Coffee Creates New Urban Civilization

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Mount Semeru rises above the area known as “Amstirdam” (Ampelgading, Tirtoyudo, Dampit, Sumbermanjing Wetan) in Malang regency, East Java on Tuesday, Jan. 9. Coffee plantations in the area consist of 17,849 hectares of Robusta coffee and 1,028 hectares of Arabica coffee. Some 22,000 coffee farmers live in the area.

Ever since coffee became the most promising commodity in the world, the face of the hinterlands was the same again. Coffee plantations expanded and gave birth to a new civilization – one with a new culture and economic order.

Greater Malang (Malang city and regency, as well as neighboring Batu) in East Java used to be a small coffee-producing region. Coffee shrubs can be found all over the city as well as in the foothills of the surrounding mountains: Penanggungan, Kawi, Panderman, Semeru and Arjuno.

Historical traces of Malang’s coffee plantations were captured in the travel reports of JL Van Sevenhoven, a Dutch man who journeyed from Malang to Kediri in 1812. In the 2011 book Sejarah Daerah Batu (History of Batu) written by Malang State University historian Dwi Cahyono, Sevenhoven is said to have walked through the coffee plantation in Naya, which is today known as Dinoyo and Kaling or Sengkaling. He then crossed the Brantas River and found the Batu coffee plantation. It was not big but it stretched far along the roadside.

At the time, Malang was seen as an unproductive region due to its lack of manpower. The Surapati War, or Geger Suropaten, led to locals migrating away from Malang. This situation changed when the Dutch colonial government implemented the forced cultivation system in the 1830s. They expanded the coffee plantations. “Malang has fertile soil and is good for planting coffee. Plantation expansion took place afterwards,” Dwi Cahyono said.

Coffee is also found in the ancient crater of Mt. Ijen. The location is at an altitude of 1,200-1,500 meters above sea level. Banyuwangi, Jember and Bondowoso are its buffer regions. At the time, these towns were busier than Malang. Thomas Stamford Raffles noted in his book The History of Java that Malang only had 7,148 residents whereas Banyuwangi had 8,070 residents and Besuki and Panarukan were even more crowded with 24,109 residents.

“In 1856, Bondowoso officially became the capital of Besuki residency due to its abundant coffee. Bondowoso blossomed,” said Jember University professor of economic and environmental history, Nawiyanto.

Two major coffee factories, namely Blawan and Kalisat-Jampit, were established in the region. The two factories produced coffee beans that were shipped to Europe.

The abundant coffee production led the colonial government to build supporting infrastructure. A railway was constructed to transport coffee from Bondowoso to Panarukan.

The unpublished book Tiga Abad Perjalanan Kopi Indonesia (Three Centuries of Indonesian Coffee’s Journey) by John Boko Baon mentioned Blawan in Ijen (Bondowoso) as among the largest coffee plantations at 1,333 bahu (1 bahu equals roughly 0.7 ha) with an Arabica yield of 6,272 baskets in 1933. Pancur Angkrek, another plantation in Ijen, once produced 9,000 baskets of Arabica coffee (based on a 1912 report) despite only measuring 1,080 bahu in area.

The Dutch brought workers from Madura to their plantations in Malang, Jember, Banyuwangi and Bondowoso. Suritno, a worker in the Kalisat-Jampit factory, is a third-generation coffee plantation worker from Madura. He still remembers his grandfather’s story of how the Dutch took him from Madura and brought him to Bondowoso to clear the jungle and plant coffee.

The journey from Besuki to Blawan took days on foot. “[The locals] walked in front while the Dutch were at the back. When wild animals attacked, the locals would face them first,” Suritno said.

As the community of Madurese workers grew in Bondowoso, the Dutch also brought Madurese arts into the area. The Janger, for instance, was commonly performed during harvest season. The Osing people – native to Banyuwangi – also usually performed the Gandrung.

Nowadays, the Blawan plantation is managed by state plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) XII. Blawan plantation deputy manager Qubul Wathoni Akhsani said the arts were introduced to the region by workers who did not return to their hometowns. They chose to stay at the plantation and used their earnings to have fun. When their earnings were spent, they would return to work.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Workers sort coffee beans at coffee-processing factory PTPN XII at Kalisat plantation, Bondowoso, East Java on Friday, Jan. 12.

Change

Nowadays, more than two centuries after the plantation was first established, coffee’s historical mark can be found all over the town. The Malang regent’s office, which used to be where collectors of coffee harvest yields gathered, still stands. The Lawang route (“Jalur Lawang”), which was established between Malang and Surabaya to facilitate coffee transportation to Surabaya, is now among the busiest routes in the region.

On the other hand, the regions Sevenhoven traveled through no longer have coffee. Dinoyo, Sengkaling and Karangploso in downtown Malang have all turned into densely populated residential areas. Several historical coffee-processing factories, such as Tretes Panggung in Dampit, Malang, now lie in ruins after locals destroyed them during the Second Dutch Military Aggression.

Coffee leaf rust then spread to major coffee plantations in Jember, Pasuruan, Banyuwangi and other surrounding towns. In Jember, coffee was then replaced with tobacco and sugar. “In the early 20^th century, coffee could no longer be planted in plantations in Wringin and plantation workers were forced to migrate to Jember,” Nawiyanto said.

Only four coffee plantations in Ijen valley remained. Surviving the coffee leaf rust outbreak, the four plantations today still produce the globally renowned Java coffee. It is these four plantations that are currently under management by PTPN XII. They have supplied coffee to the same global markets for 200 years.

The most obvious impact of the historic coffee industry has been the fusion of cultures. Madurese communities have blossomed in the towns surrounding the coffee plantations. They live side by side with other ethnicities – both native and migrants.

These towns have now become not only coffee producers but also coffee consumers. Coffee shops and cafes have mushroomed all over town and have created spaces for locals and visitors alike to socialize. These socializing spaces are the birthplaces of new civilizations, built from the activity of drinking coffee.

(NIT/GER/DIA)