The Batak War of February-May 1878 was the Dutch military expedition against the Batak lands around Lake Toba in northern Sumatra, undertaken in protection of the missionaries of the Rhenish Missionary Society and the Christian population of Silindoeng against the priest-king Singa Maharadja of the independent Bataklands, who was supported by some 40 Acehnese fighters and who had resolved to make an incursion into Silindoeng and to carry off the missionaries and the Christian population as slaves. The expedition culminated in the storming and burning of Bakhara on 1 May 1 May 1878 and the submission of many chiefs, and was followed by expeditions in 1879 and 1880 against the Batak landscapes of Nai Pos Pos and Pak Pak for robberies committed on government territory.
Background
On Sumatra there was in this period especially in the northern part of the Dutch territories of Sumatra’s Westkust and Sumatra’s Oostkust much fighting, not wholly without connection with the Atjeh-oorlog. Thus Acehnese champions served among the Bataks in Toba, against whom the Dutch sent an expedition in 1878. In Silindoeng — by which is meant the landscapes bounded on the west and south by the residency of Tapanoeli and on the north and east by the independent Bataklands — the chiefs had already in 1840 sworn allegiance to the Dutch government. But later the Dutch had wholly lost their influence there. The advance of the missionaries of the Rhenish Missionary Society into these regions appears to have been the cause of the complications in which the Dutch became involved in 1878.
The head of the independent Bataklands at Lake Toba, “the youthful priest-king Singa Maharadja, seeing his influence threatened, and perhaps incited by fanatical chiefs and acting under Acehnese influence, resolved, supported by 40 Acehnese champions, to make an incursion into Silindoeng and to carry off the missionaries and the Christian population as slaves.”
The Expedition, February-May 1878
The rumours in circulation gave occasion that on 1 February 1 February 1878 a column under Captain Scheltens advanced from Siboga with orders to protect the missionaries and Christians and to drive Singa Maharadja from Silindoeng or to take him prisoner. With happy success, notwithstanding many difficulties, the march was accomplished; the Bataks, who had even sent the Dutch a declaration of war, were driven back, and Silindoeng was subjected. Then the commander received the secret order to subject the whole of Toba and to take the hostile chiefs prisoner.
On 22 April 22 April [1878] the column received reinforcements and at the same time the order to advance upon Bakhara, to destroy this and the kampongs lying between, to take Singa Maharadja prisoner if possible, to remain in the landscape Toba until all chiefs should have submitted, and there to await the further decision of the government. On 1 May 1 May [1878] Bakhara, on Lake Toba, was reached, stormed and burned, whereupon many chiefs swore allegiance to the government. On 7 May 7 May [1878] the march was continued to the formerly friendly Goergoer:
“At 1 o’clock in the afternoon the tired column climbed the 1000 to 1400-foot-high opposite valley-wall, along which resistance was to be expected. Under the enemy’s fire the tired vanguard under Willemse crawled up the steep slope, and gradually got some wounded, and the detachment following it a dead, without one being in a position to answer the enemy’s fire. Also Lieutenant Maurenbrecher and a native sub-officer, who with some soldiers preceded the others and had climbed highest, fell wounded. To encourage his soldiers, who from fatigue fell behind great stones, Willemse now climbed alone to within 50 metres of the edge of the very steep slope, where he had to wait for half an hour before he had 4 European soldiers of the detachment Van den Bergh by him. With these he climbed further to a terrace of 10 square metres, where one of the five was wounded. The last 25 metres were now climbed, and when the four appeared on the edge of the ravine, at about 3 in the afternoon, they were fired upon by some enemies who had fled into a fortified kampong, while about 300 others drew off in the direction of Lintang ni Hoeta. This firing soon ended when more soldiers came up, and the kampongs were further occupied without opposition. The fight, in which Singa Maharadja had for some moments commanded, cost us however 2 dead and 10 wounded, among whom the named officer and the two surveyors.”
The other strongholds of the enemy, such as Lintang ni Hoeta, Baligé and Tamboenan, were also taken, and so the column returned to Bahal Batoe on 14 May 14 May [1878], “since through all kampongs, over the region between Silindoeng and the south side of Lake Toba, the demands of the government would now be satisfied, willingly or unwillingly — that is, recognition of its sovereignty, payment of the fines, and the abolition of slavery and of cannibalism.”
The Aftermath
Sipoholon became the permanent station of a controller, and received a garrison of 2 officers and 73 rank-and-file with a medical officer and hospital personnel. The other troops were sent, chiefly for lack of room, as soon as possible to Siboga and thence to Padang, without the authorisation for this being awaited. In 1879 and 1880 expeditions had to be sent from Siboga against the Batak landscapes of Nai Pos Pos and Pak Pak, where three kampongs refused to give satisfaction for robberies committed on government territory.
Significance
The Batak War of 1878 was the principal Dutch military undertaking on Sumatra outside Atjeh during the period covered by the source work. Together with the expedition to Deli of 1872 and the various expeditions to Langkat, Kota Intan and other places on the east coast in 1875-1877, it extended Dutch authority over the Bataklands and prepared the way for the eventual incorporation of the independent Bataklands into the Netherlands-Indian administration.
See Also
- Singa Maharadja
- Toba
- Silindoeng
- Bakhara
- Goergoer
- Lintang ni Hoeta
- Baligé
- Tamboenan
- Sipoholon
- Siboga
- Tapanoeli
- Nai Pos Pos
- Pak Pak
- Bahal Batoe
- Aceh War
- Expedition to Deli (1872)
- Rijnse Zendingsgenootschap
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 65-68.