Karel Frederik Holle Biography:
(Theereis II English version 19 – 28 Juli 2001 1. ) Karel Frederik Holle did not have a carefree youth. Far from that. A few years after his birth at Amsterdam in 1829 his father (Pieter Holle) suffered severe financial losses because his prospering sugar refinery was hit by an economic crisis in that industry. This crisis continued and when in 1844 Pieter’s brother in law (Willem van der Hucht, youngest brother of his wife Albertine), captain/owner of a trading vessel, came with plans to build up a new existence together on Java, he accepted that proposition with both hands. At that time there was a general economic depression all over Europe and political unrest was threatening everywhere. So another brother (Jan Pieter van der Hucht, with wife and 8 children) decided to join them the following year. Although he was a successful financier at Amsterdam he too was very pessimistic about the future of his children in Europe. So Karel Frederik Holle left Holland at the age of 14. After a dangerous start of the voyage their ship arrived safely at Batavia (Jakarta) in 1845. Willem van der Hucht was able to obtain a tea contract for Parakan Salak from the Government and started living there. Shortly afterwards Pieter Holle got a job on the tea plantation Bolang but as he had to prepare the small house that he found there for his large family it was decided that his wife Albertine should move to Parakan Salak in order to await the birth of their 8th child for she had become pregnant again on board the ship. The trip from Bogor to Parakan Salak at that time took more than 12 hours. Pieter and his sons went on horseback and Albertine and the smaller children were carried in a “tandu”. All seemed to go for the best. But then fate struck Willem’s wife (Jansje) and their three little daughters fell severely ill and while Albertine had expected to be taken care of by her sister in law, she, on the contrary, had tot take care of four very ill people. The youngest child died and the doctor who had been summoned from Bogor came too late even for the burial but just in time to assist Albertine with the birth of her baby. So Willem’s little daughter Albertine van der Hucht was the first member of the family to be buried at Parakan Salak in Javanese soil and four days later Albertine Holle was the first member to be born at the same place. Fate kept on striking, more and more severely. After six weeks Albertine moved to Bolang and again a few weeks later Willem stood at their doorstep to tell them that his wife had died. A short time later he lost his eldest little daughter too and before the family could have recovered from these blows Pieter Holle died quite suddenly at Bolang. It is not difficult to imagine the desperation of these bereaved people. They could not get in touch with their brother Jan Pieter van der Hucht of whom they knew that he was already sailing for Java. Fate still didn’t stop. Within a year after his arrival Jan Pieter van der Hucht died and was buried at Parakan Salak followed by one of his sons and a niece, one of three orphaned sisters whom they had taken in. One of the remaining sisters later married “Multatuli” whom she met at Parakan Salak. So in less than three years after their arrival the family had lost three adults and four children. And Willem van der Hucht stood before the immense task of supporting two widows and 16 children. He acquitted himself admirably. Let us turn to Karel Frederik Holle now. Naturally he must have suffered from the ill fate that had befallen his mother and all his other relatives. But it seems that he had the same strong character as his mother while at the same time, like her, being deeply concerned about the welfare of others. His uncle obtained from the Governor-General, with whom he was Theereis II English version 19 – 28 Juli 2001 2. ) befriended, the favour for his nephews to be educated together with the G.G.’s children at the palace at Bogor. So Karel Frederik received a good education until he was 18 years old. Then his uncle Willem secured a job for him as a clerk in a government’s office. Because of his exceptional intelligence and great dilligence he soon was promoted. But Karel wanted to be independent, not only from his uncle but also from the Government. He had developed ideas of his own which he knew he couldn’t realize along bureaucratic lines. When Karel got his job as a government’s clerk his mother moved to Batavia where, with her strong character and helpful attitude, she soon became the centre of the family and all the members of that family who arrived at Batavia in the coming decades were expected to come