Oorlogscontrabande — contraband of war — was the term used in Dutch administration for the arms, powder and munitions whose importation into Atjeh the Dutch sought to prevent by the blockade of the coast, the scheepvaartregeling and the recherchevaartuigen.
The problem of enforcement
The Voorloopig Verslag recorded that precisely the rivers and creeks of the Acehnese coast frequently gave small prauwen the opportunity to bring in contraband, and that Dutch warships could not adequately guard against it. Van Vlijmen cited the case recorded in the Koloniaal Verslag of the bringing in of oorlogscontrabande at Simpang Anas, and used it to argue for ten recherchevaartuigen rather than the three requested.
Kuyper made the same point from the confessional benches: the search vessels “moeten dienen om te beletten dat er niet voortdurend ammunitie in Atjeh worde ingevoerd,” — must serve to prevent ammunition being continually imported into Atjeh, and it was mistaken thrift to be niggardly with them.
The scale of the traffic
H. van Kol described the trade from the other end. Pinang, he said, had of old been the market for the Acehnese export articles of pepper, pinang and forest products, “uit Pinang werd rijst, petroleum, opium, kruit en geweren aangevoerd.” — from Pinang were brought rice, petroleum, opium, powder and rifles. The profits of that traffic went in great part to the Pinang traders and smugglers.
He quoted the Indische Gids to show that interdiction had failed: “De verdere winsten waren voor de smokkelaars, ondanks het uitvoerverbod der Britsche autoriteiten, en de verbodsbepalingen op den invoer, en de blokkaden der Nederlandsche Regeering; ondanks de sluiting der kusten en scheepvaartregeling. De geschiedenis zal later verrassende feiten aan het licht brengen.” — The further profits were for the smugglers, despite the export prohibition of the British authorities, and the prohibitory provisions on import, and the blockades of the Netherlands Government; despite the closing of the coasts and the shipping regulation.
Significance
The traffic in oorlogscontrabande was the material basis of Acehnese resistance after the loss of the coastal ports, and its interdiction the principal object of the Dutch coastal system defended by Cremer in the Atjeh debate. The declarations of the coastal princes, the scheepvaartregeling and the recherchevaartuigen formed together the legal, administrative and naval instruments by which the Dutch sought to close the coast; the persistence of the smuggling from British Penang, despite the export prohibition of the British authorities, was the standing proof of their imperfection.
See Also
- Scheepvaartregeling
- Recherchevaartuigen
- Simpang Anas
- Penang
- Van Vlijmen
- Abraham Kuyper
- H. van Kol
- Atjeh debate in the Tweede Kamer (16-17 November 1897)
- 1897
Source
Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898, uitgave van de Sociaaldemokratische Arbeiderspartij in Nederland (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br P95-178, pp. 23, 33–34, 68–69.
Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898 (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.