Book review of  Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860–1910,  by James B. Rush, published by Cornell University Press, 1990

Carstens, Sharon A.

English

PDXScholar (Portland State University)

Portland State UniversityPDXScholarAnthropology Faculty Publications andPresentations Anthropology5-1991Review of "Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and ChineseEnterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860-1910" by James R. RushSharon A. CarstensPortland State University, carstesa@pdx.eduLet us know how access to this document benefits you.Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_facPart of the Chinese Studies CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentationsby an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. For more information, please contact pdxscholar@pdx.edu.Citation DetailsCarstens, Sharon. "Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860–1910. By James R. Rush.Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990." The Journal of Asian Studies 50.02 (1991): 466-467.466 THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES for a more decisive shift to a market-based economy to reassure local entrepreneurs and foreign investors alike that then current policies would endure. As if in response, in late November 1990, the party Central Committee adopted a draft program attempting to clarify the regime's long-term objectives. That plan calls for increased links with the global market and a continuation of the multisectored economy through the end of the current century in a patent effort to increase productivity and to link the Vietnamese economy with the rapid economic growth that has recently taken place elsewhere in the region. Yet the element of ambiguity remains. While clearly voicing the intention to continue the pragmatic policies of the past two years, the draft program emphasizes that the state-owned system will continue to play a dominant role in the economy, and that the ultimate goal of the party is a socialist society along familiar Leninist lines. Only time will tell whether such jargon represents mere lip-service to the past or a tenacious refusal by aging party leaders to abandon familiar ideological formulae. This is a useful book for the specialist interested in the structural changes now taking place in the Vietnamese economy. But it has severe limitations as a description of the broad-based changes now beginning to emerge at all levels of Vietnamese society. The essays are of uneven quality, and there is virtually no mention of the question of political and social reforms, without which many observers-including some in the Soviet Union-feel lasting economic progress cannot take place. Ironically, the volume is equally limited as a possible blueprint for Vietnamese policymakers, who must be puzzled by foreign specialists who warn simultaneously about the dangers of going too fast and too slow. WILLIAM J. DUIKER The Pennsylvania State University Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860-1910. By JAMES R. RUSH. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990. 281 pp. $34.95. The monopolistic sale of opium to Asian populations was a ubiquitous feature of colonial and even some native regimes in nineteenth-century Southeast Asia. What made Java distinctive was that the major profits from opium came not from populations of Chinese sojourners, as elsewhere, but from the Javanese themselves. James Rush chronicles the institutions established by the Dutch in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to tap this resource, relying first on Chinese revenue farms and then on direct Dutch control of manufacture and distribution through the Opium Regie. Opium was already an important trade item in Java when the Dutch arrived in the sixteenth century; by 1677, the Dutch East Indies Company had established a monopoly over its sale. Javanese markets for opium expanded during the nineteenth century with population growth and the increasing commercialization and monetization of the Javanese economy. Javanese of all classes used opium, both as a treatment for chronic minor illnesses and pain, and for pleasurable and social occasions. James Rush argues that the small quantities which most people could afford, while mildly addictive, did not generally lead to serious debilitation. The structure of the opium farms established by the Dutch beginning in 1809 was similar to that of other revenue farms run by the Chinese in Java and elsewhere. Chinese merchants bid competitively for the right to manufacture and sell opium This content downloaded from 131.252.181.104 on Tue, 26 Aug 2014 16:18:24 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsBOOK REVIEWS-SOUTHEAST ASIA 467 at government stores in particular areas of Java. On paper, the system appeared fairly straightforward, yet there were a number of features of Dutch colonial policy that increased the impact of opium on the Javanese countryside. For Chinese, the advantage of holding these farms derived not only from the potential profits from opium sales, but also from the relaxation of Dutch-imposed travel and residence restrictions for farm Chinese, which enabled them to expand their commercial activities in rural areas otherwise closed to Chinese trade. Rush argues that Dutch attempts at limiting Javanese opium consumption by supplying smaller quantities of opium at high prices to the Chinese farmers encouraged a system of widespread smuggling which, aided and abetted by both Javanese and Chinese elites, led to despotic and corrupt practices within and without the native court system. The last half of this book describes the largely futile attempts by the Dutch to control the illegal smuggling and sale of opium within the farm system, and the ultimate replacement of this system with direct Dutch control through the Opium Regie. While periodic statements were issued concerning the evil effects of opium consumption, Dutch interests in profiting from the drug remained paramount. Thus, the economic difficulties of the 1880s, which led to widespread defaults among Chinese farmers, coupled with a particularly nasty scandal in one of the largest Chinese farms, finally convinced the Dutch to do away with the Chinese middlemen and to take over the manufacture and sale of opium themselves. Rush's final chapter describes the effects of these changes on the Chinese community and the gradual changes in Javanese society that led to a decrease in the acceptance of opium use. Written in a pleasing and highly readable style, this book portrays the opium monopoly as one of the distinctive institutions of nineteenth century Java. Avoiding approaches that would attribute more sinister motives to Dutch policies or the actions of the elite, it reveals how shifts in socioeconomic policies and viewpoints in Holland both molded and ultimately undercut the opium farm system. The two most interesting chapters for this reviewer were chapter two, which describes opium consumption patterns among the Javanese, and chapter six, which investigates the manner in which opium concerns shaped relationships between Javanese, Chinese, and Dutch officials. Despite its subtitle, the bulk of this book is concerned with Dutch colonial policies and actions, not with Chinese enterprise, which is described in terms of standard models that break no new ground. As Rush notes, much of the difficulty rests with the lack of sources and Chinese patterns of secrecy. Nevertheless, additional data and tables on such things as opium farm bids over time, markets for Javanese rice purchased by the Chinese, or changes in Chinese population structures during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries would have clarified and strengthened the author's arguments. SHARON CARSTENS Portland State University Japanese Relations with Vietnam: 1951-1987. By MASAYA SHIRAISHI. Ithaca: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, 1990. ix, 164 pp. $12.00. The monograph reviews the evolution of Japanese relations with Vietnam since the end of World War II. Despite the importance of Vietnam to Tokyo's postwar This content downloaded from 131.252.181.104 on Tue, 26 Aug 2014 16:18:24 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Review of  Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860-1910  by James R. Rush

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Review of Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860-1910 by James R. Rush

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