The Atjèh embassy to Singapore of January 1873 — in Kreemer’s history, the mission undertaken by the Atjèhnese embassy returning from Riouw to Atjèh via Singapore, during which the envoys paid visits to the consuls of the United States and Italy “hun voorstellende tractaten met Atjèh te sluiten, omdat Atjèh door Nederland bedreigd werd” — “proposing to them to conclude treaties with Atjèh, because Atjèh was threatened by the Netherlands” — was, in Kreemer’s narrative, the immediate diplomatic provocation that converted the long-running Anglo-Dutch dispute over Atjèh into the Atjèh-oorlog.
The embassy’s return
Kreemer situates the Singapore episode in the collapse of the Dutch peace mission of late 1872. The sjahbandar of Atjèh Panglima Tibang Moehamad and four oelèëbalangs had presented themselves to the resident of Riouw with a letter from the Sultan requesting postponement of the announced Dutch visit, on the ground that the Sultan had written to the Sultan of Turkey and awaited his reply. The Indische Regeering granted the postponement; but while the envoys were still at Riouw, the Regeering learned that in early January 1873 an Atjèhnese delegate had been sent to the French government seeking help. “De gezanten hieromtrent ondervraagd toonden zich ‘ondubbelzinnig ten hoogste verbaasd’” — “The envoys, questioned on this, showed themselves ‘unequivocally most astonished.’”
“Een Nederlandsch oorlogsschip voerde tegen het einde van Januari 1873 het gezantschap naar Singapore en vandaar naar Atjèh terug. Na hun vertrek uit Singapore bleek echter, dat zij bezoeken hadden afgelegd bij de consuls van Amerika en Italië, hun voorstellende tractaten met Atjèh te sluiten, omdat Atjèh door Nederland bedreigd werd” — “A Dutch warship carried the embassy at the end of January 1873 to Singapore and thence back to Atjèh. After their departure from Singapore, however, it emerged that they had paid visits to the consuls of America and Italy, proposing to them to conclude treaties with Atjèh, because Atjèh was threatened by the Netherlands.”
The Dutch response
“Wanneer men bedenkt, dat al ons streven der laatste jaren gericht was geweest op het regelen onzer betrekkingen met Atjèh in dier voege, dat vreemde vestiging er zou zijn uitgesloten, dan laat het zich verklaren, dat de berichten uit Singapore de ernstigste complicaties deden vreezen. Onze Regeering achtte langer dralen thans ongeoorloofd. Besloten werd den Vice-President van den Raad van Indië F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen als Regeeringscommissaris naar Atjèh te zenden om den Soeltan opheldering te vragen omtrent zijn trouweloos gedrag en van hem de erkenning onzer souvereiniteit te eischen” — “When one considers that all our efforts of recent years had been directed to the regulation of our relations with Atjèh in such a way that foreign settlement there would be excluded, then it is explicable that the news from Singapore gave rise to fear of the most serious complications. Our Government deemed further delay now impermissible. It was decided to send the Vice-President of the Council of the Indies F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen as Government Commissioner to Atjèh, to demand of the Sultan an explanation concerning his faithless conduct and to require of him the recognition of our sovereignty.”
When Atjèh refused all explanation, Nieuwenhuyzen declared war on 26 March 1873.
Significance
The Singapore embassy is, in Kreemer’s narrative, the point of no return. The Atjèhnese approach to the American and Italian consuls — coming on top of the appeal to France and the letter to Turkey — demonstrated to the Dutch that the sultanate was actively seeking to internationalise the Atjèh question, and that the Dutch monopoly on Atjèhnese diplomacy (which the 1824 treaty and the 1871 treaty had been designed to secure) had broken down. The decision to send Nieuwenhuyzen, and the war that followed his failure, are the direct consequences of the Singapore revelations.
See Also
- Acheh
- Panglima Tibang Moehamad
- F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen
- Declaration of war on Atjèh (26 March 1873)
- Atjèh petition to Turkey (1868)
- Singapore
- Riouw
- Causes of the Atjèh-oorlog (Kreemer’s account)
- Aceh War
- 1873
Source
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Eerste Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1922. Hoofdstuk I, B (“Periode 1824—1873. Oorzaken van den Atjèh-oorlog”), blz. 13–14.