Submission of Panglima Bintang (20 June 1896)

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tagsevent, dutch, achehnese, colonial, diplomacy, aceh-war
aliasesSubmission of T. Panglima Bintang, First appearance of Panglima Bintang, 20 June 1896, Panglima Bintang submission

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The Submission of Panglima Bintang (20 June 1896) was the first appearance of T. Panglima Bintang — the territorial chief of the III Moekims Daroe — before the Dutch administration since the defection of Teuku Umar of 29 March 1896, an act of political submission that marked the beginnings of the disintegration of the Achehnese political coalition that had coalesced around Oemar in the spring of 1896. Fearing Oemar’s revenge, Panglima Bintang requested permission to settle within the concentrated line with his father-in-law, the Islamic prayer-leader of Lamara. The request was denied by the Regeeringscommissaris, Lt.-Gen. Vetter, who ruled that Panglima Bintang should remain in his moekim at Poenir to protect his subordinates against molestation. The same day — 20 June 1896 — Toekoe Oemar reportedly held a ceremony/feast at Lepong, appointed new panglima’s, and prayed for Allah’s blessing on his weapons.

Background

By the third week of June 1896 the strategic situation had shifted decisively in favour of the Dutch. The three-day offensive of 23–25 May had broken Teungkoe Oemar’s stelling at Lam-Pisang; the razing of Lam-Asan had been completed; the tuchtiging of Lam-Krak had reduced the western redoubt; and the tuchtiging of the V Moekims Montassik had broken the south-western bentengs and had driven the Pretender-Sultan from Panteh-Karang. The Achehnese political coalition that had coalesced around Oemar in the wake of the defection was beginning to disintegrate.

Panglima Bintang — the hoeloebalang of the III Moekims Daroe — had, as the machtsvertoon in the III Moekims Daroe of 29 May 1896 had confirmed, already secretly shown sympathy to the Dutch side. The machtsvertoon under Lt.-Col. Laceulle — which had searched the kampongs of Kandang, Olehi-Loeng, Poenir Le-Oe, Goee-Gadjah, and Tjabang — had tested the disposition of Panglima Bintang and had found him cooperative. Three weeks later, on 20 June 1896, Panglima Bintang made his formal appearance before the Dutch administration — his first since the defection of 29 March 1896.

The Submission

The submission of Panglima Bintang on 20 June 1896 was a carefully-managed political act. The hoeloebalang of the III Moekims Daroe — fearing Oemar’s revenge, which he had good reason to dread, given the Achehnese chief’s reputation for ruthlessness against those who had cooperated with the Dutch — requested permission to settle within the concentrated line with his father-in-law, the imam of Lamara. The request was, in essence, a plea for asylum: Panglima Bintang was asking the Dutch to take him and his family under their direct protection, in return for his political submission.

The Regeeringscommissaris, Lt.-Gen. Vetter, denied the request. Vetter’s ruling — politically shrewd, if emotionally harsh — was that Panglima Bintang should remain in his moekim at Poenir to protect his subordinates against molestation. The ruling was, in effect, a declaration that the Dutch would protect Panglima Bintang and his subordinates in their own territory, but would not provide him with the personal asylum he sought. The political logic was clear: a hoeloebalang who abandoned his moekim would lose his authority, and the Dutch needed Panglima Bintang in Poenir to anchor the political realignment of the III Moekims Daroe. The submission was, however, accepted in political terms: Panglima Bintang was henceforth to be regarded as a friend of the Government, and his subsequent cooperation — including the return of 12 of 16 trompladers in mid-June 1896 — would be received and acknowledged.

The Concurrent Chandoeri of Oemar at Lepong

The same day — 20 June 1896 — Toekoe Oemar reportedly held a ceremony/feast at Lepong, his coastal base on the Kroeng-Rababaai. At the chandoeri Oemar appointed new panglima’s — replacing those killed, wounded, or defected in the campaigns of May and June — and prayed for Allah’s blessing on his weapons. The chandoeri was, in its way, the Achehnese counter-statement to the submission of Panglima Bintang: where Panglima Bintang submitted to the Dutch, Oemar reaffirmed his commitment to the resistance and sought divine sanction for the continuation of the war. The juxtaposition of the two events on the same day — 20 June 1896 — captured, in microcosm, the political and spiritual stakes of the conflict.

Significance

The Submission of Panglima Bintang on 20 June 1896 was the first formal political submission of a major Achehnese hoeloebalang since the defection of 29 March 1896 and the strategic reversal of the three-day offensive. Its principal political effect was to confirm the disintegration of the Achehnese coalition: a hoeloebalang of Bintang’s standing would not have submitted had he believed that Oemar’s resistance could succeed. The submission was also a personal vindication of Vetter’s political strategy — the patient combination of military pressure (tuchtiging) with political outreach (machtsvertoon) that had begun with the machtsvertoon in the III Moekims Daroe of 29 May 1896. The denial of the request for asylum was, in this sense, as important as the submission itself: it established the principle that the Dutch would protect cooperative hoeloebalang in their own territory, rather than concentrating them in the consolidated line — a principle that would underwrite the political realignment of the second half of 1896. The juxtaposition of Bintang’s submission with Oemar’s chandoeri at Lepong was, finally, a symbolic moment: the political and the spiritual heads of the Achehnese resistance were now pulling in different directions, and the coalition that had carried Oemar to the high point of the spring was beginning to fracture.

See Also

Source

ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, p. 319.

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