The three-month warning term was the procedure observed in the zelfbesturende landschappen of Atjeh before waste land bearing clear traces of earlier working could be issued afresh to an applicant: the intention to re-clear was publicly proclaimed for three months, and only when no older right had been asserted within that period was the permission granted.
Prior notice of intention to clear
In the self-governing territories, unlike Groot-Atjeh, the intention to clear had first to be notified to the radja or his deputy, in order so far as possible to prevent boundary disputes. Through the measuring-out of ground under the haq radja taléë, and otherwise in connection with the former boeët oemòng and adat glé levies and the still-current wathé collection, it was as a rule known to the radja or his representative whether ground applied for by an immigrant or other clearer still had an owner, or had at least lately been someone’s property.
The procedure
Where the application concerned a piece of waste land still showing clear traces of earlier working, and of which the radja knew that it had not long ago been abandoned, the issue was not made at once. Instead the intention to re-clear was made publicly known for three months. If within that term no one appeared with older rights, the clearance permit was granted to the applicant against payment of the radja taléë, and he could thereafter be ousted by no one. If someone did present himself within the term and could substantiate his older rights by witnesses, he was confirmed in his rights and the applicant rejected.
Sawah ground recently abandoned
A stricter rule applied where the application concerned sawah ground that had not yet become rimba (jungle), and that — lying between worked sawah’s or directly adjoining them — with great certainty belonged to someone but had evidently been abandoned only temporarily and very recently. In that case the applicant was granted, even after the three-month warning term had elapsed unused, only a bruikleen (loan for use), padjoh asoè, for three years; and this only where no heirs of the owner could be found who would undertake to work the land. Where such heirs existed but did not intend to exploit the ground, they might not disturb the applicant in the right of use then to be granted him by the radja. After the three years of loan, however, if the original owner had not meanwhile returned, his ahli waris had the right to demand a share-cropping contract from the new cultivator, and only on that condition could the latter continue to work the occupied ground.
Gardens and ladangs
For the other category of land — gardens and ladangs — the rule in the zelfbestuur (self-government) territory was as follows. Such land lying within the gampong boundaries, where the owner or his ahli waris failed despite warning to provide proper maintenance, might be given out by the radja to an applicant for exploitation, in that case in mawaih asoë — under obligation to share the produce with the owner or his ahli waris. For gardens outside the gampong boundaries the same rule applied, so far as those gardens had not already run too wild, the planting being perhaps neglected but still of some value. If, however, nothing or as good as nothing remained of the old planting, the applicant was, after the three-month warning term, put in full possession of the ground applied for without further condition, on payment of the haq radja taléë and without any obligation towards a former possessor or waris who might subsequently appear.
Significance
The three-month term illustrates the practical working of the beschikkingsrecht in the self-governing territories, which D. W. N. de Boer held against Van Vollenhoven to be neither faded nor asleep: the radja’s knowledge of the tenure history of his territory, his power of public proclamation, and his authority to grade the applicant’s right from full possession down to a three-year loan were all real administrative functions exercised over the soil.
See Also
- Beschikkingsrecht in Atjeh
- Haq radja taléë
- Haq padjoh asoé
- Ahli waris
- Mawaih
- Zelfbesturende landschappen
- Rimba
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.