Amat Leupon was a Atjeh-moord perpetrator (1933) mentioned in Jongejan’s Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu in connection with Aceh. Kampong man; birthplace unknown (born in wandering period during the war).
Role
Atjeh-moord perpetrator (1933)
Account from Jongejans
Kampong man; birthplace unknown (born in wandering period during the war). Father Beureunoen was generous, depleted possessions, became ‘moslimin’ (kwaadwillige), took family to the woods, was shot by the Dutch 5 months later before Amat’s eyes (Amat then ~10-12 years old). Mother slightly weak-minded, became completely insane before death; her sister (whose husband had long been in a leprozerie) was also completely insane. Youngest son died (probably of smallpox). Amat’s mother did not regard him as ‘vovo’ (proper/full). Could not find a wife; his mother with others found him the deaf-mute Intjah, with a bride price (bruidschat) of one tahil (~f 40.-), for which his mother had to sell a cow. Mother died a year later in poverty. Two daughters from this marriage; Amat only knew the eldest; during his wife’s second pregnancy he wandered, lived irregularly, committed thefts, earned a bad reputation. Repudiated his wife (accused her of infidelity). Briefly in service of the landschap, dismissed for laziness and disobedience. In 1931 sentenced to 7 months prison for wounding someone with a bladed weapon. Remarried the elderly Fatimah; still married on day of attack. Fatimah ran up debts; Amat always short of money. Could not recover his eldest daughter from first marriage. Began to brood, ate little, wanted to remarry first wife (now divorced from her second husband) - failed. Day before attack stayed out late; on morning of attack left home early; around 9 AM, in front of Captain Schmidt’s house at Lho’ Soekon, calmly passed his victim, greeted him friendly, then dealt the fatal stabs. Driven by life-weariness (levensmoheid); committed atjeh-moord to die and reach heaven.
Significance
Amat Leupon appears in Jongejan’s account as one of the figures shaping the history of Aceh during the period covered by the book.
See Also
Source
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 383, 384, 385, 386.