and pay their respect to her. During the years she had come to know “everybody” and knew to whom to direct her relatives for good advice. Among those who profited from this were the Bosscha’s and the Kerkhovens. Right from their arrival they were greatly influenced by Karel’s ideas and ideals and tried to live and act accordingly although not losing sight of good and profitable management of their plantations as Karel may, alas, have done. But, at this time, this was still in the future. One of his sisters had married N.P. van den Berg, a banker (who later became President of the Java Bank) at Batavia and with his financial help he was able to start a tea plantation of his own near Garut, called Waspada. He made it a model tea plantation but he did not lose out of sight his idealistic aim to improve the living conditions of the poor local people. He tried to improve their methods of growing rice but, as travelling around to tell the people how to do that, proved to be too complicated and too time consuming, he realized that the most efficient way to reach his goal would be to teach them to read. Then he could spread his ideas, in their own language, through little pamphlets. Long ago he had already understood the importance of speaking the Sundanese language like a Sundanese, which, indeed, he did. In Garut he met the panghulu Raden Haji Moehammad Moesa. They became lifelong friends and pursued the same ideals. So Karel Holle saw to it that schools were being built and in 1866 as a highlight of his endeavours a College for Schoolteachers was opened at Bandung. If necessary, he paid for such activities himself. Libraries were founded, a periodical was published, which not only contained advice on agricultural matters (e.g. the urgent appeal to stop erosion by laying out coffee and other gardens in terrasses) and on how to start small industries, but also contained traditional old Sundanese stories and poetry to awaken the interest of the readers for their own culture. The name of this periodical was “mitra noe tani” and these words were engraved on the monument that in 1899 was unveiled at Garut. Holle took a great interest in the Sundanese language in all its aspects. In these activities he received help from his brother Adriaan who had succeeded his uncle Willem at Parakan Salak and who filled in one gift which Karel didn’t possess, the gift for music. Adriaan loved gamelan music and he himself played the rebab in his own gamelan orchestra which is exhibited nowadays in a museum at Sumedang. Karel Holle discovered old monuments with inscriptions on them and searched for old manuscripts which he deciphered and about which he corresponded with several scientists who showed great interest and admiration for his work. He compiled lists of words in order to make a dictionary. He took great interest in the dicovery of the Borobudur. He was deeply convinced of the importance of religion; he learned Arabic and knew the koran by heart. Theereis II English version 19 – 28 Juli 2001 3. ) Even abroad he was well known and foreign visitors came to see him at Waspada, his model tea plantation. The Government appreciated his extensive knowledge in so many fields and wanted to appoint him as Resident of the Priangan but Holle refused because he wanted to remain independent. He accepted to become the “adviseur honorair” to the Government because that would extend his influence in the Government. At the end of his life the Government considered to appoint him as a member of the “Raad van Indië” one of the highest posts in the Government but by that time his health was already failing. Of course he experienced disappointments and was confronted with mistrust and opposition but in many cases he could overcome these obstacles because of his gift to win people’s sympathy. That wasn’t the only gift this extremely talented man possessed. Tom van den Berge, (the author of the biography : “Karel Frederik Holle, Theeplanter in Indië 1829 –1896” (Bert Bakker, A’dam; 1998)) has given a classification of his work: rice and agriculture education, science and language politics and religion. Unfortunately this extremely useful life ended sadly. In 1877 he fell seriously ill and though he recovered after many months he remained partly paralyzed. His energy had suffered too and when a crisis hit the tea culture he couldn’t cope with it, mostly because he had spent too much money on realizing his various projects so that there were no reserve funds left to sit these hard times out. He went bankrupt and had to leave his beloved Waspada. In 1889 he went to Bogor to stay with his youngest sister (the one born at Parakan Salak) who had