The Atjèh Council — Atjèhraad in Dutch, Atjèh-shii-sangi-kai in Japanese, madjlis perwakilan rakjat daérah Atjèh in Malay — was the official advisory council established by Resident lino under Residents’ Regulation of 17 November 1943 no. 7 as the consultative body of the Japanese military administration in Atjèh, supplemented in March 1945 by a Sumatra-wide Sumatra Council (Sumatora-chia-sangi-in) seated at Bukittinggi (Fort de Kock). Together with the Maibkatra and the welfare office, the council was one of the three great Indonesian advisory bodies of the occupation, and served — in Piekaar’s analysis — both as the institutional channel through which the oelèëbalang and oelama parties contested influence and as the formal vehicle through which the Japanese coordinated the mobilisation of war effort, food production, and labour.
The establishment of 17 November 1943
“On the basis of this regulation, by Residents’ Regulation of 17 November 1943 no. 7, the ‘Atjèhraad’ (Jap. Atjèh-shii-sangi-kai, advisory council for the residency of Atjèh; Mal. madjlis perwakilan rakjat daérah Atjèh)” was established. The council’s creation was announced by Resident lino in a speech at the great mosque in Koetaradja on 9 November 1943, alongside the establishment of the people’s army. “By each of these electoral colleges three candidates were chosen, from which subsequently the Resident made a selection. An organ, therefore, which was still far removed from the Atjèhraad, toward which, as we saw in the ‘Introduction’ (p. 14), in nationalist circles under Dutch administration the thought had been directed.” The first session opened on 8–9 December 1943, and the original council of 30 comprised 17 oelèëbalangs, 7 oelama’s, and 2 non-Atjèhnese officials — among them Toeankoe Mahmoed, Teukoe Nja’ Arif, Teukoe Panglima Pólém Moehamad Ali, Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh, Teungkoe Moehamad Hasbi, and Ah Moertolo.
Sessions and the mobilisation of war effort
Four sessions were held in the council’s lifetime. The 2nd session of 4–5 April 1944 met jointly with the gun-chó conference and addressed food supplies, food production, and labour mobilisation; the 3rd session of 19–20 October 1944 deliberated on “the coordination of the war effort, the task of women in wartime, the food supplies, and the adaptation of the people’s menu,” and elected Teukoe Nja’ Arif as the new vice-chairman in succession to the arrested Teukoe Moehamad Hasan. It was on the council’s recommendation that the Permai mass organisation was established on 20 January 1945. The 4th session of 20–21 April 1945 returned to “the old familiar points: the promotion of the war effort, food production, food supplies, and the ‘voluntary’ labor.” The council was, in Piekaar’s reading, the institutional stage on which the silent struggle for power between oelèëbalang and oelama was waged through the medium of Japanese propaganda.
The Sumatra Council of March 1945
“Besides a further expansion of the Resident’s councils, however the year 1945 also brought the establishment in March 1945 of an advisory body for the entire of Sumatra, the Sumatra Council (Jap. Sumatora-chia-sangi-in, literally — ! — members of the central council of Sumatra) seated at Bukittinggi (Fort de Kock). The task of this council was described in the establishment ordinance as ‘to deliberate with the Governor of Sumatra on important political matters concerning the population of Sumatra and in case the necessity for this should be deemed present to make known the opinion of its members’. Of the 30 members that the council would count, 15 would be elected by the Resident’s councils (Jap. shii-sangi-kai) and 15 would be appointed by the Governor of Sumatra.” In the two places allotted to Atjèh, the Atjèh Council elected “the most prominent figure among the oelèëbalangs, Teukoe Nja’ Arif and the most prominent figure among the oelama’s, Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh.”
The reorganisation of February 1945 and the council’s character
A new Residents’ ordinance of 1 February 1945 no. 2 expanded the Atjèh Council to between 35 and 40 members — the elected component remained the same size, but the Resident’s appointed members were increased, and the electoral colleges themselves expanded so that they were “no longer private affairs of the oelèëbalangs, as was the case in the first regulation.” After the first election under the new provisions on 20 February 1945, “whereas in the old Atjèh Council 17 of the 30 members still belonged to the oelèëbalang group, in the new council the nominal majority of the oelèëbalang families was done with and they occupied only 19 of the 40 seats. The oelama’s saw the number of their seats rise from 7 to 10.” The council retained, however, its “purely advisory character” — a body whose formal powers never matched the influence it wielded through the network of patronage and propaganda that the Masubuchi-kikan built around it.
See Also
- lino
- Masubuchi
- Maibkatra
- Permai
- PETA
- Teukoe Nja’ Arif
- Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh
- Teukoe Moehamad Hasan
- Teukoe Panglima Pólém Moehamad Ali
- 17 November 1943
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), Chapter VII §§ 2–3, Appendix II (List of members of the 1st and 2nd Atjèh Council).
