adil was the Acehnese and Arabic term for just or equitable, the quality H. N. A. Swart regarded as decisive for an administrator’s authority.
Swart’s second principle of administration was that he demanded and himself provided proper administration of justice, giving decisions as just as possible “with regard to the adat*” and always with the oelama behind the green table. “Die rechtspraak bracht mede dat de Atjehers den toean als voorzitter van den Moesapat adil (“just”) (rechtvaardig) oordeelden. En wie werkelijk als adil te boek staat, kan als bestuurder veel — zoo niet alles — bereiken.” Du Croo’s seventh summary proposition held that the qualities the Acehnese valued in Swart above all “were his honesty and his justice, qualities which he also demanded of his subordinates.”
See Also
Source
Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter IV, XVI.