{"id":178712,"date":"2025-05-06T13:11:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T11:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=178712"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:48","slug":"hatta-building-in-indonesia-mohammad-hatta-was-tied-to-a-tree-in-the-yard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/05\/06\/hatta-building-in-indonesia-mohammad-hatta-was-tied-to-a-tree-in-the-yard\/","title":{"rendered":"Hatta building in Indonesia: \u2018Mohammad Hatta was tied to a tree in the yard\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hatta building on Woudestein campus isn\u2019t the only one. In Bukittinggi, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, there is another Hatta building. It is the birthplace of Indonesian hero Mohammad Hatta, now a museum, and displays few traces of his crucial years as a student in Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

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Students from the local university visit Hatta House.<\/span><\/p>

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In the garden at the side of the Hatta house in Bukittinggi, Andi, a museum staff member, is cleaning \u2018Hatta\u2019s bicycle\u2019. Young Mohammad Hatta loved cycling, he says. \u201cAfter school, he could spend the whole afternoon riding around with his friends. Once, his grandfather had to search everywhere for him because he wasn\u2019t home in time for prayer.\u201d Hatta was punished for it. Andi points to a tree in the yard. \u201cHe was tied to that tree for several hours by his grandfather\u201d, he says with a laugh, as if he had witnessed it himself.<\/p>\n

On the facade of the house, next to where the bicycle is usually parked, hangs a photo of Hatta with his bike. \u201cBut this bike is a replica, of course\u201d, says Andi. \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to preserve a bicycle from the early twentieth century intact.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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The Hatta building at Woudestein is named after Mohammad Hatta, the first vice-president of Indonesia and a key founding figure of the nation. Between 1921 and 1932 he studied at the Nederlandse Handelshogeschool, the predecessor of Erasmus University.<\/p>\n

Hatta was anti-colonial and fought for an independent Indonesia, which was then still colonised by the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he was active in the Indonesian student association Perhimpunan Indonesia, the predecessor of today’s Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia. Back in Indonesia, he became politically active and eventually the first vice-president. Mohammad Hatta is a pivotal figure in Indonesian history and a national hero.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

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The living room of the Hatta house.<\/span><\/p>

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The Hatta building in Bukittinggi is a residence on a plot of around 500 square metres. It is in this two-storey house that Hatta was born and spent the first eleven years of his life. The house now serves as a museum about the national hero.<\/p>\n

In the centre of the ground floor is a living room, where key moments from his life are highlighted. The family tree and photos charting his life story hang on the walls. The furniture in the house are replicas, but it\u2019s about capturing what Hatta\u2019s life here looked like, explains a guide who gives tours of the museum. Upstairs is the bedroom where Hatta was born.<\/p>\n

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The bedroom in which Hatta was born.<\/span><\/p>

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Heroism, anti-colonialism and nationalism<\/h2>
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A photo of the board of Perhimpunan Indonesia.<\/span><\/p>

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Inside the museum, two photos \u2013 one of the board of Perhimpunan Indonesia and a portrait captioned \u2018Bung Hatta being a student in Holland\u2019 \u2013 along with a brief mention on the timeline of his life, offer a modest reminder of his time in Rotterdam. The museum pays little attention to this period, even though those years were important in shaping his anti-colonial ideas. While living in The Hague, for instance, he was in contact with Anton de Kom, the well-known Surinamese resistance fighter and anti-colonial activist. They often discussed independence and resistance to colonial rule and slavery during that time.<\/p>\n

That Hatta\u2019s time abroad is hardly featured is not unusual in Indonesia. In museums and in the broader narrative around key historical figures, the focus is often on heroism, anti-colonialism and nationalism. Hatta, too, is primarily presented in this museum as a purely Indonesian nationalist figure, with no visible traces of foreign influence.<\/p>\n

Students curious about Hatta<\/h2>
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Portrait photo of Hatta as a student in Rotterdam.<\/span><\/p>

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Robila, Deri and Shania, second-year sociology students at the local university, are also visiting the museum and are curious about the figure of Hatta. \u201cWe\u2019ve been living in Bukittinggi for a couple of years, but had never visited this museum\u201d, says Robila.<\/p>\n

They find Hatta fascinating. \u201cHatta seemed to be the counterpart to the first president, Sukarno\u201d, says Shania. \u201cHe was calm, moderate and thoughtful, while Sukarno seemed more fiery and impulsive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students didn\u2019t know that Hatta had studied in Rotterdam. \u201cWe only knew he lived in the Netherlands for a while\u201d, says Deri. In the living room, they discover a note on the timeline of Hatta\u2019s life: September 1921: Hatta began his studies at the Nederlandse Handelshogeschool.<\/em> \u201cOh yes! Here it is!\u201d, Shania exclaims.<\/p>\n

The Hatta building in Rotterdam<\/h2>

Visitors and staff at the museum are also unaware of the existence of the Hatta Building on the Woudestein campus. \u201cDo Hatta\u2019s family members even know about the building on your campus?\u201d, asks the guide. The building was erected in 2009, but the family wasn\u2019t officially informed until 2014, with help from alumnus Kwik Kian Gie<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\t

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