Colonial officials permitted dissent reframed as social, not political.

Evidence

Together, the principal organizers—Van Hoëvell, Ardesch, and Cantervisscher—persuade the Governor-General that “parental feelings” and the hardship parents experienced by having to school sons afar were not “matters of state” (staatkundige zaken) but “social” issues that posed no political threat. … Feeling that here [with respect to the Radikaal certificate and secondary education] I was on less favorable terrain, I answered [Van Hoëvell] that with regard to this question, in which the parental feelings and the financial interests of city fathers was so closely concerned, I did not consider these of a purely political nature and if any respectable citizens and city fathers wanted to raise this with moderation and discretion, I would not be opposed but would present their petition to the King. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 473

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to broader colonial-studies literature on how colonized/European-descended subjects strategically depoliticized grievances to access colonial channels, mirroring the ‘colonial commonsense’ frame this reading treats.
• DEFINE: Shows the operative distinction being drawn between staatkundige zaken (matters of state) and ‘social’ issues — a key conceptual binary governing colonial petition politics.