The Eastern culture which is very contrast in the way of thinking with the Western culture creates kinds of misleading interpretation regarding to habitual activities of both sides. Undoubtedly, the two cultures are met in the process of Archipelago colonization. In The Counselor, a short story written by Herman Jan Friedericy, we can see the political and cultural condition of southern peninsula of Sulawesi in the late Dutch colonization era. Moreover, this paper will discuss on how the story displays the image of the native Archipelago people on the perspective of Dutch and its significances.

The first example of the strangeness is when Tuan Petoro met his djongos (male servant) when he carried in Tuan Petoro’s luggage and called him batman. In fact, the servant just wore a “dark blue uniform with orange trimming, black velvet kupiah and bare feet” (p. 128). Tuan Petoro called him batman because of his ability to work under dark environment. I assume Tuan Petoro thought that his servant had a magical ability so that he didn’t need any lights. Also, the appearance of his servant was unusual for Tuan Petoro, because he wore black velvet kupiah and bare feet, which, I think, Tuan Petoro scarcely saw that and then Tuan Petoro imagined that his servant is like a bat. In addition, the Dutch’s way of dressing was totally different with the batman, at least in the way of wearing footwear, because I assume that the Dutch should wear footwear wherever they are, especially in outdoor. Note that although actually Tuan Petoro acquainted the batman formerly (because actually he was Tuan Petoro’s servant in Watan Soppeng), the first impression when Tuan Petoro looked at him was his similarity with batman.