Ménèt is the legendary stepson of Saëda — founder of the Kédjoerön Boekét line of the Gayo highlands — and the progenitor of the Boekét Ewéh branch of the Boekét clan, whose unilateral seizure of the keris kepala soeasa — the gold-headed kris that was the principal bawar (insigne of chieftaincy) — and subsequent forced surrender of it as ransom to the Acehnese commander defined the constitutional dispute that would split the Boekét house for generations. De Buitenbezittingen’s account of the Boekét genealogy follows the Lah tradition — judged “de minst onbetrouwbare” — which casts Ménèt as the ancestor whose act of usurpation cost his descendants the lawful chieftaincy but not the ambition to claim it.
The seizure of the bawar
According to the legend, Saëda had married two Acehnese wives. The first bore him two sons who never rose to prominence and became lesser heads of the Boekét clan. The second wife brought him two stepsons, Ménèt and Mpos Kèlaq, and bore him two further sons, Mérah Lama and Panglima Dagang. When the invasion of the Bataq doeloe poeloh toedjéh drove the Boekét family from the Meerstreek (the Laut Tawar basin), Mérah Lama went with his two stepbrothers to Kébajakan, where — in possession of the bawar — he was installed as Kédjoerön Boekét.
The constitutional crisis came when Ménèt contrived, by a list — a stratagem — to seize the principal bawar, the keris kepala soeasa, and refused to return it to the rightful owner. By Gayo adat, “wie de bawar heeft, ook kédjoerön is” — whoever holds the bawar is the Kédjoerön — so Ménèt claimed the dignity. The other bawar remained in Mérah Lama’s possession, so that two Kédjoeröns of Boekét now existed side by side: Mérah Lama with an incomplete set of regalia, Ménèt with the principal piece.
The prang toedjéh tahoen and the ransom
Ménèt’s seizure of the bawar was not the end of his troubles. He refused to pay the haol — the tribute — due to the Sultan of Atjeh, and his refusal provoked the prang toedjéh tahoen — the “War of Ten Years” — which ended with the capture of many rédjë’s of the Meerstreek by the Acehnese. The ransom demanded for these chiefs included the surrender of the keris kepala soeasa; Ménèt, forced to comply, lost the principal bawar and, with it, his effective claim to the Kédjoerön title. The Atjehsche aanvoerder who received the kris had, by accepting it as ransom, implicitly confirmed the legitimacy of the bawar’s constitutional role.
The descendants: Boekét Ewéh
The descendants of Ménèt became the Boekét Ewéh lineage, also called Djaran. They continued to use the Kédjoerön title — even after the loss of the bawar — and to claim equality with the Boekét Lah descendants of Panglima Dagang, who had reunited all the bawar in his own hand by purchasing the kris back from the Acehnese commander. The unwritten rule that emerged — that the more accessible of the two Kédjoeröns would be the one approached for decisions — gave the Boekét Ewéh, in their more accessible seat, considerable practical authority, even as the Boekét Lah retained the lawful title. The Dutch eventually strengthened the Boekét Lah’s “wankelende positie” by extending recognition to the lawful Kédjoerön, though the Ewéh branch retained influence across most of the Boekét territory outside Seroelë.
See Also
- Saëda (Gayo progenitor)
- Panglima Dagang
- Kédjoerön Boekét
- Bawar (Gayo regalia)
- Prang toedjéh tahoen
- Bataq Doeloe Poeloh Toedjéh
- Gajoland
- Laoet Tawar
- Sultans of Atjeh
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 96–99. Citing C. Snouck Hurgronje, Het Gajoland, pp. 170–191.
Ménèt is the legendary stepson of Saëda — founder of the Kédjoerön Boekét line of the Gayo highlands — and the progenitor of the Boekét Ewéh branch of the Boekét clan, whose unilateral seizure of the keris kepala soeasa — the gold-headed kris that was the principal bawar (insigne of chieftaincy) — and subsequent forced surrender of it as ransom to the Acehnese commander defined the constitutional dispute that would split the Boekét house for generations. De Buitenbezittingen’s account of the Boekét genealogy follows the Lah tradition — judged “de minst onbetrouwbare” — which casts Ménèt as the ancestor whose act of usurpation cost his descendants the lawful chieftaincy but not the ambition to claim it.
The seizure of the bawar
According to the legend, Saëda had married two Acehnese wives. The first bore him two sons who never rose to prominence and became lesser heads of the Boekét clan. The second wife brought him two stepsons, Ménèt and Mpos Kèlaq, and bore him two further sons, Mérah Lama and Panglima Dagang. When the invasion of the Bataq doeloe poeloh toedjéh drove the Boekét family from the Meerstreek (the Laut Tawar basin), Mérah Lama went with his two stepbrothers to Kébajakan, where — in possession of the bawar — he was installed as Kédjoerön Boekét.
The constitutional crisis came when Ménèt contrived, by a list — a stratagem — to seize the principal bawar, the keris kepala soeasa, and refused to return it to the rightful owner. By Gayo adat, “wie de bawar heeft, ook kédjoerön is” — whoever holds the bawar is the Kédjoerön — so Ménèt claimed the dignity. The other bawar remained in Mérah Lama’s possession, so that two Kédjoeröns of Boekét now existed side by side: Mérah Lama with an incomplete set of regalia, Ménèt with the principal piece.
The prang toedjéh tahoen and the ransom
Ménèt’s seizure of the bawar was not the end of his troubles. He refused to pay the haol — the tribute — due to the Sultan of Atjeh, and his refusal provoked the prang toedjéh tahoen — the “War of Ten Years” — which ended with the capture of many rédjë’s of the Meerstreek by the Acehnese. The ransom demanded for these chiefs included the surrender of the keris kepala soeasa; Ménèt, forced to comply, lost the principal bawar and, with it, his effective claim to the Kédjoerön title. The Atjehsche aanvoerder who received the kris had, by accepting it as ransom, implicitly confirmed the legitimacy of the bawar’s constitutional role.
The descendants: Boekét Ewéh
The descendants of Ménèt became the Boekét Ewéh lineage, also called Djaran. They continued to use the Kédjoerön title — even after the loss of the bawar — and to claim equality with the Boekét Lah descendants of Panglima Dagang, who had reunited all the bawar in his own hand by purchasing the kris back from the Acehnese commander. The unwritten rule that emerged — that the more accessible of the two Kédjoeröns would be the one approached for decisions — gave the Boekét Ewéh, in their more accessible seat, considerable practical authority, even as the Boekét Lah retained the lawful title. The Dutch eventually strengthened the Boekét Lah’s “wankelende positie” by extending recognition to the lawful Kédjoerön, though the Ewéh branch retained influence across most of the Boekét territory outside Seroelë.
See Also
- Saëda (Gayo progenitor)
- Panglima Dagang
- Kédjoerön Boekét
- Bawar (Gayo regalia)
- Prang toedjéh tahoen
- Bataq Doeloe Poeloh Toedjéh
- Gajoland
- Laoet Tawar
- Sultans of Atjeh
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 96–99. Citing C. Snouck Hurgronje, Het Gajoland, pp. 170–191.