The Radja of Teunom was the West Coast Atjehnese chief who in November 1883 took prisoner the crew of the stranded English steamer Nisero, plundered the vessel, and held the captives for almost a year while bargaining — first for the settlement of a pepper debt, then, as he openly admitted, in the hope of embroiling the Dutch in a war with England.
The affair of the Nisero
When the English steamer Nisero stranded near the mouth of the Panga river in the night of 10–11 November 1883, the crew that came ashore received a most ungracious treatment from the population, culminating in their imprisonment by the Radja of Teunom and the plundering of the stranded steamer. To the assistant-resident’s first demand for their release the Radja answered in writing that he was prepared to set them free when care was taken that a certain pepper merchant at Penang, who still owed him a fairly large sum for sold and delivered pepper, fulfilled his obligations. When the English warship Pegasus appeared in the Atjeh waters to gather intelligence, the Radja raised his demands; he came out openly with the saying that by demanding higher prices he hoped to involve the Dutch in a war with England. When Mr. Maxwell, member of the colonial council at Singapore, was brought over on the Pegasus and personally negotiated, the Radja made demands “which by everyone without distinction were called ridiculous”, among them general free trade under guarantee of England — with, of course, as first object the import of weapons and ammunition.
Defiance and settlement
An ultimatum remaining unanswered, the military expedition of Colonel H. Demmeni (steaming from Oelèë Lheue on 4 January 1884) opened hostilities and administered an exemplary chastisement; the coast was closed wide around, the fisheries impeded, and warships fired on everything within reach — but the Radja remained indifferent. The eccentric mediation of Teukoe Oemar, who went to Lambeusoë to negotiate, ended in his treacherous attack on the government sloop’s crew and his return to the resistance. Only after Governor P. F. Laging Tobias together with Maxwell again negotiated with the Radja — with the stipulation that f 100,000 would be paid to the person who brought back the prisoners, that the harbours would be reopened and the closing of the surrounding statelets lifted — were the captives delivered up, on 10 September 1884, after almost a year in the Radja’s hands.
See Also
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Was still holding the ‘Niserosschip’ castaways in medio July 1884 when Governor Laging Tobias tried to use Teukoe Oemar’s help to free them.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 353.
Source
Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 54–57.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 353.