Kita Sumatra Shimbun — the “North Sumatra Newspaper,” a Malay-language daily issued in Medan during the Japanese occupation of Sumatra (1942–1945) — was the principal vehicle through which the Japanese military administration circulated official news, propaganda, and visual imagery across the residency of Atjèh and the wider East Coast of Sumatra. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan cites the newspaper exclusively as the source of four pen-and-ink drawings by the Japanese artist Matsushita Kikuo — three of them executed during a journey through Atjèh’s West Coast in 1944 — which Piekaar reproduced as the only illustrations in his 1949 English edition.
The drawings of Matsushita Kikuo
In his preface, Piekaar explains that “it was necessary to be content with the inclusion of four drawings by the Japanese Matsushita Kikuo, published in the Malay-language newspaper, the ‘Kita Sumatra Shimbun’, issued in Medan. Three of these drawings were made by him during a journey through Aceh and depict scenes from Aceh’s West Coast. The captions were replaced by more appropriate ones, without, of course, doing violence to the content of the depictions.” The drawings, listed in the original edition “as the corresponding list of illustrations” but not reproduced in the English edition’s source scans, form the only visual record of the Atjèhnese occupation in Piekaar’s book. The artist — “Matsushita, Kikuo (Matusita, Kikuo)” in the personal-name index — also produced drawings reproduced in the Atjèh Shimbun of 19 December 1942 (“Koeala pasi di Atjèh barat”, an anchorage on the West Coast).
Captions and scenes from Atjèh’s West Coast
Each of the four Matsushita drawings cited by Piekaar carries a numbered caption from the Kita Sumatra Shimbun:
- “Pangoelèë hareukat meugöë, the means of livelihood is above all agriculture” (drawing in the Kita Sumatora Shimbun of 2 August 1944, no. 176), illustrating the gampóng economy of the interior.
- “Eungkot ni’mat Allah tjit, the fish is also a gift from God” (drawing in the Kita Sumatora Shimbun of 2 December 1944, no. 277), illustrating the coastal fishing economy of Pidië and the West Coast.
- The West-Coast anchorage drawing of 5 December 1944 (no. 279), originally published in the Atjèh Shimbun of 19 December 1942 no. 53 and reprinted in the Kita Sumatora Shimbun.
- “Keureudja soeka-réla” on the road connection Roendéng–Sidikalang (drawing in the Kita Sumatora Shimbun of 8 December 1944, no. 282), illustrating the kinró (forced labour) mobilisation of the occupation’s last years.
Role in the occupation media
The Kita Sumatra Shimbun complemented the Atjèh Shimbun as the regional propaganda vehicle for the Japanese military administration of Sumatra. While the Atjèh Shimbun was the residency-level paper, published in Koetaradja under the Resident’s Information Service and concerned chiefly with Atjèhnese affairs, the Kita Sumatra Shimbun served the wider North Sumatra command area from Medan. Both were Malay-language — the language the Japanese had chosen, in line with their “Indonesia Merdéka” policy, as the medium of administration and propaganda throughout the former Netherlands Indies — and both carried the official notices, gun-chó proclamations, and senden-han propaganda of the Masubuchi-kikan and its sister kikan in Medan. Piekaar’s reliance on the Kita Sumatra Shimbun for the Matsushita drawings — and the artist’s own journey through Atjèh in 1944 — suggests that the newspaper was also a vehicle for ethnographic reportage on the occupied territories, a kind of visual companion to the textual propaganda of the senden-han.
See Also
Source
Atjèh and the War with Japan, by Dr. A. J. Piekaar, translated from the Dutch original Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan (1949) (‘s-Gravenhage/Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve; English edition), Author’s Note, List of Illustrations, and chapters cited by drawing caption.
Kita Sumatra Shimbun — the “North Sumatra Newspaper,” a Malay-language daily issued in Medan during the Japanese occupation of Sumatra (1942–1945) — was the principal vehicle through which the Japanese military administration circulated official news, propaganda, and visual imagery across the residency of Atjèh and the wider East Coast of Sumatra. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan cites the newspaper exclusively as the source of four pen-and-ink drawings by the Japanese artist Matsushita Kikuo — three of them executed during a journey through Atjèh’s West Coast in 1944 — which Piekaar reproduced as the only illustrations in his 1949 English edition.
The drawings of Matsushita Kikuo
In his preface, Piekaar explains that “it was necessary to be content with the inclusion of four drawings by the Japanese Matsushita Kikuo, published in the Malay-language newspaper, the ‘Kita Sumatra Shimbun’, issued in Medan. Three of these drawings were made by him during a journey through Aceh and depict scenes from Aceh’s West Coast. The captions were replaced by more appropriate ones, without, of course, doing violence to the content of the depictions.” The drawings, listed in the original edition “as the corresponding list of illustrations” but not reproduced in the English edition’s source scans, form the only visual record of the Atjèhnese occupation in Piekaar’s book. The artist — “Matsushita, Kikuo (Matusita, Kikuo)” in the personal-name index — also produced drawings reproduced in the Atjèh Shimbun of 19 December 1942 (“Koeala pasi di Atjèh barat”, an anchorage on the West Coast).
Captions and scenes from Atjèh’s West Coast
Each of the four Matsushita drawings cited by Piekaar carries a numbered caption from the Kita Sumatra Shimbun:
- “Pangoelèë hareukat meugöë, the means of livelihood is above all agriculture” (drawing in the Kita Sumatora Shimbun of 2 August 1944, no. 176), illustrating the gampóng economy of the interior.
- “Eungkot ni’mat Allah tjit, the fish is also a gift from God” (drawing in the Kita Sumatora Shimbun of 2 December 1944, no. 277), illustrating the coastal fishing economy of Pidië and the West Coast.
- The West-Coast anchorage drawing of 5 December 1944 (no. 279), originally published in the Atjèh Shimbun of 19 December 1942 no. 53 and reprinted in the Kita Sumatora Shimbun.
- “Keureudja soeka-réla” on the road connection Roendéng–Sidikalang (drawing in the Kita Sumatora Shimbun of 8 December 1944, no. 282), illustrating the kinró (forced labour) mobilisation of the occupation’s last years.
Role in the occupation media
The Kita Sumatra Shimbun complemented the Atjèh Shimbun as the regional propaganda vehicle for the Japanese military administration of Sumatra. While the Atjèh Shimbun was the residency-level paper, published in Koetaradja under the Resident’s Information Service and concerned chiefly with Atjèhnese affairs, the Kita Sumatra Shimbun served the wider North Sumatra command area from Medan. Both were Malay-language — the language the Japanese had chosen, in line with their “Indonesia Merdéka” policy, as the medium of administration and propaganda throughout the former Netherlands Indies — and both carried the official notices, gun-chó proclamations, and senden-han propaganda of the Masubuchi-kikan and its sister kikan in Medan. Piekaar’s reliance on the Kita Sumatra Shimbun for the Matsushita drawings — and the artist’s own journey through Atjèh in 1944 — suggests that the newspaper was also a vehicle for ethnographic reportage on the occupied territories, a kind of visual companion to the textual propaganda of the senden-han.
See Also
Source
Atjèh and the War with Japan, by Dr. A. J. Piekaar, translated from the Dutch original Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan (1949) (‘s-Gravenhage/Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve; English edition), Author’s Note, List of Illustrations, and chapters cited by drawing caption.