The Zelfbestuursverordening of 20 May 1924 (Takingeun alang-alang) — printed in the 1930 compilation of Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden as Regulation No. 22 — is the verordening (ordinance) of the onderafdeeling (subdivision) Takingeun in the afdeeling Gajo- en Alaslanden (district Gajo- en Alaslanden), issued collectively by the Zelfbesturen (self-governments) of the landschappen (territories) of Takingeun in overleg met het Hoofd der onderafdeeling Takingeun (in consultation with the Head of the subdivision Takingeun), regulating the burning of alang-alang (cogon grass, Imperata cylindrica) on woeste and bebouwde gronden (waste and cultivated lands) and the cutting and damaging of dennenbosschen (pine forests) in the landschappen of the onderafdeeling. Approved by the Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (Governor of Atjeh and Dependencies) on the very day of issue, it took effect — with the unusual retroactivity-clause that is unique in the compilation — on 1 May 1925, with the strafbepalingen (penal provisions) running back to 20 May 1924.
Issuers and recital
The regulation is issued by the collective Zelfbesturen of the landschappen of the onderafdeeling Takingeun — “Zelibestuur dari negeri-uegeri di- dalam onderafdoeling Takingeuu. De Zeltbesturen van de tot het ressort der onderafieelinsskas van Takingeun behoorende landschap- pen” — “The Zelfbesturen of the landschappen belonging to the ressort (jurisdiction) of the onderafdeelingskas (subdivision-treasury) of Takingeun.” No individual oeleebalang (territorial chiefs) are named; the signatory is the corporate-collective Zelfbestuur of the onderafdeeling, acting in overleg (consultation) with the Hoofd der onderafdeeling Takingeun (Head of the subdivision Takingeun).
The recital cites the Zelfbestuursregelen 1919 (Staatsblad No. 822 en 823) (Self-Government Regulations 1919) as the constitutional basis — “Diperhatikan boenji Staatsblad 1919 No. 822 dan 823. Gelet op Stautsblad 1919 No. 822 en 823” — the standard statutory warrant for the Zelfbestuur’s power to issue verordeningen, common to nearly every regulation in the compilation.
Prohibition on uncontrolled alang-alang burning
Fatsal 1 / Artikel 1 (Article 1) prohibits the burning of alang-alang — or any other grass or struikgewas (shrubbery) — on woeste gronden (uncultivated lands) without the schriftelijke vergunning (written permission) of the Zelfbestuur. Fatsal 2 / Artikel 2 allows burning on bebouwde gronden (cultivated lands) only if the grass is heaped within the field, with proper watch kept to prevent spread. Fatsal 3 / Artikel 3 imposes a duty of mutual aid (hulp, dienst of bijstand — help, service, or assistance) on the omwonenden (surrounding inhabitants) when fire breaks out in the belendende terreinen (adjacent terrains): “Bij het uithreken van brand in de belendende terreinen zal ieder om- wonende, met nitzondering van hen, wier eigen woning of aamplant door den brand wordt bedreigd, verplicht zijn hulp, dienst of bijstand te ver- leenen” — “On the outbreak of fire in the adjacent terrains, every surrounding inhabitant, with the exception of those whose own dwelling or planting is threatened by the fire, shall be obliged to render help, service, or assistance.” The mutual-aid duty is signalled by the tong-tong (the village slit-drum) — the standard Acehnese alarm-signal for fire, flood, and other communal emergencies.
Permitting system for dennenbosschen cutting
Fatsal 4 / Artikel 4 prohibits the felling, damaging, or destruction of dennen (pine-trees — the Pinus merkusii forests of the Gayo highlands) without the schriftelijke vergunning of the Zelfbestuur. The Gajo/Alas highlands contain substantial Pinus merkusii forests — the only tropical pine native to the Southern Hemisphere — and the regulation’s protective regime for the dennenbosschen (pine-forests) is the earliest in the compilation to address the sustained management of a defined forest-type. Fatsal 5 / Artikel 5 sets the penalty for any violation of the regulation at a maximum of one hundred guilders or three months’ hechtenis (detention) — the standard maximum in the compilation — and adds, in Artikel 5(2), the substitution-rule of art. 30 wetboek van strafrecht (art. 30 of the Penal Code): unpaid boete (fine) is converted to hechtenis within two months. This is the only regulation in the compilation to invoke the substitution-rule of art. 30 of the Wetboek van Strafrecht.
Fire-prevention rationale
The fire-prevention rationale is implicit throughout the regulation. The burning of alang-alang on woeste gronden is the principal cause of uncontrolled grass-fires in the highlands: the dead grass, when dry, carries fire rapidly across the landscape, threatening the adjacent bebouwde gronden, the dennenbosschen, and the oer-woud (primeval forest) of the afdeeling. The mutual-aid duty of Fatsal 3 / Artikel 3 and the tong-tong alarm-signaal are the practical instruments of fire-suppression at the village level. The permitting-system for dennenbosschen cutting addresses the complementary danger: indiscriminate felling of the highland pines opens the forest canopy, exposes the soil to desiccation, and accelerates the spread of alang-alang into the degraded forest. The regulation’s combination of (a) a vergunning-system (permit-system) for alang-alang burning on woeste gronden, (b) a vergunning-system for dennenbosschen cutting, and (c) a mutual-aid fire-fighting duty on the omwonenden is the most integrated fire-prevention regime in the compilation.
Significance
The Zelfbestuursverordening van 20 May 1924 is the most elaborate of the fire-prevention verordeningen of the Gouvernement. Its comparative table extends parallel regelingen (regulations) to Serbeudjadi (29-5-1924, inwerking 1-5-1925), Gajo LoeBus (28-5-1924, inwerking 6-6-1924), and Alaslanden (6-6-1924) — the smallest comparative table in the compilation, confined to the three other onderafdeelingen of the afdeeling Gajo- en Alaslanden. The regulation’s retroactivity-clause — inwerking (entry into force) on 1 May 1925 but with the strafbepalingen running back to 20 May 1924 — is the only such retroactivity-clause in the compilation, and reflects the practical necessity of an immediate sanction-regime during the eleven-month lag between the vaststelling (establishment) and the inwerkingtreding. The regulation was followed, four years later, by the Pidie alang-alang regulation of 21 January 1928 (Reg. No. 23), which extended the same protective regime to the twenty-six landschappen of the afdeeling Pidie and added the explicit reboisatie (reforestation) motive that is absent from the Takingeun regulation.
See Also
- Takingeun
- Gayoe- en Alaslanden
- Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Zelfbestuur
- Zelfbestuursverordening 21 Januari 1928 (Pidie alang-alang)
- Heerendienst
- Staatsblad 1919 No. 822
- 1924
- 1925
Source
Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, Serie A No. 9 of the Mededeelingen van de Afdeeling Bestuurszaken der Buitengewesen van het Departement van Binnenlandsch Bestuur, Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1930, Reg. No. 22 (Zelfbestuursverordening van 20 Mei 1924), pp. 130–132 (with the comparative table of parallel regelingen for Serbeudjadi, Gajo LoeBus, and Alaslanden). OCR-filename: 20260719_030404_DLP-112-Zelfbestuursverordeningen_Atjeh_en_onderhoorigheden_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.