Moesapat (from Atjèhnese meusapat = “vergaderd,” assembled) was the indigenous court of Atjèh, introduced in 1879 for the XXV Moekim’s by governor K. van der Heijden. Composed of Oelèëbalang’s as members, the assistent-resident of Koeta Radja as chairman, a European griffier (clerk), an Inlandsch ambtenaar of O.M. (public prosecutor), and a Mohammedan geestelijke (clergyman), the moesapat decided cases according to religious laws, popular institutions, and customs.
Establishment (1879–1881)
The moesapat was introduced by governor K. van der Heijden’s besluit of 20 January 1879 N°. 172/P.Z., declaring the indigenous population of the subdued part of the XXV Moekim’s justiciable before the court. Extended on 20 April 1880 (N°. 696/P.Z.) to the XXII and XXVI Moekim’s. Regulated by Stbl. 1881 N°. 83 (the Moesapat-Ordonnantie), issued alongside Stbl. 1881 N°. 81 (placed Atjèh under Raad van Justitie te Padang) and N°. 82 (the Atjèh-Reglement).
The der Kinderen commission
The three 1881 Staatsbladen resulted from the work of Mr. T. H. der Kinderen, Member of the Raad van Nederlandsch Indië, who served as Regeerings-commissaris for the reorganisation of justice in the buitengewesen. He travelled to Atjèh in November 1880, staying until early February 1881, then submitted proposals resulting in the three Staatsbladen.
Organisation
In the rechtstreeks bestuurd gebied (directly governed territory), the moesapat was composed of:
- Oelèëbalang’s as members
- Assistent-resident of Koeta Radja as chairman
- European griffier (clerk)
- Inlandsch ambtenaar of O.M. (public prosecutor)
- Mohammedan geestelijke (clergyman — usually a kali)
In the zelfbestuursgebied (self-governing territory), the composition was different, regulated by Stbl. 1916 N°. 432. Only landschapshoofden remained as sole judges; district- and stamhoofden were excluded from judicial authority by the gouverneurs besluit 31 July 1916 N°. 548/9.
Jurisdiction
The moesapat handled:
- Pasah (divorce by judicial decree) — the grounds under Islamic law were few and hard to prove
- Wali-radja for girls without wali
- Balé meudeuhab — rite change (switching from Shafi’ite to Hanafite school)
- Praé (boedelscheiding — estate division)
- Debt recovery — moesapat cases for recovery of arrears at the Groot-Atjèhsche Afdeelingsbank rose from 17 in 1909 to 674 in 1916
Composition and procedure
Justice in Atjeh, Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje wrote in 1903, “is carried out … by the chiefs under the direction of the civil officials and administrators.” The court included a Muhammadan adviser, the oelama or teungkoe, and a native public prosecutor, the djaksa or adjunct-djaksa.
H. N. A. Swart made proper administration of justice one of his four principles of administration: “he demanded and himself provided for a proper administration of justice, in which correct verdicts were handed down according to principles of law that the Acehnese understood. Thus a decision as just as possible ‘with regard to the adat’, that is to say always with the religious adviser, the oelama, behind the green table. That administration of justice brought it about that the Acehnese judged the toean as chairman of the Moesapat to be adil (just). And whoever truly has the name of being adil can achieve much, if not everything, as an administrator.”
Snouck Hurgronje’s criticism
Snouck Hurgronje’s letter to Governor-General Rooseboom of 2 October 1903 condemned the administration of justice under Van Daalen as one of “the most tyrannical arbitrariness.” The low level of development of many chiefs might excuse the fact that sentences were often composed entirely by the civil administrator and “not seldom sealed or signed by the chiefs entirely against their own judgement”; and the lack of juridical knowledge and experience of many administrators meant that their sentences were often such “that no jurist would be willing to answer for them.” All this ought gradually to change, “because officials familiar with native jurisprudence really guide the chiefs, instead of accustoming them to the idea that the affixing of their seal or their signature has nothing to do with their opinion.”
The Scheepens case
The sitting of 10 October 1913 at Sigli exhibited the collision between adat and colonial criminal law. The adjunct-djaksa demanded the maximum penalty for slight wounding known to Dutch criminal law, three months’ imprisonment. One of the judging oelèëbalangs asked the Muhammadan adviser what penalty he thought fitting, and the Teungkoe answered according to Acehnese adat: “Loeka oelón sipat, darah oelón soekat, lhò’ oelón takat, diët lhëë ploh reunggèt” — “the wound I have measured, the blood I have measured, the depth I have sounded; the blood-price is thirty dollars.”
The oelèëbalang T. Béntara Titeuë, father of the wounded youth, sprang up in fury, abused the Teungkoe as kaphé, and claimed that by adat he had the right not only to kill the man who had shed his son’s blood but that man’s whole family. He told the President that he understood the President might no longer apply Acehnese adat, but that if the perpetrator were not punished with at least banishment to Java he would be maloe in the eyes of his people. When the Moesapat (“customary-law court”) pronounced three months, he drew a hidden knife and stabbed the presiding officer.
Other incidents
In December 1914 two young Alassers forced their way into the Moesapat (“customary-law court”) hall at Koeta Tjanè, wounded the controleur Christan and some oppassers, and were laid low.
Significance
The Moesapat (“customary-law court”) embodied the compromise on which Dutch indirect rule in Atjeh rested: justice pronounced by Acehnese chiefs according to Acehnese principles, under Dutch presidency and within Dutch legal limits. The Scheepens case demonstrated the point at which the compromise could break down, when the adat tariff of blood-price and blood-vengeance and the Dutch penal maximum for slight wounding proved incommensurable.
See Also
- Oelèëbalang
- Kali
- Korte Verklaring
- Raad Agama
- 1879
- 1881
- Adat
- W. B. J. A. Scheepens
- Murder of Lieutenant-Colonel Scheepens (10 October 1913)
- Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje
- Landschapsgerecht
- Maloe
- H. N. A. Swart
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Indigenous court where important cases are heard; each has a government-appointed kali-moesapat as advisor.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 133, 350.
Source
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Tweede Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1923.
Identifier: Delpher MMKB02B:000001798; PPN 395084288. Koninklijke Bibliotheek.
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 IV, p. 23; Chapter VIII, pp. 81–82; Chapter XII, pp. 119–122.
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. 133.