Letter of the Acehnese Chiefs to General Swart (26 September 1933)

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tagsdocument, letter, achehnese, malay, aceh, 1933, 20th-century, homage
aliasesLetter of the Acehnese Chiefs to General Swart, letter of the Acehnese chiefs 1933, Letter of the Acehnese Chiefs, 1933 letter to Swart, Soerat Atjehsche hoofden 1933

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The letter of the Acehnese chiefs to General H. N. A. Swart, dated Atjeh, 26 September 1933, was the address of congratulation sent by thirty-two chiefs and dignitaries of the north coast on the occasion of Swart’s seventieth birthday, 12 October 1933, and printed by du Croo as an appendix to Generaal Swart in the original Malay with a Dutch translation.

The letter was drawn up by T. Maharadja Mangkoeboemi, zelfbestuurder of the landschap Lho’ Seumawè, and T. Tjhi’ Moehammad Djohan Alamsjah, zelfbestuurder of Peusangan — chiefs of the very region “where the resistance had raged most fiercely.” Du Croo added: “it speaks for itself.”

Text

The letter was addressed “Menghadap Jang moelia seripadoeka toean (“master, sir”) Besar Generaal H. N. A. Swart, oud Gouverneur van Atjeh di Den Haag” and opened with the congratulations of the undersigned on the completion of Swart’s seventieth year on 12 October 1933.

Because Swart was far from them, they could not come in person to offer their congratulations, and this letter had to take the place of their appearing before him to show their respect. They further hoped that God would prolong his years by decades more.

The core of the letter ran, in the Dutch translation printed by du Croo:

“We have none of us forgotten, but are ever mindful of all the former services and benefits of Your Honour towards us and also towards the land of Atjeh, our native soil, which has become pacified, quiet and prosperous and has received proper education — the pillar on which the culture of a country rests — beginning with the coming to power of His Honour the Governor H. N. A. Swart in Atjeh, from the year 1908 to 1918.”

“Therefore, although Your Honour has long been away from Atjeh and out of our sight, we do not forget the services and benefits of Your Honour.”

The signatories therefore offered him a souvenir of the day: “a smoking set consisting of a cigar case, an ash-tray and a match-holder, as a memento in honour of your birthday,” and closed with the wish that God might prolong the years of General H. N. A. Swart, his wife and family, and keep them far from misfortune.

Signatories

The letter bore thirty-two names: sixteen zelfbestuurders of landschappen; the son of a zelfbestuurder; eleven oelèëbalangs; a sjahbandar; T. Hadji Moehammad Sjah; the head of the Voor-Indiërs; and the second signing zelfbestuurder. In the order printed:

  1. T. Maharadja Mangkoeboemi, zelfbestuurder of the landschap Lho’ Seumawè
  2. T. Bentara Isitia Moeda of Peureudan Gloempang Doea
  3. T. Keudjroeën Ali of Sawang
  4. T. Banta Lotan of Nisam
  5. T. Tjhi’ Moehammad Thajèb of Peureulak
  6. T. Tjhi’ Machmoed of Meureudoe
  7. T. Ma E of Triëng Gadèng
  8. T. Tjhi’ Moehammad of Samalanga
  9. T. Moehammad Basjah, acting
  10. T. Radja Ma’ Ali of Blang Mangat
  11. T. Radja Meukoeta of Matang Koeli
  12. T. Abdul Latif of Geudong
  13. T. Imeum Balè of Bloeë
  14. T. Machmoed of Tjoenda
  15. T. Radèn of Bajoe
  16. T. Aboe Sama of Koero
  17. T. Tjoet Lizamsjah, son of T. Maharadja Mangkoeboemi of Lho’ Seumawè
  18. T. Radja Ma’ Ali of Boeloh Blang Ara
  19. T. Sjahkoebat of Pantòn Laboe
  20. T. Moehammad Nafiah of Blang Gloempang
  21. T. Radja Nago of Boeah
  22. T. Bintang of Boeloh Gampong Teungoh
  23. T. Panglima Prang Latèh of Boeloh Raja Mantjang
  24. T. Moehammad Ibrahim of Moeliëng
  25. T. Ali Basjah of Pirak
  26. T. Moehammad Hadji bin T. Wahi of Matang Panjang
  27. T. Bèn Ara of Boengkok
  28. T. Djohan of Peudada
  29. T. Panglima Prang Lhò’, sjahbandar of Matang Koeli
  30. T. Hadji Moehammad Sjah of Lho’ Soekon
  31. Nater Sahib, head of the Voor-Indiërs at Lho’ Seumawè
  32. T. Tjhi’ Moehammad Djohan Alamsjah, zelfbestuurder of the landschap Peusangan

The letter was signed on behalf of all the above, and as the executors of their commission, by T. Maharadja Mangkoeboemi, zelfbestuurder of Lho’ Seumawè, and T. Tjhi’ Moehammad Djohan Alamsjah, zelfbestuurder of Peusangan.

Significance

The letter is the principal Acehnese document reproduced in du Croo’s book and the chief evidence he adduced for the proposition that Swart was remembered in Atjeh as Bapa Swart. It comes from the north coast — Keureutòë, Pasè, Peusangan, Samalanga, Meureudoe — the region in which the resistance of 1908–1912 had raged most fiercely, and is signed by chiefs of landschappen in which many of the actions of that resistance had been fought.

“They wrote to him, they told him their opinion, they did not forget their Bapa Swart,” du Croo wrote. “So it was in 1927, and so it has remained to this day.”

See Also

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), Appendix: Letter of the Acehnese chiefs, pp. 165–169.

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