The Bekendmaking Nederburgh — the Government Declaration Nederburgh — is the official government declaration, signed by C. B. Nederburgh and prefixed to the second volume of Snouck Hurgronje’s De Atjèhers (Batavia, 1894), by which the Netherlands Indies government dissociated itself from the polemical character of the work — that is, from the criticism of Van den Berg and Der Kinderen contained therein — while acknowledging that it had taken the initiative to publish the work as a scientific contribution to a question of great and actual interest. The Bekendmaking is the formal record of the ministerial intervention that delayed the publication of the second volume of De Atjèhers and of the satisfaction given to the criticised gentlemen.
The Text
The Bekendmaking reads, in full:
“Hoewel de Regeering het initiatief heeft genomen om dit werk als een wetenschappelijke bijdrage tot een vraagstuk van groot en actueel belang ter Landsdrukkerij te doen uitgeven, vindt Zij in het polemische karakter, dat het betoog hier en daar heeft aangenomen, aanleiding om te allen overvloede te verklaren dat Zij niet mag geacht worden aan den inhoud van het werk tot in elk onderdeel Hare instemming te hebben gegeven. C. B. NEDERBURGH.”
(Although the Government has taken the initiative to publish this work as a scientific contribution to a question of great and actual interest at the Government Printing Office, it finds in the polemical character that the argument has here and there assumed, occasion to declare, abundantly, that it cannot be held to have given its agreement to the content of the work in every part. C. B. NEDERBURGH.)
The Background
The Bekendmaking was the consequence of the fierce criticism, in Snouck Hurgronje’s Verslag omtrent de religieus-politieke toestanden in Atjeh of 23 May 23 May 1892, of the work of Van den Berg and Der Kinderen with respect to Atjèh — on their regulation of the judiciary and on what they had said and written about Atjèh. The Raad van Indië had advised to publish the Verslag; the governor-general had asked the author whether he had objection to the publication desired by the Council; the author had no objection, but had more material. Better it seemed to him to take up only what was worth knowing for the public. So it happened, and in 1893 the first volume of De Atjèhers appeared from the Landsdrukkerij at Batavia.
What stood in De Atjèhers printed to the disadvantage of Van den Berg and Der Kinderen was, in the event, much milder than what the governor-general and the Raad van Indië had meant to publish. Yet those gentlemen felt themselves not flattered and went to audience with the minister Van Dedem to protest against the publication by the government of a work in which such unsalted criticism of their praestaties occurred. The minister felt with them and wired to Indië that with the spreading of the second volume must be waited until after receipt of a letter that would follow. The letter followed and charged the governor-general to give the author of De Atjèhers a talking-to and to add, as satisfaction for both criticised gentlemen, a government declaration to the second volume.
The Interview with Van der Wijck
The landvoogd Jhr. Van der Wijck summoned the guilty or accused — Snouck Hurgronje — and showed him the minister’s letter. But the delinquent was not penitent: “Ik heb enkel mijn opdracht vervuld” (I have only fulfilled my commission), he said. “Wat de Raad van Indië gepubliceerd wilde hebben, heb ik gepubliceerd, maar zeer verzacht!” (What the Raad van Indië wished to have published, I have published, but very much softened!).
“Accoord!” answered the governor-general, “met dit onderhoud is voldaan aan den wensch van den minister; en de regeeringsverklaring, die aan uw boek wordt toegevoegd, die zult gij zelf mogen keuren!” (Agreed! With this interview the wish of the minister has been satisfied; and the government declaration that will be added to your book, you yourself may approve it!).
Significance
The Bekendmaking Nederburgh is the formal record of the ministerial intervention that delayed the publication of the second volume of De Atjèhers and of the satisfaction given to the criticised gentlemen, Van den Berg and Der Kinderen. The declaration is, in form, a government dissociation from the polemical character of the work; in substance, however, it was Snouck Hurgronje himself who, in the interview with the governor-general, defined its terms — “die zult gij zelf mogen keuren” (you yourself may approve it) — and so preserved the substance of his criticism. The Bekendmaking is, in effect, the formal price of the publication of De Atjèhers; the work itself, with the Bekendmaking prefixed, is the principal published scholarly source on the Atjèhse people and the principal published residue of Snouck Hurgronje’s diagnosis of the Atjèh malady.
See Also
- De Atjehers (Snouck Hurgronje)
- Verslag omtrent de religieus-politieke toestanden in Atjeh
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Nederburgh
- Van Dedem
- Van der Wijck
- L. W. C. van den Berg
- Der Kinderen
- Raad van Indië
- Landsdrukkerij
- Batavia
- Aceh War
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 23 May
- 1892
- 1893
- 1894
Source
Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, p. 19.