Establishment of Civil Government in Aceh (6 April 1881)

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tagsevent, government, dutch-colonial, aceh-war, administrative, administration, colonial, dutch, 1881, failure
aliasesInstelling van het civiel bestuur in Atjeh, Civil Governor in Atjeh, Pruys van der Hoeven's appointment, Separation of civil and military government in Atjeh, Civil government in Atjeh 1881-1884, Atjeh onder civiel bestuur, First civil government of Atjeh

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The Establishment of Civil Government in Aceh on 6 April 6 April 1881 was the separation of the civil and military commands in Atjeh by the Governor-General Van Lansberge and the appointment of A. Pruys van der Hoeven as civil governor of the gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with Colonel J. F. Haus taking the military command. The establishment of civil government was preceded by the administrative reorganisation drafted by the commission of Van der Heyden and Pruys van der Hoeven in 1880-1881, and by the mission of T. H. der Kinderen to Atjeh in November 1880-February 1881 for the reorganisation of justice in the buitenbezittingen. It was one of the last administrative acts of Van Lansberge, who had himself requested discharge for health reasons.

Background

After the close of large-scale operations in Great Acheh in August 1879 the Dutch government initiated the definitive administrative reorganisation. Van der Heyden was placed in commission with A. Pruys van der Hoeven, last resident of Palembang, as government commissioners. They were charged, in joint consultation, “to arrange and propose everything necessary to arrive at an adequate organisation of the gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, in connection with the political situation and the relation of the various Onderhoorigheden to our administration.” The assistant-resident of Groot-Atjeh was attached to them as secretary for that assignment.

Pruys van der Hoeven arrived in Atjeh on 21 February 21 February 1880 and visited in succession the territory occupied by the Dutch, both in Great Acheh and in the vazal staten. On 10 July 10 July the commissioners declared their task ended. After in an extraordinary meeting of the Raad of Nederlandsch-Indië with both commissioners a further discussion had taken place, and the Governor-General had taken several decisions in preparation, the governor was yet charged with the submission of new proposals regarding the organisation of the inland administration in Great Acheh, based on an investigation into the existing situation and the institutions under the sultans. He was to consult with the member of the Raad of Nederlandsch-Indië, Mr. T. H. der Kinderen, who would also come to Atjeh as government commissioner for the reorganisation of justice in the possessions outside Java and Madura, to draft proposals concerning the regulation of justice there. Der Kinderen arrived in Atjeh in November 1880 and remained there until February 1881.

The Administrative Organisation of March 1881

In accordance with the proposals submitted, the definitive administrative organisation of Atjeh came into force in March 1881. According to this organisation, the administration of the gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden would rest with a governor, whose residence would be at Kota Radja. Under him would stand three assistant-residents and ten controleurs. The assistant-residencies were:

  1. that of Groot-Atjeh with Kota Radja as chief place, in which direct Dutch administration was introduced;
  2. that of the Noord- en Oostkust with Telok Semawé as chief place, with controleurs at Edi, Samalanga and Segli;
  3. that of the Westkust van Atjeh with Malaboeh as chief place.

To the landscapes belonging to the two last afdeelingen, self-government was left. In Groot-Atjeh the inland administration would be conducted by district-heads or hoeloebalangs, to be appointed by the Governor-General; their replacements and helpers, as well as the moekim-heads, imams, were appointed by the governor; the replacements and helpers of the imams, as well as the kampong-heads, ketjihiks, by the assistant-resident; the heads of the wards, mandarsé’s, by the controleur.

The Separation of Commands

By the Governor-General’s decision, by virtue of authority already granted by the King in 1879, it was decided to separate the civil and military commands and to entrust the civil administration in Atjeh to a civil governor. The Lieutenant-general Van der Heyden was honourably discharged from his functions, and Pruys van der Hoeven was appointed civil governor; the military command was entrusted to Colonel J. F. Haus of the infantry. Both assumed their functions on 6 April 6 April 1881.

Significance

The discharge to Van der Heyden — “which set many pens in motion, and also gave rise to discussions in the States-General” — was one of the last administrative acts of Governor-General Van Lansberge. For health reasons he had requested discharge in the spring of 1881, which was granted by Royal Decree of 24 November 24 November 1880; on 12 April 12 April 1881 he handed over his dignity to his successor. The establishment of civil government marked the formal transition of Atjeh from a military command to a regular administrative gewest of Netherlands India — though the Atjeh-oorlog was by no means over, and was to continue for more than two decades in the form of guerrilla resistance, especially in the upper lands of Pedir and the XXII Moekims.

Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)

The introduction of civil government in Atjeh in 1881 — the resolution of 11 March 1881 replacing Lieutenant-General Karel van der Heijden by the civilian Governor A. Pruijs van der Hoeven, effective 6 April 1881 — was the Netherlands Indian Government’s answer to General Van der Heijden’s declaration of 1879 that the war had ended and the time of pacification and restoration had arrived; within three years the experiment collapsed, and by 13 September 1884 military and civil authority were again united under Colonel H. Demmeni.

The resolution of 1881

Using the authorization granted the year before by the Supreme Government — leaving it to the Governor-General when he should deem it desirable to entrust the civil policy in Atjeh to a civil governor — the Landvoogd determined by resolution of 11 March 1881 that a chief official with the title of governor should henceforth head the province. Lieutenant-General K. van der Heijden was by the same resolution honourably discharged; in his place came A. Pruijs van der Hoeven, last employed for the organisation of Atjeh and before that resident of Palembang, with Colonel of Infantry J. F. Haus as military commandant. Both took office on 6 April 1881. Governor-General Van Lansberge told Van der Heijden that thereby “the crown was set upon the building” — but, Langhout remarks, “all too soon it would show that ‘the crown on the building’ did not fit”, and that the walls raised by the Indian army’s heroism could not yet bear the crown’s weight; for it to fit, thirty-seven years more had to elapse (until 1918).

