The revolt in Great Atjèh was the principal armed rising of the pre-invasion insurgent movement, fought in the subdistrict of Seulimeum — the mountain country of the XXII Moekims sagi under Teukoe Panglima Pólém Moehamad Ali — in two waves of sabotage beginning on the night of 19–20 February 1942 and culminating, after a brief lull, in a second wave from the night of 7–8 March 1942 until the Japanese invasion of 12 March 1942. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan (Chapter III § 1) treats it as the central episode of the pre-invasion fifth-column movement: a “large-scale resistance action” centred on Indrapoeri and aimed at severing the main road, railway, and telephone connections between Koetaradja and Medan.
The first wave (19–24 February 1942)
“The first case of sabotage occurred on the night of 19 to 20 February 1942, when in this area the telephone line was cut at only a single place, so that one could still think of mere mischief.” On the night of 23–24 February 1942 “the sabotage reached its peak. The railway line was broken in two places, worst at Indrapoeri, where moreover switches were put out of order, a steam roller was placed across the road, the workshop of the Atjèh-tram was plundered, and a small warehouse was burned.” The controleur of Seulimeum, Mr. J. C. Tiggelman, was “lured outside at night by the sounding of the alarm and murdered in a beastly manner,” while the Atjèhnese manager of the auxiliary post office, Tjoet Amat, “made off with the cash register (containing an amount of around 5,000 guilders).” The following morning Count Von Sperling, head of operations of the Atjèh state railways, was killed in an encounter at Keumiróë in the moekim Lam Leu’Ot.
Leadership and instigation
Piekaar identifies the sagi-head Teukoe Panglima Pólém Moehamad Ali as the principal leader. “After the death of the old Teukoe Panglima Pólém Moehamad Daoed,” his son “openly encouraged” the politicised young religious elements “and even took a direct part in their activities.” The religious leader Teungkoe Sjech Ibrahim of Meintasië’, “a peculiar figure among Seulimeum’s oelama’s,” returned from Singapore in early 1942 “as an honored and respected man, behind whom only a small group of initiates knew the 5th colonne.” Second lieutenant Onvlee of the marechaussee was sent to Seulimeum, and the commander of the marechaussee corps, Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek, was placed in charge of both the subdistrict and the military action.
The coup d’état of 11 March 1942
On 11 March 1942, with the second sabotage wave in full spate, G. F. V. Gosenson carried out his celebrated “coup d’état” in the Heutsz-room of the Residency: eight Great-Atjèhnese chiefs — including Teukoe Oemar Djohan Pahlawan, Teukoe Radja Djoema’at of Lhóng, and Teukoe Ali Basjah of Peukan Bada — were arrested and shipped aboard the Sabangbaai to Sigli. “The following night the Japanese landings came as a welcome relief.”
Significance
The revolt in Great Atjèh was the only one of the 1942 risings to assume “the appearance of a popular movement, whereby the parallel with the Atjèh War was complete.” Its suppression by Colonel Gosenson, on the very eve of the invasion, deprived Koetaradja of its Indonesian administrative organisation and “removed the strongest brake on a further expansion of the resistance movement.”
See Also
- Seulimeum
- Indrapoeri
- Koetaradja
- Teukoe Panglima Pólém Moehamad Ali
- Colonel Gosenson
- Resident J. Pauw
- Poesa
- Fujiwara-kikan
- Sabotage in Sigli (1942)
- Revolt in Tjalang (1942)
- Japanese invasion of Atjèh
- 19 February 1942
- 24 February 1942
- 11 March 1942
Source
Atjèh and the War with Japan, by Dr. A. J. Piekaar, translated from the Dutch original Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan (1949) (‘s-Gravenhage/Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve; English edition), Chapter III § 1 and Chapter V § 1.