loeëng is a subject named in *General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943) by [[Maurice Henri du Croo|M. H. du Croo, in connection with the history of Atjeh and the governorship of H. N. A. Swart.
Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)
From Pidië
Swart considered the improvement of the sawah culture in Pidië especially important, since rice from the north coast had a good and easy outlet to Sumatra’s Oostkust, where there was always a shortage. He sought and found a collaborator to help him improve the existing water conduits, the loeëngs. An agricultural school was opened at Pedir on 12 February, of which the population did not yet fully grasp the significance but understood enough to see that an attempt was being made to raise agriculture.
From Het Pacificeerende Bestuurswerk 1908-1918
“I have always tried,” Swart related, “to obtain very good workers in Atjeh for the matters in which I took an interest. Workers who felt for their task. Above all the irrigated rice cultivation in Pidië had to be improved. On the North Coast there was a good and easy outlet for the rice to Sumatra’s Oostkust, where there was always a rice shortage. So I sought and found a collaborator who could help me with improvements to the existing watercourses, the loeëngs. What had been done in that respect up to then, and what the Acehnese did himself, was insufficient. Moreover, waterworks in the great rivers were needed with a view to irrigation.”
From Pacificatie van Atjeh
The pacification in its constructive aspect comprised the pacifying administrative work: the repayment of unlawfully withheld incomes and securities, the support of the oelèëbalangs and their return to their gampongs, the issue of rice and seed-padi, generous advances for the purchase of plough cattle, the improvement of sawah irrigation and of the loeëngs, the encouragement of pepper, oil-palm and rubber cultivation, the building of roads and of the Gajòweg, the extension of the Atjehtram, the founding of volksonderwijs including girls’ schools and the Normaalcursus at Koeta Radja, and the care of public health.
Account from Het recht op den grond in Atjeh (D. W. N. de Boer, 1931) — the loeëng as evidence of earlier cultivation
Besides its place in the irrigation works of Pidië, the loeëng had a defined role in the Atjehnese law of proof, recorded by D. W. N. de Boer from his service as chairman of Atjehnese moesapat and landschapsgerecht courts.
In Groot-Atjeh, a plaintiff who sued a clearer of waste land on the ground that he had himself earlier exercised a possessory right over it, but had allowed it to lie roh (fallow), could not succeed merely by producing witnesses: “getuigen alleen baten dus niet” — witnesses alone do not avail. He had also to point to still visible traces of earlier working. Where the ground was wet rice field (oemòng), the required traces were principally those of ateueng (Malay galangan, the small dikes of a rice field); and “een toenmaals gebruikte waterleiding (loeëng)” — a watercourse used at the time — or the buried oendja boundary post could serve as further proof.
If the plaintiff could not produce such evidence, the defendant’s right to the disputed ground was confirmed. If he succeeded, the defeated occupant was granted the haq padjoh asoé — the right to work the land and enjoy its produce for three further years — against annual delivery at harvest of one naleh of padi, the padé kandoeri, in recognition of the other’s right.
See Also
- Pidië
- Het Pacificeerende Bestuurswerk 1908-1918
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Atjeh
- Ateueng
- Oemong
- Roh
- Haq padjoh asoé
- Oendja ateueng
- Het recht op den grond in Atjeh (De Boer)
Source
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), passim.
Het recht op den grond in Atjeh (“The Right to the Soil in Atjeh”), by D. W. N. de Boer, dated Scheveningen, November 1931, pp. 59-80. Offprint DLP-141, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, ‘s-Gravenhage; Bibliotheek KITLV accession 0060 4460 60 081470 428.