The Groot-Atjeh’sche Afdeelingsbank was the principal institution of the Volkscredietwezen — the People’s Credit System — of the Afdeeling Groot-Atjeh, established at Koeta Radja in mid-1908 as the first of three afdeelingsbanken in the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden and the model against which the younger banks of Lhoʼ Seumawè (1913) and Langsa (1915) were measured. De Buitenbezittingen devotes its longest single treatment of the Volkscredietwezen to this institution: “Van de drie afdeelingsbanken bestaat die van Groot-Atjeh het langst; ze heeft, door haar uitgebreiden werkkring en de teleurstellende ondervindingen, welke daarbij in ruime mate haar deel zijn geworden, in vele opzichten het spits afgebeten voor hare jongere zusters.”
Founding, capital, and Gouvernements-steun
At its founding in mid-1908, the Bank expected to form its bedrijfskapitaal from deposits and savings, supplemented by a 4% Gouvernements-voorschot of ƒ15,000 — “dat weldra verhoogd moest worden met f 25.000.” The Gouvernement also funded the initial inrichting and granted a yearly subsidie of ƒ3,000 for administrative costs, withdrawn after the eighth book-year, and annually geschonken the interest on its voorschot. The formation of an aandeelenkapitaal was “bij de oprichting niet geheel uit het oog verloren”; yet after eight years the grondkapitaal stood at only ƒ245, and savings deposits (at 3½%) at only ƒ15,643 — “grootendeels van Europeanen,” for “slechts 7 inlanders” had used the savings facility. After 1913 the direct financial relation with the Gouvernement was replaced by a Rekening-courant at the Centrale Kas te Weltevreden, on which ƒ32,580 was drawn by mid-1916.
Lending and influence
The Bank, in its eight years, lent almost ƒ1,500,000 at moderate interest to the population of Groot-Atjeh. The categories of lending recorded in Bijlage VII — klappercultuur (ƒ184,299 in total, of which ƒ133,108 in 1915–1916), pepercultuur, landbouw, aankoop van vee,handel in copra, peper and vee, Kleinhandel, and schulddelging (ƒ283,769 in total, of which ƒ90,156 in 1915–1916) — show a credit institution deeply embedded in the bevolkingscultures of the gewest. The Bank was credited with having driven back the kampong-woeker, whose pre-1908 rates of 40–60% had fallen rapidly once the Volkscredietwezen began operations; the totaal geleende bedrag van ± f 207.000 voor schulddelging was offered as proof.
Kwade praktijken and achterstand
The Bank was, however, repeatedly forced to confront what De Buitenbezittingen calls the kwade praktijken — bad practices — of the population it served: fictitious onderpanden, applications for fictitious doeleinden, and the baatzucht der hoofden who pressed villagers to borrow in their own names. “Het dient erkend te worden,” the handbook concedes, “dat ook de Groot-Atjehsche Afdeelings-bank niet aan dit euvel heeft weten te ontsnappen.” The cijfer der achterstallige leeningen — arrears — “nam ieder jaar onrustbarend toe”: from 1.3% of outstanding loans in 1908–1909 to 41.1% (1,044 of 2,547 loans) in 1915–1916. By the eighth book-year, of the 1,887 borrowers whose repayments had fallen due, 55.3% were in arrears; the vervallen bedrag of ƒ72,625 stood against an achterstand of 71%. In September 1914 the Bank closed, as a rule, Moekims where the arrears exceeded 30%; the measure proved “te zeer in strijd met het karakter van de Bank” and was withdrawn in the eighth book-year. The boete-reglement was sharpened, gerechtelijke vervolging of negligent debtors before the moesapat increased, and executoriale verkooping of securities — “waarbij vaak frauduleuze en toch door de hoofden beaamde bezits-opgaven aan het licht komen” — became more frequent, with a resultant verbittering against the Bank among the population.
Significance
Despite the bedrijfsfouten der banken and the karakterfouten der bevolking that De Buitenbezittingen frankly recorded, the Groot-Atjeh’sche Afdeelingsbank marked the first sustained colonial effort to extend organised credit — at rates far below the 40–60% of the pre-1908 kampong-woeker — to the kleine bezitters of the Atjehsche gampongs. Its history shaped the more cautious practice of its younger sisters at Lhoʼ Seumawè and Langsa, and the design of the gampong-credietinstellingen — the 28 village bankjes of Groot-Atjeh founded from early 1916 onward — was deliberately drawn to avoid the errors it had made.
See Also
- Volkscredietwezen
- Groot-Atjeh
- Koeta Radja
- H. N. A. Swart
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Peureula
- Lho Seumawè
- Langsa
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 148–149, 218–231, Bijlage VII.
