East Indies

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 16, 1910

Java Mission

WITH its thirty-two millions, this island has had little missionary effort. Many years ago a godly Dutch missionary, Mr. Janz, translated the Bible into Javanese. His daughter carried forward a work after his death, and for some years has been an observer of the Sabbath. Elder Fulton says:— Just about the beginning of 1909, Miss Janz gave to us the oversight of her little colony of two hundred persons. Three of our workers are now located at this place. We hope that some of the young men who have learned of the religion of Jesus through her efforts will carry the message to other parts of this great field. Small leaflets are to be printed in the many languages spoken in Java, so that our native laborers will have a tract for every man they meet. Elder R. W. Munson has returned to Java from Australia, to work in translating, settling at Soekaboemi. Elder J. W. Hofstra, of Michigan, who speaks the Dutch, the government language, arrived this year. He will doubtless locate near the Soember Wekas health home. Here in the mountains will be our Java headquarters. Two other workers were also added,—Brother Woods, a trained nurse, and Miss Knight, a Bible worker. The centers of our work are Batavia, Surabaya, Soember Wekas, and Pangoensen.

Sumatra Mission

Sumatra has three millions of people; and we have there three workers. Brother Bernard Judge gives us a glimpse of the complex conditions:—

As there are many different nationalities of the Caucasian race, so there are many subdivisions of the Malay race. In Padang we have the Malay proper, some Battaks from north Sumatra, and the Nias, from the islands of Nias and Paga. The inhabitants of Paga, a few months ago, literally hacked to pieces one of the German missionaries stationed there. This was brought about

by the missionary calling for some soldiers from the government, and then using them to compel the natives to attend his meetings. The Chinese are well represented. There are two classes, the immigrant Chinese, who speak Hokkien or some other Chinese dialect, and those who are born here of Chinese fathers and Malay mothers. These speak Malay as their mother tongue, and are called Babas.

We have two Chinese sisters in Padang, faithful believers, from the days of Elder R. W. Munson’s former labors here. A young Battak, in the Singapore school, is preparing publications for his people in Battakland (northern Sumatra), where, during the year, there has been considerable stir over the message. The laws prohibit any of our white missionaries going there, but out of the agitation and by the use of literature, we expect to see the truths for these last days making progress. The workers are studying Malay.

Borneo and Beyond

These islands of the East Indies are off the beaten track. Elder Fulton says:—

Brother Lee Chong Miow made a canvassing trip into Borneo, and remained a short time. With this exception, nothing has been done in this land of Dyaks and wild men. From travelers we learn that the moral standing among some of these heathen tribes is far above many in more favored parts of the island world. And all the way east of Java and Borneo are thousands of islands, great and small, with millions of people waiting to hear this message. “O, where are the reapers?”

We can not but express our gratitude to God for his favor to us in the Dutch Indies. The Lord has given us favor with the Dutch officials. Here it is necessary to have permits, which, as a rule, are renewed every six months or every year. One of our workers, a sister, had faith to ask for a life permit, which was granted.

New Guinea Mission

It was late in 1908 that our first workers landed in New Guinea, S. W. Carr and wife, formerly with the Fiji work, accompanied by B. Tavode, a Fijian.

This year they were joined by Gordon Smith and wife, from Australia, and a Rarotongan, Solomona, trained at the Avondale school. After long waiting, land for a school has been secured, among the raw heathen natives, twenty-seven miles inland from Port Moresby. It is being cleared and planted. Elder Fulton writes:—

During the time of waiting Brother Carr has been successful in bringing the truth before some of the traders and planters. One business man has accepted the light, and is sending his children to our Avondale school, Australia. And so the message spreads!