Zelfbesturen

The Zelfbesturen (“self-governing territories,” singular zelfbestuur) were the native-ruled territories of the Outer Possessions of the Netherlands East Indies, governed by their own rulers under Dutch suzerainty and supervised by the Gouvernement through politieke contracten (before 1899) or the Korte Verklaring (after 1899). In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the zelfbesturen are the principal object of the post-pacification administrative order in Atjeh and the wider Buitenbezittingen: the territories whose rulers were transformed, through the civiele lijst and the landschapskassen, from autonomous sovereigns into paid functionaries of the Dutch colonial order.

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Zelfbesturen

The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the zelfbesturen appears in the chapter on administrative organisation. The Bureau frames the regulation of the relationship between the zelfbesturen and the Gouvernement as one of the two principal axes of Dutch colonial policy in the Buitenbezittingen — the other being the direct administration of the rechtstreeks bestuurd gebied (directly administered territory).

The Bureau notes that “until [[1899 the regulation of the relationship of the Zelfbesturen to the Gouvernement generally found its expression in the detailed political contracts (omstandige politieke contracten) concluded between the two parties, in which the principles to be observed in the governance of the landschappen, as well as the mutual rights, obligations, and competences, were set out. Since that year a different path has been taken… [namely the Korte Verklaring].”

The Bureau notes that, even after 1899, a small and declining minority of larger sultanates retained the older detailed political contracts. As of the 1904–1914 decade, these were: on the East Coast of Sumatra — Asahan, Deli, Koela, Langkat, Pelalawan, Serdang, Siak Sri Indrapoera; in the Western Division of Borneo — Landak, Mampawa, Matan, Pontianak, Sambas, Sanggau, Tajan; in the Southern and Eastern Division of Borneo — Koetei; in Celebes and Dependencies — Laiwoei; and in Timor and Dependencies — Bima, Dompo, Sanggar, Soembawa. The Bureau notes that “the rulers of all other landschappen, in total about 306 in number, signed the Korte Verklaring.”

The Bureau’s account of the principal innovation of the newer regulation of the political relationship — the introduction of the civiele lijst and the landschapskassen — is explicit about its transformative intent: “the principal principle that has been introduced in the newer regulation of the political relationship — whether laid down in contracts or in the K. V. — is that the revenues of the landschap, instead of being — as formerly — considered as the private revenues of the rulers, who only inadequately spent a part of them for the benefit of land and people, belong to the landschap and must therefore be paid into a landschapskas, in order to fund from it all kinds of expenditures in the interest of land and people, including — under our guidance and oversight — the income of the rulers in the form of a ‘civiele lijst’.”

Significance

The zelfbesturen are, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the principal object of the post-pacification administrative order in Atjeh and the wider Buitenbezittingen — the territories whose rulers were transformed, through the civiele lijst and the landschapskassen, from autonomous sovereigns into paid functionaries of the Dutch colonial order. The post-1899 shift from politieke contracten to Korte Verklaring, and the 1914 codification of the new regime by the Zelfbestuurs-ordonnantie, together mark the legal consolidation of the new order.

Account from Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1930) — the Atjehsche Zelfbestuur in operational detail

The Zelfbestuursverordeningen compilation of 1930 records the Zelfbestuur system as applied in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden after the pacification. The system rested on three constitutional pillars: the oeleebalang — the territorial chief of a negeri / landschap — as Zelfbestuurder; the Korte Verklaring as the constitutional bond; and the Zelfbestuursregelen 1919 (Staatsblad 1919 No. 822) and Zelfbestuursregelen 1927 as the formal framework within which the Zelfbestuurders could issue their own verordeningen. The supervisory authority of the Civiel en Militair Gouverneur and the Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar, and the goedkeuring requirement for every zelfbestuursverordening and zelfbestuursbesluit, fixed the constitutional subordination of the Zelfbestuur to the colonial state.

The oeleebalang as Zelfbestuurder

The Dutch colonial state had, from 1898 onward, bound the successive oeleebalang of the coastal and highland landschappen of Atjeh to itself by the Korte Verklaring — the short political pact by which each signatory acknowledged Dutch sovereignty and promised to follow the Government’s inzichten. The Korte Verklaring was, in the constitutional theory of Dutch indirect rule, the political foundation on which the Zelfbestuur rested: it bound the oeleebalang to the colonial state without abolishing his native authority, and it conferred on the colonial state the supervisory powers the goedkeuring requirement would operationalise. The Nota van Toelichting on the inkomstenbelasting regeling (Reg. No. 9b of the 1930 compilation) makes the constitutional logic explicit:

“Al moge de onderworpenheid van het Atjehsche Zelfbestuur aan het Europeesch gezag in het algemeen reeds uit de Korte Verklaringen voortvloeien”.

