Valck deemed Malay bloodlust more excusable than calculated European cruelty to coolies

Evidence

However, the question then arises, why little Marthe, who was only five years old, was killed and her three-year-old sister, who, as later became evident, knew almost all of the criminals, had been spared? I feel that once blood had flowed, the tiger-[like] temperament [tijgernatuur] of the Malay emerged and bloodthirstyness [bloeddorst] should be seen as the cause of the crime. By the manner in which it was committed, in a state of excitement, it is easier to excuse than the horrors [gruwelen] that are said to be done in cold blood by so-called civilized Europeans on their plantations to the helpless Chinese coolies, horrors that cannot be unknown to the Malay because they were committed over such a long period of time. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1133

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim itself is embedded in a passage cut off mid-sentence—want to read where it lands. The racial logic is doing double work (excusing and condemning) — worth unpacking further.