Van Kol’s 1902 traverse of Atjeh was the journey undertaken in 1902 by the social-democratic MP Van Kol through Atjeh “van Noord tot Zuid” — from north to south. The traverse gave Van Kol’s subsequent parliamentary speeches an authority no other social-democratic or liberal critic of the Atjeh-oorlog ([[1873-1904)|Atjeh-oorlog]] could match; his certification that the pacificatie had progressed further than he had supposed — and that the “gruwelen” — the horrors — of the war were already past — was almost immediately dispelled by the expedition of Van Daalen of 1904.
The traverse
In 1902 Van Kol — social-democratic member of the Tweede Kamer, former colonial civil servant — travelled through Atjeh from north to south. The traverse was unusual for a parliamentary critic of the war; most chambermembers relied on official colonial reports and the “ambtelijke adviezen” — official advices — that minister Fock would later be accused of hiding behind.
The certification
On his return Van Kol reported to the Tweede Kamer that the pacificatie was further advanced than he had anticipated and that the “gruwelen” — the horrors — of the Atjeh-oorlog ([[1873-1904)|Atjeh-oorlog]] belonged to the past. The certification is, in the Vermeulen narrative, the type-specimen of the parliamentary illusion of approaching peace.
The 1904 dispelling
The illusion was almost immediately dispelled by the expedition of Van Daalen to the Gajoe-, Alas- and Bataklanden in 1904. In the 1904 Tweede Kamer debate on the expedition — in which, according to the official figures, 2,922 inlanders (including 1,149 women and children) had been killed “in weinige dagen” — Van Kol declared it “erger dan de dagen van Alva’s schrikbewind” — worse than the days of Alva’s reign of terror. The contrast between the 1902 certification and the 1904 denunciation is the measure of the shock that the Van Daalen expedition administered to the parliamentary critics of the war.
Significance
The 1902 traverse is the principal first-hand parliamentary inspection of Atjeh in the Vermeulen-period. The contrast between Van Kol’s 1902 optimism and his 1904 denunciation is the type-specimen of the parliamentary shock at the Van Daalen expedition.
See Also
- H. B. van Kol
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Van Daalen’s Gajo-Alas-Batak expedition (1904)
- Atjeh-oorlog (1873-1904)
- Gajoland
- Alasland
- Bataklanden
- 1902
- 1904
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), p. 271.