The wakil (Arabic-Malay wakīl, “representative, deputy”) was the deputy or representative of an Atjehnese oeléëbalang, acting for him in the administration of rights in land.
Functions in the law of land
D. W. N. de Boer recorded three functions. Notice of an intention to clear waste land had to be given in advance to the oeléëbalang “of diens plaatsvervanger” — or his deputy. Payment of the haq radja taléë secured the occupant a registratie-in-memorie (informal entry in the chief’s register) with the radja or his wakil. And in the self-governing territories it was as a rule known to the radja or his representative — through the measuring-out of ground, the former boeët oemòng and adat glé levies, and the continuing wathé collection — whether land applied for still had an owner.
Limits of assistance in Groot-Atjeh
In Groot-Atjeh, where no active beschikkingsrecht existed, no assistance in land disputes could as a rule be expected from the radja or his wakil by persons other than his relatives or those otherwise attached to him.
See Also
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Deputy of the keutjhi’ in the gampong; literally ‘place-vervanger’.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 333.
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.
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. 333.