Allah jang Palsoe
Allah jang Palsoe | |
---|---|
Written by | Kwee Tek Hoay |
Characters |
|
Date premiered | 1919 |
Original language | Vernacular Malay |
Subject | Avarice |
Allah jang Palsoe (
Kwee Tek Hoay's first stage play, Allah jang Palsoe was written as a
Plot
Brothers Tan Kioe Lie and Tan Kioe Gie are preparing to leave their Cicuruk home to find work: Kioe Lie will go to Bandung, while Kioe Gie will go to Batavia (now Jakarta) and become a letter-setter. As they are packing, Kioe Lie's fiancée Gouw Hap Nio visits. She leaves some snacks with their father, the poor farmer Tan Lauw Pe, before going home, promising to take care of Pe while his sons are away. The brothers finish packing, say goodbye to their father, and head for the train station.
Three years later, Kioe Lie visits his brother in the latter's Batavia home. Kioe Gie has become an editor of the newspaper Kamadjoean and is known as a generous philanthropist. Kioe Lie, meanwhile, has become the manager of a tapioca factory, but is planning to leave for competing business run by Tjio Tam Bing, who has offered him twice the salary. Kioe Gie asks him to reconsider, or at least not take any customers, but Kioe Lie is set on his goals. Before Kioe Lie leaves, the brothers discuss marriage: since Kioe Lie has no intent to marry Hap Nio soon, Kioe Gie asks permission to marry first. Though Kioe Lie disapproves of Kioe Gie's sweetheart, a poor orphan girl named Oeij Ijan Nio, he agrees.
Another four years pass, and Kioe Gie has become editor-in-chief of Kemadjoean and married Ijan Nio. He is concerned, however, over the newspaper's new political orientation: the owner, Oeij Tjoan Siat, is aiming to make the paper pro-
During the following week Kioe Gie and his wife sell their belongings and prepare to move back to Cicuruk. This departure is delayed by a visit from Kioe Lie, who reveals that he will be marrying Tam Bing's widow Tan Houw Nio – Tam Bing having died the year before. Kioe Gie is horrified, both because the widow has the same surname[a] and because Kioe Lie had promised their father on his deathbed to marry Hap Nio. After an extensive argument, Kioe Lie disowns his brother and leaves.
Five years later, Kioe Lie and Houw Nio's marriage is failing. Owing to poor investments (some made with embezzled money), Houw Nio's gambling, and Kioe Lie's keeping of a mistress, they have lost their fortune. Kioe Lie tries to convince his wife to sell her jewellery, thus allowing him to return the stolen money. Houw Nio, however, refuses, tells him to sell the house and his mistress' jewellery, and then leaves. Soon afterwards, Kioe Lie's friend Tan Tiang An warns him that he will be arrested by the police unless he flees the colony. Together they rent a car and Kioe Lie heads for the port at Batavia.
Passing through Cicuruk, the car breaks down and, while the chauffeur attempts to fix it, Kioe Lie takes shelter in a nearby home. He learns that it belongs to Kioe Gie and Hap Nio, who have built up a vast farm, garden, and orchard that provide them with ample income. The two philanthropists are friends with the area's elite, and Hap Nio is happily married to a rich plantation administrator. When Kioe Gie and his companions return from playing tennis, they discover Kioe Lie hiding shamefully under a piano. Kioe Lie admits that he was wrong to be greedy. When a police officer arrives, Kioe Lie confesses to poisoning Tam Bing, then runs outside and shoots himself.
