perceptions of protest: defining the dangerous in colonial Sumatra

Historical analysis of how the Dutch administrative and plantation elite perceived protest in colonial Sumatra reveals a striking shift in focus. Whereas in the 1870s labor violence was personalized and downplayed, by the 1920s it was construed as a politically motivated prelude to communist revolt. This paper looks at the written rhetoric surrounding these issues not as a reflection or legitimation of colonial power, but as a site of negotiation over the nature of it, between the European planters and the colonial state. It is argued that this rhetoric shaped how danger was defined and how protection of corporate capital's private interests became synonymous with the maintenance of a public rust en orde (peace and order). [Indonesia, labor protest, colonial state, rhetoric, plantations]