Geumpenie — the Acehnese rendering of “Gouvernement” — was the term by which the Acehnese called the Dutch colonial state. In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), Geumpenie is the term used in the chapter Sloebers — “to force the Atjeher, via his religious conceptions, into submission to the Geumpenie” — and in the chapter on the affliction of transfers: “The history of Atjeh, for example, showed repeatedly how the most effective ally of the Atjeher against the Geumpenie was the Geumpenie itself.”
Geumpenie and the prang sabil
“Burying fallen opponents together with a pig was considered a proven means to force the Atjeher, via his religious conceptions, into submission to the Geumpenie.” Burying fallen opponents together with a pig was considered a proven means to force the Atjeher, via his religious conceptions, into submission to the Geumpenie. Geumpenie — the colonial government — is the book’s term for the colonial state that the djahat of the prang sabil resisted: the djahat’s paradise-death was death in battle against the Geumpenie.
Geumpenie as its own worst enemy
“The history of Atjeh, for example, showed repeatedly how the most effective ally of the Atjeher against the Geumpenie was the Geumpenie itself, which constantly struck a new direction, which constantly changed its systems of administration, and only during the ten-year administration of the Aceh-connoisseur, General Swart, were order and peace consolidated in that province.” The history of Atjeh showed repeatedly how the most effective ally of the Atjeher against the Geumpenie was the Geumpenie itself, which constantly struck a new direction, constantly changed its systems of administration, and only during the ten-year administration of the Aceh expert, generaal Swart, were order and peace consolidated in that province. Geumpenie — the colonial government — is therefore the book’s — and Musket’s — marker of the colonial state’s failure of continuity in Aceh: the government was its own worst enemy, constantly shifting course.
Significance
Geumpenie is significant in Oost-Indisch Journael as the Acehnese term for the colonial government. The book argues that the colonial state was its own worst enemy in Aceh, constantly changing direction and administration systems — a failure of continuity that undermined its own position. Geumpenie thus serves as the book’s term for the colonial state that the djahat resisted and that, through its own inconsistency, bore responsibility for its difficulties.
See Also
- Musket
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Djahat
- Prang sabil
- Atjeh-moord
- Paradijs-dood
- Generaal Swart
- 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 and the chapter on the affliction of transfers.