Worker’s Paradise: A History of Labor in the Oil Town of the Netherlands-Indie, 1890-1939

Abstract

This article offers a preliminary survey on the working conditions of laborers in the petroleum
industry in late-colonial Netherlands East Indies (1890-1939). Through an examination of the
material conditions of work in the oil cities of Pangkalan Brandan, Balikpapan, and Palembang,
this article argues that working conditions were substantially influenced by the idiosyncratic
characteristics of the petroleum industry, consequently arguing against the current established
literature on labor history in Indonesia. By emphasizing on these industrial characteristics and
paying attention to its fluctuations, this article offers a more nuanced perspective on the issue
of colonial labor regimes.