The civil government period (1881–1884) was the brief Dutch experiment in administering Acheh on the theory that, after the conquests of General van der Heyden’s governorship (1877–1881), the country had been sufficiently subdued and could be left to a “purely civil government.” The experiment, Snouck Hurgronje writes, was based on the theory that “Acheh had been sufficiently subdued”, and was the first of two mistaken policies — the second being the concentration scheme — by which Dutch statesmen “took out fifteen years from the tale of the legendary thirty first” years of the Achehnese War.
Background: the close of van der Heyden’s offensive
Under the governorship of General van der Heyden (1877–1881), the Dutch had learnt by experience “that while a defensive policy in no way advanced Dutch dominion, a vigorous offensive would make the enemy come to his senses.” All Great-Acheh was conquered in this way. The coast-dependencies, however, which in parts were densely populated and supplied the bahanatan (men), money, and supplies to the war-party, were of greater real importance than the mother-state from which the colonies of pepper-planters had spread out. This fact the politicians forgot when, in 1881, they thought that “now that the war seemed virtually at an end they could fall back upon a more defensive attitude and introduce a purely civil government.”
The lesson of 1881–1884
The years 1881 to 1884 were necessary to enable the Dutch to see that “the establishment of widely extended military posts in Great-Acheh and the introduction of a settled administration could never lead to the breaking down of the opposition in the dependencies; and that, on the contrary, so long as one did not oneself take the offensive against the Coast-states, the military posts in Great-Acheh would be the target of continual attacks by the Achehnese.” The civil government period thus terminated in the abandonment of the experiment and the adoption of the defensive concentration scheme from 1884.
Place in the wider war
Hurgronje is clear that neither the civil government period nor the concentration scheme that followed were serious attempts to subdue Acheh. They were rather expedients “really intended to save statesmen at home from troubling their heads about these questions”, but nominally based on the theory that “Acheh would ultimately submit of its own accord.” Together, the two policies consumed fifteen years — half the legendary thirty years of the Achehnese War — without producing any real resultant gain. The resumption of serious offensive operations did not begin until the close of the “Uma” period in 1896, and the methodical close of the war began only with Governor Van Heutsz’s governorship in 1898.
The civil government period thus stands at the head of the long parenthesis of Dutch quiescence in Acheh, between the first conquest of Great Acheh and the final campaigns of subjugation.
See Also
- Achehnese War
- General van der Heijden
- Concentration Scheme
- Uma period
- Van Heutsz’s governorship
- Great Acheh
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.