Van Daalen’s resignation (December 1907) was the act by which Van Daalen — governor and military commander of Atjeh since 1905 — submitted his resignation in the same month as the inspection tour undertaken by governor-general Van Heutsz at the request of minister Fock. The resignation is the political climax of the “Wekeer” affair of October 1907 and the immediate prelude to the Van Heutsz report of June 1908 that installed the new course of the pacificatie.
The October 1907 provocation
In October 1907 De Avondpost had published the “Wekeer” articles — a series by an anonymous maréchaussée-officer from Atjeh exposing needless cruelties committed against the Atjehnese population, “toegelaten zo niet aangemoedigd door Van Daalen”. Minister Fock had advised the chambermembers not to waste their time on these articles; the governor-general, he said, had full confidence in Van Daalen.
The inspection tour
Pressed by the minister, Van Heutsz undertook an inspection tour of Atjeh in December 1907, “opdat ook het publiek overtuigd worde van datgene waarvan ook de gouverneur-generaal overtuigd is, dat wij in Atjeh op de goede weg zijn” — so that the public too may be convinced of that of which the governor-general is already convinced, that we are on the right path in Atjeh. The inspection proved otherwise. In the same month Van Daalen submitted his resignation.
The June 1908 report
In June 1908 the report of the governor-general was published. Its verdict on Van Daalen was harsh:
“Hij heeft het beginsel van de pacificatie miskend. Hij heeft een verkeerde politiek gevoerd tegenover de hoofden, aan wie een onheuse bejegening ten deel viel. Hij heeft het goedgezinde deel der bevolking tussen twee vuren geplaatst”.
— He had misunderstood the principle of the pacification; he had pursued a wrong policy towards the chiefs, who had been given shabby treatment; he had placed the well-disposed part of the population between two fires.
The report did, however, acknowledge that Van Daalen had acted vigorously against the specific atrocities for which he had been arraigned in De Avondpost.
Significance
The resignation of Van Daalen in December 1907 is the political-military hinge of the post-conquest period of Atjehnese history. It cleared the way for the Van Heutsz report of 1908 and the new course of the pacificatie: administration through the hoofden (chiefs), bound to Dutch authority by “tactvolle omgang”.
See Also
- G. C. E. van Daalen
- Avondpost “Wekeer” articles (October 1907)
- Van Heutsz’s inspection tour of Atjeh (December 1907)
- Van Heutsz’s report on Atjeh (June 1908)
- J. B. van Heutsz
- D. Fock
- De Avondpost
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- 1907
- 1908
Source
Schets eener parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland van 1849 tot 1901, by Mr W. J. van Welderen baron Rengers, 4th rev. ed., Vol. IV: Oost-Indië 1891-1918 by Dr W. H. Vermeulen (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1955), pp. 273-274.