Witnessing Dutch internment did not erase memories of Dutch power, but it
was often a pivotal moment. The experience of having watched their employers
taken away and never heard from again, having seen well-furnished Dutch
homes emptied of belongings, having watched fathers separated from wives
and children, and having seen life behind barbed-wired internment camps, recast
many former servants' recollections of their employer^.^^ Ibu Kilah, for
example, who recalled bringing food into the camp for her "Nyonya," remembered
feeling "pity" for her "Mrs.," who was living in crowded conditions and
growing thinner by the day. Yet in contrast to the nostalgic Dutch recollections
that dwell on the loyalty and generosity of Javanese servants during these hard
times, she said flatly that she stopped working when her Nyonya's money began
to run out and the demands of other Dutch women in the camp became too
onerous