The Radja of Gighen’s Letter was a correspondence from Toekoe Bintara Kamangan Poetjoet Ossman, the Radja of Gighen, to Lieutenant-General Van Swieten, dated 30 December 1873, in which the Radja expressed his desire to submit to the Dutch flag and offered to mediate a peace between the Government and the Sultan of Aceh. Van Swieten’s reply, dated 4 January 1874, welcomed the Radja’s intention and sent him a Dutch flag, instructing that when visiting the Dutch position he should fly it to prevent his being fired upon by the Dutch soldiers. The exchange is significant as evidence of the progressive submission of the subordinate states and of the Dutch willingness to use intermediaries for peace negotiations.
The Radja’s Letter
“The reason I write you this letter is this. It has always been my intention to place myself under the protection of the Netherlands flag; I am in no way changed in this; what the Government commands me I will follow, and as for my intentions, I will make them known.
The war with Atjeh destroys land and people; therefore I wish, if my friend finds it good, to try to bring about peace between the Government and the Sultan of Atjeh. My friend be so good as to answer this letter, and as soon as I receive that answer, I will immediately set out overland along the shore to Atjeh.
I also request my friend to send me a Netherlands flag. I intend, when I arrive in Atjeh, to go first to the Sultan of Atjeh to advise him well. If I succeed in my efforts for peace, only then will I come to my friend, for the customs of the Atjehnese are like those of forest people: if I went to my friend first, they would no longer trust me.
These are my words. Written at Gighen, on the 11th of the month Dzoelkaidal 1290 (30 December 1873).”
Van Swieten’s Reply
Van Swieten replied on 4 January 1874:
“I have received and understood your letter dated the 11th of Dzoelkaidah. My friend wishes to bring about peace between me and the Sultan of Atjeh because land and people are being ruined by this war. I too have considered this and therefore I have already made offers of peace to the Sultan on fair conditions. We have not come here to take direct governance over Atjeh and to interfere in matters of religion and national institutions; we only wish to conclude an agreement whereby the realm of Atjeh is declared to form part of the territory of the Netherlands-Indies, and whereby the Sultan and the realm grandees recognize His Majesty the King of the Netherlands as their Overlord.
However, I sent a letter to His Highness the Sultan twelve days ago, but I received no answer, and even my envoy has not yet returned.
Nevertheless I too have compassion for the population of this land, and if my friend therefore wishes to come to Atjeh to speak about peace, I will see it with pleasure. I send my friend herewith the requested flag; my friend can use it, in the event of a visit to me, to protect himself and his followers from being fired upon by my soldiers on arrival.
These are my words.”
See Also
- Gighen
- Toekoe Bintara Kamangan Poetjoet Ossman
- Jan van Swieten
- Sultan Aladin Mahmoed Shah
- Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874)
- Aceh War
Source
De waarheid over onze vestiging in Atjeh, door den Luitenant-Generaal J. van Swieten, Zalt-Bommel, Joh. Noman en Zoon, [1879], Bijlage E, pp. 472–474.