Lae Boetar was a Dutch cultuuronderneming (plantation enterprise) in the Singkelse — the southernmost onderafdeeling of the Westkust van Atjeh, some 60 km north-east of Singkel town — that served as the southern destination of the Westkust evacuation of March 1942 and as the site of the Westkust capitulation of 29 March 1942. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Lae Boetar is the southern Dutch anchor of the Westkust evacuation, and the staff history’s principal narrative instance of the cultuuronderneming as a wartime refuge.
The 1942 evacuation destination
By mid-March 1942 the Westkust bivaks of Meulaboh, Blang Pidië, Tapatoean, Tjalang and Lam No held approximately 3,000 women and children of indigenous militairen. Captain Kloprogge’s plan was to move these women and children southward by road convoy to the Lae Boetar onderneming, which lay outside the gewest Atjeh proper (in the Singkelse, whose population was “hoofdzakelijk Minangkabauers en Batakkers” and which “viel dus eigenlijk buiten de Atjehse sfeer”) and which could be reached by the convoys without forcing a passage through the Bakongan–Singkel Atjehnese-populated stretch of coast.
The European women and children of the Westkust were evacuated in private passenger cars over “smalle en slechte wegen” to the Lae Boetar onderneming. The gros of the indigenous women and children, however, “moest tenslotte in Tapatoean en Bakongan worden achtergelaten” — the bulk could not be moved further south than Bakongan, owing to the approach of the Japanese battalion-strength force from the north.
The 29 March 1942 capitulation
By 29 March 29 March 1942 Captain Kloprogge’s reduced force — about 140 men — had reached Lae Boetar. The capitulation was forced not by enemy pressure but by the lot van de vrouwen en kinderen: “Kloprogge, die de ongelijke strijd toch wilde doorzetten, met het lot van de vrouwen en kinderen voor ogen, overreden met het restant van de troepen (ongeveer 140 man) te capituleren.” The officers who refused to surrender — Captain Steinhorst, Lt Mathus, Lt Thomson and the officier van gezondheid Dingemans — attempted to break through to the still-fighting Dutch forces around Blangkedjeren; only Thomson succeeded, eventually reaching the Medanse before his capture on 26 April 26 April.
Significance
Lae Boetar is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the southern Dutch anchor of the Westkust evacuation, and the site of the moral close of the Westkust campaign. The staff history’s emphasis on the onderneming’s location outside the Atjehse sfeer — in the Singkelse, whose Minangkabau–Batak population lay outside the F-beweging’s zone of mobilisation — frames Lae Boetar as the staff history’s principal narrative instance of the Dutch colonial state’s reliance on the cultuuronderneming as a wartime refuge, and on the demographic boundary between Atjeh and the Singkelse as the southern limit of the F-beweging’s rising.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Captain L. H. J. Kloprogge
- F. Steinhorst
- E. F. K. R. Mathus
- M. C. Thomson
- Evacuation of women and children from the Westkust of Atjeh (March 1942)
- Battle of Blang Pidië (16 March 1942)
- Capitulation at Lae Boetar (29 March 1942)
- Singkel
- 1942
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Enterprise of the S.F.C. (Société Financière des Caoutchoucs) above Singkel. Excellent grounds. Has production unmatched by any other oil palm enterprise; also produces some rubber and coffee.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 56.
Source
Nederlands-Indië contra Japan, Deel VI: De strijd op Ambon, Timor en Sumatra, bewerkt door C. van den Hoogenband en L. Schotborgh (‘s-Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij- en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 1959), Hoofdstuk V (“De strijd in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh)”), pp. 128–137.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 56.