The granting of the Dutch coat of arms chain to Baid Setia Maharadja took place in 1888, when the Netherlands Indies government presented a ceremonial gold chain bearing the Dutch royal arms to Teukoe Moeda Baid Setia Maharadja, the uleebalang of the VII Moekims. The original Dutch description records: “in 1888 door het Gouvernement verleend” — “granted in 1888 by the Government.”
The chain
The chain was made of gold wire (gouddraad) and terminated in the Dutch coat of arms (het Nederlandsche wapen). It was a formal mark of colonial favour, intended to publicly recognise and cement the loyalty of an indigenous ruler who had aligned himself with Dutch authority. The presentation of such chains — sometimes called keten van het wapen or “chain of the arms” — was a well-established practice in the Netherlands Indies, comparable to the award of medals and decorative weapons to cooperative native rulers elsewhere in the archipelago.
Political context
By 1888, the Dutch had been fighting the Aceh War for fifteen years, with no prospect of a decisive military victory. The colonial administration under Governor-General C. Pijnacker Hordijk and his successors increasingly turned to political strategies aimed at dividing the Acehnese resistance. Central to this approach was the cultivation of the uleebalang class — the secular territorial aristocracy — as allies against the ulama-led religious resistance.
The award to Baid Setia Maharadja, as uleebalang of the VII Moekims, was part of this broader policy. By publicly honouring a cooperative uleebalang with a visible symbol of Dutch favour, the government aimed to encourage other territorial lords to follow suit, while simultaneously signalling to the resistance that their erstwhile allies among the aristocracy were being rewarded for defection.
The chain was, however, to be short-lived in Baid Setia Maharadja’s possession. Just eight years later, in 1896, it would be confiscated for his alleged disloyalty — see Revocation of Baid Setia Maharadja’s honours (1896).
See Also
- Teukoe Moeda Baid Setia Maharadja
- Revocation of Baid Setia Maharadja’s honours (1896)
- VII Moekims
- Uleebalang
- 1888
- Aceh War
Source
Gids voor den bezoeker van de schatkamer, Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, Batavia, 1928. Druk: Ruygrok & Co., Batavia. Cabinet 5 (Atjeh), item 31.