The Zelfbestuursverordening of 1 January 1921 (Serbeudjadi Rafflesia) — printed in the 1930 compilation of Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden as Regulation No. 21 — is the natuurmonument-verordening (natural-monument ordinance) of the landschap (territory) Serbeudjadi in the afdeeling Gajo- en Alaslanden (district of Gajo- en Alaslanden), issued by the Zelfbestuurders (self-governors) Kedjoeroen Abog and Banta Ali Aman Lage, designating thirteen named Rafflesia-bearing terreingedeelten (terrain-portions) of the landschap — wholly surrounded by oer-woud (primeval forest) — as natuurmonumenten (natural monuments) under the Netherlands-Indies ordonnantie (ordinance) van 18 March 1916 Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië No. 278. It is the botanically most distinctive, and the most topographically detailed, regulation in the compilation.
Issuers and the authorising Gouvernementsbesluit
The regulation is issued by the two named oeleebalang (territorial chiefs) of the landschap Serbeudjadi — the Malay column reading “Kami Oelesbalang dari landschap Serbendjadi, Kedjoeroen Aboq, Banta Ali Aman Lage, dari onderafdeeling Serbeudjadi, afdeeling Gajo- en Alaslanden” and the Dutch column reading “Kedjoeroen Aboq, Banta Ali Aman Lage, der onderafdeeling Serbeudjadi van de afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh.” The Dutch side’s attribution of Serbeudjadi to the afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh (East Coast district of Atjeh) is a bookkeeping slip — Serbeudjadi is in fact in the afdeeling Gajo- en Alaslanden, as the Malay column correctly records. The Kedjoeroen (or Keudjroeen) is a chiefly title of the Gajo/Alas lands.
The recital records the colonial governor’s authorising act:
“Gelezen het Gouvernements-be- luit van 9 October 1920 No. 46 nd III. Membatja besluit Gouvernement tg. 9 October 1920 No. 46 ad III.”
— “Having read the Gouvernementsbesluit (Government decree) of 9 October 1920 No. 46 ad III.” The Gouvernementsbesluit of 9 October 1920 No. 46 ad III is the immediate colonial authorisation for the natuurmonument-designation; without it the Zelfbestuurders of Serbeudjadi would have had no power to bind future Zelfbesturen of the landschap against the alienation of the designated terreinen (terrains).
The three designated sites
The conservation motive is stated explicitly in the recital: “Ditimbang dan merasa perloe, dimana tempat dari boenga Raffle- sia didalam landsehap jang tinggal terpolihara. Overwegende dat het wenschelijk is de vindplantsen van de Rafflesin- bloem in het landsehap in stand te houden” — “Whereas it is desirable to maintain in being the localities of the Rafflesia-bloom in the landschap.” The substantive designation follows in Fatsal 1 / Artikel 1 (Article 1), made “op den voet der bepalingen van de ordonnantie van 18 Maart 1916 Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indic No. 278” — “on the footing of the provisions of the ordonnantie of 18 March 1916 Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië No. 278.” The designated terreingedeelten are described by reference to a stream (Aloer), a kampong (village), a bivak (bivouac), or a kilometric marker on a paardenpad (horse-track). The first three — and the principal — sites are:
- Aloer Doeren Tarotoeng — “dipinggir kali Aloer Doeren Ta- roetoeng = 1½ K.M. sebelah Barat Daja dari kampong Ta- roedjak. aan den oever van de Aloer Doeren Taroctoong op ongeveer 1½ K.M. ten Z.W. van de kam- pong Taroedjak” — “on the bank of the stream Aloer Doeren Taroetoeng, approximately 1½ km west-southwest of the kampong Taroedjak.”
- Aloer Kloewat — at “Aloer Kloewat (10 minuten N. of kampong Nalon)” — approximately ten minutes’ walk north of the kampong Nalon.
- Aloer Itam — at “Aloer Itam (3 minuten upstream of bivak Aloer Itam)” — three minutes’ walk upstream of the colonial transport-bivak of Aloer Itam.
The remaining sites — Aloer Soengsang (about 50 m north of km 36 of the Aloer Itam–Ranto Pandjang paardenpad); the Ranto Pandjang–Plawi paardenpad between km 40 and 41; Djamboer Manja (on the old transport road Loekoep–Ranto Pandjang); twenty minutes north-east of kampong Boegag; twenty minutes south of kampong Leles (50 m west of km 3 of the Loekoep–Pendeng path); kampong Pante Kra on the west bank of the Djerneh river; 30 m south of km 41 of the Ranto Pandjang–Plawi path; the left bank of the Djerneh near Poelo Moento; Aloer Serpong (about 7 km south of kampong Leles); and Aloer Koembar (on the Aloer Itam–Ranto Pandjang path) — together make up thirteen designated terreingedeelten (labelled a–n with one duplicated), each described in equally precise topographic detail.
References to the ordonnantie of 18 March 1916
The legal basis of the designation is the Netherlands-Indies ordonnantie van 18 March 1916 Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië No. 278 — the colonial statute authorising the designation of terreinen as natuurmonumenten. The Malay column renders the citation as “ordonnantie pada tanggal 18 Maart 1916 Stbl. van Hindia Belanda No. 278” and the Dutch column as “ordonnantie van 18 Maart 1916 Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië No. 278.” Reg. No. 21 is the only regulation in the compilation — and possibly the only zelfbestuursverordening of the entire Gouvernement — that invokes this ordonnantie. The designation is thus doubly authorised: by the Gouvernementsbesluit van 9 October 1920 No. 46 ad III of the Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (the immediate authorisation), and by the Netherlands-Indies ordonnantie of 18 March 1916 (the metropolitan enabling statute).
Significance
The Zelfbestuursverordening van 1 January 1921 is the botanically most distinctive regulation in the compilation. It is the only natuurmonument-designation in the Zelfbestuursverordeningen compilation, and the only regulation that names a genus of plant — Rafflesia, the parasitic flowering plant native to Southeast Asia, with the world’s largest individual flower — as the explicit object of conservation. The Rafflesia had been discovered in the early nineteenth century in the Sumatran interior; the thirteen designated sites of Serbeudjadi form part of the Gajo/Alas highland Rafflesia habitat. The regulation is also the most topographically detailed in the compilation: every designated terreingedeelte is fixed by reference to a stream, kampong, bivak, or kilometric marker on a paardenpad. The regulation’s effective date — 1 January 1921 — coincides exactly with the inwerkingtreding (entry into force) of the inkomstenbelasting (income-tax) regeling of Peureula’ (Reg. No. 9a) and its eighteen parallel regelingen across the Gouvernement, making the first day of 1921 one of the more consequential dates in the colonial administrative calendar of Aceh.
See Also
- Serbeudjadi
- Gayoe- en Alaslanden
- Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Zelfbestuur
- Civiel en Militair Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- 1921
Source
Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, Serie A No. 9 of the Mededeelingen van de Afdeeling Bestuurszaken der Buitengewesten van het Departement van Binnenlandsch Bestuur, Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1930, Reg. No. 21 (Zelfbestuursbesluit van 1 Januari 1921, designating the Serbeudjadi Rafflesia sites as natuurmonumenten), pp. 128–129. OCR-filename: 20260719_030404_DLP-112-Zelfbestuursverordeningen_Atjeh_en_onderhoorigheden_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.