Nja’ Asém was the Acehnese of Lhong whose loss of status after the death of his wife led him, in July 1914, to form the band that murdered the B.O.W. overseer C. H. R. Heins at Lhong on 13 July 1914 — an outbreak set in motion behind the scenes by his brother-in-law Teukoe Mamat. He was killed with Nja’ Ali by lieutenant C. A. Snell at the mouth of the Daja-rivier on 5 August 1914.
Origins of the outbreak
The investigation by H. J. Schmidt, conducted through his old head of intelligence Teukoe Agam and completed in a midnight interview with the daughter of the late oelèëbalang of Lhong, established the following.
“Nja Asém was by birth a perfectly ordinary gampong man, but through his marriage with the daughter of the foremost woman in the landschap he had risen greatly in esteem, not only in the eyes of the population but also in his own. How far his ambitious plans went is not known, but they were wholly destroyed by the sudden death of his wife.”
Nja’ Ali’s success at Lam No took on disproportionate dimensions in Nja’ Asém’s eyes; he fell into an overwrought nervous state, and his brother-in-law Teukoe Mamat “saw his chance for his own ambitious plans.”
The murder of C. H. R. Heins, 13 July 1914
The maandverslag reported: “On the morning of 13 July the overseer of Public Works, C. H. R. Heins, was murdered at Lhong (sub-division Lho’ Nga) by seven persons of that territory, while a Chinese mason was severely wounded. After the murder the killers fled into the mountains with two sporting guns belonging to the overseer and with ammunition.”
This was a very sharp and painful disappointment for H. N. A. Swart — “after the attack at Daja, now murder and band-formation in quiet Groot Atjeh as well.”
Suppression and death
The band, originally only a few perpetrators strong, soon numbered thirty-seven men, “all full of fire and zeal for the holy war.” A relentless pursuit in the plain of the IV Moekims Lhong drove them either into the caves of the limestone hills — whose location the patrol commander soon knew and which he had watched by spies — or into the landschap Daja. Three men of the Lhong band fell before the end of July and seven reported themselves through Teukoe Mamat’s intervention; Nja’ Asém apparently considered that too high a toll and fled with his men to Daja, joining Nja’ Ali’s band.
“It proved a short-lived joy,” for on 5 August lieutenant Snell surprised the united bands at the holy grave near the mouth of the Daja river; fifteen band members fell, among them both band-heads. On 9 August five more men of the Lhong band reported themselves — six had fallen in the raid — and on 18 August the remaining nine came in submission, handing in the missing double-barrelled sporting gun.
See Also
- Resistance in Daja and Lhong (1914)
- Nja’ Ali
- Teukoe Mamat
- C. A. Snell
- H. J. Schmidt
- Lhong
- Daja
- Maloe
Source
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 XII, pp. 124–127.