Oemòng is the Acehnese term for a rice field — the basic unit of the Atjeh rice economy. The Gayo equivalent is oemo and the Alas equivalent is djoemo. The oemòng is the Acehnese-language counterpart of the Malay sawah, but it carries a richer set of sub-types and qualifiers, recording the Atjehnese classification of rice fields by their water-source, their position in the landscape, and their cultivation status. The full vocabulary of the oemòng is documented by J. Kreemer in his *De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden* (1918).
The Water-Source Classification
The principal classification of the oemòng is by its water-source. Kreemer distinguishes:
- Oemòng ie peunieuëh — the artificially irrigated field (Gayo oemo mòc-woih, Alas djoemo mèlawe). This is the highest-quality type, irrigated by water led from rivers and streams through dug channels or bamboo flumes.
- Oemòng preh ie oedjèn — the rain-dependent field. This is the most common type in regions without irrigation, especially in Groot-Atjeh.
- Oemòng paja — the swamp rice field (Gayo oemo paja or oemo rölöm, Alas djoema rawang). A field in swampy low-lying land, where the water is too deep for ordinary sawah cultivation but not deep enough to be unsuitable for rice.
The Topographic Classification
The oemòng is also classified by its position in the landscape:
- Oemòng meusandeng — fields situated higher than the neighbouring fields. Where there is no artificial irrigation, the rain-water flows through the soil directly to the lower-lying terrain. Such fields (oemòng tiriëh, Gayo oemo tiris, Alas djoemo tjènggaling or djoemo lingèh) are therefore of little value.
- Oemòng lhò — fields situated in a valley (Gayo oemo aroel, Alas djoemo aloer). In the rainy season these fields often receive too strong an inflow of water, and are therefore also not sought-after.
- Oemòng teurata — terraced sawahs (Gayo oemo moclinggè-linggè). These are found on the river terraces of the interior, where the rivers of the Bukit Barisan mountains have cut broad valleys with stepped terraces.
- Oemòng binòh — the irrigated fields immediately adjacent to the main irrigation channel. These are the most sought-after, for obvious reasons.
The Size Classification
In Groot-Atjeh the size of the oemòng is classified as follows:
- A large oemòng — that is, one for which one naléh or more of seed-rice is required — is called a jö.
- A smaller field is called a keubeuëng, or in some regions a tipèh.
On the Noord- and Oostkust these terms refer to particular surface-areas. On the Oostkust the area of a sawah is expressed in mas — one mas being a square of which each side is 17 deupa long. This area is called a mas because formerly one mas (= 24 pèng pòr or Straits duiten) was paid for the planting of it.
The Cultivation-Status Classification
The oemòng is also classified by its cultivation status:
- Pòk ròh — an abandoned field, formerly cultivated but long uncultivated (Gayo oemà rak, Alas djoema oesang). Such abandoned sawahs are found, for example, in large numbers in the lowlands of Groot-Atjeh.
- Padé doee — “sitting rice”: rice sown directly on the field by the taboe method (the broadcasting method), which is not transplanted.
- Padé seuneulòng or padé peunaela — “seedbed rice” or “planted rice”: rice transplanted from a seedbed by the poela method.
The Dikes and Compartments
The oemòng is bunded by small earth dikes — ateuëng in Acehnese (Gayo patal, Alas batas) — that retain the water on the field. The irrigated fields are divided by these dikes into compartments — tipèh in Acehnese (Gayo fěmpeh, Alas batas). A complex of rice fields is called a blang in Atjeh, siladang in Alas, and oemo (the same word as for an individual field) in Gayo.
Significance
The vocabulary of the oemòng is the densest part of the Atjehnese agricultural lexicon, recording the Atjehnese classification of rice fields by their water-source, their position in the landscape, their size, and their cultivation status. The vocabulary is preserved in detail in Kreemer’s 1918 monograph, alongside the Gayo and Alas equivalents, and is an indispensable source for the historical study of the Atjeh rice-economy and of the Acehnese language.
See Also
- Rijstbouw in Atjeh
- Sawah
- Ladang
- Blang
- Kreemer’s De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1918)
- J. Kreemer
- Atjehs buffalo vocabulary
- Groot-Atjeh
- Pidie
Source
De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, by J. Kreemer (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1918), pp. 1-5 (the typology and vocabulary of the oemòng).