Uleebalang (oeléëbalang; also teukoe tjhi, literally “old war chief”) was the territorial chieftain and autonomous ruler of an Atjehnese landschap. Jan van Swieten rendered the title oeloebalang in his 1879 account. Broersma described the oeléëbalang as the pivot of the maatschappelijk leven (social life) of the landschap: “who has them has the people.”
Title and Rank
The title teukoe (pronounced tekoe) is equivalent to the fuller teungkoe and toeankoe — an indication of high official dignity. Toeankoe was borne specifically by the sultan and his relatives. The word tjhi is a shortening of keutjhi, meaning “old.” The title teukoe tjhi was usual for the heads who were, by the old name, war chiefs, and who were simultaneously administrators and judges over the people. Below the oeléëbalang stood the oeléëbalang tjoet (oelèë = head, balang = army, tjoet = small), the under-chief of the landschap.
The banta — the eldest brother or closest relative of the oeléëbalang — observed the administration when the chief was absent, in a capacity comparable per Snouck Hurgronje (deel I, p. 96) to the patih in a Javanese principality or regency. In Peureula, for example, the banta observed the administration in 1910 while Teukoe Tjhi Moeda Peusangan visited Java, and again in 1918–1919 while Teukoe Tjhi Mohamad Thajeb served as a Volksraad member.
Functions
The oeléëbalang was simultaneously war commander, administrator, and judge. He controlled the pangkai capital advanced to pepper-planters, acted as the privileged buyer of pepper, and received the hacil radja (lordly right) on produce. In an old state like Peureula the ancestor had come from Groot-Atjeh, settled, and acquired rule — an autocrat who accepted letters of recognition from the sultan in Groot-Atjeh if necessary but otherwise acted on his own judgment. Broersma noted that the astute oeléëbalang placed himself on a good footing with the Netherlands government.
The heads were also traders and men of affairs. Chinese merchants from Penang and Singapore knew what to offer; if they once put a chief in debt, they needed only to bring forth the produce of the land — pepper especially — at a favorable price already agreed.
After pacification, the zelfbestuur (self-government) of the landschappen was established and the wasé oeléëbalang (the ground right) became part of the landscape treasury. The Dutch administration attempted to regulate rights via the customs-office. Broersma criticised this as a healer attacking the life-source, weakening the patient. The petroleum cijns arrangement of 1913 brought dues into the landscape treasury and gave the oeléëbalang a fixed income.
Income examples recorded by Broersma: Teukoe Habib Moehamat bin Sajet Oesoeir of a small landschap with 400 souls received 155 guilders monthly — poor, in debt, but with 14 wives and 17 children. Teukoe Tjhi Bentara of the large landschap Keureutoe received 600 guilders plus 125 guilders for his automobile. Teungkoe Abdoel Hamid Orang Kaja Sri Maharadja Mangkoe Boemi received perhaps 1,000 guilders monthly, besides private property and trade.
During the Sarikat Islam agitation of 1918, vigilance was needed because the heads could be susceptible to its influence.
Variations of Type
Broersma noted variation in the type of both heads and population: Malay type as on the Oostkust van Sumatra; Hindu type; Arabic; Minangkabau; and Abyssinian — the last derived from slaves brought from Abyssinia by those returning from Mekka.
In Van Swieten’s Account (1879)
Jan van Swieten described Teuku Langgoegoeb as uleebalang of the III Mukim and alleged that his military appointee, Teuku Potjoet Ali, killed him and assumed effective authority. The succession conflict after Potjoet Ali’s death illustrates the office’s political importance in the pre-pacification period.
Significance
Understanding this term is necessary for reading the political relationships recorded during the Aceh War and the economic organisation of the pepper and petroleum industries of Atjeh.
See Also
- Peureula
- Peudawa Rajeu
- Simpang Olim
- Pangkai
- Hacil
- Banta
- III Mukim
- Aceh War
- Jan van Swieten
- Snouck Hurgronje
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Acehnese territorial nobility; per adat owns wild karbouwen herds in their region; consulted by Dutch for cooperation in trade matters; their old jewelry and ceremonial weapons testify to former gold/silver smithing heights.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. —.
Source
Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma (Utrecht: Gebrs. Cohen, 1925), pp. 35–40, 45–52, 60–62.
De waarheid over onze vestiging in Atjeh: met eene kaart van Atjeh en een plan van den Kraton, by J. van Swieten (Zalt-Bommel: Joh. Noman en Zoon, 1879), pp. 298–300.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. —.