The Radja van Samalangan was the Acehnese ruler of Samalangan on the north coast of Atjeh who, according to H. van Kol speaking in the Tweede Kamer on 17 November 1897, was taken prisoner by the Dutch “op verraderlijke wijze” — in a treacherous manner — after having been promised rifles.
The allegation
Van Kol’s words were: “Op verraderlijke wijze nam men den radja van Samalangan gevangen, dien men geweren beloofde.” — In a treacherous manner the radja of Samalangan was taken prisoner, to whom rifles had been promised. He named the case first in a series of three treacherous arrests, the others being that of the head of Bintara Peunang and, in the month before the debate, that of Toekoe Njak Amat near Kroeng Raja. The three were adduced as instances of Dutch breaches of the lois et coutumes de la guerre, alongside the shooting of Njahim, the taking of the daughter of Wakil Joesoef as a hostage and the killing of Joed Mohmed Lamtengah.
The source gives neither the date nor the personal name of the radja concerned. Samalangan had been the object of repeated Dutch expeditions from the expedition of August 1877 onward and was long a centre of resistance on the north coast.
Reception
The Minister of Colonies Cremer did not answer this allegation specifically. In his general reply he denied cruelties committed in cold blood, and on 17 November associated himself with Kuyper’s statement that concretely proved cases would find no defender in any party of the chamber, quoting the words of Bergsma of 22 September 1896 on the government’s opposition to mutilation.
See Also
- Atrocities in the Aceh War as alleged in the Tweede Kamer (1897)
- Samalanga
- Bintara Peunang
- Toekoe Njak Amat
- Njahim
- H. van Kol
- J. T. Cremer
- 1897
Source
Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898, uitgave van de Sociaaldemokratische Arbeiderspartij in Nederland (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br P95-178, p. 64.
Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898 (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.