Kroesen

Properties2
tagsperson, dutch, colonial-administrator, controleur, aceh-war, 1896, aceh, civil-administration
aliasesControleur Kroesen, Kroesen, the contrôleur warned by Toekoe Ketjik Oemar, Assistent-Resident Kroesen, Resident Kroesen, H. Kroesen, Kroesen (Atjeh official)

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Kroesen was a Dutch colonial civil servant who served in Groot-Atjeh during the critical decade of 1892–1896, first as Assistent-Resident under Deijkerhoff’s governorship — where he was the principal Dutch advocate for arming and using Toekoe Oemar as a Dutch auxiliary — and later as contrôleur of the geconcentreerde linie in 1896, when he received Toekoe Ketjik Oemar’s warning of the planned defection of 29 March 1896 and transmitted it in time for the Dutch to take effective counter-measures. He is named in both Kruijt’s De Atjeh-Oorlog (1896) and the Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard (1896) as a key figure in the final phase of the Atjeh-oorlog.

Arrival as Assistent-Resident (December 1892)

In December 1892 the capable Assistent-Resident Kroesen came to Groot-Atjeh under Deijkerhoff’s governorship. With his arrival the submission and use of Toekoe Oemar was again raised and carried through. Kruijt notes that many believed this was largely Kroesen’s work, because before him Deijkerhoff had always advised a waiting attitude.

The Submission and Arming of Teuku Umar (1892–1893)

Against the exactions and acts of violence to which the population outside the Dutch line was subjected by the religious party — whose head was Tengkoe Mohamed Amin — Toekoe Oemar had begun to resist more and more, and when these extended to the 4 and 6 Moekims, he inflicted some painful losses on the Muslemin. He then asked again to be taken into favour by the administration; and the administration — under Kroesen’s influence — put this in prospect, provided he first gave adequate proofs of good disposition by driving out the Muslemin.

Helped by Atjehers from within the line — with people, supplies, rifles, and ammunition — Toekoe Oemar’s operations were crowned with success. With the cooperation of Dutch troops, Dutch artillery, and Dutch rijksdaalders, he successively took various points, and on 10 August 1893 also the notorious Kaloet, almost without a blow. On the proposal of Deijkerhoff, he was officially pardoned on 30 September 1893, under the name of T. Djohan Pahlawan appointed Panglima prang besar, and he and his auxiliaries were granted allowances, food, weapons, and ammunition.

Departure (October 1895)

Kroesen departed for Europe in October 1895 on account of serious indisposition; he had wished to go earlier but had been asked to defer it for another year. His departure removed the principal Dutch advocate of the Toekoe Oemar policy from the scene, four months before the policy collapsed in the defection of 29 March 1896.

The Warning of 1896

When, in March 1896, Djohan was preparing his defection, Toekoe Ketjik Oemar — one of Djohan’s volgelingen (followers) — secretly warned the contrôleur Kroesen that Djohan would not march on Lamkrak as ordered, but intended to attack the Dutch troops unexpectedly at the most favourable opportunity. The Atjeh-Album records that Kroesen’s receipt of the warning deed den toeleg mislukken (made the design fail) and allowed the regeering to take onmiddellijk krachtige maatregelen — the relief of Biloel and Lamkoenjit and the battle of Tjot Rang of April 1896. The album’s tribute: En aan Toekoe Ketjik Oemar is het te danken, dat de regeering onmiddellijk krachtige maatregelen kon nemen, en dat het verraad van Djohan nog niet ernstiger gevolgen heeft gehad — identifies the contrôleur Kroesen as the institutional channel through which the Atjehese intelligence reached the Dutch military command.

Significance

Kroesen’s career in Groot-Atjeh illustrates the central role of the civil administration in the late phase of the Atjeh-oorlog. As Assistent-Resident he was the principal driver of the Pahlawan-klucht — the policy of arming and paying Toekoe Oemar that Kruijt considered the most dangerous experiment of the entire war. As contrôleur in 1896 he was the man through whom the warning of the impending defection was transmitted. The irony — that the official most responsible for arming Toekoe Oemar was no longer at his post when the policy collapsed — is one of the incidental observations in Kruijt’s indictment of the late period of Deijkerhoff’s governorship.

See Also

Sources

Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard, uitgave van de N.V. Het Tijdschrift “Eigen Haard”, Amsterdam, 1896, pp. 28–29 (Een Trouwe Inlander).

De Atjeh-Oorlog: Kort Overzicht van Oorsprong, Verloop en Gevolg, door J. A. Kruijt. ‘s-Gravenhage: Loman & Funke, 1896. Chapter XII. pp. 68, 72.

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