Datoek — Datoek the hunter, the Nimrod of Blang-Rakal — is an Acehnese hunter of Blang Rakal on the Gajoweg in Aceh, the figure through whom the lieutenant of Oost-Indisch Journael (1947) tells the story of his expedition through Aceh and his interview with the old hunter. Datoek’s full name is Boejoeng, titled Datoek Radja Soetan. He was a sobat kras (heavy friend) with the great patrol commanders of the prang (the Aceh War) — Toean Kristoppel (the later Christoffel), Toean Djenderal Van Heutsz, Toean Scheepens, Toean Darlang, Toean Boreel, and Toean Gouverneur Swart — and in eighteen years he had shot 331 tigers and 18 elephants. He is the book’s portrait of the Acehnese pawang (the magical knower of the forest and the animals) and of the Acehnese who had served the colonial army as a hunter and a guide.
The name and the sobat kras
“Datoek’s name is actually Boejoeng, titled Datoek Radja Soetan.” His full name — Boejoeng, titled Datoek Radja Soetan — is the book’s first marker that Datoek is an Acehnese of standing: the title Datoek Radja Soetan is an Acehnese noble title. He “came to Blang Rakal in 1890” — that is, he arrived at Blang Rakal in the middle of the Aceh War — “and around 1917 I settled permanently.” The lieutenant’s informant also reports that “Teukoe Oemar fell long before, in Aceh” — placing Datoek’s arrival in the generation of the great Acehnese resistance.
“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.” Datoek’s list of his sobat kras — his heavy friends — among the great patrol commanders and governors of the Aceh War is the book’s most concentrated catalogue of the colonial army’s Aceh leadership. Toean Kristoppel is the later Christoffel (in Datoek’s time still a corporal); Toean Djenderal Van Heutsz is Van Heutsz; Toean Scheepens is Scheepens; Toean Darlang is Darlang; Toean Boreel is Boreel; Toean Gouverneur Swart is Swart. “Very many, and all very brave.”
Van Daalen and the value of a human life
“Toean General Van Daalen I know very well. That was a very great lord, ‘a man whose human life had no value!’” Datoek knew Toean General Van Daalen very well. That was a very great lord, “a man whose human life had no value.” The phrase — orang poenja djiwa tida ada harga — is Datoek’s judgement on Van Daalen: a man for whom a human life had no value. The judgement is the book’s — and Datoek’s — register of the colonne van Daalen reputation: the column that had been conducted without mercy.
But Datoek immediately qualifies: “But, sir, that Toean Van Daalen was not without tenderness where animals were concerned.” He could get angry when he saw Acehnese going to the market carrying chickens by the legs, with the head down. The detail is the book’s small humanising of Van Daalen: the column commander who had no mercy for human life had mercy for chickens.
The Heinzenknecht episode
“I, too, was in the bivak when that good Toean Heinzenknecht was stabbed.” Datoek was also in the bivak when the good Toean Heinzenknecht was stabbed. The episode — the stabbing of Heinzenknecht in the bivak — is the book’s small register of the djahat attacks on the colonial army’s bivaks: the Acehnese who would creep into the bivak and stab a soldier. Heinzenknecht is one of the named victims of such an attack.
The hunting statistics
“In the last 18 years I have shot 331 tigers and 18 elephants.” In the last eighteen years Datoek had shot 331 tigers and 18 elephants. “One of my grandsons keeps a record of it.” The grandson’s thumbed notebook — the hunting statistics — is the book’s small marker of Datoek’s standing as a hunter: the statistics were kept, and the grandson was the keeper.
The orang pendek and the koekoeman
Datoek’s other set-piece is the orang pendek (short man) — the “short man” of the Acehnese forests. “Indeed, sir,” Datoek answered. The orang pendek — called koekoeman in Datoek’s region — “is about a metre high and has not the long arms of the ape. He is also not as heavily haired as an ape. He sometimes steals the buffalo milk and the rice that the forest-product seekers leave in their huts.” Datoek claims to have seen the koekoeman from behind, with these eyes, at half past noon, at a distance of only twenty metres. “I cannot have mistaken it for an orangutan or a bear. This was a human being.”
The landraad chairman — interrupting — cites Snouck Hurgronje’s De Atjehers on the manté’s — the inlanders of the mountains of the XXII Mukims who “would wear no clothing and be thickly haired over the whole body” — and Snouck Hurgronje’s remark that “these beings always lived one day’s journey further inland than the researcher who wished to see them.”