become a widow. In 1895 he received the “Officierskruis van de Orde van Oranje Nassau”. Later in that year he wrote, when asked for his opinion, that Dr. Snouck Hurgronje had already given a clear advice so that he (Karel) had nothing to add to it. Quite an unusual statement from someone who always grabbed every opportunity to vent his opinion. Within a year, on May 3, 1896 he died and was buried at Tanah Abang, Batavia, next to his mother. On October 29, 1899 on the alun alun of Garut a monument for Karel Frederik Holle was unveiled. At this ceremony Raden Adipati Soeria Nata Ningrat, Regent of Lebak, as his oldest disciple and friend, put into words his feelings with such ardour and conviction (as one of those present later said) “as I have never before heard a Sundanese speak”. Until the war the monument was regularly visited by people from the neighbourhood but during the war the monument was torn down by the Japanese. It is sad that nowadays nobody remembers this man anymore, who has spent his whole life improving the living conditions of the people in the land he both so dearly loved and with whom he identified hemself so much that once when he had been seen talking to a woman and she was asked who that belanda was, she answered : “Lain Walanda, tjara oerang bae”
http://members.lycos.nl/hvdthee/kfholle.html
(Theereis II English version 19 – 28 Juli 2001 1. ) Karel Frederik Holle did not have a carefree youth. Far from that. A few years after his birth at Amsterdam in 1829 his father (Pieter Holle) suffered severe financial losses because his prospering sugar refinery was hit by an economic crisis in that industry. This crisis continued and when in 1844 Pieter’s brother in law (Willem van der Hucht, youngest brother of his wife Albertine), captain/owner of a trading vessel, came with plans to build up a new existence together on Java, he accepted that proposition with both hands. At that time there was a general economic depression all over Europe and political unrest was threatening everywhere. So another brother (Jan Pieter van der Hucht, with wife and 8 children) decided to join them the following year. Although he was a successful financier at Amsterdam he too was very pessimistic about the future of his children in Europe. So Karel Frederik Holle left Holland at the age of 14. After a dangerous start of the voyage their ship arrived safely at Batavia (Jakarta) in 1845. Willem van der Hucht was able to obtain a tea contract for Parakan Salak from the Government and started living there. Shortly afterwards Pieter Holle got a job on the tea plantation Bolang but as he had to prepare the small house that he found there for his large family it was decided that his wife Albertine should move to Parakan Salak in order to await the birth of their 8th child for she had become pregnant again on board the ship. The trip from Bogor to Parakan Salak at that time took more than 12 hours. Pieter and his sons went on horseback and Albertine and the smaller children were carried in a “tandu”. All seemed to go for the best. But then fate struck Willem’s wife (Jansje) and their three little daughters fell severely ill and while Albertine had expected to be taken care of by her sister in law, she, on the contrary, had tot take care of four very ill people. The youngest child died and the doctor who had been summoned from Bogor came too late even for the burial but just in time to assist Albertine with the birth of her baby. So Willem’s little daughter Albertine van der Hucht was the first member of the family to be buried at Parakan Salak in Javanese soil and four days later Albertine Holle was the first member to be born at the same place. Fate kept on striking, more and more severely. After six weeks Albertine moved to Bolang and again a few weeks later Willem stood at their doorstep to tell them that his wife had died. A short time later he lost his eldest little daughter too and before the family could have recovered from these blows Pieter Holle died quite suddenly at Bolang. It is not difficult to imagine the desperation of these bereaved people. They could not get in touch with their brother Jan Pieter van der Hucht of whom they knew that he was already sailing for Java. Fate still didn’t stop. Within a year after his arrival Jan Pieter van der Hucht died and was buried at Parakan Salak followed by one of his sons and a niece, one of three orphaned sisters whom they had taken in. One of the remaining sisters later married “Multatuli” whom she met at Parakan Salak. So in less than three years after their arrival the family had lost three adults and four children. And Willem van der Hucht stood before the