Characters
- Tan Lauw Pe, a poor farmer
- Tan Kioe Lie, eldest son of Tan Lauw Pe
- Tan Kioe Gie, second son of Tan Lauw Pe
- Oeij Ijan Nio, wife of Tan Kioe Gie
- Gouw Hap Nio, fiancée of Tan Kioe Lie and later wife of Khouw Beng Sien
- Tan Houw Nio, wife of Tan Kioe Lie
- Khouw Beng Sien, administrator of the Goenoeng Moestika plantation
- Oeij Tjoan Siat, owner of the newspaper Kemadjoean
- Tan Tiang An, a Mayor Cina
- Saina, servant of Tan Houw Nio
- Servants of Tan Kioe Lie and Tan Kioe Gie
- Sado, a coachman
- Chauffeur
Writing
Allah jang Palsoe was the first stage play by the journalist
According to the historian
At the time Allah jang Palsoe was written, stage performances were heavily influenced by orality. Contemporary theatres, such as bangsawan and stamboel, were unscripted and generally used fantastic settings and plotlines.[d][10] Kwee Tek Hoay heavily disapproved of such whimsy, considering it "better to say things as they are, than to create events out of nothing, which although perhaps more entertaining and satisfying to viewers or readers, are falsehoods and lies, going against the truth".[e][11] After condemning contemporary playwrights who merely wrote down existing stories, Kwee Tek Hoay expressed the hope that ultimately a unique form of Chinese Malay theatre—inspired by European theatrical traditions but dealing with Chinese themes—could be developed.[12] Allah jang Palsoe was intended to be the first published stage play in this new tradition.[8]
Kwee Tek Hoay made numerous recommendations for the play's casting, costuming, setting, and music. He wrote that if sufficiently talented actors to portray Kioe Lie and Kioe Gie could not be found, "it would be better to not perform this show",[f] and that Ijan Nio needed to show "a perfect woman or wife",[g] as opposed to the "fierce and rough"[h] Houw Nio.[13] He provided four set designs, to be used at appropriate points in the plot, and gave suggestions for setting up the needed backgrounds and props.[14] Kwee recommended that the play include only one song, John Payne and Henry Bishop's "Home! Sweet Home!", which was to be performed in the sixth act with either English or Malay vocals and a trio of piano, viola, and guitar or mandolin.[15]
Analysis
The title Allah jang Palsoe is a reference to money,
The Indonesian literary critic Jakob Sumardjo likewise notes money as the central issue of Allah jang Palsoe, writing that the play shows individuals doing anything to earn it—even sacrificing their values. He writes that the corrupting nature of money remains present in the best of times,[17] and considers Kwee Tek Hoay's message to have been too heavily based in morality rather than considerations of social and human factors. As a result, he writes, readers are brought to understand the lust for money as a "human illness"[i] which must be overcome: they should follow the example of Tan Kioe Gie, not Tan Kioe Lie.[19] John Kwee of the University of Auckland, citing Gie's departure from Kamadjoean, suggests that this was a challenge directed at the Chinese Malay press, then becoming increasingly commercial.[20]
Allah jang Palsoe also contains themes unrelated to money. The
In a preface to his 1926 drama Korbannja Kong-Ek (The Victim of Kong-Ek), Kwee Tek Hoay wrote that he had drawn inspiration from the
Release and reception
The script for Allah jang Palsoe was released by the Batavia-based publisher Tjiong Koen Bie in mid-1919.
Allah jang Palsoe was well received and broadly adopted. branch in
Kwee Tek Hoay received numerous letters from fans of Allah jang Palsoe, spurring him to continue writing.[28] Considering the play too difficult for native troupes to stage, when one such troupe, the Union Dalia Opera, requested permission to perform it, Kwee Tek Hoay instead wrote a new story for them. This later became his best-selling novel Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang (The Rose of Cikembang).[29] Another of Kwee Tek Hoay's stage dramas, Korbannja Kong-Ek, was inspired by a friend, who wrote him a letter asking for another comforting and educational play after reading Allah jang Palsoe.[30]
In 1926 Kwee Tek Hoay wrote that, after Allah jang Palsoe, the quality of stage performances in the Indies had increased noticeably.[31] Nio notes that the quantity of stage plays by ethnic Chinese authors likewise increased. Though not many were ultimately published, the body of work pioneered by Allah jang Palsoe included plays by Kwee Tek Hoay (Korbannja Kong-Ek, Mait Hidoep, Plesiran Hari Minggoe), Lauw Giok Lan (Pendidikan jang Kliroe), Tio Ie Soei (Jan Tio), and Tjoa Tjien Mo (Beng Lee Koen, Hsi Shih).[32]
Sumardjo writes that, though Allah jang Palsoe was published seven years before the Rustam Effendi's Bebasari (generally considered the first canonic Indonesian stage drama), Kwee Tek Hoay's writing shows all the hallmarks of a literary work.[33] Though the drama is not considered part of the Indonesian literary canon,[k] performances have continued into the 21st century. In May 2003, the Jakarta-based Mainteater put on an abridged performance directed by E. Sumadiningrat.[34] Another Jakarta-based troupe, Teater Bejana, has included it in their repertoire.[35]
Notes
- ^ In Chinese tradition, such a relationship would be considered incest (Sidharta 1989, p. 59).
