Panglima Tibang Moehamad — in Kreemer’s history, the sjahbandar (harbourmaster) of Atjèh — was the principal envoy of the Atjèhnese embassy sent to the resident of Riouw in late 1872 or early 1873, bearing a letter from the Sultan requesting the postponement of the announced Dutch visit to Atjèh. The embassy — consisting of Tibang Moehamad and four oelèëbalangs — is, in Kreemer’s narrative, a key episode in the diplomatic prelude to the Atjèh-oorlog.
The embassy to Riouw
Kreemer records that the Indische Regeering had decided, at the end of August 1872, to send a peaceful embassy to Atjèh. “De vredelievende strekking der zending werd in de instructie der commissie zeer duidelijk op den voorgrond gesteld” — “The peace-loving tendency of the mission was set out very clearly in the instruction of the commission.” The commissioners — the resident of Riouw D. W. Schiff, the official for the Malay language H. von de Wall, and the controleur Krayenhoff — were to arrive at least two months after advance notice had been given to the Sultan. This was done at the end of October; the letter was received and would later be answered.
But the mission never fulfilled its charge. “In dezelfde maand, dat ze zich daarvan kwijten zou, vervoegde zich een Atjèhsch gezantschap (bestaande uit den sjahbandar van Atjèh Panglima Tibang Moehamad en vier oelèëbalang’s) bij den resident van Riouw met een brief van den Soeltan, waarin verzocht werd het aangekondigd bezoek nog eenige maanden uit te stellen” — “In the same month in which it would discharge itself of the task, an Atjèhnese embassy (consisting of the sjahbandar of Atjèh Panglima Tibang Moehamad and four oelèëbalangs) presented itself to the resident of Riouw with a letter from the Sultan, in which was requested that the announced visit be postponed for some months.”
The Sultan’s letter
The Sultan’s letter — quoted by Kreemer — gave his reason: “want het is nu een maand geleden, dat ik een brief gezonden heb aan den Soeltan van Turkije, waarop ik nog geen antwoord heb ontvangen. Wanneer ik eenig antwoord van den Soeltan van Turkije ontvang, zal ik den Grooten Heer een brief schrijven” — “for it is now a month since I sent a letter to the Sultan of Turkey, to which I have not yet received an answer. When I receive an answer from the Sultan of Turkey, I will write a letter to the Great Lord [i.e., the Dutch sovereign].”
The discovery at Singapore
The Indische Regeering granted the postponement. While the Atjèhnese envoys were still at Riouw, the Regeering learned that in early January 1873 an Atjèhnese delegate had been sent to the French government seeking help. “De gezanten hieromtrent ondervraagd toonden zich ‘ondubbelzinnig ten hoogste verbaasd’” — “The envoys, questioned on this, showed themselves ‘unequivocally most astonished.’” A Dutch warship carried the embassy back to Singapore and thence to Atjèh at the end of January 1873. After their departure from Singapore it emerged that the envoys had visited the consuls of America and Italy “hun voorstellende tractaten met Atjèh te sluiten, omdat Atjèh door Nederland bedreigd werd” — “proposing to them to conclude treaties with Atjèh, because Atjèh was threatened by the Netherlands.” Kreemer notes that Tibang Moehamad’s biography was published by J. A. Vink in the Indisch Militair Tijdschrift of 1892, part II.
Significance
The Tibang Moehamad embassy is, in Kreemer’s narrative, the last Atjèhnese diplomatic initiative before the war. The Sultan’s letter — with its revelation that he had written to the Sultan of Turkey seeking help against the Dutch — convinced the Indische Regeering that further negotiation was pointless, and led directly to the dispatch of F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen as Regeeringscommissaris and the declaration of war of 26 March 1873.
Sources
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
A historical figure of apparent Hindu origin who appears in the Hikayat Prang Gompeuni as a traitor whose capture by the Dutch and surrender of a royal-sealed parchment and flag gave the Dutch “false tokens” they used to claim possession of the Acehnese kingdom. He served the Dutch faithfully thereafter, earning lasting Acehnese hatred, and the poet attributes much of the country’s fall to him.
See Also
- Acheh
- sabander
- sjahbandar
- uleebalang
- F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen
- Declaration of war on Atjèh (26 March 1873)
- Aceh War
- Riouw
- Singapore
- Sultan of Turkey
- 1872
- 1873
- Hikayat Prang Gompeuni
Earlier role: court counsellor and opponent of Habib Abdurrahman
The Atjeh-Album of 1896 records an earlier chapter in the career of a Panglima Tibang — described as raadsman (counsellor) of the previous Sultan of Atjeh — that may refer to the same person at an earlier career stage, or to an earlier holder of the same title. The album’s narrative places this Tibang as the principal opponent of Habib Abdoe’r Rachman at the court of Toeankoe Machmoed and as the alleged instigator of an attempt to poison the Habib.
After the death of Sultan Saleiman Iskander in 1837, the Habib wished to install the young Toeankoe Machmoed as sultan and to act as regent during his minority. Panglima Tibang, as raadsman of the previous Sultan, opposed the installation: he agitated the chiefs of the XXVI Moekims to refuse obedience to the new regime. The album records that the chiefs of the XXVI Moekims, aangezet door Panglima Tibang, een raadsman van den vorigen Sultan, en die Habib zooveel haat toedroeg, dat hij hem trachtte te vergiftigen, bleven ongenegen, de bevelen van den nieuwen vorst te volgen — “incited by Panglima Tibang, a counsellor of the previous Sultan, who bore the Habib so much hatred that he tried to poison him, remained unwilling to follow the commands of the new prince.”
The album records the poisoning attempt as a fact but supplies no details of method, date, or aftermath. Tibang’s opposition persisted even after the Habib’s authority was consolidated: when the Habib returned from an expedition to the Westkust, he found that Tibang had zich zoozeer bij den jongen Sultan in te dringen — “had insinuated himself so deeply with the young Sultan” — that the Sultan, without the Habib’s knowledge, had commissioned Tibang to open negotiations with the Dutch steamship Maar en Waul then lying at the roadstead of Groot-Atjeh. The Habib referred the matter to a council of three chiefs — Toekoe Imam Longbattah, Toekoe Kadli and Toekoe Noq van Marassa — who declared themselves in agreement with the Habib.
The chronological range — from the 1837 succession crisis to the 1872–1873 embassy to Riouw — spans some thirty-five years, which is plausible for a single career. The album does not address the question of whether the Tibang of the 1837 succession crisis is the same individual as the Tibang Moehamad who carried the Sultan’s letter to Riouw in 1872–1873. The identification is possible but unproven.
See Also (additional)
- Habib Abdurrahman Zahir
- Toeankoe Machmoed
- Sultan Saleiman Iskander
- XXVI Moekims
- Toekoe Imam Longbattah
- Toekoe Kadli
- Toekoe Noq van Marassa
- Groot-Atjeh
- 1837
- Atjeh-Album (Eigen Haard, 1896)
Source
Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard, uitgave van de N.V. Het Tijdschrift “Eigen Haard”, Amsterdam, 1896, pp. 14–15 (De Geestelijkheid in Atjeh — Habib Abdoe’r Rachman).
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Eerste Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1922. Hoofdstuk I, B (“Periode 1824—1873. Oorzaken van den Atjèh-oorlog”), blz. 13–14.