Penajoeng — modern Penayong — was the main Dutch camp on the right bank of the Aceh River opposite Kota Radja during the early stage of the Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874). From there the Dutch launched operations toward Lemboe, the Great Missigit, and the Kraton. Later Dutch writers also used Penajoeng as a symbol of the delays, disease, and insecurity of the campaign.
Penajoeng during the second expedition
After the Dutch moved inland from the landing area in December 1873, Penajoeng became the main field camp on the right bank of the river. Its position made it useful as a base for attacks toward the inner Acehnese defenses.
From Penajoeng the Dutch advanced toward Lemboe, the Great Missigit, and finally the Kraton. Because of this, Penajoeng stood at the center of the expedition’s inland phase.
A place of delay and criticism
In Open Letter by Brutus to General Knoop, Brutus treated Penajoeng as one of the main places where time was lost. He argued that, after the success at Tiban, the Dutch gathered too long at Penajoeng instead of pushing more quickly toward the next objectives. In his reading, the Acehnese used that pause to strengthen the defenses at Lemboe and around the Great Missigit.
Disease and insecurity
Other Dutch writers stressed Penajoeng’s physical misery. Borel called it a pesthol — a plague-hole — because cholera spread there badly through the crowded camp. The camp was also insecure. On 13 January 1874, Acehnese fighters penetrated close to the Dutch lines in broad daylight. Later, on 11 April 1874, another large attack was launched against the area.
After the fall of the Kraton
Even after the Capture of the Kraton (24 January 1874), Penajoeng remained important. Dutch works continued there, and later operations still depended on the position. On 26 April 1874, when the main force departed, the garrison withdrew from Penajoeng to the captured Kraton. In later phases of the war, the area again formed part of the Dutch military network around Kota Radja.
The later town district
In later colonial writing, Penajoeng also appeared as the built-up extension of Kota Radja across the river, with roads, houses, hospitals, shops, and a large Chinese quarter. That later image stood in strong contrast with the improvised and unhealthy camp of 1873–1874.
Significance
Penajoeng is significant because it was both a strategic base and a symbol of the early Dutch struggle in Aceh. It was the place from which the Dutch moved toward the capital, but also the place where disease, attack, and delay made clear how difficult the campaign really was.
See Also
- Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874)
- Battle of Tiban (14 December 1873)
- Battle of Lemboe (25–26 December 1873)
- Third Conquest of the Great Missigit
- Capture of the Kraton (24 January 1874)
- Brutus
- G. F. W. Borel
- Koeta-Radja
- Aceh River
- 13 January
- 11 April
- 26 April
- 1874
Source
Open brief aan den Generaal Knoop over de Atjeh-kwestie, door Brutus (L. van Bakkenes en Co., 1874), pp. 7–19.
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel (The Hague: D. A. Thieme, 1878), pp. 24, 30, 34, 38–47, 49–50, 54, 58–59, 62–66, 73–74, 82–86, 92, 96, 100, 103, 109, 121, 125, 128, 130–132, 138, 142, 152–156.
Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later, Een Oud Officier (Batavia: Ogilvie & Co., 1876), pp. 8–10, 14–20.
De Kleine Oosterling, door J. Wijma (Kampen: Laurens van Hulst, 1901), Lesson 38.