The Voorloopig Verslag on the Indies budget for 1898 (Provisional Report) was the committee report of the Tweede Kamer on the estimates of Nederlandsch-Indië for 1898, drawn up in the autumn of 1897 and answered by the Memorie van Antwoord of the Minister of Colonies J. T. Cremer. It contained the parliamentary question on the Atjeh-oorlog that framed the whole of the Atjeh debate of 16–17 November 1897.
The question on Atjeh
The passage, on page 5 of the report, was read verbatim into the record by Bahlmann, who described it as “zeer pertinent” (very pertinent):
“Eenige leden, die van oordeel waren, dat men bij het voeren van den strijd in Atjeh te veel van den eenen dag op den anderen dag geleefd heeft, verlangden eenige zekerheid, dat hetgeen men doet en doen wil, bevredigende resultaten zal opleveren. Zij wenschten van den Minister te vernemen welk politiek en krijgskundig doel thans ten gevolge van de plaats gehad hebbende operatiën geacht mag worden bereikt te zijn; welke gevolgen de Minister van verdere toepassing van de aangenomen gedragslijn verwacht; welke opofferingen nog noodig worden gerekend om tot pacificatie te geraken. Wellicht zouden de gevraagde inlichtingen verstrekt kunnen worden in eene uitsluitend ter kennisneming van de leden bestemde Nota.”
Rendered: some members, of opinion that in the conduct of the struggle in Atjeh too much had been lived from one day to the next, desired some certainty that what was being done and intended would yield satisfactory results. They wished to learn from the Minister what political and military objective might now, in consequence of the operations that had taken place, be regarded as attained; what consequences the Minister expected from further application of the adopted line of conduct; what sacrifices were still reckoned necessary to arrive at pacificatie. Perhaps the requested information might be supplied in a Note intended exclusively for the members’ cognisance.
Bahlmann observed that the identity of the members who had framed the question could not be deduced from the debate, and that he and the other rapporteurs were bound to secrecy about what they knew as reporters. He complained that the government had in effect not answered the question and had said not a word about the proposed confidential note.
Other Atjeh matters raised
The Voorloopig Verslag also recorded the suggestion of a Staatscommissie that should advise how the Atjeh struggle might be brought to an end — a proposal against which Verhey declared he had “principieele bezwaren” (objections of principle), while acknowledging that its ground probably lay in a want of confidence in a policy that had consumed so many years without the desired result. The report likewise noted the desire that military men be excluded from any such commission, an exclusion Verhey protested against at length.
Finally, the report drew attention to the fact that the rivers and creeks of the Acehnese coast frequently gave small prauwen the opportunity to bring in contraband, and that Dutch warships could not adequately guard against it — a passage cited by Van Vlijmen in support of a larger number of recherchevaartuigen.
See Also
- Memorie van Antwoord on the Indies budget for 1898
- Indische begrooting voor 1898
- Bahlmann
- J. B. Verhey
- Van Vlijmen
- Staatscommissie voor Atjeh (proposed 1897)
- Atjeh debate in the Tweede Kamer (16-17 November 1897)
- 1897
- 1898
Source
Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898, uitgave van de Sociaaldemokratische Arbeiderspartij in Nederland (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br P95-178, pp. 13–14, 18, 20, 28–29, 33–34, 49.
Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898 (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.