The Atjèh Council — Atjèhraad in Dutch, Atjèh-shii-sangi-kai in Japanese, madjlis perwakilan rakjat daérah Atjèh in Malay — was the official advisory council established by Resident lino under Residents’ Regulation of 17 November 1943 no. 7 as the consultative body of the Japanese military administration in Atjèh, supplemented in March 1945 by a Sumatra-wide Sumatra Council (Sumatora-chia-sangi-in) seated at Bukittinggi (Fort de Kock). Together with the Maibkatra and the welfare office, the council was one of the three great Indonesian advisory bodies of the occupation, and served — in Piekaar’s analysis — both as the institutional channel through which the oelèëbalang and oelama parties contested influence and as the formal vehicle through which the Japanese coordinated the mobilisation of war effort, food production, and labour.
The establishment of 17 November 1943
“On the basis of this regulation, by Residents’ Regulation of 17 November 1943 no. 7, the ‘Atjèhraad’ (Jap. Atjèh-shii-sangi-kai, advisory council for the residency of Atjèh; Mal. madjlis perwakilan rakjat daérah Atjèh)” was established. The council’s creation was announced by Resident lino in a speech at the great mosque in Koetaradja on 9 November 1943, alongside the establishment of the people’s army. “By each of these electoral colleges three candidates were chosen, from which subsequently the Resident made a selection. An organ, therefore, which was still far removed from the Atjèhraad, toward which, as we saw in the ‘Introduction’ (p. 14), in nationalist circles under Dutch administration the thought had been directed.” The first session opened on 8–9 December 1943, and the original council of 30 comprised 17 oelèëbalangs, 7 oelama’s, and 2 non-Atjèhnese officials — among them Toeankoe Mahmoed, Teukoe Nja’ Arif, Teukoe Panglima Pólém Moehamad Ali, Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh, Teungkoe Moehamad Hasbi, and Ah Moertolo.
Sessions and the mobilisation of war effort
Four sessions were held in the council’s lifetime. The 2nd session of 4–5 April 1944 met jointly with the gun-chó conference and addressed food supplies, food production, and labour mobilisation; the 3rd session of 19–20 October 1944 deliberated on “the coordination of the war effort, the task of women in wartime, the food supplies, and the adaptation of the people’s menu,” and elected Teukoe Nja’ Arif as the new vice-chairman in succession to the arrested Teukoe Moehamad Hasan. It was on the council’s recommendation that the Permai mass organisation was established on 20 January 1945. The 4th session of 20–21 April 1945 returned to “the old familiar points: the promotion of the war effort, food production, food supplies, and the ‘voluntary’ labor.” The council was, in Piekaar’s reading, the institutional stage on which the silent struggle for power between oelèëbalang and oelama was waged through the medium of Japanese propaganda.
The Sumatra Council of March 1945
“Besides a further expansion of the Resident’s councils, however the year 1945 also brought the establishment in March 1945 of an advisory body for the entire of Sumatra, the Sumatra Council (Jap. Sumatora-chia-sangi-in, literally — ! — members of the central council of Sumatra) seated at Bukittinggi (Fort de Kock). The task of this council was described in the establishment ordinance as ‘to deliberate with the Governor of Sumatra on important political matters concerning the population of Sumatra and in case the necessity for this should be deemed present to make known the opinion of its members’. Of the 30 members that the council would count, 15 would be elected by the Resident’s councils (Jap. shii-sangi-kai) and 15 would be appointed by the Governor of Sumatra.” In the two places allotted to Atjèh, the Atjèh Council elected “the most prominent figure among the oelèëbalangs, Teukoe Nja’ Arif and the most prominent figure among the oelama’s, Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh.”
The reorganisation of February 1945 and the council’s character
A new Residents’ ordinance of 1 February 1945 no. 2 expanded the Atjèh Council to between 35 and 40 members — the elected component remained the same size, but the Resident’s appointed members were increased, and the electoral colleges themselves expanded so that they were “no longer private affairs of the oelèëbalangs, as was the case in the first regulation.” After the first election under the new provisions on 20 February 1945, “whereas in the old Atjèh Council 17 of the 30 members still belonged to the oelèëbalang group, in the new council the nominal majority of the oelèëbalang families was done with and they occupied only 19 of the 40 seats. The oelama’s saw the number of their seats rise from 7 to 10.” The council retained, however, its “purely advisory character” — a body whose formal powers never matched the influence it wielded through the network of patronage and propaganda that the Masubuchi-kikan built around it.
See Also
- lino
- Masubuchi
- Maibkatra
- Permai
- PETA
- Teukoe Nja’ Arif
- Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh
- Teukoe Moehamad Hasan
- Teukoe Panglima Pólém Moehamad Ali
- 17 November 1943
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), Chapter VII §§ 2–3, Appendix II (List of members of the 1st and 2nd Atjèh Council).