The ilmoe of the forest
“My ‘ilmoe,’ Datoek declared wittily, ‘is the keeping of the law and the commandments. Never covet another’s wife; be honest; be just; move silently through the forest; and above all aim carefully — that is sufficient to bring down elephants and tigers.’” Datoek’s ilmoe — his secret science, his pawang knowledge — is, in his own ironical formulation, the keeping of the law and the commandments: do not covet another’s wife; be honest; be just; move silently through the forest; and aim carefully. That, Datoek says, is sufficient to bring down elephants and tigers. The ilmoe is the book’s — and Datoek’s — demystification of the pawang: the magical knower of the forest is, in Datoek’s ironical formulation, simply a man of the law and a good shot.
The restaurant at Blang Rakal
Datoek’s other role in the book is as the proprietor of the largest restaurant at Blang Rakal — an architectural puzzle of a building that had been extended and rebuilt over the years until the structure had become an architectural whole of a very airy and very improbable character. Behind the restaurant Datoek kept a menagerie — tigers, apes, an eagle, crows, rice-birds, a forest hen, a partridge, iguana skins, the skeleton of a Ford, and the skins of a hornbill and a python. The restaurant and the menagerie are the book’s small portrait of the Acehnese hunter in the inter-war period: the sobat kras of the great patrol commanders had become the proprietor of a coffee stall on the Gajoweg.
Significance
Datoek is significant in Oost-Indisch Journael as the book’s portrait of the Acehnese hunter and pawang — the sobat kras of the great patrol commanders who had served the colonial army as a hunter and a guide, and who in the inter-war period kept a restaurant and a menagerie at Blang Rakal. The book’s argument — that the ilmoe of the pawang was, in Datoek’s ironical formulation, simply the keeping of the law and a good shot — is the book’s demystification of the magical knower of the forest. Datoek is also the figure through whom the book registers the colonne van Daalen reputation — “a man whose human life had no value” — and the humanising detail of Van Daalen’s mercy for chickens.
See Also
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Blang Rakal
- Gajoweg
- Takengeun
- Christoffel
- Gouverneur-Generaal Van Heutsz
- Overste Scheepens
- Darlang
- Generaal Swart
- Van Daalen
- Heinzenknecht
- koekoeman
- Manté’s
- Pawang
- Ilmoe
- Teukoe Oemar
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 1890
- 1917
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Title of the onder-districtshoofd in Singkel, subordinate to the Datoek besar.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 336.
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), chapter Jagerslatijn
Datoek — Datoek the hunter, the Nimrod of Blang-Rakal — is an Acehnese hunter of Blang Rakal on the Gajoweg in Aceh, the figure through whom the lieutenant of Oost-Indisch Journael (1947) tells the story of his expedition through Aceh and his interview with the old hunter. Datoek’s full name is Boejoeng, titled Datoek Radja Soetan. He was a sobat kras (heavy friend) with the great patrol commanders of the prang (the Aceh War) — Toean Kristoppel (the later Christoffel), Toean Djenderal Van Heutsz, Toean Scheepens, Toean Darlang, Toean Boreel, and Toean Gouverneur Swart — and in eighteen years he had shot 331 tigers and 18 elephants. He is the book’s portrait of the Acehnese pawang (the magical knower of the forest and the animals) and of the Acehnese who had served the colonial army as a hunter and a guide.
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. 336.
The name and the sobat kras
“Datoek’s name is actually Boejoeng, titled Datoek Radja Soetan.” His full name — Boejoeng, titled Datoek Radja Soetan — is the book’s first marker that Datoek is an Acehnese of standing: the title Datoek Radja Soetan is an Acehnese noble title. He “came to Blang Rakal in 1890” — that is, he arrived at Blang Rakal in the middle of the Aceh War — “and around 1917 I settled permanently.” The lieutenant’s informant also reports that “Teukoe Oemar fell long before, in Aceh” — placing Datoek’s arrival in the generation of the great Acehnese resistance.
“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.” Datoek’s list of his sobat kras — his heavy friends — among the great patrol commanders and governors of the Aceh War is the book’s most concentrated catalogue of the colonial army’s Aceh leadership. Toean Kristoppel is the later Christoffel (in Datoek’s time still a corporal); Toean Djenderal Van Heutsz is Van Heutsz; Toean Scheepens is Scheepens; Toean Darlang is Darlang; Toean Boreel is Boreel; Toean Gouverneur Swart is Swart. “Very many, and all very brave.”
Van Daalen and the value of a human life
“Toean General Van Daalen I know very well. That was a very great lord, ‘a man whose human life had no value!’” Datoek knew Toean General Van Daalen very well. That was a very great lord, “a man whose human life had no value.” The phrase — orang poenja djiwa tida ada harga — is Datoek’s judgement on Van Daalen: a man for whom a human life had no value. The judgement is the book’s — and Datoek’s — register of the colonne van Daalen reputation: the column that had been conducted without mercy.