immense task of supporting two widows and 16 children. He acquitted himself admirably. Let us turn to Karel Frederik Holle now. Naturally he must have suffered from the ill fate that had befallen his mother and all his other relatives. But it seems that he had the same strong character as his mother while at the same time, like her, being deeply concerned about the welfare of others. His uncle obtained from the Governor-General, with whom he was Theereis II English version 19 – 28 Juli 2001 2. ) befriended, the favour for his nephews to be educated together with the G.G.’s children at the palace at Bogor. So Karel Frederik received a good education until he was 18 years old. Then his uncle Willem secured a job for him as a clerk in a government’s office. Because of his exceptional intelligence and great dilligence he soon was promoted. But Karel wanted to be independent, not only from his uncle but also from the Government. He had developed ideas of his own which he knew he couldn’t realize along bureaucratic lines. When Karel got his job as a government’s clerk his mother moved to Batavia where, with her strong character and helpful attitude, she soon became the centre of the family and all the members of that family who arrived at Batavia in the coming decades were expected to come and pay their respect to her. During the years she had come to know “everybody” and knew to whom to direct her relatives for good advice. Among those who profited from this were the Bosscha’s and the Kerkhovens. Right from their arrival they were greatly influenced by Karel’s ideas and ideals and tried to live and act accordingly although not losing sight of good and profitable management of their plantations as Karel may, alas, have done. But, at this time, this was still in the future. One of his sisters had married N.P. van den Berg, a banker (who later became President of the Java Bank) at Batavia and with his financial help he was able to start a tea plantation of his own near Garut, called Waspada. He made it a model tea plantation but he did not lose out of sight his idealistic aim to improve the living conditions of the poor local people. He tried to improve their methods of growing rice but, as travelling around to tell the people how to do that, proved to be too complicated and too time consuming, he realized that the most efficient way to reach his goal would be to teach them to read. Then he could spread his ideas, in their own language, through little pamphlets. Long ago he had already understood the importance of speaking the Sundanese language like a Sundanese, which, indeed, he did. In Garut he met the panghulu Raden Haji Moehammad Moesa. They became lifelong friends and pursued the same ideals. So Karel Holle saw to it that schools were being built and in 1866 as a highlight of his endeavours a College for Schoolteachers was opened at Bandung. If necessary, he paid for such activities himself. Libraries were founded, a periodical was published, which not only contained advice on agricultural matters (e.g. the urgent appeal to stop erosion by laying out coffee and other gardens in terrasses) and on how to start small industries, but also contained traditional old Sundanese stories and poetry to awaken the interest of the readers for their own culture. The name of this periodical was “mitra noe tani” and these words were engraved on the monument that in 1899 was unveiled at Garut. Holle took a great interest in the Sundanese language in all its aspects. In these activities he received help from his brother Adriaan who had succeeded his uncle Willem at Parakan Salak and who filled in one gift which Karel didn’t possess, the gift for music. Adriaan loved gamelan music and he himself played the rebab in his own gamelan orchestra which is exhibited nowadays in a museum at Sumedang. Karel Holle discovered old monuments with inscriptions on them and searched for old manuscripts which he deciphered and about which he corresponded with several scientists who showed great interest and admiration for his work. He compiled lists of words in order to make a dictionary. He took great interest in the dicovery of the Borobudur. He was deeply convinced of the importance of religion; he learned Arabic and knew the koran by heart. Theereis II English version 19 – 28 Juli 2001 3. ) Even abroad he was well known and foreign visitors came to see him at Waspada, his model tea plantation. The Government appreciated his extensive knowledge in so many fields and wanted to appoint him as Resident of the Priangan but Holle refused because he wanted to remain independent. He accepted to become the “adviseur honorair” to the Government