Dr. J. J. C. H. van Waardenburg was a Dutch colonial administrator — later Resident of Riouw — who, together with Dr. A. J. Piekaar, began during their stay in Sabang shortly after the Japanese capitulation the preliminary report on Atjèh during the occupation period that would form one of the principal sources of Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan. The report, though never completed, provided the framework on which Piekaar would later build the second part of his published work — the part dealing with the events during the occupation years.
The Sabang collaboration
The preliminary report on Atjèh during the occupation period was begun by Van Waardenburg and Piekaar “during our stay in Sabang shortly after the Japanese capitulation.” The choice of Sabang as the site of the collaboration was not accidental: the archive of the administrative office in Sabang was, Piekaar records, one of the principal sources for the second part of the work — alongside the Atjèh Shimbun, the newspaper published in Koetaradja during the Japanese occupation. The administrative office in Sabang had preserved, through the occupation, the records on which the post-war reconstruction of the period would be based.
The unfinished report
The preliminary report was, Piekaar records, “begun by the later Resident of Riouw Dr. J.J.C.H. van Waardenburg and myself during our stay in Sabang shortly after the Japanese capitulation, but never completed.” The incompletion of the report — the fact that it was begun but never finished — reflected the difficult conditions of post-war colonial administration: the pressure of other duties, the dispersal of the collaborators, and the political turbulence of the Indonesian revolution. The unfinished report was, however, the foundation on which Piekaar would later build the published work, drawing on the same sources and the same preliminary analysis.
The Resident of Riouw
Van Waardenburg’s later appointment as Resident of Riouw — the residency that included the islands south of Singapore — placed him in a different theatre of the late colonial and revolutionary period. His collaboration with Piekaar in Sabang belonged to an earlier phase, the immediate post-capitulation period in which the Dutch colonial administrators, released from internment, began the work of reconstructing the record of the occupation. The fact that Van Waardenburg was later promoted to a residency reflects, in turn, the regard in which his work was held by the colonial administration.
See Also
- [Dr. A. J. Piekaar]
- [Sabang]
- [Atjèh Shimbun]
- [Koetaradja]
- [Resident of Riouw]
- [1945]
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), Foreword.
Dr. J. J. C. H. van Waardenburg was a Dutch colonial administrator — later Resident of Riouw — who, together with Dr. A. J. Piekaar, began during their stay in Sabang shortly after the Japanese capitulation the preliminary report on Atjèh during the occupation period that would form one of the principal sources of Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan. The report, though never completed, provided the framework on which Piekaar would later build the second part of his published work — the part dealing with the events during the occupation years.
The Sabang collaboration
The preliminary report on Atjèh during the occupation period was begun by Van Waardenburg and Piekaar “during our stay in Sabang shortly after the Japanese capitulation.” The choice of Sabang as the site of the collaboration was not accidental: the archive of the administrative office in Sabang was, Piekaar records, one of the principal sources for the second part of the work — alongside the Atjèh Shimbun, the newspaper published in Koetaradja during the Japanese occupation. The administrative office in Sabang had preserved, through the occupation, the records on which the post-war reconstruction of the period would be based.
The unfinished report
The preliminary report was, Piekaar records, “begun by the later Resident of Riouw Dr. J.J.C.H. van Waardenburg and myself during our stay in Sabang shortly after the Japanese capitulation, but never completed.” The incompletion of the report — the fact that it was begun but never finished — reflected the difficult conditions of post-war colonial administration: the pressure of other duties, the dispersal of the collaborators, and the political turbulence of the Indonesian revolution. The unfinished report was, however, the foundation on which Piekaar would later build the published work, drawing on the same sources and the same preliminary analysis.
The Resident of Riouw
Van Waardenburg’s later appointment as Resident of Riouw — the residency that included the islands south of Singapore — placed him in a different theatre of the late colonial and revolutionary period. His collaboration with Piekaar in Sabang belonged to an earlier phase, the immediate post-capitulation period in which the Dutch colonial administrators, released from internment, began the work of reconstructing the record of the occupation. The fact that Van Waardenburg was later promoted to a residency reflects, in turn, the regard in which his work was held by the colonial administration.
See Also
- [Dr. A. J. Piekaar]
- [Sabang]
- [Atjèh Shimbun]
- [Koetaradja]
- [Resident of Riouw]
- [1945]
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), Foreword.