutch employees. It was no surprise that before the applicants got chosen, PUTABA gathered reference from third parties, including the applicants' political opinions or attitudes.

PUTABA's offers were well-received. Medisch Contact, the official publication of the Royal Dutch Medical Association, regularly published information or discussion regarding the job vacancy. Some Dutch doctors, who previously lived and worked in Indonesia, also shared their experience and views. One of them was dr. C. Lankeren, a doctor working in Kisaran, North Sumatera. In an article titled “Artsen voor Indonesië (III)” published on 10 January 1952, he wished his young colleagues in the Netherlands to be interested in the opportunities to contribute in the medical field.

"Doctors who come to work here would always be richer (especially in terms of experience)..." Lankeren wrote.

Cassava and Butter

As a legal framework, the government subsequently issued Government Regulation (PP) No. 10/1951 which specifies the granting of an extraordinary allowance to foreign experts who worked as permanent or temporary civil servants or those who were set to arrive in Indonesia. The amount was twenty-five percent of the monthly net income in rupiah and twenty percent, at the maximum of Rp500, of the monthly basic salary paid in their home country in the country's currency.

The PP was executed on 3 February 1951 but had been applicable since 1 January 1951. There was quite a discussion regarding the regulation in the House of Representatives (DPR) as noted in Risalah Perundingan, Vol. 13 of 1951 published by DPR. Iwa Kusumasumantri (non-party) even supported the motion put forward by the Murba Party.

Iwa questioned the reason behind the issue of PP which offered a better guarantee for the Dutch when it was already ensured in the KMB agreement that they would remain working until the end of their contracts on 31 December 1952. Another question asked was the reason for the PP's enactment since 1 January 1951.

"They're most likely afraid that there will be an 'exodus' of the Dutch employees at the end of this year. It was said by the chief of the Committee for Foreign Specialists Affairs in one of his letters," said Iwa. "... this is utterly ridiculous, if we remember our nation's wish in the past to drive the colonials out of our country."

The PP was considered discriminatory because the foreign employees got bread and butter, while the natives only got cassava. So, to make it fair, they proposed the "expertise allowance" to be given to all employees both foreign and native employees.

The departure of Marsoro to The Hague also received criticism. The parliament argued that the effort disregarded their own human resources whose skill and competence were actually on par with those of foreign employees, and that the government should've worked efficiently and managed their own employees first.

However, this motion was rejected, and the policy to recruit foreign employees continued.

At the end of 1951, several foreign specialists started to arrive in Indonesia. There were only 100 people recruited, while another 200 were still under negotiation. Most of them came to Indonesia by ships, while some others who were urgently needed were sent with planes.

"Aside from the economic and social urgency, there are definitely specialists who offer to work for the Indonesian government merely due to a great interest in the development of a young nation and the desire to widen their knowledge and experience," Dunia Internasional wrote.

The foreign employees got bread and butter while the native workers only got cassava.

The number of the foreign specialists increased in the following year. In 1952, there were 416 people successfully recruited. 

Based on nationality, Dutch dominated with 35 doctors and pharmacists, 60 shipping experts, 50 education professionals, and 35 financial experts. "It was understandable since most Dutch were more familiar with the situations (government, administration, social, and politics) in Indonesia, in addition to their language being the easiest to understand in Indonesia compared to the other foreign languages. This applies to the experts in the field of shipping, education, and finance," Dunia Internasional wrote.

Based on areas of expertise, doctors and pharmacists dominated with the most coming from Germany (95) followed by Austria (27). "The number of medical experts in these countries were more superfluous, so they had to migrate," wrote Dunia Internasional. However, the number of doctors recruited was very little, only 17 people.

The very few doctors and pharmacists from the Netherlands concerned J. Knoppe, a doctor working in Soe, Timor. In an article titled “Artsengebrek in Indonesie” published by Medisch Contact on 24 April 1952, he highlighted the important roles that could be taken by his colleagues in the Netherlands in establishing friendship between the world's nations.

"From this point of view, it is a pity that the request of the Indonesian government to young Dutch doctors to choose a work in Indonesia has practically no result. They have turned to other European countries and since then approximately 200 doctors have arrived from Germany, Austria, Italy etc.," Knoppe wrote.

The specialists recruited by PUTABA were far behind the target. In 1952, the government decided to import 8,000 foreign workers based on a coordinated tally with various ministries. "This was an enlarged number compared to the quota of foreigners allowed to enter into the country by the pre-Federal government in 1949 (4.000 persons). It was also a much larger number than the previous year which involved 1700-2000 foreign specialists," wrote Farabi.

Falling Behind Expectation

According to Hemera Zoa magazine published by the Indonesian Veterinary Association, the Natsir Cabinet agreed to import 200 general practitioners and some specialists. However, because PUTABA's work was deemed unsatisfactory, the Ministry of Health requested and obtained permission to do their own recruitment.

The Ministry of Health therefore sent dr. Pirngadi, then head of the personnel department of the Ministry of Health, who went to Europe to find doctors who were willing to work for the Indonesian government.

"The question of which nationality should be brought in is in the field of politics. Our experience shows the fact that generally those we can hire are doctors from the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Germany, and Italy," wrote Hemera Zoa, Vol. 60 of 1953.

