This photo captures a saddening scene, even though it may be normal at the time. In the photo, we can see some indigenous children carried a palanquin loaded with a Dutch woman. Several other children carried the woman's luggage.
This was a common sight in the past in the Dutch East Indies, when human labor was still a means of transportation. This human-powered means of transportation was popular especially for areas with broken roads or uphill so that it cannot be reached by car.
Some people think that it was normal, that the Dutch woman has paid, everyone was happy. But what they forget is what kind of economic, social and political system caused this to emerge. If someone thinks that as long as the transaction occurs legitimately then everything is fine, there must something wrong with their mind.
In a racist and discriminatory colonial system, indigenous groups got the lowest welfare. The poverty that occured was structural poverty, which was caused by the colonial system. How can we say that this is a common thing and not slavery just because there are little payments received by these children?
We still encounter the same phenomenon today where the poorest groups in society have to do heavy jobs with minimal wages, while the richer groups earn much more money easily.
The photo above was taken in Java around 1915-1925 apparently in a mountainous area.
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