The onderworpenheid — the subordination — of the Atjehsche Zelfbestuur to the European authority flowed, in general, from the Korte Verklaringen themselves. The Korte Verklaring was thus both the political pact that bound the oeleebalang to the colonial state and the constitutional source of the supervisory powers the Civiel en Militair Gouverneur and the Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar would exercise.

The Zelfbestuursregelen 1919 and Zelfbestuursregelen 1927

The Zelfbestuursregelen 1919 (Staatsblad 1919 No. 822) supplied the formal framework within which the Zelfbestuurders could issue their own verordeningen. The Zelfbestuursregelen 1927 updated the framework, but the Voorwoord of the 1930 compilation notes that “artikel 26 der zelfbestuursregelen 1927 in dit gewest nog geen toepassing heeft gevonden” — meaning that, in Atjeh, the collective-vaststelling practice (under which all Zelfbestuurders of an onderafdeeling issued their regulations jointly) still prevailed over the single-landschap system the 1927 reform envisaged. The result was that the Zelfbestuur in Atjeh operated, throughout the period covered by the compilation, under the 1919 framework as modified by local practice, with the 1927 reform not yet applied.

The supervisory architecture

The supervisory authority over the Zelfbestuur in Atjeh was exercised by two colonial officers. The Civiel en Militair Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden — in the Malay of the regulations Seri Padoeka Toean Besar Civiel dan Militair Gouverneur Atjeh or Toean Besar Atjeh — was the chief colonial executive in Atjeh, and all zelfbestuursverordeningen in the 1930 compilation are issued “onder goedkeuring” of this office. The Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar — in Malay kepala Pemerintah (Hoofd van Plaatselijk Bestuur) — was the local Dutch civil administrator who exercised the day-to-day supervision of the Zelfbestuur. The Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar’s principal operational role was the Gezien countersignature on the kwitanties of the Pantjang Alas and the supervision of the quarterly valuation of the boschproducten. Above the Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar stood the Assistent Resident (the Dutch district officer for the afdeeling), and above the Assistent Resident stood the Hoofd van gewestelijk bestuur — the senior colonial official above the Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar, who functioned as the Gouverneur’s delegate for regional administrative matters.

The appellate authority of the Civiel en Militair Gouverneur is fixed throughout the compilation: “Bij verschil van meening beslist de Gouverneur in hoogste instantie” — in case of difference of opinion, the Gouverneur decides in highest instance. The Hoofd van gewestelijk bestuur appears, in turn, as the appellate authority for the heerendienst-afkoop disputes and as the machtiging-granting authority for distant heerendiensten. The supervisory architecture thus rested on a three-tier hierarchy — Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar, Assistent Resident, Civiel en Militair Gouverneur — through which the colonial state exercised the supervisory powers the Korte Verklaring had conferred.

The goedkeuring requirement and the collective vaststelling

The constitutional requirement that fixed the subordination of the Zelfbestuur to the colonial state was the goedkeuring — the approval — that every zelfbestuursverordening and zelfbestuursbesluit had to obtain from the Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden before taking effect. Every regulation in the 1930 compilation carries the printed note “(goedgekeurd door den Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden op …)” — approved by the Gouverneur of Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden on [date] — together with the date of the goedkeuring. The most important fiscal cases (notably the Pantjang Alas of 1912 and the inkomstenbelasting of 1920) required, in addition, the prior vergunning of the Gouverneur-Generaal van Nederlandsch-Indië, obtained by telegram. The goedkeuring requirement was, in this sense, the operational counterpart of the Korte Verklaring’s political subordination: where the Korte Verklaring bound the oeleebalang to the colonial state in form, the goedkeuring requirement bound him in operational practice.

The goedkeuring requirement was combined, in the operational order of the Zelfbestuur, with the collective vaststelling practice that characterised the Atjehsche regulations. The Voorwoord of the 1930 compilation records that “de vaststelling van verordeningen in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden steeds collectief geschiedt” — the establishment of ordinances in the gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden always takes place collectively — meaning that all Zelfbestuurders of an onderafdeeling — sometimes of an afdeeling — issued their regulations jointly. The 24 Zelfbestuurders of the Pidië landschappen, for example, jointly issued Reg. No. 4a of 27 July 1925; the three oeleebalang of Samalanga, Peusangan, and Gloempang-doea jointly issued Reg. No. 14 of 18 August 1928; the ten oeleebalang of Sawang, Nisam, Tjoenda, Lhoseumawe, Bajoe, Blang Mangat, Samakoero, Blocë, Geudong, and Blang Me jointly issued Reg. No. 8 of 1 January 1918. The corporate-collective signatory formula is fixed in the bilingual title-pages: in Malay “Kami Oeleebalang dari Landschap: …”; in Dutch “De Zelfbesturen van de landschappen: …”. The collective vaststelling practice was, in the 1930 compilation, the operational expression of the Zelfbestuur’s collective authority — the constitutional form by which the oeleebalang of an onderafdeeling legislated, in their own name and in their own Malay, the very fiscal and police measures the colonial state desired.