because that would extend his influence in the Government. At the end of his life the Government considered to appoint him as a member of the “Raad van Indië” one of the highest posts in the Government but by that time his health was already failing. Of course he experienced disappointments and was confronted with mistrust and opposition but in many cases he could overcome these obstacles because of his gift to win people’s sympathy. That wasn’t the only gift this extremely talented man possessed. Tom van den Berge, (the author of the biography : “Karel Frederik Holle, Theeplanter in Indië 1829 –1896” (Bert Bakker, A’dam; 1998)) has given a classification of his work: rice and agriculture education, science and language politics and religion. Unfortunately this extremely useful life ended sadly. In 1877 he fell seriously ill and though he recovered after many months he remained partly paralyzed. His energy had suffered too and when a crisis hit the tea culture he couldn’t cope with it, mostly because he had spent too much money on realizing his various projects so that there were no reserve funds left to sit these hard times out. He went bankrupt and had to leave his beloved Waspada. In 1889 he went to Bogor to stay with his youngest sister (the one born at Parakan Salak) who had become a widow. In 1895 he received the “Officierskruis van de Orde van Oranje Nassau”. Later in that year he wrote, when asked for his opinion, that Dr. Snouck Hurgronje had already given a clear advice so that he (Karel) had nothing to add to it. Quite an unusual statement from someone who always grabbed every opportunity to vent his opinion. Within a year, on May 3, 1896 he died and was buried at Tanah Abang, Batavia, next to his mother. On October 29, 1899 on the alun alun of Garut a monument for Karel Frederik Holle was unveiled. At this ceremony Raden Adipati Soeria Nata Ningrat, Regent of Lebak, as his oldest disciple and friend, put into words his feelings with such ardour and conviction (as one of those present later said) “as I have never before heard a Sundanese speak”. Until the war the monument was regularly visited by people from the neighbourhood but during the war the monument was torn down by the Japanese. It is sad that nowadays nobody remembers this man anymore, who has spent his whole life improving the living conditions of the people in the land he both so dearly loved and with whom he identified hemself so much that once when he had been seen talking to a woman and she was asked who that belanda was, she answered : “Lain Walanda, tjara oerang bae”
http://members.lycos.nl/hvdthee/kfholle.html
PENERBITAN buku cetak berbahasa Sunda tidak lepas dari peran orang Belanda. Salah seorang di antaranya adalah K.F. Holle (1829-1896). Ia bahkan dianggap sebagai orang Belanda pertama yang mengusahakan penerbitan buku-buku Sunda. Demikian yang saya baca dari Semangat Baru: Kolonialisme, Budaya Cetak, Kesastraan Sunda abad ke-19 (Mikihiro Moriyama, 2005). Tetapi orang Sunda lebih terbiasa menyebutnya sebagai Tuan Hola saja. Tuan Belanda ini lahir di Amsterdam pada 1829. Pada 1845 ia dibawa orang tuanya ke Hindia Belanda.
Holle termasuk seorang autodidak dan berpikir pragmatis. Dalam hal ini, ia menjadikan perkebunannya semacam perkebunan eksperimental. Ia meneliti berbagai segi pertanian seperti pemanfaatan lahan kering untuk menanam sayur-sayuran, serta cara pengembangbiakan ikan di kolam-kolam kecil.
Selain itu, ia menerapkan idealismenya untuk meningkatkan taraf kehidupan masyarakat miskin di sekitar perkebunannya. Untuk itu, dia mengajari cara untuk meningkatkan metode penanaman padi.
Tetapi setelah berkeliling untuk mengampanyekan maksudnya, ternyata sangat sulit dan memakan waktu. Dengan demikian, dia sadar bahwa cara yang paling efisien untuk menggapai maksudnya adalah dengan mengajari masyarakat agar bisa membaca.
Ternyata, ia bisa menyebarkan idenya melalui pamflet-pamflet dalam bahasa Sunda. Sebelumnya, sejak diangkat jadi juru tulis pemerintah pada 1846, ia tertarik untuk belajar bahasa Sunda serta meneliti unak-anik budaya Sunda. Dan dia sadar betul betapa pentingnya dapat berbicara dalam bahasa Sunda layaknya seorang Sunda.
Projek buku Sunda
Oleh karena itulah, ia berusaha membangkitkan kembali bahasa Sunda sebagai bahasa yang menjadi ciri kebudayaan Sunda. Ia pun mendorong penggunaan kembali bahasa Sunda sebagai bahasa tulis. Hasilnya dapat dilihat dari keterlibatannya dalam penerbitan buku-buku Sunda pada paruh kedua abad ke-19.
Mula-mula ia menerbitkan buku Tjarita Koera-Koera djeung Monjet (1851). Buku yang ditulis bersama saudaranya, Adriaan Holle ini membawa pengaruh pada pendidikan masyarakat Sunda.
