De Avondpost — an evening newspaper published in The Hague — is the journal in which the “Wekeer” articles of October 1907 appeared, exposing needless cruelties committed against the Atjehnese population under Van Daalen’s command. The publication is the proximate cause of the December 1907 resignation of Van Daalen and the inspection tour of Van Heutsz of the same month.
The “Wekeer” articles
Under the pseudonym “Wekeer” — a maréchaussée-officer from Atjeh — a series of articles appeared in De Avondpost in October 1907 detailing needless cruelties allegedly committed against the Atjehnese population and tolerated, if not encouraged, by Van Daalen in his capacity as governor and military commander. The articles are the type-specimen of the colonial-press exposé of the Atjehnese-war parliamentary record.
The “grote klok” image
The De Avondpost publication was, in the retrospect of Van Heutsz’s 1905 warning to Van Daalen — “als het aan de grote klok komt dan voor jou een ander” — if it comes to the great bell, then another for you — the “great bell” itself. The De Avondpost “Wekeer” articles were the public exposure that ended Van Daalen’s tenure as governor of Atjeh.
Significance
De Avondpost is, in the Vermeulen retrospective, the type-specimen of the colonial-press outlet whose publications could overturn the colonial administration’s preferred narrative. The “Wekeer” articles of October 1907 are the proximate cause of the political-military crisis that ended Van Daalen’s tenure and installed the new course of the pacificatie under the June 1908 report.
See Also
- Avondpost “Wekeer” articles (October 1907)
- Van Daalen’s resignation (December 1907)
- Van Heutsz’s inspection tour of Atjeh (December 1907)
- Van Heutsz’s report on Atjeh (June 1908)
- G. C. E. van Daalen
- J. B. van Heutsz
- D. Fock
- 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.