The death of Teungku Tiro in January 1891 removed from the head of the Achehnese war-party its most prominent ulama and the recognised commander-in-chief of the holy war against the Dutch. Snouck Hurgronje records the event in a single phrase: “The famous Teungku Tiro, who died in January 1891, was not, as has been so often represented, entrusted by the sultan with the regulation of religious affairs in Great Acheh.” The death came suddenly, after a brief illness, while Teungku Tiro was still “in the full vigour of life”; and it was followed by the rapid dissolution of his party, as his son Mat Amin — a man of very different character — attempted and failed to fill his father’s place.
Teungku Tiro’s authority
Teungku Tiro (Cheh Saman) had worked himself up, by means which Hurgronje describes, “to the position of commander-in-chief in the war against the Gompeuni”. He wished to arm himself to some extent against the jealousy of the adat-chiefs by an official authorisation of the sultan, whereby he might be placed on a level with the uleebalangs — or, as he preferred to interpret it, over their heads. The “court” at Keumala gave him, cautiously enough, a deed of appointment which in appearance made no inroad on the rights of the adat-chiefs, since it limited the province of the ulama to religious matters. “At the same time all the parties concerned were well aware that in the view of the ulamas every thing came under the head of religion, especially antagonism to unrighteous adats, the waging of war against unbelievers, the administration of justice etc.” Even after this formal appointment, Teungku Tiro submitted to no legal dictation from Keumala, and refused on more than one occasion to satisfy the sultan’s demands for money contributions.
The sudden illness and the suspicion of poison
Teungku Tiro “died in January 1891, still in the full vigour of life, after a sudden illness.” He is said to have expressed the conviction that poison had been administered to him by some agent of his son Mat Amin — “a teungku by title and a guerrilla chief by trade, who had lived openly with another man’s wife and had been forbidden access to his father’s presence.” Notwithstanding this, Teungku Tiro had Mat Amin summoned to his bedside when dying, and solemnly warned him to forsake his evil ways and to seek the counsel of devout ulamas.
The dissolution of the party
Teungku Tiro “had no true successor”. His son Mat Amin, on whom the title would naturally have devolved, “was not wont to hearken to advice. In his dress he assumed the character of an uleebalang, and while his father, in receiving distinguished guests, always rose to meet them, the young man would remain sitting until they came up to him. Even the Achehnese consider Mat Amin proud, ignorant and headstrong, and when after his father’s death he gave the rein more than ever to his evil passions, the great body of the adherents of Teungku Tiro at once melted away.” Mat Amin himself was killed in action in 1896 — an event recorded under the capture of the Aneu’ Galong fortress — and the mantle of Teungku Tiro then passed to his two other sons, Teungku Beb (died 1900) and Teungku Mahidin, together with their kinsman Teungku Chot Plieng (died 1901). These continued to do their utmost to maintain the collections of the sabil contributions in the dependencies on the North Coast; but Great Acheh no longer furnished a field for their labour.
Significance
The death of Teungku Tiro was thus, in Hurgronje’s account, the moment at which the religious leadership of the Achehnese war-party was broken. The combination of functions that had made him unique — ulama, commander-in-chief, collector of the haqq sabil — could not be reproduced by any successor. The party continued, but its centre of gravity shifted to the North Coast, and the war in Great Acheh itself became increasingly a matter of separate guerrilla bands under adat-chiefs and adventurers, until the close of the war under Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz.
See Also
- Teungku Tiro
- Cheh Saman (Shaikh Samman)
- Mat Amin
- Capture of Aneu’ Galong fortress
- Tiro
- Keumala
- Achehnese War
- Holy war against the Dutch
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.