Investigator personally blamed coolie maltreatment for estate violence

Evidence

The investigation pointed to Panglima Selan as the main leader, if not the leader of those who attacked the plantations belonging to Peyer, Baay, and Luhmann. Those events were caused by rapacity mixed with rancor because of the insults suffered. As I have always maintained, there were no politics involved. Band leaders like Panglima Selan always will easily find followers in the Langkat area. Malcontents are quite plentiful here as long as there are planters who badly treat their coolies. There will always be enough deserters who are willing, if only out of desperation, to join a gang leader. To secure peace in this district, it must be made sure that the coolies are not being maltreated by their masters. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1216

Categorization

• XREF: A Dutch official citing planter mistreatment of coolies as the root cause connects to broader colonial labor-history debates and to the later critique of coolie contract exploitation in Sumatra.
• QUESTION: Valck’s personal exoneration of politics and naming of planter exploitation contradicts the official line — worth tracing how this internal letter was received or suppressed higher up.