The Raja of Gigieng was a coastal radja (raja) on the north coast of Atjeh who accepted the Dutch flag in exchange for 10 000 rijksdaalders in klinkende munt (hard cash), and whom generaal van Swieten cited as evidence of the imminent collapse of Atjehneesche resistance. In Borel’s narrative he is the example of a vazal whose submission was purchased rather than won, and whose case van Swieten used to buttress his afscheidsrede of 23 April 1874 declaring the war ended.
The Submission
The Dutch landing at Pedro-punt of 6 December 1873 had taken place east of Gigieng, “waar de vijand ons stellig niet verwacht had.” In the course of the subsequent operations along the strand the Dutch had come into contact with the coastal radjas of the north coast, whose gebieden lay outside the inner core of Groot-Atjeh and who were, in many cases, willing to treat with the Dutch. The Radja van Gigieng accepted the Dutch flag in exchange for 10 000 rijksdaalders in klinkende munt — a substantial sum in ready money. The transaction was, in Borel’s reading, a purchase rather than a conquest: the radja submitted for the money, and his submission implied no allegiance to the Dutch cause on the part of the inner sagi of Groot-Atjeh.
Van Swieten’s Use of the Submission
Van Swieten cited the submission of the Radja van Gigieng — alongside that of other vazalstaten that had accepted the Dutch flag — as evidence that the Atjehneesche resistance was collapsing. In his afscheidsrede of 23 April 1874 he declared: “Mijne heeren, ik beschouw den oorlog met Atjeh als geëindigd.” He gave optimistic reasons: the enemy was “geheel verslagen en ontmoedigd”; the bevolking lacked wapens, munitie, kleederen and “zelfs aan de voornaamste levensbehoeften zooals rijst, zout”; the trade was vernietigd; vazalstaten had accepted the Dutch flag. He promised the troops would have nothing to do but rest; Kota Radja would become “eene aangename gezellige garnizoensplaats.” The speech “maakte op zijne toehoorders bepaald een pijnlijken indruk.” “Qui veut trop prouver, ne prouve rien.” Nobody believed him.
Borel’s Judgement
Borel treats the submission of the Radja van Gigieng as the type of the vazal submission that van Swieten mistook for the end of the war. The very next night after van Swieten’s departure of 26 April 1874, Kota Radja was “bij herhaling door den vijand gealarmeerd”; the desecration of the Dutch graves at Lampoeloe and the attack on Marassa followed on the same day; and within six weeks the Dutch bezettingskorps was reduced to a state in which, Borel insists, 500 kloeke Atjehneezen would have sufficed “om den Kraton, en met dezen onze geheele vestiging ter kuste van Atjeh, ten val te brengen.” The vazal submissions had purchased nothing.
Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)
The Radja of Gigiëng was the Atjehnese chief who on 20 April 1874, in the presence of a great crowd of people, gave the act of submission of his landscape — the first such submission of the war years to be rewarded with the immediate reopening of trade.
The submission of 1874
During the blockade of the Atjehnese coast the Government’s first trade proclamation was circulated among the Atjehnese chiefs; whether it influenced the Radja’s decision, author Joh. Langhout leaves in the middle. The submission was accomplished on 20 April 1874, when, in the presence of a great multitude, the Dutch flag was hoisted on the passar (market) at Gigiëng, the Radja was presented with an act of recognition and confirmation, and the Netherlands Indian Government paid him a sum of 10,000 rijksdaalders. The Netherlands Government remained faithful to its promise and permitted trade with Gigiëng immediately after the submission, with the result that very soon a great number of trading vessels were cleared at Penang for this part of Atjeh.
See Also
- Gigieng
- Van Swieten’s afscheidsrede (1874)
- Departure of Jan van Swieten from Atjeh (April 1874)
- Landing at Pedro-punt (6 December 1873)
- Crisis at Kota Radja (May–June 1874)
- Jan van Swieten
- Generaal Pel
- 1874
- Submission of the Radja of Gigiëng (20 April 1874)
- Gigiëng
- Blockade of the Atjeh coast (1873-1874)
- Pidië
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 22, 82.
Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 28–29.