IN spite of changing their confessed religion, the Mardijkers didn’t change their language. Thus, in the 17th century and partly also in the 18th century, the most common language in Batavia was a kind of portuguese mixed with many malay words. Some protestant ministers had even to learn portuguese in order to serve this growing community. In fact, portuguese still was the lingua franca to Asia, though Portugal had since long become powerless.

It was for this community, the Black Portuguese Community, that the De Nieuwe Portugeesche Buitenkerk, as it was called in dutch (meaning: “Portuguese church outside the walls”) was built for.

And today there I was, not as a white portuguese, but as a Mardijker in hearth, to pay tribute to all those who kept the portuguese language alive for so many years in this remote far east city of the world … (more here)