Staatsblad 1908 No. 604 was the Staatsblad (Government Gazette) decree that formally established and precisely demarcated the boundary between the Gouvernement Oostkust van Sumatra and the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. It is the only boundary of the Oostkust gewest that was nauwkeurig omgeschreven (accurately demarcated) by legal instrument; all other borders with Tapanoeli, the Westkust, and Riouw remained based on traditional landscape boundaries recognizable only in the terrain.
Legal context
The Staatsblad (State Gazette) was the official publication for laws, decrees, and ordinances in the Netherlands East Indies. No. 604 of 1908 specifically fixed the grens tusschen het gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden en het gouvernement Oostkust van Sumatra. The decree followed the administrative separation of Tamiang from the Oostkust and its attachment to Atjeh via Staatsblad [[1908 No. 112]], which moved the northern limit south to the Besitang watershed.
Boundary description in the decree
The text of the work summarizes the demarcated line as follows (likely quoting or paraphrasing the Staatsblad):
Overal elders gelden nog de, bij overlevering voldoende bekende, doch slechts in het terrein zelf met betrekkelijke juistheid aan te wijzen, grenzen der verschillende landschappen. Over het algemeen volgt de gewestelijke grens van het Noorden af de waterscheiding tusschen de Besitang- en Tamiang-rivier tot de Wilhelmina-keten (G. Bandahara) en vandaar den kam van dit gebergte tot de Serbolangit groep (Liang Gergas, 1888 m). Van dien top daalt de grens af naar het moerassige dal de L. Penjabrangan, welke rivier zij in den middenloop snijdt. De grens blijft nu in nagenoeg Zuidelijke richting doorlopen, tot aan de Blang Nodi, welker Oostrand zij volgt tot den G. Aboe Aboe, in welk punt nu nog de grenzen van Atjeh, Oostkust en Tapanoeli samenkomen.
Tripoint at Gunung Aboe Aboe
The decree confirmed Gunung Aboe Aboe (1,684 m) as the tripoint where the boundaries of three gouvernementen meet: Atjeh, Oostkust van Sumatra, and Tapanoeli. From this point, the Oostkust boundary continues south along the Wilhelmina-keten toward the Toba Lake northern rim, while the Atjeh–Tapanoeli boundary runs west toward the Alas lands.
Survey and mapping
The boundary was surveyed by the Topografische Dienst and appears on:
- Gewestelijke kaart van Atjeh (Bijlage XI, afl. II of the Atjeh volume).
- Composite map of Oostkust (Bijlage XXIII, compiled by the Encyclopaedisch Bureau).
The Topografische Dienst also proposed an alternative natural boundary from Liang Gergas down a tributary of the Lau Penjabrangan to the Lau Alas, then along the Gunung Sembala and Deleng Madjid crests to the Lau Renoen, rejoining the Wilhelmina-keten at Gunung Simpang Pajong. Both lines are shown on the maps.
Administrative consequences
The decree fixed the jurisdiction of the assistent-resident of Langkat (onderafdeeling Beneden-Langkat, hoofdplaats Tandjoeng Poera) up to the Besitang watershed. It defined the northern limit of the Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij concession area (Pangkalan Brandan terminus), clarified customs and police jurisdiction for the Atjeh-tram extension to Pangkalan Soesoe, and provided the legal basis for the 1915 elevation of Oostkust to a Gouvernement under a Governor (previously a Residentie), as the territory’s extent was now legally certain.
Significance
Staatsblad [[1908 No. 604]] is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the only legal instrument that precisely demarcated a gewest boundary in the northern Sumatran Buitenbezittingen — and the legal foundation on which the Oostkust was, in 1915, elevated from a Residentie to a Gouvernement. The decree’s coincidence with Staatsblad [[1908 No. 112]] (the Tamiang transfer) and with the Atjeh-tram’s 1908 extension into Tamiang marks 1908 as the year in which the northern frontier of the Oostkust was simultaneously fixed, reduced, and integrated into the Atjeh infrastructure.
See Also
- Boundary between Oostkust van Sumatra and Atjeh
- Staatsblad 1908 No. 112
- 1878 Langkat–Tamiang transfer
- Gouvernement Oostkust van Sumatra
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Wilhelmina-gebergte
- Besitang
- Tamiang
- Tapanoeli
- Atjeh-tram
- Pangkalan Soesoe
- Pangkalan Brandan
- Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij
- Langkat
- Tandjoeng Poera
- Topografische Dienst
- 1908
- 1915
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Afl. 3: Oostkust van Sumatra. Eerste Stuk, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1918), pp. 3, 11–12. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shelfmark LS.08781.