Darlang — Toean Darlang (in the Acehnese idiom of the old hunter Datoek), known to the Acehnese as Raadjo Boekit (“Heer der Bergen”, Lord of the Mountains) — was a maréchaussée officer and panglima of the Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen in Aceh, one of the great patrol commanders of the Atjeh-oorlog, a man to whom, in Zentgraff’s phrase, “het begrip vrees volkomen onbekend was” — the very concept of fear was wholly unknown. In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), Darlang is the eleventh-named in Musket’s list of the Marechaussee commanders — “Gilles Graafland, Van Daalen, Campioni, Christoffel, Van der Maaten, Scheepens, Watrin, Webb, Colijn, Geertsema Beckering, Darlang and the sergeants Nussy, Salowono, Pongoh … a colourful row” — and one of the sobat kras (heavy friends) whom Datoek names in the chapter Jagerslatijn.
The list of Marechaussee commanders
Darlang is the eleventh-named in Musket’s list. The names of these famous tough guys and Marechaussee commanders “rang through the Indies like carillon music,” and their “stories of brave deeds, adventures, and peculiarities went the rounds, as if they were legends.”
Datoek’s sobat kras
“I was a ‘heavy friend’ with Toean Kristoppel, and Toean General Van Heutsz, and Toean Scheepens, and Toean Darlang, and Toean Boreel, and Toean Governor Swart. Very many, and all very brave.” Datoek’s list of his sobat kras includes Toean Darlang — Darlang. The Toean Darlang is the book’s — and Datoek’s — memory of the patrol commander who was a heavy friend of the old hunter.
Account from Atjeh by H.C. Zentgraff (1938)
Darlang also appears in Atjeh by H.C. Zentgraff as a maréchaussée panglima of fearless reputation. He laid low Tgk. Lambada, the fourth son of Tengkoe Sjech Saman di Tiro, at the Aloeë Keuné. He also took charge of the wild man Kimoen when neither Meijer nor others could manage him, handling him somewhat roughly.
The vliegtuigongeluk
Darlang was not to die in Atjeh. He had received serious internal bruises in a vliegtuigongeluk (airplane accident) but, when he seemed barely healed, neglected the injuries. He was supposed to take a year’s rest but did not; on the contrary, in Batavia he cut wild capers and made an auto-trip across Java. At the bittertafel in Concordia he got pain in the belly-region; he went to the hospital, where immediate operative intervention was necessary. The doctors saw death in him: his intestines were partly dead. Because he demanded that they tell him exactly how things stood, the doctor told him that afternoon: “Hoogstens nog een uur of twaalf” — twelve hours at most.
He and Death had so often looked each other in the eyes that they were really old acquaintances. Darlang always laughed him off a little, but the other remained stubbornly at his side, like one who knew he would soon be the victor. Darlang was angry when the doctor pronounced the sentence; he had always thought his iron-strong nature would pull him through everything, and he swore a little — for he still cared for his mother and sister. But then he looked the figure who had silently followed him for years straight in the eyes, and both knew what they were to each other, and who was now the master.
The last hours
Darlang looked at the clock, and felt fully what the deepest meaning of a clock-face is. Then he had champagne brought, and spent those last hours talking with his friends and drinking a glass. To the last he looked Death in the face, and at three o’clock in the morning he died. His sul (grave) on Peutjoet is one of the most striking.
The Westkust, 1909
When in 1909 the Civil Authority A. Geertsema Beckeringh could at last dispose of sufficient means of power at Meulaboh, it was “a mobile marechaussee column under the command of the well-known marechaussee captain Darlang” that temporarily occupied first the mouth of the Wòjla and later Boebon — one of the conditions that reduced the disturbed area of the Meulaboh country to Beneden Wòjla, Boebon and Seunagan.
The Gajòlanden and Alaslanden
In 1910 “the Darlang column remained in the Péndéng valley, so that Lebé Grondong (a notorious resistance leader) moved with his henchmen to the neighbouring sub-divisions.”
Swart’s letter to H. J. Schmidt of 26 September 1911 recorded: “You will already have seen from the little Atjeh bulletin that we have had considerable success everywhere this month, Darlang too in the Alas lands.”
In the Maréchaussée Jubileum-nummer (1930)
The Overzicht van Onderscheidingen printed in the 1930 jubilee number of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië records two awards to Darlang in the same year:
- 1898 — the Militaire Willems-Orde 4th class, as 1ste Luit. Mar., together with G. F. B. Watrin
- 1898 — the Eeresabel, as 1ste Luit. Mar., together with K. J. C. Rijnen
A portrait notice in the same issue styles him Kapitein F. Darlang, “als 1ste luitenant der Maréchaussée in 1904 onderscheiden met het ridderkruis der M. W. O. vierde-klasse” — decorated as first lieutenant of Maréchaussée in 1904 with the knight’s cross of the Militaire Willems-Orde 4th class.
Colonel L. A. Snell remembered him as “den altoos vroolijken Darlang” — the ever-cheerful Darlang. A bust of Darlang adorned the Kerkhof Peutjoet, with those of Scheepens, Vis and Webb.
See Also
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Datoek
- Musket
- Gilles Graafland
- Van Daalen
- Campioni
- Christoffel
- Van der Maaten
- Scheepens
- Watrin
- Webb
- Colijn
- Geertsema Beckering
- Nussy
- Salowono
- Pongoh
- Tengkoe Sjech Saman di Tiro
- Tiro-oelama
- Kimoen
- Peutjoet
- Aceh War
- A. Geertsema Beckeringh
- Lebé Grondong
- Meulaboh
- Wòjla
- Gajòlanden
- Alaslanden
- Corps of Military Constabulary of Atjeh and Dependencies
- H. N. A. Swart
- Overzicht van Onderscheidingen toegekend aan het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1890-1930)
- Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh (Jubileum-nummer 1930)
- C. A. Snell
- Kerkhof Peutjoet
- Eeresabel
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Patrol commander in action against Teungkoe di Tjot Plieëng (1903). Listed among famous marechaussée men.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 372, 413.
Source
Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), the chapter on den zieleherder and the chapter Jagerslatijn.
Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia.
Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter XI, pp. 110, 114; Chapter XIV, p. 141 and illustration p. 170.
Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930 (“The Corps of Maréchaussée in Atjeh: The Atjehnese Guard”), Extra Jubileum-nummer of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië issued for the fortieth anniversary of the corps (1930), pp. 1-16. Offprint DLP-143, Bibliotheek KITLV, accession 621 116 794.
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. 372, 413.