Subject: [Javanese] The Contract
Article:

Those Javanese who came to Suriname as indentured laborers had to sign a contract. This contract stipulated that: (1) Each worker promised to work for five successive years six days a week seven hours per day in the field or ten hours per day in a [sugar] refinery. (2) All male workers over 16 years were paid sixty cents a day; women received forty cents a day as children between 10 and 16 years of age. (3) The employer would provide free housing and free medical care. (4) The Javanese would receive food and provisions for the first three months from the employer, but it would be recouped later from the Javanese wages. (5) The Javanese would receive a free return ticket to Indonesia after the five years. In case a Javanese worker renewed his contract that person would receive a bonus of 20 guilder for every addtional year completed. Thus 100 guilders was paid to those who signed up for another 5 years contract. Another option after the first 5 year contract completeion was to become a 'colonist'. This person would receive 100 guilders and two or three hectares of land (1 ha= 10,000 sq meters). This was tax free for six years. That person would be then taxed annually at ten guilders per ha. Anyone who opted to become a 'colonist' lost his free return ticket to Indonesia. ----------




Met dank aan Albert Buys