Sloebers — literally “slobs” or “untidy ones” — was the term of abuse by which the old fighting-cocks of the colonial army called the Acehnese enemy during the Aceh War. In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), the word “sloebers” is the trigger of the book’s prologue: the old Aceh fighter Musket hears the word and “shot up like an old jumping-horse that hears the bell,” and begins to tell of “the good old time.”
The term of abuse and the respect
“Sloebers! Yes, that is what the old fighting-cocks called the Acehnese enemy, but those who knew him well spoke this term of abuse yet with the requisite respect.” The old fighting-cocks called the Acehnese enemy “sloebers,” but those who knew him well spoke this term of abuse with the requisite respect. The word “sloebers” is therefore both a term of abuse and a term of respect: the old soldiers who had fought the Acehnese called them “sloebers” with the requisite respect. The book’s — and Musket’s — argument is that the term was a colonial soldiers’ idiom: the men who had fought the Acehnese knew them well enough to call them “sloebers” with respect, while the men who had not fought them used the term without the respect.
The Multatuli remark
“Multatuli remarked somewhere that the lesser or greater accuracy of such designations depends, among other things, on geographical position, date, skin-colour, and religion.” Multatuli — the Dutch author of Max Havelaar — remarked that the accuracy of such designations depends, among other things, on geographical position, date, skin-colour, and religion. “According to him, the Spaniards too were guilty of such misrecognition towards the Dutch, when the Dutch tried to rid themselves of the indelicate foreigner.” According to Multatuli, the Spaniards too were guilty of such misrecognition towards the Dutch, when the Dutch tried to rid themselves of the indelicate foreigner. The Multatuli remark is the book’s — and Musket’s — frame for the term of abuse: “sloebers” is the Acehnese version of the indelicate foreigner that every colonial power misrecognises.
The old travel-stories
“It is especially in the old travel-stories that the ‘Atjinezen’ do not come off too well. In them they are presented to us as ‘rogues’, treacherous in attacking their enemies, whom they always try to overcome by tricks and traps. Further as: ‘lustful, secretive, faithless, fickle, murderous’ — in short, as afflicted with a whole set of unwholesome qualities.” It is especially in the old travel-stories that the Acehnese do not come off too well. In them they are presented to us as “rogues,” treacherous in attacking their enemies, whom they always try to overcome by tricks and traps. Further as: “lustful, secretive, faithless, fickle, murderous” — in short, as afflicted with a whole set of unwholesome qualities.
“As usual, one looked down on peoples whom one considered to stand at a lower level of civilisation, and one derived one’s knowledge of this population often from persons who were far from well-disposed towards her and who also had an interest in painting the people as black as possible.” As usual, one looked down on peoples whom one considered to stand at a lower level of civilisation, and one derived one’s knowledge of this population often from persons who were far from well-disposed towards her and who also had an interest in painting the people as black as possible.
The prologue of the book
The word “sloebers” is the trigger of the book’s prologue. The two Europeans — the fat Meijer and the thin Musket — sit at the table with the hole of the club. A billiard-player — ready with the latest local scandal — opens with “Have you heard it yet?” and begins to tell a scandal. Musket interrupts: “Say, you’ve surely never been to France, have you?” The billiard-player, irritated by the interruption, answers: “Yes, on the way through to Marseille.” Musket: “Otherwise you would know that there are things that one does, but that one does not speak about — and that others must keep entirely out of.” The billiard-player: “Pardon, I did not know that you were so prudish, and that as such an old hand.” Musket: “For that very reason I do not like that gossip.”
The scandal having been set aside, the billiard-player calls Meijer and Musket “sloebers” — and the word triggers Musket’s prologue: the old Aceh fighter hears the word “sloebers” and begins to tell of “the good old time” — the Atjeh-moorden (Aceh murders), the prang sabil (holy war), the djahat (resistance fighter), the Verzet in Lhong (Resistance in Lhong).
Significance
Sloebers is significant in Oost-Indisch Journael as the term of abuse that triggers the book’s prologue and the old Aceh fighter Musket’s telling of the Aceh War. The book argues that the term was a colonial soldiers’ idiom, spoken with requisite respect by those who had actually fought the Acehnese, while the old travel-stories’ portrayal of the Acehnese as “rogues, treacherous, lustful, murderous” was the misrecognition of those who had not. Sloebers thus becomes the book’s marker for the old Aceh fighter’s grudging respect for his enemy: a term of abuse that was spoken with the requisite respect.
See Also
- Musket
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Djahat
- Prang sabil
- Atjeh-moord
- Multatuli
- Atjeh-oorlog
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
Source
Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), chapter Sloebers.