Mixed-descent colonials petitioned for full legal parity with European Dutch

Evidence

Meanwhile a group of self-proclaimed “inboorlingen” (to whom the Governor-General officially referred by the designation “Inlandsche kinderen” but privately by the pejorative “liplappen”) delivered to Rochussen a petition of their own. It called for Reijnst’s immediate dismissal from the Advisory Council; their legal parity with “echte Hollanders” (true Dutchmen); abolition of the existing civil service exam (the Radikaal); and improved higher education in Java for those of European descent. Only the last two demands would remain on the agenda. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 481

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in class/identity/‘political signaling’ themes and colonial classification hierarchies - the divergence between the official designation ‘Inlandsche kinderen’ and private pejorative ‘liplappen’ is a small but telling archival trace of colonial commonsense.