Peupia oemòng — “the breaking up of one’s rice field” — was the reproachful Atjehnese name for the practice of selling an inherited rice field in whole or in part, an act condemned in public opinion.
The saying
C. Snouck Hurgronje, quoted by D. W. N. de Boer from De Atjehers, Vol. I, p. 312, recorded that he who sold his inherited rice field wholly or in part passed for a spendthrift, and that peupia oemòng was the name given to “die afkeurenswaardige wijze van doen” — that reprehensible manner of proceeding. “Men richt daardoor immers den pangoeléé hareukat te gronde” — for thereby one ruins the “master of all breadwinning.”
Consequence
The social sanction had a direct legal effect: sale (poebléë) of rice fields as good as never occurred, and men preferred to raise money on their fields by gala (pledge) or Atjehnese hypotheek (mortgage), often taking the land straight back in deelbouw in order not to break the bond with it entirely.
See Also
Source
Het recht op den grond 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.