Pada 1861 Pemerintah menugaskan K.F. Holle untuk menyusun buku-buku bacaan serta pelajaran bahasa Sunda. Untuk menggarap projek itu, pemerintah mengeluarkan biaya sebesar f. 1.200.
Untuk melaksanakan tugas ini, Holle dibantu oleh R.H. Moehamad Moesa beserta para penulis dari lingkungan Holle. Terutama yang tinggal di sekitar distrik Limbangan. Di antaranya Moesa sendiri berasal dari Limbangan, Adi Widjaja patih limbangan, dan Brata Widjaja mantan patih Galuh, Kabupaten Sukapura.
Hasil projek ini, seluruhnya berjumlah 13 judul buku. Tetapi sebagian besar buku-buku bacaan itu disusun oleh Moesa. Di antara buku-buku hasil pekerjaan itu, sebagaimana yang dapat dilihat dari buku-buku teks yang digunakan di sekolah desa di Bandung pada 1863, di antaranya: Katrangan tina Perkawis Mijara Laoek Tjai (Moehamad Oemar), Wawatjan Djaka Miskin (Wira Tanoe Baija), Wawatjan Woelang Poetra (Adi Widjaja), Wawatjan Woelang Krama (Moehamad Moesa), dan Wawatjan Radja Darma (Danoe Koesoema).
Usaha Holle tak terhenti. Buktinya, selama dasawarsa 1860-an Holle telah mengawasi tak kurang dari 23 judul buku berbahasa Sunda untuk sekolah yang diterbitkan oleh pemerintah.
Sampai 1880-an Holle masih berperan dalam produksi buku-buku bahasa Sunda yang ditulis oleh penulis Sunda. Pekerjaannya baru berakhir pada 1895. Pada tahun itulah ia terakhir mengedit buku Sunda, yaitu Mitra noe Tani (selanjutnya disingkat MnT).
"Mitra noe Tani"
Melalui buku seri inilah Holle memperbaiki sistem pertanian orang Sunda. MnT adalah buku yang terdiri dari tulisan-tulisan seputar pertanian yang ditulis dalam bahasa Sunda. Untuk keterangannya, saya timba dari Lampiran 1: Senarai Buku-buku Berbahasa Sunda Sebelum 1908 (Moriyama, 2005: 283).
Dari situ diperoleh keterangan: seri ini terbit antara tahun 1874-1899. Penerbitannya tak beraturan. Ada yang setahun dua kali, tetapi ada juga yang berjarak dua tahun sekali. Juga ada yang setahun sekali.
Seluruh seri Mnt diterbitkan oleh Landsdrukkerij, penerbit milik pemerintah kolonial Hindia Belanda. Penerbit ini bertempat di Weltevreden, atau Menteng sekarang. Khusus buku-buku Sunda, penerbit ini telah mencetaknya sejak 1853. Dan biasa pula disebut "Kantor Tjitak Kandjeng Goepernemen".
Dari jilid pertama hingga seri ketujuh, MnT dicetak dengan memakai huruf cacarakan Jawa. Sementara huruf Latin mulai dipakai dari seri delapan sampai seri terakhir, jilid 14.
Adapun para penulisnya datang dari beberapa kalangan. Ada pejabat bangsa Belanda, yang tentu saja telah disundakan oleh penulis lokal. Begitu pun dengan para penulis pribumi, baik dari kalangan menak Jawa maupun Sunda. Untuk penyuntingannya, sejak seri pertama hingga jilid 12, MnT diedit oleh K.F. Holle. Karena Holle meninggal pada 1896. Selanjutnya (dua seri terakhir) MnT diedit oleh H. de Bie, guru pada Gymnasium Willem III.
Tetapi semuanya mesti berakhir pada 1896. Karena pada tahun itulah Holle meninggal. Tepatnya pada 3 Mei 1896. Ia pun kemudian dikuburkan di Tanah Abang, berdampingan dengan ibunya.
ATEP KURNIA,
Penulis lepas, tinggal di Bandung.
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