Wathé pangkaj (Malay hasil pangkal, “the yield of the capital,” that is interest on capital) was the share of the annual produce of a pepper garden in Atjeh owed by the planter to the pangkaj-giver for as long as the garden remained productive — irrespective of whether the original advance had been repaid.
Rate and mode of payment
The wathé pangkaj usually amounted, the honorarium of the peutoeha parang included, to one-tenth of the harvest, payable in cash or in kind. Payment took place mostly in kind, since the peutoeha pangkaj also held a right of pre-emption over the produce of gardens laid out with his capital, waived only if the aneu’ seuneubô received a higher bid from elsewhere.
The government tariff
In consequence of disputes arising — among others between peutoeha pangkaj and peutoeha parang — a fixed tariff, varying only slightly between districts, was in later times introduced by the administration:
- wathé pangkaj — one guilder per picol;
- wathé peutoeha (or wathé parang) — fifty cents per picol;
- wathé oeléëbalang — a further one guilder per picol, due to the self-governing ruler on the export of the produce.
Perpetual character
The distinctive feature of the charge, in D. W. N. de Boer’s account, was its perpetuity: “Ongeacht de wijze en het tempo der terugbetaling van de door hem genoten voorschotten, ook wanneer deze tot de laatste cent heeft plaats gehad” — irrespective of the manner and pace of repayment of the advances he had received, and even when this had taken place to the last cent — the planter continued to owe the wathé pangkaj so long as the garden bore.
See Also
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.