But Datoek immediately qualifies: “But, sir, that Toean Van Daalen was not without tenderness where animals were concerned.” He could get angry when he saw Acehnese going to the market carrying chickens by the legs, with the head down. The detail is the book’s small humanising of Van Daalen: the column commander who had no mercy for human life had mercy for chickens.
The Heinzenknecht episode
“I, too, was in the bivak when that good Toean Heinzenknecht was stabbed.” Datoek was also in the bivak when the good Toean Heinzenknecht was stabbed. The episode — the stabbing of Heinzenknecht in the bivak — is the book’s small register of the djahat attacks on the colonial army’s bivaks: the Acehnese who would creep into the bivak and stab a soldier. Heinzenknecht is one of the named victims of such an attack.
The hunting statistics
“In the last 18 years I have shot 331 tigers and 18 elephants.” In the last eighteen years Datoek had shot 331 tigers and 18 elephants. “One of my grandsons keeps a record of it.” The grandson’s thumbed notebook — the hunting statistics — is the book’s small marker of Datoek’s standing as a hunter: the statistics were kept, and the grandson was the keeper.
The orang pendek and the koekoeman
Datoek’s other set-piece is the orang pendek (short man) — the “short man” of the Acehnese forests. “Indeed, sir,” Datoek answered. The orang pendek — called koekoeman in Datoek’s region — “is about a metre high and has not the long arms of the ape. He is also not as heavily haired as an ape. He sometimes steals the buffalo milk and the rice that the forest-product seekers leave in their huts.” Datoek claims to have seen the koekoeman from behind, with these eyes, at half past noon, at a distance of only twenty metres. “I cannot have mistaken it for an orangutan or a bear. This was a human being.”
The landraad chairman — interrupting — cites Snouck Hurgronje’s De Atjehers on the manté’s — the inlanders of the mountains of the XXII Mukims who “would wear no clothing and be thickly haired over the whole body” — and Snouck Hurgronje’s remark that “these beings always lived one day’s journey further inland than the researcher who wished to see them.”
The ilmoe of the forest
“My ‘ilmoe,’ Datoek declared wittily, ‘is the keeping of the law and the commandments. Never covet another’s wife; be honest; be just; move silently through the forest; and above all aim carefully — that is sufficient to bring down elephants and tigers.’” Datoek’s ilmoe — his secret science, his pawang knowledge — is, in his own ironical formulation, the keeping of the law and the commandments: do not covet another’s wife; be honest; be just; move silently through the forest; and aim carefully. That, Datoek says, is sufficient to bring down elephants and tigers. The ilmoe is the book’s — and Datoek’s — demystification of the pawang: the magical knower of the forest is, in Datoek’s ironical formulation, simply a man of the law and a good shot.
The restaurant at Blang Rakal
Datoek’s other role in the book is as the proprietor of the largest restaurant at Blang Rakal — an architectural puzzle of a building that had been extended and rebuilt over the years until the structure had become an architectural whole of a very airy and very improbable character. Behind the restaurant Datoek kept a menagerie — tigers, apes, an eagle, crows, rice-birds, a forest hen, a partridge, iguana skins, the skeleton of a Ford, and the skins of a hornbill and a python. The restaurant and the menagerie are the book’s small portrait of the Acehnese hunter in the inter-war period: the sobat kras of the great patrol commanders had become the proprietor of a coffee stall on the Gajoweg.
Significance
Datoek is significant in Oost-Indisch Journael as the book’s portrait of the Acehnese hunter and pawang — the sobat kras of the great patrol commanders who had served the colonial army as a hunter and a guide, and who in the inter-war period kept a restaurant and a menagerie at Blang Rakal. The book’s argument — that the ilmoe of the pawang was, in Datoek’s ironical formulation, simply the keeping of the law and a good shot — is the book’s demystification of the magical knower of the forest. Datoek is also the figure through whom the book registers the colonne van Daalen reputation — “a man whose human life had no value” — and the humanising detail of Van Daalen’s mercy for chickens.
See Also
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Blang Rakal
- Gajoweg
- Takengeun
- Christoffel
- Gouverneur-Generaal Van Heutsz
- Overste Scheepens
- Darlang
- Generaal Swart
- Van Daalen
- Heinzenknecht
- koekoeman
- Manté’s
- Pawang
- Ilmoe
- Teukoe Oemar
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 1890
- 1917
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), chapter Jagerslatijn.