Thus he could confidently state that their “undeveloped skills. [fact]
The cognitive rigor as- signed to the complexity of the Dutch language and the mental dexterity it required were opposed to the crude market Malay that was all many of- ficials knew. Thus he could confidently state that their “undeveloped skills at reasoning” were derived from “their exclusive use of the most narrow- minded and confining language of Malay.”
Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ E…, loc. 716