By ordinance of 14 March 1881 the province was brought under the jurisdiction of the Raad van Justitie (Court of Justice) at Padang; a regulation of the administration of justice in Atjeh was fixed, and the judicature for the native population of Groot-Atjeh was further regulated: that population for the time being kept its own jurisdiction, the district chiefs and the moesapats (native courts, composed of native chiefs and presided over by the head of the sub-department) continuing to judge according to the institutions and customs existing in Groot-Atjeh, insofar as these did not conflict with the general principles of justice. The corps of “gewapende politiedienaren” (armed police officers) — instituted in Atjeh by way of trial, partly mounted, armed with Beaumont rifles — was to contribute to the securing of safety; whether the trial succeeded in every respect, Langhout doubts. Plunder and robbery steadily increased; attacks of robber bands on Chinese settlements made, for a long time, the number of departing Chinese — traders as well as artisans — exceed that of arrivals.

Works and trade measures

Road-building went on: the road from Lambaroh to Aneugalong was completed in August 1882; the road to Glé Kambing was continued; a road from Toengkop to Montassik was decided upon; a bridge over the Kroeëng Raba created a regular connection with Lehong; the great transport road to Glé Kambing and the road Aneügalong–Toengkōp were wholly finished, and iron bridges were laid over the Atjeh River at Glé Kambing and Lambaroh, smaller bridges being progressively replaced by iron against breakage by the evilly disposed. The new Missigit was festively opened on 27 December 1882, with several clergy attached to it at government cost. In the course of 1882 the compulsory visitation at Oelèë Lheue of vessels arriving in the Government was abolished, opening the whole coast of Atjeh to trade; at Idi trade revived, a Chinese temple rose with government help and the chief’s gift of 500 dollars; at Modjopahit the pepper gardens were saved from abandonment by the acting assistant-resident’s chastisement of the robbers and a government grant of 500 dollars (March 1882) from the hacil; on the West Coast the pepper culture extended and the assistant-resident of Meulaboh explored the coals of Seunagan.

The collapse, 1883–1884

In December 1882 the government passed to P. F. Laging Tobias, resident of Palembang (taking over 16 March 1883) — who had to declare the state in Atjeh “zeer ongunstig” and soon felt it “bijna geheel hopeloos” (“almost wholly hopeless”). Governor-General ‘s Jacob’s visit, and the visit of the newly appointed Governor-General O. van Rees of 11 April 1884, were passed over by the official documents in a speaking silence. The year 1883 became a rapjaar: the Atjehnese struggle took on an ever more religious character, some trusted chiefs fell away, a violent cholera epidemic made victims by thousands, and a violent earthquake shook Koeta Radja to a wide distance; by resolution of 29 May 1883 the open-coast measure was withdrawn, trade being confined to Oelèë Lheue, Sigli, Samelanga, Lho Seumawè, Idi and Meulaboh (with Tapa Toean to follow when an official should be posted there) — a control publicly defended, on explicit government order, as exercised without preference of any nationality. Dr. E. B. Kielstra explained the failure by the contrast between Pruijs van der Hoeven’s gifted conduct of persuasion along the coasts and his failure to see that Groot-Atjeh, won by the sword, still had to be kept by the sword. The Nisero affair completed the discomfiture. After more than three years of civil government the Government realized that a reserved and very forceful attitude toward the Atjehnese left no place for a separate civil administration: Governor Laging Tobias was honourably relieved, and Infantry Colonel H. Demmeni accepted the administration as Civil and Military Governor on 13 September 1884. “Aan het voor ons leger roemlooze en voor den handel uiterst ongunstige tijdperk van het eerste civiele bestuur op Atjeh was een einde gekomen!” — “An end had come to the period of the first civil government in Atjeh, inglorious for our army and most unfavourable for trade!”

Account from Verstege’s Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk (1886)

Verstege (whose dating differs by days: the two-headed government was introduced, he says, on the 9th of April, when Van der Heyden handed over the civil administration to the Heer Pruijs van der Hoeven) gives the deed its preparation and its retinue of speeches: on 11 March 1881 the Kabinetsbrief of Governor-General Van Lansberge, litt. N., as the outcome of the judgment of the Raad van Indië of 11 September 1880, unanimously reached, conveyed to the civil and military governor of Atjeh, luitenant-generaal K. van der Heyden, the decision that the time had come to introduce on Atjeh a normal administrative organisation: “dat het langer doen voortduren van eene met dat toen bereikte einddoel in strijd zijnde abnormalen toestand … niet gewettigd zou zijn” (“that to let continue longer an abnormal state conflicting with the end then reached … would not be justified”), “dat daardoor in werkelijkheid de kroon werd gezet op het gebouw, door den heldenmoed en de toewijding van het Indisch leger opgetrokken” (“that thereby in reality the crown was set on the building erected by the heroism and devotion of the Indies army”). The general closed his address to his successor with the words: “Groote voorzichtigheid blijft geboden om de vrucht van jaren niet in gevaar te brengen” (“Great caution remains required not to endanger the fruit of years”); and minister van Goltstein, answering the Kamer on 28 March, declared the whole aim reached, “that all guarantees were present that the war would not be resumed”. The new governor could then in April and May name the condition of Atjeh “zeer bevredigend” (“very satisfactory”) — the brightest reports of the intermezzo whose further development (the patrol regulations of 22 May 1881, the giving up of posts, the use of an armed police, the guerilla’s rebirth) is traced at Normale bestuursinrichting (Atjeh, 1881-1884).

See Also

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. 113-115.

Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 42–58.

Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), pp. 68-74. OCR: DLP-158.

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