The T. Pura amok incident of 22 May 1950 was an act of violence in which an Atjehse amokmaker (Atjehse amokmaker) seriously wounded two Dutch plantation officials of the Société Financière des Caoutchoucs — B. de Jong and C. A. Zandbergen — at T. Pura (Tjoeka Pura) on the East Coast of Sumatra.
Context
The incident occurred in the volatile period following the transfer of sovereignty from the Netherlands to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia on 27 December 1949, and during the early months of the dissolution of the Negara Sumatera Timur (N.S.T.) and the formation of the unitary Republic of Indonesia. T. Pura was situated in a border area between the East Coast plantation zone and the territory of Atjeh, where tensions between the plantation economy and the Atjehnese population were historically acute.
Aftermath
The incident was publicly noted by Ir. H. Meijer of the Société Financière during a ceremony at the railway station at Besitang marking the opening of a new railway connection. The fact that the perpetrator was described specifically as “Atjehse” rather than merely as an Indonesian reflected the ongoing perception of the Atjehnese as a distinct and potentially threatening “other” in the consciousness of the East Coast European community.
Source
Oostkust van Sumatra-Instituut Mededeling No. 37: Deli-Figuren uit de jaren 1950 t/m 1952, compiled by Ir. F. J. J. Dootjes (Amsterdam, 1953).