Ackerstaff was a Dutch colonial commentator who, in 1916, contributed to the Rijstvraagstuk debate of 1916 in the columns of the Deli Courant — the daily newspaper of the Deli planters, published at Medan — alongside Van Tubergen and the Landbouwadviseur J. H. Heyl. The three contributors’ articles appeared in issues Nos. 162, 167, 171, 172, 183 and 184 of the 1916 volume of the Deli Courant. The debate concerned whether the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden could, by systematic development of its rijstbouw (rice cultivation), become the rice-storehouse of the Sumatra’s East Coast plantation belt.
The 1916 Deli Courant Series
The 1916 Deli Courant series on the Atjeh rice question brought together three distinct voices: J. H. Heyl — the Landbouwadviseur (Agricultural Adviser) of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, writing in his official capacity; and Ackerstaff and Van Tubergen — two commentators writing from the standpoint of the Deli planters, who were concerned both with the price and with the regularity of rice supply for their imported workforce. The detailed positions of Ackerstaff and Van Tubergen are not reproduced in J. Kreemer’s *De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden* (1918), which cites only their names alongside Heyl’s.
Significance
Ackerstaff is significant for the encyclopedia of Aceh history as one of the three named contributors to the Rijstvraagstuk of 1916 — the principal Dutch colonial policy debate on the economic integration of Atjeh with the Sumatra East Coast plantation belt. He exemplifies the type of the colonial newspaper commentator on economic-policy questions — a voice of the Deli planters’ interest in the columns of the Deli Courant.
See Also
- Rijstvraagstuk (1916)
- Kreemer’s De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1918)
- Van Tubergen
- J. H. Heyl
- Deli Courant
- Deli
- Sumatra’s Oostkust
- Rijstbouw in Atjeh
- 1916
- 1918
Source
De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, by J. Kreemer (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1918), p. 22 (citing the Deli Courant 1916 series, Nos. 162, 167, 171, 172, 183 and 184, with articles by Ackerstaff, Van Tubergen, and J. H. Heyl).