The Government Resolution of 26 April 1896 No. 159/11 (Extract uit het Register der Besluiten van den waarnemend Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, No. 159/11, KOTA-RADJA, 26 April 1896) — reproduced as Annex VI of Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 — was the decree of the waarnemend Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden that formally dismissed Teuku Umar (writing as Toekoe Djohan Pahalawan) from both of his government offices — Panglima Prang Besar of the Government (conferred by the Resolution of 5 September 1893) and hoeloebalang of Lepong (conferred by the Resolution of 19 January 1896) — and stipulated that he would henceforth be officially designated by the name Toekoe Oemar. The resolution, signed by De Secretaris Udo de Haes, was the executing instrument of the Government Telegram of 26 April 1896 No. 409 and the immediate legal predicate of the Proclamation of 27 April 1896 announcing military operations against him.
Background
By 26 April 1896 the Umar crisis had reached its terminal diplomatic phase. The buitenlinie had been progressively abandoned — Biloel and Lamkoenjit on 12 April 1896, Anak-Galoeng, Lam-Barih, Lam-Soet and Senelop on 17 April 1896, and Kroeng Gloempang, Tjot Rang and Toengkoeb on 20 April 1896. The exchange of letters between Umar and the Regeeringscommissaris had produced Umar’s First, Second, and Third Letters and the Regeeringscommissaris’s reply of 25 April 1896 demanding that Umar hand in the geleende oorlogsmaterieel, demolish the versterkingen in the VI Moekims, and submit anew. On the morning of 26 April 1896 Umar’s reply was received asking for a three-day extension without any definite promise; the Regeeringscommissaris denied the request the same day.
With diplomatic channels exhausted, the Government Telegram No. 409 arrived from Batavia ordering Umar’s dismissal from both offices before the commencement of military action. The besluit was issued the same day by the waarnemend Gouverneur at Koeta Radja — that is, by Lt.-Gen. Vetter acting in his civil capacity as acting Governor — and signed by De Secretaris Udo de Haes. The same day saw the Regeeringscommissaris issue his second proclamation explaining why he was forced to commence hostilities against Umar; the second proclamation to the three *sagi* followed on 27 April 1896.
Content
The resolution is formally an Extract uit het Register der Besluiten van den waarnemend Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden — an extract from the register of decrees of the acting Governor of Atjeh and Dependencies. Its number, 159/11, places it in the regular sequence of the Governor’s besluiten for 1896. Its place of issue is given as KOTA-RADJA and its date as 26 April 1896.
The substantive content of the resolution is the dismissal of Toekoe Djohan Pahalawan from two offices: from the office of Panglima Prang Besar of the Government, conferred by the Resolution of 5 September 1893 No. 1 geheim; and from the office of hoeloebalang of the landschap Lepong, conferred by the Resolution of 19 January 1896 No. 9. The dismissal is total: Umar is removed from government service, not suspended; the Panglima Prang Besar title and the territorial jurisdiction over Lepong are both revoked.
The most striking provision of the resolution is the stipulation that Umar would henceforth be officially designated by the name Toekoe Oemar — the old name he had borne before his 1893 elevation, not the new name Toekoe Djohan Pahalawan conferred on him by the Resolution of 5 September 1893. The symbolic erasure of the 1893 renaming is total: in all official Dutch documents, Umar was to be designated by his old name, as if the elevation had never happened. The resolution is signed by De Secretaris Udo de Haes, acting for the waarnemend Gouverneur.
Reception and Aftermath
The resolution was acted upon immediately. The same day, 26 April 1896, the Regeeringscommissaris issued a proclamation explaining why he was forced to commence hostilities. The following day, 27 April 1896, the Proclamation of 27 April 1896 was issued from KOTA-RADJA announcing military operations against T. Oemar Melaboch — that is, against Umar under his post-dismissal designation (Melaboch / Melabuh is the designation given him after defection). The Bombardment of Lampisang began at 5:45 a.m. on 27 April 1896 and continued to 23 May 1896. The three-day Dutch offensive of 23–25 May 1896 followed, capturing Umar’s house at Lam-Pisang and driving him into retreat to Lepong.
Significance
The Gouvernementsbesluit of 26 April 1896 No. 159/11 is the formal instrument of Umar’s dismissal and, by extension, of the legal dissolution of the Dutch-Umar alliance. Its revocation of both the Panglima Prang Besar commission and the hoeloebalang of Lepong closes the legal structure opened by the Resolution of 5 September 1893 and the Oath of Loyalty of 30 September 1893. Its stipulation that Umar be designated by his old name Toekoe Oemar is a deliberate act of symbolic erasure, undoing the 1893 renaming that had constituted him as a Dutch officer. As a historical document, the resolution is the legal hinge between the diplomatic and military phases of the Umar crisis, and is preserved as Bijlage VI of ATJEH ‘96 precisely because it is the document that converts a defection into a war.
See Also
- Teuku Umar
- Udo de Haes
- Government Telegram of 26 April 1896, No. 409
- Gouvernementsbesluit of 5 September 1893, No. 1 geheim
- Gouvernementsbesluit of 19 January 1896, No. 9
- Proclamation of Lt. Gen. Vetter to the heads and people of the 3 sagi of Groot-Atjeh (27 April 1896)
- Bombardment of Lampisang (27 April – 23 May 1896)
- Three-day Dutch offensive of 23–25 May 1896
- Panglima Prang Besar
- Lepong
- Koeta Radja
- 1896
Source
ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 13 (TOC), 14, 26 (TOC), 142, 346–347.