The Hikajat Prang Kompeuni (Acehnese: Hikayat Prang Gompeuni, “Epic of the War with the Company”) is the great Acehnese heroic poem narrating the Atjeh-oorlog (prang Gompeuni — the war against the Dutch Kompani), composed orally over five years by the illiterate poet Dokarim of Glumpang Dua, who added fresh material as eyewitnesses provided new information, and whose recitation was taken down directly by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje to produce the first complete written copy. It is the principal Acehnese narrative source for the first phase of the war — that of the sultan, the hoeloebalangs, and the irregular chiefs — and preserves the Acehnese judgement on the principal Dutch and Achehnese actors, including the memorable characterisation of Major-general Van der Heyden as “the one-eyed general” and “the one-eyed king,” whose departure marked the end of the three-year period of rest that followed the conquest of the XXVI Moekims in 1879.
Composition
The epic was composed orally over five years by the illiterate poet Dokarim of Glumpang Dua, who added fresh material as eyewitnesses provided new information. Hurgronje had the poem taken down directly from Dokarim’s recitation, producing the first complete written copy. It is the principal literary source for the careers of Teuku Uma, Teungku Tiro, Habib Abdurrahman, Panglima Tibang, and many other figures of the Aceh War.
The contents of the epos were communicated by Snouck Hurgronje to J. A. de Bruyne, who cited it at length in his De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd (1912) — one of the earliest appearances of the epos in Dutch historical writing.
The Van der Heyden passage
The source work cites the Hikajat Prang Kompeuni at length on the close of the first conquest of Great Acheh. The passage — communicated by Snouck Hurgronje — reads:
“But when the XXVI Moekims were conquered, and shortly afterwards the one-eyed general made victorious campaigns even through the XXII Moekims, to the astonishment of the hitherto boasting Highlanders, then the Imam of Longbattah sheathed his sword and withdrew from public life. Now broke a three-year period of rest, in which the one-eyed general consolidated his conquests. The Radja Moeda, Toekoe Nja Moekamat, strained every effort to bring the chief place and Oleh-leh to prosperity, and succeeded so well, that the population fled from their villages in streams not to be stemmed to the chief place, and fraternised with the kafirs. One lived as in continual festivity, drove profitable trade, and the war-leaders could find no people to follow them. All went to bring homage to the one-eyed king… When the one-eyed king was gone, the rest ended.”
The epos ends with the verdict: “As the Kompani now (1891) goes to work, she will never get Atjeh. Just was the one-eyed general.”
The first phase of the war
The Hikajat Prang Kompeuni is the principal Acehnese narrative source for the first phase of the Atjeh-oorlog — that of the sultan, the hoeloebalangs (district chiefs), and the irregular chiefs. The epos preserves the Achehnese judgement on the principal Dutch and Achehnese actors: the “one-eyed general” Van der Heyden, whose conquest of the XXVI and XXII Moekims broke the highland resistance; the Imam of Longbattah, who “sheathed his sword and withdrew from public life” after the conquest; the Radja Moeda Toekoe Nja Moekamat, whose effort to bring the chief place and Oleh-leh to prosperity succeeded so well that the population “fraternised with the kafirs”; and the war-leaders, who “could find no people to follow them” once the one-eyed king had gone.
The epos also covers, on Snouck Hurgronje’s documentation, the careers of the principal Achehnese figures of the later phases of the war: Teuku Uma, Teungku Tiro, Habib Abdurrahman, and Panglima Tibang.
Significance
The Hikajat Prang Kompeuni is the principal Achehnese literary testimony to the first phase of the prang Gompeuni — the war with the Dutch. Its citation in the source work — through the medium of Snouck Hurgronje — is one of the earliest appearances of the epos in Dutch historical writing, and its judgement on Van der Heyden — “the one-eyed king” — preserves the Achehnese recognition of his achievement. The epos’s verdict that “as the Kompani now (1891) goes to work, she will never get Atjeh” reflects the Achehnese perception of the failure of the concentration scheme of the 1880s, and prepares the way for the more aggressive policy of Van Heutsz after 1898.
See Also
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Dokarim
- K. van der Heyden
- Imam of Longbatta
- Toekoe Nja Moekamat
- XXII Moekims
- XXVI Moekims
- Oleh-leh
- Teuku Uma
- Teungku Tiro (Muhamat Amin)
- Panglima Tibang
- Aceh War
- Dutch Concentration Scheme
- Prang Sabi
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 108-109.
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.