- Spanish occupation of the Netherlands, while the latter two were set among the Javanese gentry (Kwee 1919, p. ix).
- ^ Original: "... isi dan atoerannja ini boekoe ada djaoe dari pada boleh dibilang rapi..."
- Shakespeare, Chinese legends, and contemporary literature (Sumardjo 1992, pp. 102–109).
- ^ Original: "... lebih baek tuturkan kaadaan yang sabetulnya, dari pada ciptaken yang ada dalem angen-angen, yang meskipun ada lebih menyenangken dan mempuasken pada pembaca atau penonton, tapi palsu dan justa, bertentangan dengan kaadaan yang benar."
- ^ Original "... lebih baek ini lelakon djangan dipertoendjoekkan."
- ^ Original: "... sifat jang sampoerna dari satoe prampoewan atawa satoe istri."
- ^ Original: "... galak dan kasar".
- ^ Original: "penyakit kemanusiaan"
- ^ Original: "opera derma". This type of stage drama, also known as Cu Tee Hie, was inspired by the stamboel and generally sponsored by Chinese-backed organizations for fundraising. Such plays were performed by amateur actors in the Betawi Malay dialect. Stories were generally inspired by Chinese legends, tales popular on the stamboel stage, and European theatre (Sumardjo 1992, pp. 110–112).
- ^ The same holds true for all works of Chinese-Malay literature. In his doctoral thesis, J. Francisco B. Benitez posits a socio-political cause for this. The Dutch colonial government used Court Malay as a "language of administration", a language for everyday dealings, while the Indonesian nationalists appropriated the language to help build a national culture. Chinese Malay literature, written in "low" Malay, was steadily marginalised (Benitez 2004, pp. 82–83). Sumardjo, however, sees it as a question of classification: though vernacular Malay was the lingua franca of the time, it was not Indonesian, and as such, he asks whether works in vernacular Malay should be classified as local literature, Indonesian literature, or simply Chinese Malay literature (Sumardjo 1989, p. 100).
References
- ^ a b Kwee 1930, p. 99.
- ^ Kwee 1980, p. 81.
- ^ JCG, Kwee Tek Hoay.
- ^ The Jakarta Post 2000, Chinese-Indonesian writers.
- ^ Sidharta 1996, pp. 333–334.
- ^ Nio 1962, p. 151.
- ^ a b c Sumardjo 2004, p. 140.
- ^ a b Kwee 1919, p. x.
- ^ Sumardjo 2004, p. 142.
- ^ Damono 2006, p. xxii.
- ^ a b Damono 2006, pp. xvii, xvix.
- ^ Kwee 1989, p. 167; Kwee 1919, pp. vi–viii.
- ^ Kwee 1919, pp. 111–112.
- ^ Kwee 1919, p. 118.
- ^ Kwee 1919, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Damono 2006, p. xxi.
- ^ a b Sumardjo 2004, p. 143.
- ^ Damono 2006, pp. xxi–xxii.
- ^ Sumardjo 2004, pp. 143–144.
- ^ Kwee 1989, p. 167.
- ^ Rieger 1996, p. 161.
- ^ Sidharta 1989, p. 59.
- ^ Kwee 1930, p. 99; Lontar Foundation 2006, p. 95.
- ^ Kwee 1919.
- ^ Lontar Foundation 2006, p. 95.
- ^ a b Damono 2006, p. xviii.
- ^ Kwee 1980, p. 89.
- ^ Kwee 2002, p. 2.
- ^ Kwee 2001, pp. 298–299.
- ^ Kwee 2002, p. 4.
- ^ Kwee 2002, p. 9.
- ^ Nio 1962, pp. 151–155.
- ^ Sumardjo 2004, p. 144.
- ^ Arjanto 2003, p. 103.
- ^ Safinaz & Ismono 2012.
