Belabberen — the colonial army’s term for the surrounding and searching of villages, village-complexes, and isolated houses — was the method that, in Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), Musket judges as “according to some military men more decorative than effective.” Belabberen is the book’s — and Musket’s — example of the old-time method that the colonial army applied at the Verzet in Lhong — and that Musket argues should have been replaced by modern means (tear-gas grenades and gas masks).
The belabberen of Lhong
“At the most recent resistance in Lhong, following the old, formerly much-applied method, a house was surrounded in which the remaining eight exiles had barricaded themselves. This method of surrounding and searching villages, village-complexes, and isolated houses is called belabberen, and is, according to some military men, more decorative than effective.” At the most recent resistance in Lhong, the colonial army — following the old, formerly much-applied method — surrounded a house in which the remaining eight exiles had barricaded themselves. This method — the surrounding and searching of villages, village-complexes, and isolated houses — is called belabberen, and is, according to some military men, more decorative than effective.
Captain Haga and friendly fire
“Sometimes on such occasions military men are wounded or killed by their own fire, as for example the brave Captain Haga.” Sometimes on such occasions soldiers were wounded or killed by friendly fire, as for example the brave Captain Haga. Belabberen — the surrounding and searching — was therefore a dangerous method: the soldiers who surrounded and searched could be wounded or killed by their own fire in the half-confusion of the klewang fight.
The book’s critique
Musket’s argument — that the belabberen of Lhong should have been replaced by tear-gas grenades and gas masks — is the book’s clearest example of the inter-war colonial critique of the old methods. Belabberen — the surrounding and searching — was, in Musket’s argument, more decorative than effective: the belabberen of Lhong had let seven of the eight djahats escape in the half-confusion of the klewang fight, and the djahats had escaped to the Glé Groetèë where they were annihilated — achieving the paradise-death they sought.
Significance
Belabberen is significant in Oost-Indisch Journael as the colonial army’s term for the surrounding and searching of villages, village-complexes, and isolated houses. The book argues that belabberen was more decorative than effective, and that it should have been replaced by modern means (tear-gas grenades and gas masks). Through this critique, belabberen becomes the book’s marker for the outdated methods of the old days — methods the colonial army should have long since abandoned.
See Also
- Musket
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Verzet in Lhong
- Glé Groetèë
- Kapitein Haga
- Djahat
- Paradijs-dood
- Klewanggevecht
- Atjeh-oorlog
Source
Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), chapter Sloebers.