Significance of the 1930 account

The Zelfbestuur’s significance in the Aceh Wiki History record, in the 1930 compilation’s perspective, rests on four things: it was the Dutch colonial system of indirect rule through “self-governing” native chiefs — the oeleebalang of the Acehnese landschappen — that the colonial state imposed on Atjeh after the pacification of 1898 onward, and that formed the constitutional framework within which the operational legal architecture of Dutch indirect rule in Atjeh was constructed; it was the system whose political foundation was the Korte Verklaring — the short political pact by which each oeleebalang acknowledged Dutch sovereignty and promised to follow the Government’s inzichten, and from which the onderworpenheid van het Atjehsche Zelfbestuur aan het Europeesch gezag was held to flow; it was the system whose formal framework was supplied by the Zelfbestuursregelen 1919 (Staatsblad 1919 No. 822) and Zelfbestuursregelen 1927, and whose collective vaststelling practice — under which all Zelfbestuurders of an onderafdeeling issued their regulations jointly — was preserved in Atjeh by the Voorwoord’s observation that “artikel 26 der zelfbestuursregelen 1927 in dit gewest nog geen toepassing heeft gevonden”; and it was the system whose supervisory architecture — the Civiel en Militair Gouverneur, the Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar, the Assistent Resident, the Hoofd van gewestelijk bestuur, and the goedkeuring requirement — fixed the constitutional subordination of the Zelfbestuur to the colonial state in operational practice. The Zelfbestuur is, in this sense, the foundational legal-political concept of the 1930 compilation — the constitutional theory of Dutch indirect rule in Atjeh whose operational instruments (the Pantjang Alas, the heerendienst, the inkomstenbelasting, the verordeningen on woeker, marriage, religious instruction, slaughter, and cattle-export) the compilation records.

The old doctrine

Article 43 of the Instructie voor den Gouverneur-Generaal of 1855 stated: “the right of self-government left by agreement to native princes or peoples does not exclude the obligation to promote the welfare of the land, to govern with justice, to prevent piracy and the slave trade, and to protect agriculture, industry, trade and shipping. The Governor-General sees to it that this obligation is fulfilled and that the obstacles opposing it are cleared away.” Until the turn of the century, du Croo wrote, “these remained mere words” — the obligation remained a dead letter for the self-governing rulers of the hundred-and-one distant islands.

“Therefore the duty rested upon the Netherlands government to bring home to those chiefs their “obligation” — where possible by argument and the force of persuasion, where necessary by other and stronger force.”

The new doctrine

Van Heutsz’s guiding principle was the practical application of article 67 of the Regeeringsreglement: “so far as circumstances permit, the native population is left under the immediate direction of its own chiefs, appointed or recognised by the Government.”

His beginselprogram required that the policy of abstention from the internal affairs of the self-governing landschappen be abandoned; that by peaceable means such changes be sought in the political relation to the zelfbesturen as might prove necessary to obtain satisfactory guarantees for the gradual improvement of administration and justice; that where necessary the financial management be placed under supervision so that the revenues might benefit land and people; that even in the self-governing landschappen the endeavour of administrators be directed to developing the natural sources of prosperity and improving the economic and social condition of the population; and that incorporation into government territory take place only at the request of the chiefs and population, or if unavoidable in the population’s interest.

Indirect rule and its limits

C. Lulofs underlined that the Korte Verklaring gave the Government the power to regulate everything, “but that power must and shall be used sparingly, because otherwise our interference becomes too intensive — it was precisely to prevent that growing intensity that the indirect form of government was chosen.” If the government took the legislative work out of the hands of the zelfbestuur, the latter would be pressed back into an ever narrower field of activity instead of being developed, “whereas one of the very reasons for choosing the indirect form was the recognition that the children of the land must be given a greater and greater share in the government of their country, at least as far as its internal management is concerned.”

In Atjeh

Swart implemented the Korte Verklaring system as Civil and Military Governor of Celebes in 1906–1908, establishing landschapskassen there. In Atjeh his method with the chiefs was designed, du Croo wrote, so that “with those chiefs it was ultimately possible to achieve a beginning form of self-government (one may think of T. Tjhi’ Peusangan).”

By 1927 there were, on Swart’s testimony, “minstens 100 zelfbesturende lichamen” in Atjeh, whose heads “oppose communism in their own interest.”

The signatories of the letter of the Acehnese chiefs of 1933 included sixteen zelfbestuurders of landschappen.

