'[1860] The government of the Dutch East Indies prefers to inform
its masters in the mother country that everything is going according
to plan. So that is what Residents prefer to report to their
superiors.
'The Assistant Residents, who receive almost nothing but good news
from their controleurs, likewise prefer not to send disagreeable
tidings to the Residents. The result is an artificial optimism in
the official record of events, in contradiction not only to the
truth but also to the personal opinions of the optimists themselves,
whenever the same subjects arise in conversation, and--stranger
still!--in contradiction to their own written communications. …
'Among the documents here before me is the annual report of a
certain residency. In it the Resident boasts that trade is
flourishing, claiming that great prosperity and activity may be seen
throughout the region. A little further on, however, in reference to
the limited means at his disposal for catching smugglers, he is at
pains to disabuse the authorities of the disagreeable notion that
his residency loses a great deal of revenue to evasion of import
duties. "No, no," he writes, "no need to concern yourself about
that! Little or nothing is smuggled into my residency, because
. . . so little business is done in these parts that no one would
dream of risking his capital in trade."
'I have seen a report of this kind that opened with the words, "In
the past year, this peaceable place has remained at peace." …
'If the population fails to increase, this can be attributed to the
inaccuracy of earlier censuses. If tax revenues don't increase, why,
that can be presented as a virtue: the low rates have encouraged
agriculture, which has just begun to flourish and will
soon--preferably after the author's term of office--yield fabulous
results. Any turmoil that is impossible to conceal is blamed on a
small gang of malefactors who will no longer cause any trouble now
that overall contentment prevails.'