The Funeral of Dominee Thenu (11 May 1937) was the indrukwekkende, grootse begrafenis of the Royaal Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger’s Soldaten-Dominee Dominee Thenu at Koeta-Radja on 11 May 1937, in which four retired M.W.O.-ridders — Salawono (3e kl.), Pattiasina, Kazen and Pattipuluhu — acted as slippendragers (pall-bearers), a Marechaussee brigade served as vuurpeleton (firing party), and the dominee was buried at Peutjoet “temidden van zovelen, die hij voorbereid had op die laatste gang daarheen.” A standbeeld (statue) was later erected before his kerkje in Koeta-Radja. The funeral is the closing set-piece of the chapter “Dominee Thenu” in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. and one of the book’s most resonant images of the moral economy of the colonial army.
The slippendragers
“Als slippendragers traden vier oude, gepensioneerde Marechaussees op, alle vier ridders M.W.O.: Salawono (3e kl.), Pattiasina, Kazen en Pattipuluhu.” The four retired M.W.O.-ridders living at Koeta-Radja were chosen to carry the dominee’s bier. The choice is the book’s most explicit statement of the moral economy of the Marechaussee: the men who had been decorated for courage under fire laid their decorations, in effect, at the feet of the man who had blessed them. Salawono’s place as the first-named — and the only one whose klas is specified — marks him as the most senior of the four.
The vuurpeleton and the burial
“Vuurpeleton was een brigade Marechaussee.” A Marechaussee brigade served as the firing party — the military honour due to the dominee who had served the corps for forty years. He was buried at Peutjoet, the military cemetery of Koeta-Radja, “temidden van zovelen, die hij voorbereid had op die laatste gang daarheen” — among the many whom he had prepared for that last journey there.
The gravestone and the standbeeld
His gravestone carries the verse from Job 4:3 — “Zie, gij hebt velen onderwezen, En gij hebt slappe handen gesterkt” (“Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened feeble hands”). The verse, drawn from the speech of Eliphaz the Temanite to Job, is the book’s quiet scriptural closure of the dominee’s life: Thenu had instructed many, and had strengthened feeble hands.
“Vóór zijn kerkje in Koeta-Radja richtte Atjeh voor hem een standbeeld op” — before his little church in Koeta-Radja, Aceh erected for him a statue. The standbeeld is the book’s marker that Thenu’s gezag had passed from the colonial army into the country itself: Aceh, not the K.N.I.L., erected the statue.
Significance
The funeral is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the moment at which the decorations of the old Aceh War generation were laid at the feet of the man who had blessed them. The four M.W.O.-ridders as slippendragers are the book’s most resonant image: the men of courage carrying the man of faith. The standbeeld before his kerkje is the book’s quiet acknowledgement that Thenu’s gezag had passed into the country itself — that Aceh, which had fought the colonial army for forty years, had come to honour the dominee who had served that army. The funeral is therefore the moral closure of the Aceh War in the book’s economy: not the handover of 1918, but the burial of the man who had served both sides.
See Also
- Dominee Thenu
- Salawono
- Pattiasina
- Kazen
- Pattipuluhu
- Koeta-Radja
- Peutjoet
- Militaire Willemsorde (M.W.O.)
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- 11 May
- 1937
Source
Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “Dominee Thenu.”