The dienst van de Maréchaussée in de Zuider- en Oosterafdeeling van Borneo in 1905 was the despatch of three brigades of the Korps Maréchaussée to the Southern and Eastern Division of Borneo, cited in the 1930 jubilee number as the leading instance of the corps rendering extraordinary services outside Atjeh.
The despatch
The jubilee account records that the Maréchaussée “bewees ook buiten Atjeh haar buitengewone diensten, zooals in de Z. en O. Afdeeling van Borneo, waarheen in 1905 drie brigades werden gedirigeerd” — proved its extraordinary services outside Atjeh as well, as in the Southern and Eastern Division of Borneo, whither three brigades were directed in 1905.
The object
The object of the three brigades was to render the pretendent-sultan harmless — “wien ‘t mocht gelukken den pretendent-sultan onschadelijk te maken,” to whom it fell to succeed in making the pretender-sultan harmless.
Significance
The Borneo detachment illustrates the extent to which the methods developed by the corps in Atjeh — small, mobile, lightly armed brigades operating on local intelligence — came to be regarded within the Netherlands-Indies army as transferable to other theatres of colonial warfare. The same transferability underlay the later despatch of Maréchaussée-trained officers such as W. V. Rhemrev to Sumatra’s Westkust and of Colonel L. A. Snell from Java to the Westkust of Atjeh.
See Also
- Zuider- en Oosterafdeeling van Borneo
- Pretendent-sultan
- Korps Maréchaussée te voet in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Brigade (Maréchaussée)
- 1905
Source
Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930, Extra Jubileum-nummer of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië issued for the fortieth anniversary of the corps (1930), pp. 1-16. Offprint DLP-143, Bibliotheek KITLV, accession 621 116 794.