The General Instruction for Commanders of columns and patrols of 26 February 1912 was the standing order under which the marechaussée and infantry patrols of Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden operated during the closing phase of the pacification. Du Croo noted that it “went into the treatment of the population in great detail and thereby gave a survey of Swart’s views,” and reproduced its principal points.
Principal provisions
Treatment of the population. “The population is to be treated as humanely as possible and to receive help and support from the military against the bands and band leaders who live at its expense and lay it under contribution. Peace and security, but not fear, must be brought among that population.”
Non-combatants. “Unarmed persons are never to be regarded as the enemy.”
Women and children of the uitgewekenen (“those who had fled to the resistance”). “Women and children of uitgewekenen (those who had gone over to the resistance), who may be encountered by patrols, are to be taken up and handed over to the administrative official or to the oelèëbalang.”
Pass control. “The continual challenging (for the checking of passes) of people whom one meets or who are at work in the fields is forbidden; only if a detachment is fired upon, or if a band or persons harmful to peace and order are present, may a check of passes take place without further orders; guard strictly against rough conduct by subordinates.”
Use of firearms. “Make use of firearms only where necessity demands it.”
The chiefs, guides and spies. “The chiefs must always be treated with distinction; the pressing of guides or spies is forbidden.”
Buildings, yards and gardens. “Protect all houses of prayer, dwellings, yards and gardens from destruction or damage, and pass the night in them only in case of absolute necessity. Determine the choice of such buildings in consultation with the population; it must suffer as little inconvenience from the troops as possible. Give compensation for the vacating of dwellings; guard strictly against the arbitrary appropriation of buildings, materials, plantations, livestock and poultry by junior soldiers and forced labourers.”
Enemy hiding-places and supplies. “Vijandelijke schuilplaatsen steeds geheel vernielen of opruimen. Vrijelijk beschikken over voorraden in vijandelijke nederzettingen.”
House searches. “House searches will as a rule be entrusted only to officers or to carefully chosen non-commissioned officers; they must be so arranged that no one can appropriate anything in the buildings to be searched: rampassen (plundering) is to be firmly suppressed with severe punishments.”
Prisoners and fugitives. “Preference is given to taking fugitives alive; if there are women and children among fleeing enemies, everything possible ought to be done to spare them.”
Significance
The Instruction of 1912 codified the doctrine of the pacification at the moment when general resistance had ended and the phase du Croo called “the needles in the haystack” began. It represents the formal expression of the second half of the doctrine derived from Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje — that the population must be given trust in Dutch authority and certainty of protection alongside the fear of Dutch reprisal — and stands in explicit contrast to the practices of the Van Daalen years, when spies “harassed the population and, if their demands were not met, had cattle and possessions taken from innocent people.”
See Also
- H. N. A. Swart
- Corps of Military Constabulary of Atjeh and Dependencies
- The resistance in Atjeh 1913–1918
- Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje
- Gotfried Coenraad Ernst van Daalen
- Oelèëbalang
Source
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 XII, pp. 116–117.