Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Life is like a spinning wheel. There are times when it's at the top, there are times when it's at the bottom. That's what happened to Oesin, a servant from Java who spent the rest of his life in the Netherlands.
In colonial times, men like Oesin lived in misery. He is nothing more than a slave who is controlled and lives dependent on his master. Most likely, Oesin's arrival to the Netherlands was invited by his employer. However, who would have thought that life in the Netherlands would succeed in changing his life.
In the Land of Windmills, Oesin is no longer a servant, but has changed his profession to become a vegetable seller in The Hague. He sells vegetables around using a cart pulled by a dog. While selling, Oesin succeeded in attracting the public's attention. Not due to negative problems, but because of his kindness when trading.
As explained by historian Fadly Rahman in Homeland Taste (2023), Oesin always adheres to Javanese cultural traditions, even though he now lives in a country thousands of kilometers away from his homeland. He is very simple, calm and humble. When there is haggling over price, everything can be resolved quickly in Oesin's hands.
However, amidst the good news, he suddenly disappeared. After some time, it was discovered that he had secretly founded a restaurant called “Soeka Manah”, on August 16 1922.
Oesin apparently tried to show his cooking skills. He was aware of the large Javanese food market in The Hague, which was known as a center for Indonesians or Dutch people who had visited Indonesia. In essence, he wants cooking skills to gain wealth.
Through this restaurant, Oesin sells typical Javanese food, such as rice, gado-gado, chili sauce, pecel and all kinds of cakes. Over time, all kinds of food have succeeded in pampering consumers' taste buds. Soeka Manah also developed quite rapidly several years after its founding.
Soeka Manah's success then became a blessing in itself for Oesin. It is true that his wealth is unknown, but thanks to this restaurant his life suddenly changed. Proclamation Deli Courant Fadly Rahman quoted as saying that thanks to being a restaurant boss, Oesin suddenly turned into a king.
“[…] “We see the noble Oesin, different from his previous sad state with a background of living in slavery, full of patience in suffering, now he is a great king,” wrote Deli Courant.
Of course, changing oneself to become king is not in the context of power. This means that Oesin has succeeded in changing himself into a respectable and more advanced figure. He no longer wears lower class clothes, but wears a typical European coat. Thanks to the opening of the restaurant, Oesin, who was previously in a lowly position, changed his fate to become famous
Oesin Restaurant would later become a place for Indonesians to hang out and also function as an agent for spreading Indonesian culinary specialties in Europe. Unfortunately, Soeka Manah's existence only lasted 20 years. When Oesin died in The Hague in 1941, Soeka Manah practically closed. Nothing continued and now it's just history.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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