The Groot-Atjeh’sche Afdeelingsbank was the principal institution of the Volkscredietwezen — the People’s Credit System — of the Afdeeling Groot-Atjeh, established at Koeta Radja in mid-1908 as the first of three afdeelingsbanken in the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden and the model against which the younger banks of Lhoʼ Seumawè (1913) and Langsa (1915) were measured. De Buitenbezittingen devotes its longest single treatment of the Volkscredietwezen to this institution: “Van de drie afdeelingsbanken bestaat die van Groot-Atjeh het langst; ze heeft, door haar uitgebreiden werkkring en de teleurstellende ondervindingen, welke daarbij in ruime mate haar deel zijn geworden, in vele opzichten het spits afgebeten voor hare jongere zusters.”
Founding, capital, and Gouvernements-steun
At its founding in mid-1908, the Bank expected to form its bedrijfskapitaal from deposits and savings, supplemented by a 4% Gouvernements-voorschot of ƒ15,000 — “dat weldra verhoogd moest worden met f 25.000.” The Gouvernement also funded the initial inrichting and granted a yearly subsidie of ƒ3,000 for administrative costs, withdrawn after the eighth book-year, and annually geschonken the interest on its voorschot. The formation of an aandeelenkapitaal was “bij de oprichting niet geheel uit het oog verloren”; yet after eight years the grondkapitaal stood at only ƒ245, and savings deposits (at 3½%) at only ƒ15,643 — “grootendeels van Europeanen,” for “slechts 7 inlanders” had used the savings facility. After 1913 the direct financial relation with the Gouvernement was replaced by a Rekening-courant at the Centrale Kas te Weltevreden, on which ƒ32,580 was drawn by mid-1916.
Lending and influence
The Bank, in its eight years, lent almost ƒ1,500,000 at moderate interest to the population of Groot-Atjeh. The categories of lending recorded in Bijlage VII — klappercultuur (ƒ184,299 in total, of which ƒ133,108 in 1915–1916), pepercultuur, landbouw, aankoop van vee,handel in copra, peper and vee, Kleinhandel, and schulddelging (ƒ283,769 in total, of which ƒ90,156 in 1915–1916) — show a credit institution deeply embedded in the bevolkingscultures of the gewest. The Bank was credited with having driven back the kampong-woeker, whose pre-1908 rates of 40–60% had fallen rapidly once the Volkscredietwezen began operations; the totaal geleende bedrag van ± f 207.000 voor schulddelging was offered as proof.
Kwade praktijken and achterstand
The Bank was, however, repeatedly forced to confront what De Buitenbezittingen calls the kwade praktijken — bad practices — of the population it served: fictitious onderpanden, applications for fictitious doeleinden, and the baatzucht der hoofden who pressed villagers to borrow in their own names. “Het dient erkend te worden,” the handbook concedes, “dat ook de Groot-Atjehsche Afdeelings-bank niet aan dit euvel heeft weten te ontsnappen.” The cijfer der achterstallige leeningen — arrears — “nam ieder jaar onrustbarend toe”: from 1.3% of outstanding loans in 1908–1909 to 41.1% (1,044 of 2,547 loans) in 1915–1916. By the eighth book-year, of the 1,887 borrowers whose repayments had fallen due, 55.3% were in arrears; the vervallen bedrag of ƒ72,625 stood against an achterstand of 71%. In September 1914 the Bank closed, as a rule, Moekims where the arrears exceeded 30%; the measure proved “te zeer in strijd met het karakter van de Bank” and was withdrawn in the eighth book-year. The boete-reglement was sharpened, gerechtelijke vervolging of negligent debtors before the moesapat increased, and executoriale verkooping of securities — “waarbij vaak frauduleuze en toch door de hoofden beaamde bezits-opgaven aan het licht komen” — became more frequent, with a resultant verbittering against the Bank among the population.
Significance
Despite the bedrijfsfouten der banken and the karakterfouten der bevolking that De Buitenbezittingen frankly recorded, the Groot-Atjeh’sche Afdeelingsbank marked the first sustained colonial effort to extend organised credit — at rates far below the 40–60% of the pre-1908 kampong-woeker — to the kleine bezitters of the Atjehsche gampongs. Its history shaped the more cautious practice of its younger sisters at Lhoʼ Seumawè and Langsa, and the design of the gampong-credietinstellingen — the 28 village bankjes of Groot-Atjeh founded from early 1916 onward — was deliberately drawn to avoid the errors it had made.
See Also
- Volkscredietwezen
- Groot-Atjeh
- Koeta Radja
- H. N. A. Swart
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Peureula
- Lho Seumawè
- Langsa
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 148–149, 218–231, Bijlage VII.