In The Hague, the Ministry of Health formed a selection committee led by Soewandhi. Successful applicants would receive an allowance of f1,000 and f500 for their wife and children. The amount of salary had been adjusted in accordance with BAG 1949 plus 25% in rupiah.

“Doctors Needed in Indonesia” came as the title of news published by Sarasota Herald Tribune on 27 March 1952 which further demonstrated the Ministry of Health's effort. "There are 58 doctors signed up so far, around half of whom are Dutch. The rest come from the other West European countries, particularly Germany," wrote Sarasota Herald Tribune. Identical news was also seen on the other US newspapers such as Star News and Lawrence Journal World.

The Indonesian government's effort started to pay off. "So far we have brought 100 people. They're mostly able to adapt and work," wrote Hemera Zoa.

The salary of the foreign doctors shouldn't be much higher than that of the indigenous doctors. In several places, health staff went on a strike or submitted objection petitions against the policy.

One of the doctors that came to Indonesia was CJ van Beek, who from May 1952 until May 1955 worked as an ophthalmologist in Eastern Indonesia. He shared his experience through an article titled “Three Year’s Personal Experience in Indonesia” published by Ophthalmologica journal, Vol. 132, No. 5, 1956.

When visiting the Indonesian High Commission in The Hague, Van Beek met and received an offer from dr. Pirngadi to have his own comfortable working condition, adequate equipment, allowance from his official salary in guilder, low salary in rupiah for working in the community, high income from private practice, and a car that can be used both while on and off-duty.

"Almost all of these aspects were met; but the car for the ophthalmologist never arrived in Makassar, glasses test kit only arrived after two and a half years, and because my document went missing in Jakarta, I received the salary and allowance in guilder only after 7 months," wrote Van Beek.

Despite not having any exact data yet, just like PUTABA, the Ministry of Health tried to recruit more doctors in the subsequent years. However, this effort didn't receive full support from the Indonesian doctors. 

According to Saki Murakami in “Call for Doctors!” published in Cars, Conduits, and Kampongs edited by Rosemarijn Hoefte and Henk Schulte Nordholt, the Indonesian Medical Association (Ikatan Dokter Indonesia or IDI) repeatedly expressed their discontent regarding the difference in treatment. They argued that the salary of the foreign doctors shouldn't be much higher than that of the indigenous doctors. In several places, health staff went on a strike or submitted objection petitions against the policy.

"Generally speaking, however, the need for these foreigners weighed more heavily than the problems they created and there were never any drastic alterations in the policy to attract foreigners before it silently petered out," wrote Murakami.

A Failure

While hiring foreign specialists, the government also prepared to relinquish the dependency by sending Indonesian civil servants to study abroad. According to Farabi, from 1950 to 1956 the government sent 284 Indonesians with civil service obligations (ikatan dinas) and 142 with foreign exchange to study in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, West Germany placed second as the country that received the most students (242).

"This was in accordance with the initial policy of the PUTABA, which probably because of linguistic reasons prioritized ‘Germanic’ countries as a source of skilled workers," Farabi wrote.

Another effort was done through developing the higher education system. Shortage of specialists was also solved through the university affiliation network. For instance, in 1955, when Bahder Djohan led University of Indonesia and oversaw Bandung Institute of Technology and Bogor Agriculture Faculty, he established a cooperation with University of Kentucky. 

"Five months after I returned to Indonesia, several professors and their wives had arrived in Indonesia," said Djohan in Bahder Djohan: Pengabdi Kemanusiaan.

PUTABA eventually faced challenges. Aside from failing to meet the demand, the quality of many applicants was quite disappointing. Some of the Swiss youth sent to Indonesia apparently only completed basic training, which was clearly in contrast with the remunerations they received. Farabi explained, according to Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, the problem was not how to get them to Indonesia but to get them out of Indonesia.

"In general, Indonesian efforts in obtaining foreign expertise to work directly and organically within the national civil service was a failure. The PUTABA continued its work until the middle 1950s, but the number recruited lagged far behind what was needed," wrote Farabi.

Fondness for Indonesia

Many of the foreign specialists, especially doctors, extended their period of duty in Indonesia after their first contract expired. One of them was dr. Menne.

After living for three and a half years in Kalimantan, dr. Menne moved to the less safe mountainous area of Kuningan, West Java. He had a hard time protecting himself from the barbarity of the rebel gangs.

"If the terrorists returned to their post in the mountain, my husband always left for the hospital to cure the injured and mutilated victims," said Gertrud Menne.

At the beginning of the 1960s, dr. Menne and his family finally returned to Germany. He then opened a practice in Albbruck in the district of Waldshut. However, their fondness for Indonesia never faded. "We went there at least ten times." It was also the reason behind Gertrud Menne's decision to title her book Aus den Augen, aber nicht aus dem Herzen: Erinnerungen an Indonesien which means out of sight but not out of the heart: memories of Indonesia. The book was released in 2007 and recounted her experience living in Indonesia.

Gertrud Menne passed away in June 2015 at the age of 92, twenty two years after the passing of her husband, dr. Menne, in 1993. "It was a very hot day, 35 degrees, and one of our friends said: 'She must be happy because it is as warm as in Indonesia," said Dieter Menne, son of dr. Menne and Gertrud via email.

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