Unexpected Tenderness

This satirical cartoon portrays Dutch colonial policy through a domestic metaphor: Cornelis van Aalst, president and CEO of the Netherlands Trading Company, appears as a nurse, while former Governor-General Johannes van Heutsz plays the father. Together, they look affectionately at the child “Indië” awakening in its cradle. A portrait of Jan Pietersz. Coen hangs on the wall, reinforcing the colonial lineage and symbolism. Published on June 9, 1917, the image critiques the paternalistic attitudes embedded in Dutch rule over the East Indies.