Proclamation of the Regeeringscommissaris (12 April 1896) (Bijlage III/V)

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tagsdocument, dutch, achehnese, colonial, diplomacy, 19th-century, aceh-war
aliases1st Proclamation of the Regeringscommissaris, Proclamatie van den Regeringscommissaris, Bijlage III, Bijlage V, Proclamation of the Regeeringscommissaris of 12 April 1896

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The Proclamation of the Regeeringscommissaris of 12 April 1896 — reproduced as Bijlage III and again as Annex III/V of Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 — was the first of two proclamations issued by Lt.-Gen. Vetter as Regeeringscommissaris to the the Greater Acehnese heads and population, making known the purpose of his arrival in Aceh following the defection of Teuku Umar. The proclamation was issued on or about 10 April–12 April 1896, immediately preceding the evacuation of Biloel and Lam Koenjit on 12 April 1896 and the publication of Umar’s Second Letter of the same date. It established the political framework within which the Regeeringscommissaris would conduct the next two-and-a-half months of military operations.

Background

Lt.-Gen. Vetter arrived in Aceh aboard the steamers Carpentier and Bantam on 7 April 1896 as Regeeringscommissaris (Government Commissioner), with full civil and military authority over Atjeh and Dependencies. He had been sent in direct response to Umar’s defection of 29 March 1896, which had collapsed the outer line, triggered the sieges of Biloel and Lamkoenjit, and threatened to undo the work of three years of Dutch-native alliance. Upon arrival he honorably relieved Gen.-Maj. Deykerhoff of his functions as Civiel en Militair Gouverneur and assumed the unified command himself.

Within hours of his arrival Vetter had to make critical operational decisions: whether to reinforce the besieged posts of Biloel and Lamkoenjit, whether to lift the entire outer line, and how to communicate the new political situation to the Acehnese population. The geheim schrijven (secret operational instruction) he issued to Kolonel Stemfoort before 8 April 1896 set out the military directives for the relief of 8 April 1896. The Proclamation of 12 April 1896 set out the corresponding political framework. Kruisheer dates the issue to around 10 April–12 April 1896 — that is, after the relief of Biloel and Lamkoenjit but before or simultaneous with their evacuation.

Content

The proclamation was addressed to the Groot-Atjehsche hoofden en bevolking — the territorial chiefs, war leaders, prayer leaders, clerics, and the general population of Groot-Atjeh. Its substantive content was the announcement of the purpose of the Regeeringscommissaris’s arrival in Aceh. Kruisheer’s text records that the Regeeringscommissaris “made known the purpose of his arrival” — a phrase that, in the colonial-administrative register, signalled the assumption of full civil and military authority, the supersession of the previous Governor, and the intent to restore the colonial position by force.

The proclamation is preserved in Kruisheer’s Bijlagen under two numbers (III and V) because of the structure of the balso’s appendices: Bijlage III contains the first proclamation, and Bijlage V contains it again, in the chronological sequence of the political correspondence around Umar (where it precedes Umar’s Second Letter and the Regeeringscommissaris’s reply of 25 April 1896). The same text appears twice because Kruisheer wished both the proclamation sequence (III, VII) and the Umar correspondence sequence (II, IV, V, VI) to be readable as continuous narratives.

The proclamation was followed immediately by the operational order for the evacuation of Biloel and Lam Koenjit on 12 April 1896. The Regeeringscommissaris’s reasoning for the evacuation was that the original purposes of the posts — protection of the IX and VI Moekims against raids from the four Lamkrak mukims, and prevention of evildoers settling along the old road from Biloel to Boekit Daroe — had lost all reason for existence under the current circumstances: the IX Moekims had proven as unfavorably disposed as the VI Moekims that had defected with Umar.

Reception and Aftermath

The immediate operational consequence of the proclamation was the evacuation of Biloel and Lam Koenjit on 12 April 1896. A force under Kolonel Stemfoort, with Chef van den Staf Lt.-Col. Van Vliet and the colonnes of the 3e, 9e, and 14e Bataljons, assembled in the early morning, relieved both posts without significant combat, and oversaw the burning of both posts by midday. The buitenlinie continued to be progressively abandoned in the following days — Anak-Galoeng, Lam-Barih, Lam-Soet and Senelop on 17 April 1896, and Kroeng Gloempang, Tjot Rang and Toengkoeb on 20 April 1896.

The political framework announced in the proclamation structured the next phase of the war. After the exchange of letters with Umar (the Second of 12 April 1896 and the Third of 23 April 1896), the Regeeringscommissaris dismissed Umar by 11 and issued the second proclamation of 27 April 1896 announcing military operations against him. The Bombardment of Lampisang began the same day.

Significance

The Proclamation of 12 April 1896 is the founding document of the Regeeringscommissaris phase of the Atjeh-oorlog (April–June 1896). Its announcement of the purpose of Vetter’s arrival signalled the transition from the native-alliance policy of 1893–1896 to a phase of direct Dutch military command. The same-day evacuation of Biloel and Lamkoenjit demonstrated that the new political framework would be accompanied by immediate operational consequences: the abandonment of the outer line and the concentration of forces around Koeta Radja. As a historical document, the proclamation is preserved twice in ATJEH ‘96 precisely because it stands at the intersection of two narratives — the proclamation sequence and the Umar correspondence sequence — that together constitute the political record of the crisis.

See Also

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, 51, 76, 82.

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