Works cited
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- Benitez, J. Francisco B. (2004). Awit and Syair: Alternative Subjectivities and Multiple Modernities in Nineteenth Century Insular Southeast Asia (PhD thesis). Madison: University of Wisconsin. (subscription required)
- "Chinese-Indonesian writers told tales of life around them". The Jakarta Post. 26 May 2000. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
- Damono, Sapardi Djoko (2006). "Sebermula Adalah Realisme" [In the Beginning there was Realism]. In ISBN 978-979-99858-2-8.
- ISBN 978-979-99858-2-8.
- Kwee, John (1980). "Kwee Tek Hoay: A Productive Chinese Writer of Java (1880–1952)". Archipel. 19: 81–92. .
- Kwee, John (1989). "Kwee Tek Hoay, Sang Dramawan" [Kwee Tek Hoay, the Dramatist]. In Sidharta, Myra (ed.). 100 Tahun Kwee Tek Hoay: Dari Penjaja Tekstil sampai ke Pendekar Pena [100 Years of Kwee Tek Hoay: From Textile Peddler to Pen-Wielding Warrior] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Sinar Harapan. pp. 166–179. ISBN 978-979-416-040-4.
- "Kwee Tek Hoay". Encyclopedia of Jakarta (in Indonesian). Jakarta City Government. Archived from the original on 28 August 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- Kwee, Tek Hoay (1919). Allah jang Palsoe [The False God] (in Malay). Batavia: Tjiong Koen Bie.
- Kwee, Tek Hoay (1930). Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang [The Rose of Tjikembang] (in Malay). Batavia: Panorama.
- Kwee, Tek Hoay (2001). "Bunga Roos dari Cikembang" [The Rose of Cikembang]. In A.S., Marcus; Benedanto, Pax (eds.). Kesastraan Melayu Tionghoa dan Kebangsaan Indonesia [Chinese Malay Literature and the Indonesian Nation] (in Indonesian). Vol. 2. Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia. pp. 297–425. ISBN 978-979-9023-45-2.
- Kwee, Tek Hoay (2002). "Korbannya Kong-Ek" [The Victim of the Chinese Association]. In A.S., Marcus; Benedanto, Pax (eds.). Kesastraan Melayu Tionghoa dan Kebangsaan Indonesia [Chinese Malay Literature and the Indonesian Nation] (in Indonesian). Vol. 6. Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia. pp. 1–108. ISBN 978-979-9023-82-7.
- Nio, Joe Lan (1962). Sastera Indonesia-Tionghoa [Indonesian-Chinese Literature] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Gunung Agung. OCLC 3094508.
- Rieger, Thomas (1996). "From Huaqiao to Minzu: Constructing New Identities in Indonesia's Peranakan-Chinese Literature". In Littrup, Lisbeth (ed.). Identity in Asian Literature. Surrey: Curzon Press. pp. 151–172. ISBN 978-0-7007-0367-8.
- Safinaz, Debbi; Ismono, Henry (22 January 2012). "Mempertahankan Jejak Tionghoa dalam Seni" [Maintaining Traces of China in Art]. Tabloid Nova (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- Sidharta, Myra (1989). "Bunga-Bunga di Taman Mustika: Pandangan Kwee Tek Hoay Terhadap Wanita dan Soal-soal Kewanitaan" [Flowers in the Bejeweled Garden: Kwee Tek Hoay's Views on Women and Related Issues]. In Sidharta, Myra (ed.). 100 Tahun Kwee Tek Hoay: Dari Penjaja Tekstil sampai ke Pendekar Pena [100 Years of Kwee Tek Hoay: From Textile Peddler to Pen-Wielding Warrior] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Sinar Harapan. pp. 55–82. ISBN 978-979-416-040-4.
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- Sumardjo, Jakob (1989). "Kwee Tek Hoay Sebagai Sastrawan" [Kwee Tek Hoay as a Man of Letters]. In Sidharta, Myra (ed.). 100 Tahun Kwee Tek Hoay: Dari Penjaja Tekstil sampai ke Pendekar Pena [100 Years of Kwee Tek Hoay: From Textile Peddler to Pen-Wielding Warrior] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Sinar Harapan. pp. 89–121. ISBN 978-979-416-040-4.
- Sumardjo, Jakob (1992). Perkembangan Teater Modern dan Sastra Drama Indonesia [Development of Modern Theatre and Literary Drama in Indonesia] (in Indonesian). Bandung: Citra Aditya Bakti. ISBN 978-979-414-615-6.
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