Toempoh (also bantoe; Gayo timpoh or bantoe; collective meuseuraja, Gayo djamoe tëë, Alas nërajo) is the Atjehnese institution of mutual aid — the labour arrangement under which many persons work together on a single task out of free choice, typically repaid not in money but in rice, sugarcane and other refreshments. The toempoh is one of the five principal labour arrangements of the Atjeh rice economy, and is documented by J. Kreemer in his *De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden* (1918).
The Toempoh Arrangement
Kreemer distinguishes the toempoh from the four other labour arrangements of the Atjeh rice-economy:
- Kòh keudòe — own cultivation: the owner of the field works it himself.
- Kòh peung-oepah — wage-labour: the field is worked for a wage.
- Mawaih — sharecropping: the sharecropper works the field in exchange for a share of the harvest.
- Toempoh or bantoe — voluntary collective labour: many persons work together out of free choice.
- Taelòng-moclòng or meugantché or meunoerdé (Gayo panggèlò, Alas plingari) — reciprocal labour: labour is exchanged with the obligation of return.
The toempoh is thus the form of labour that involves the largest number of persons working together, and that is organised not by wage-payment or by share-contract but by the host’s provision of refreshments and by the guests’ free contribution of their labour.
The Collective Form: Meuseuraja
When the collective labour involves “vele personen te gelijk” — many persons at once — the arrangement is called meuseuraja in Acehnese (Gayo djamoe tëë, Alas nërajo). The meuseuraja is thus the large-scale form of the toempoh: the gathering of a substantial workforce for a single task, organised by the host’s invitation.
The Hospitality Obligation
The toempoh — and especially its large-scale form meuseuraja — is accompanied by a hospitality obligation. Kreemer records that the helpers (called djambe in Acehnese, djamoe tëë in Gayo) “worden op rijst, suikerriet en andere versnaperingen onthaald” — are entertained with rice, sugarcane and other refreshments. The host is thus obliged to provide food and refreshment for his helpers, and the toempoh is as much a social occasion as a labour arrangement: the gathering of neighbours and kin for a common task, repaid by the host’s hospitality.
The invitation of the helpers is called meuhoi or meunoerdè or lawòë in Acehnese (Gayo nanggo, Alas bagah). The invitation is thus the formal act that constitutes the toempoh: without the invitation, the helpers do not come; with the invitation, the host is bound to provide the refreshments, and the helpers are bound to come and work.
Place in the Atjeh Rice Economy
The toempoh is found principally at the labour-intensive moments of the rice year: the first working of the field, the transplanting of the seedlings, and the harvest. These are the moments at which the labour of a single household is insufficient, and the labour of neighbours and kin is needed. The toempoh is the institution by which that labour is mobilised — not by wage-payment (which would be kòh peung-oepah), not by share-contract (which would be mawaih), but by the social obligation of mutual aid and by the host’s hospitality.
The toempoh is thus an institution of social reciprocity: the host calls his neighbours and kin to help him at his labour-intensive moment, and he in turn is obligated to help them at theirs. The toempoh is therefore closely related to the reciprocal labour arrangement — taelòng-moclòng or meugantché or meunoerdé — under which labour is exchanged with the explicit obligation of return. The distinction between the two is that the toempoh is repaid in hospitality, while the reciprocal labour arrangement is repaid in labour.
Significance
The toempoh is the principal Atjehnese mutual-aid institution, and is the labour arrangement under which much of the labour-intensive work of the Atjeh rice year is performed. The toempoh is significant for the encyclopedia of Aceh history as a documented part of the Atjeh rice-economy, recording the Atjehnese institution of mutual aid in its full form — from the invitation of the helpers, through the collective labour of the meuseuraja, to the hospitality obligation that binds the host. The toempoh exemplifies the social-organic character of the Atjehnese rice-economy: the labour is mobilised not by the market but by the social obligation of mutual aid, and the institution is sustained by the reciprocal expectation of help at one’s own labour-intensive moment.
See Also
- Rijstbouw in Atjeh
- Sawah
- Oemòng
- Mawaih
- Djakeuet
- Kreemer’s De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1918)
- J. Kreemer
- Groot-Atjeh
- Gajoland
- Alasland
Source
De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, by J. Kreemer (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1918), pp. 18-19 (the toempoh and its collective form meuseuraja).