Bijlage III — Instruction for Civiel en Militair Gouverneur Van Vliet

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descriptionBijlage III — the Instructie voor den Civielen en Militairen Gouverneur van A. en O., den kolonel C. P. J. van Vliet — is the instruction issued to Kolonel C. P. J. van Vliet on his appointment as Civiel en Militair Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden in November 1896, preserved as the third annex of ATJEH '96 — Tweede Deel (pp. 168–172). The instruction explicitly withdrew and replaced all prior policy documents — Vetter's instruction of 28 June 1896 (Bijlage I), the conference of 18 June 1896 (Bijlage II), and the telegram of 17 July 1896 — and consolidated the policy framework within which the Van Vliet governorship would be conducted.
tagsdocument, dutch, colonial, military, instruction, aceh-war, 1896, van-vliet, civiel-en-militair-gouverneur, kruisheer-vol3, bijlage-iii, primary-source
aliasesInstructie voor den Civielen en Militairen Gouverneur van A. en O., den kolonel C. P. J. van Vliet, Bijlage III, the Van Vliet instruction, the Instruction for the Civiel en Militair Gouverneur

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Bijlage III — Instruction for Civiel en Militair Gouverneur Van Vliet — Instructie voor den Civielen en Militairen Gouverneur van A. en O., den kolonel C. P. J. van Vliet — is the instruction issued to Kolonel C. P. J. van Vliet on his appointment as Civiel en Militair Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden in November 1896, preserved as the third annex (Bijlage III) of Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 — Tweede Deel on pp. 168–172. The instruction — issued by the Opperbestuur (Supreme Government) on the occasion of Van Vliet’s appointment — explicitly de Instructie door den Regeeringscommissaris voor Atjeh- en Onderhoorigheden bij zijn vertrek uit genoemd gewest achtergelaten in zijnen brief van 27 Juni 1896, No. 212, zeer geheim, [wordt] ingetrokken, terwijl de tegenwoordige Instructie tevens in de plaats treedt van het afgesprokene in de conferentie van den Landvoogd met den Generaal-Majoor J. J. K. de Moulin op 18 Juni 1896 en het opgedragene in het regeerings-telegram van 17 Juli 1896, No. 273 — withdrew and replaced all three prior policy documents.

The Consolidation of the Policy Framework

The Van Vliet instruction was the definitive policy document for the Atjeh governorship — the consolidation of all prior policy documents into a single instruction. The withdrawal of Vetter’s instruction of 28 June 1896 (Bijlage I) marked the formal closure of the Regeeringscommissaris period; the withdrawal of the conference of 18 June 1896 (Bijlage II) marked the formal closure of the De Moulin conference framework; and the withdrawal of the telegram of 17 July 1896 marked the formal closure of the beheersching (domination programme) programme which had governed the second semester under Stemfoort. The Van Vliet instruction thus represented a clean break with the policy documents of the second semester of 1896, and the consolidation of the policy framework within which the Van Vliet governorship would be conducted.

The Content of the Instruction

The instruction laid down the policy framework for the Van Vliet governorship in detail. The principal provisions of the instruction included the maintenance of the geconcenteerde linie (concentrated line) as the kern of the Dutch occupation; the regulation of the pasenstelsel (pass system) for the control of movement between the Dutch-held and Acehnese-held territories; the regulation of the hoofden (chiefs) and the toekenning van traktementen of geldelijke toelagen (granting of salaries or monetary allowances) to them; the prohibition on contact with the pretendent-sultan; and the regulation of the belastingen (taxes) collected without legal basis in the gewest. The instruction further specified that het beperken van de gemeenschap tusschen de buiten de linie wonenden, met het gebied daarbinnen, ongewenscht [is] (the restriction of communication between those living outside the linie and the area within is undesirable), but that het binnenkomen en naar buiten terugkeeren mag echter alleen plaats hebben, langs onze posten, waar de wapens tijdelijk worden afgelegd (entering and returning outside may only take place through our posts, where weapons are temporarily laid down).

Significance

Bijlage III is significant in the documentary record of ATJEH ‘96 — Tweede Deel as the definitive policy document for the Atjeh governorship — the consolidation of all prior policy documents into a single instruction. The instruction — issued on the occasion of Van Vliet’s appointment as Civiel en Militair Gouverneur in November 1896 — explicitly withdrew and replaced Vetter’s instruction of 28 June 1896 (Bijlage I), the conference of 18 June 1896 (Bijlage II), and the telegram of 17 July 1896. The Van Vliet instruction thus marked the formal closure of the transitional period which had begun with Vetter’s departure on 28 June 1896 and which had been characterised by the brief tenure of De Moulin and the second tenure of Stemfoort. The instruction was the policy framework within which the Van Vliet governorship would be conducted — the bridge between the pacificatie (pacification) of the second semester of 1896 and the decisive korte oorlog phase which would be launched by Van Heutsz in 1898.

See Also

Source

ATJEH ‘96. Tweede Deel (2c Deel), door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 3 kaarten en 6 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-90-Atjeh_96_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_3_kaarten_en_6_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt., pp. 168–172 (Bijlage III — Instruction for Civiel en Militair Gouverneur Van Vliet).

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