Christoffel’s expedition to Keureuto — about fifteen years before Broersma’s visit, that is, around 1908 — was the marechaussée action that broke the post-pacification resistance in the hill-country of Keureuto in the onderafdeeling Lho Soekon. The expedition was commanded by the marechaussée officer Christoffel, who was called by the Atjehnese apitan rimoeeng — the tiger-captain — ‘omdat zijn greep bloedig was’ — because his grip was bloody.
The Expedition
The hill-country of Keureuto was difficult to reach, because the resistance ‘zich uit de paja-Tjitjem telkens terugtrok naar de heuvels’ — repeatedly withdrew from the Paja Tjitjem into the hills. The great swamp of Paja Tjitjem in the south-eastern half of the onderafdeeling was the refuge of the insurgents; the hills of the north-western half were their fastness. Christoffel’s bivouac at Panon Labeuë commanded the approaches to both, and his marechaussées broke the resistance from there.
Aftermath
The memory of the suffering of those years is still fresh in such a region as Keureuto, Broersma writes; and when geestelijke parasieten — spiritual parasites — misuse the doctrine of the holy war to keep minds bitter, double vigilance is required, a vigilance that is not ostentatious. And in such regions the presence of administrative officials with Atjeh-experience and knowledge of the language is highly to be valued.
Significance
Christoffel’s expedition is one of the last significant military actions of the post-pacification period, undertaken in a region whose geography — the great swamp and the hills — gave the insurgents a refuge from which only the marechaussée could dislodge them. The nickname apitan rimoeeng places Christoffel in the same series as the ‘tijger van Atjeh’ Van Daalen himself.
See Also
- Christoffel
- Keureuto
- Lho Soekon
- Paja Tjitjem
- Panon Labeuë
- Apitan rimoeeng
- Aceh War
- Marechaussée in Atjeh
- G. C. E. van Daalen
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- 1908
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter VIII, ‘Lho Soekon, licht en donker’, p. 55.
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim.