The verbanning van drie hoofden uit Lho Seumawe (1922) — the banishment of three chiefs from Lho’ Seumawe in 1922 — was the colonial government’s intervention against the Sarikat Islam movement in the onderafdeeling Lho’ Seumawé of the afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh. Three chiefs of Lho’ Seumawe were banished, an intervention Broersma describes as ‘geen dag te vroeg gekomen’ — not a day too soon.
Background
In the whole afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh the Sarikat Islam showed a vigorous life after 1918. Traders, school-teachers — ‘laat ons zeggen de intellectueelen’ — but also several chiefs were members and took part. A chief of Samalanga had joined by way of a move on the political chessboard on which he was playing against the influential Maharadja of Lho’ Seumawé, who had also become a member of the Sarikat Islam in order to strengthen his chances of retaining a landschap Plimbang. The movement in Lho’ Seumawe took the direction of bringing the distinction between believers and unbelievers to the fore, of undermining the Dutch government, and of working towards a union of oeléebalangs.
The Intervention
Three chiefs of Lho’ Seumawe were banished in 1922. Broersma’s comment is brief: ‘Tot bedaring is men gekomen, toen verleden jaar drie hoofden uit Lho’ Seumawe zijn verbannen, een ingrijpen dat geen dag te vroeg is gekomen.’ The implication is that the banishment was a necessary and belated act of colonial discipline.
Significance
The banishment of the three chiefs of Lho’ Seumawe is the most forceful intervention of the colonial government against an Atjehnese political movement in the post-pacification period, and the type-case of the government’s response to the alliance of oeléebalangs and oelama in the Sarikat Islam. The intervention is also the political condition of the relatively quiet state of the Afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh in the years immediately before Broersma’s visit.
See Also
- Sarikat Islam in Atjeh (1918-1922)
- Lho Seumawe
- Sri Tengkoe Abdoel Hamid Orangkaja Sri Maharadja Mangkoe Boemi
- Samalanga
- Noordkust van Atjeh
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- 1918
- 1922
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter IX, ‘In het oude rijk Samoedra’, pp. 62–63.
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim.