Keuchi’ (also keuchik, keutjhi; modern spelling geuchik) was the headman or chief of the gampong (Acehnese village) — the primary administrator at the village level. The keuchi’ was responsible primarily for maintaining the customary law (adat) and the worldly affairs of the gampong, though promotion of godly living among his people was also regarded as part of his duty.
Position
Just as the teungku meunasah upheld the Islamic law (hukom), so the keuchi’ upheld the adat — the two domains of authority being complementary and distinct. The keuchi’ represented the gampong in dealings with the imeum mukim above him and the uleebalang of the territory.
Justice
The keuchi’ played a role in the administration of village justice. Suits for the recovery of debts were submitted to the uleebalang when all other means of settlement proved fruitless. The chief then required both parties to deposit a sum equal to that in dispute — this deposit being called ha’ ganchëng (“means of including or binding”) — a token or pledge (tanda jih maté lam jaröë hakim, lit. “one who hands himself over as a dead body into the hands of the judge”). After the uleebalang’s decree was carried out, he restored the ha’ ganchëng but deducted a portion (sometimes from one-half to one-third of the whole) as recompense for his trouble.
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Keutjhï
The Keutjhï was the head of the gampong — the smallest territorial unit of Groot-Atjeh — and the principal adat authority of his community. De Buitenbezittingen, drawing on Prof. Dr. Snouck Hurgronje (De Atjehers, Vol. I, pp. 62, 79), describes him as “het hoofd, de vader der gampong” — the head, the father of the village — the male counterpart to the maternal religious authority of the Teungkoe. Together with one or more waki’s (deputies) and the Oereuëng toeha (elders), the Keutjhï formed one of the three pillars of gampong government.
Appointment and heredity
The Keutjhï drew his authority, the handbook records, “to the oelèëbalang of the district to which his village belongs” — from the oelèëbalang of the district to which his village belonged. Although the office had “in den loop der tijden wel erfelijk geworden” — become hereditary over the course of time — Snouck Hurgronje insisted that “iedere Keutjhï weet, dat de eerste zijner voorvaderen, die dit ambt bekleedde, door den oelèëbalang werd aangesteld, en dat deze hem te allen tijde kan ontzetten” — every Keutjhï knows that the first of his ancestors to hold the office was appointed by the oelèëbalang, who can dismiss him at any time.
The father of the village
Despite his formal subordination, the Keutjhï’s standing rested chiefly on the confidence of his own people. “Teekenend is echter,” writes Snouck Hurgronje (quoted in the handbook), “hetgeen de geleerde schrijver eenige regels verder doet volgen: ‘dat de Keutjhï gewoonlijk zonder moeite zijn gezag kan handhaven, niet zoozeer door steun, van den oelèëbalang zelf als wel omdat hij naar buiten, zoowel tegenover andere gampongs of tegenover overdreven eischen van enkele zijner eigene onderdanen, steeds de belangen en zooveel mogelijk ook de wenschen van de geheele gampong vertegenwoordigt.’” It was, the source concedes, “ijdele phrase” — empty phrase — when the Atjehers reminded one another in their deliberations: “Keutjhï eumbah, teungkoe ma” — the Keutjhï is (our) father, the Teungkoe (our) mother.
Functions and limits
The Keutjhï was the guardian of adat — the customary law of the gampong — against the rival sphere of hoeköm (Islamic law) administered by the Teungkoe. Yet he had, “feitelijk geenerlei rechtsmacht” — actually no judicial authority — and was obliged to send all serious cases up to the oelèëbalang. His task, “als vader der gampong,” was rather to press his “kinderen” toward amicable settlement, in which he acted “zoowel in het belang dier kinderen als in het zijne,” since the gifts offered him for his mediation remained smaller than the share the oelèëbalang would have exacted. A good gampong head could thus usually arrange a settlement “op deze wijze,” making the office “even zorgvuldige als eervolle betrekking een weinig lucratief” — careful and honourable, if not very lucrative.
Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)
The keutjhi’ could be the Dutch administration’s instrument or its betrayer. In 1911 the keutjhi’ of Kalé in Pidië, who enjoyed the confidence of the Kompeuni, lured four soldiers of a foraging party to a distant part of the gampong where they were attacked by five men of Pang Bintang’s band; the wounded soldiers killed the keutjhi’ and a band member. In du Croo’s closing anecdote of 1926, an old keutjhi’ related how his toean had forgiven and forgotten a debt of fifty guilders in embezzled tax money: “his master was a truly generous master!”
See Also
- Gampong
- Adat
- Hikum
- Teungku
- Imeum Mukim
- Uleebalang
- Teungkoe
- Oereuëng toeha
- Oelèëbalang
- Hoeköm
- Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje
- Groot-Atjeh
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Atjeh
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906. Chapter I, §§ 5–7, pp. 58–120.
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 40–42. Citing C. Snouck Hurgronje, De Atjehers, Vol. I, pp. 62, 79.
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 XI, XV.