Account from Het recht op den grond in Atjeh (D. W. N. de Boer, 1931) — the right of avail in the self-governing territories

In D. W. N. de Boer’s survey of Atjehnese land law, the zelfbesturende landschappen (self-governing territories) were precisely the part of the gewest in which the beschikkingsrecht — the right of avail over unappropriated land — remained a living institution, in contrast to the directly governed territory of Groot-Atjeh, where it was barely discernible and the indigenous inhabitant was practically free to clear outside the gampong boundaries wherever no rights of others were apparent.

De Boer set this finding expressly against C. van Vollenhoven’s Adatrecht, p. 196, which had declared that “a faded or sleeping right of avail does not exist here”: that judgement, he answered, was “not correct” for the Zelfbesturende Landschappen.

Prior notice and the three-month warning term

In the self-governing territories the intention to clear waste land had first to be notified to the radja or his wakil (deputy), so as to prevent boundary disputes so far as possible. It was as a rule known to the radja or his representative — through the measuring-out of ground under the haq radja taléë, through the former boeët oemòng and adat glé levies, and through the continuing collection of wathé — whether land applied for still had an owner, or had at least lately been someone’s property.

Land bearing clear traces of recent working was therefore not issued at once. Instead the intention to re-clear was publicly proclaimed for three months. If no older right was substantiated within that term, the clearance permit was granted against payment of the radja taléë, and the holder could thereafter be ousted by no one; if an older right was proved by witnesses, the applicant was rejected. Recently abandoned sawah not yet gone to rimba (jungle) was granted only as a three-year loan for use; neglected gardens within the gampong were given out in mawaih asoë; wholly derelict gardens outside the gampong were granted in full possession.

The right of avail as an emolument of the ruler

De Boer judged that the exercise of the right of avail as an emolument of the sovereign — and with it the fixing, through the mediation of the Netherlands administration, of the several zelfbestuur boundaries — became genuinely important only when European capital began to interest itself in these lands, the right promising to become for the self-governing rulers “a Deli-like source of income” through their share in the pachtschat (concession rent), vastrecht (fixed due) and cijns (quit-rent) of land and mining concessions under Staatsblad 1919 No. 61 jo No. 281. For Atjeh the division was six-tenths to the Gouvernement and four-tenths to the landschap, and of the latter seven-tenths to the oeléëbalang and three-tenths to the landschapskas. Most boundary disputes between the zelfbesturen arose from the laying-out of pepper, pinang and other plantations in frontier districts, on which wathé would in due course be leviable.

Abolition of the sovereign land levies

By article 15 sub I of the zelfbestuursordonnantie, Staatsblad 1919 No. 822, the older levies which the oeléëbalangs had raised as sovereigns — the boeët oemòng within the gampong and the adat glé outside it — were abolished, the chiefs receiving in compensation a fixed civiele lijst calculated separately for each of them. Article 15 sub I read with article 29 sub 3 also brought the alienation of land to persons not belonging to the indigenous population under the control of the Gouvernement.

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

Form of government in which a Zelfbestuurder rules a landschap, after signing the korte verklaring and being confirmed by the government. Distinguished from rechtstreeksch bestuur (direct rule).

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 332.

Source

De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, Deel I, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 5–8 (Bestuurs-organisatie).

Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. Serie A No. 9 of the Mededeelingen van de Afdeeling Bestuurszaken der Buitengewesen van het Departement van Binnenlandsch Bestuur. Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1930, esp. the Voorwoord (p. 7), the Inhoud (pp. V–VII), and the regulations passim (Regs. Nos. 1–23, and esp. Reg. No. 9b Nota van Toelichting on the constitutional subordination of the Atjehsche Zelfbestuur). OCR-filename: 20260719_030404_DLP-112-Zelfbestuursverordeningen_Atjeh_en_onderhoorigheden_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.

Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter V, pp. 30–35; Chapter IV, p. 23; Chapter XVII, p. 160; Appendix, p. 169.

Het recht op den grond in Atjeh (“The Right to the Soil 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. 195.

description	The zelfbesturen — the self-governing native territories of the Outer Possessions, governed by their own rulers under Dutch suzerainty and supervised by the Gouvernement through political contracts (before 1899) or the Korte Verklaring (after 1899).
tags	concept, colonial, dutch, administration, sovereignty, buitenbezittingen, aceh, zelfbesturen, atjeh, indirect-rule, governance, 20th-century, buitengewesten, land-law, beschikkingsrecht
aliases	Self-governing territories, zelfbesturende landschappen, zelfbestuur, inlandsche zelfbesturen, the self-governing lands of the Buitenbezittingen, self-government, inlandsch zelfbestuur, Zelfbestuurders, Het Zelfbestuur, zelfbestuursregelen, zelfbestuurder, self-governing landschappen

Explorer