Said Doellah was a “descendant of the Prophet” — that is, a sayyid — who entered Atjèh with the first Japanese troops at Meulabóh in March 1942 as an F-organisatie propagandist alongside Said Aboe Bakar, and whose subsequent arrest and execution by the Japanese is one of the unresolved mysteries of the occupation. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan treats Said Doellah as the figure whose intercepted correspondence had, before the invasion, revealed the existence of the F-organisatie’s fifth-column network in Atjèh, and whose death — possibly at the instigation of his fellow F-propagandist Said Aboe Bakar — extinguished one of the principal Japanese political instruments on the West Coast.
Entry at Meulabóh
When the first Japanese troops entered Meulabóh in March 1942, Said Doellah was among them, alongside Said Aboe Bakar. Piekaar identifies him as “a descendant of the Prophet, about which more in the following chapter.” His descent from the Prophet gave him, in Atjèhnese society, the religious authority of a sayyid — an authority that, combined with his role as F-propagandist, made him a particularly potent instrument of the Japanese fifth-column.
The intercepted letters
Before the invasion, the Dutch had intercepted letters addressed to Said Doellah that revealed the existence of the F-organisatie’s Atjèhnese network. The recipients of these letters — “the same group of persons to whom the letters found on Said Doellah were addressed” — would, after the invasion, form the membership of the governing commissions that the F-propagandists established. The intercepted correspondence was, in effect, the membership list of the fifth-column apparatus; the names on the letters were the names of the political dissidents who would be installed in power after the Japanese conquest.
Arrest and execution
After the establishment of the governing commissions, Said Doellah was arrested and executed by the Japanese. Piekaar records that “a connection between the arrest and execution of Said Doellah and the actions of Said Aboe Bakar lies to hand, but is not proven. A thorough investigation will probably remain a pious wish.” The execution suggests a power struggle within the F-organisatie’s Atjèhnese network — perhaps a Japanese decision to dispense with a figure whose correspondence had been compromised, or perhaps the machinations of Said Aboe Bakar against a rival for influence over the West Coast administration.
Significance
The execution of Said Doellah — a sayyid and a principal F-propagandist — was a public act that signalled the Japanese willingness to dispense with their Atjèhnese collaborators when their usefulness was at an end. The unresolved character of the affair — Piekaar’s “pious wish” for a thorough investigation — reflects the opacity of the F-organisatie’s internal politics and the difficulty of reconstructing, from the fragmentary surviving evidence, the relationship between the Japanese military, the F-propagandists, and the Atjèhnese political networks they mobilised.
See Also
- [Said Aboe Bakar]
- [F-organisatie]
- [Fujiwara-kikan]
- [Meulabóh]
- [Kawaj XVI]
- [1942]
Source
Atjèh and the War with Japan, by Dr. A. J. Piekaar, translated from the Dutch original Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan (1949) (‘s-Gravenhage/Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve; English edition), Chapter V.
Said Doellah was a “descendant of the Prophet” — that is, a sayyid — who entered Atjèh with the first Japanese troops at Meulabóh in March 1942 as an F-organisatie propagandist alongside Said Aboe Bakar, and whose subsequent arrest and execution by the Japanese is one of the unresolved mysteries of the occupation. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan treats Said Doellah as the figure whose intercepted correspondence had, before the invasion, revealed the existence of the F-organisatie’s fifth-column network in Atjèh, and whose death — possibly at the instigation of his fellow F-propagandist Said Aboe Bakar — extinguished one of the principal Japanese political instruments on the West Coast.
Entry at Meulabóh
When the first Japanese troops entered Meulabóh in March 1942, Said Doellah was among them, alongside Said Aboe Bakar. Piekaar identifies him as “a descendant of the Prophet, about which more in the following chapter.” His descent from the Prophet gave him, in Atjèhnese society, the religious authority of a sayyid — an authority that, combined with his role as F-propagandist, made him a particularly potent instrument of the Japanese fifth-column.
The intercepted letters
Before the invasion, the Dutch had intercepted letters addressed to Said Doellah that revealed the existence of the F-organisatie’s Atjèhnese network. The recipients of these letters — “the same group of persons to whom the letters found on Said Doellah were addressed” — would, after the invasion, form the membership of the governing commissions that the F-propagandists established. The intercepted correspondence was, in effect, the membership list of the fifth-column apparatus; the names on the letters were the names of the political dissidents who would be installed in power after the Japanese conquest.
Arrest and execution
After the establishment of the governing commissions, Said Doellah was arrested and executed by the Japanese. Piekaar records that “a connection between the arrest and execution of Said Doellah and the actions of Said Aboe Bakar lies to hand, but is not proven. A thorough investigation will probably remain a pious wish.” The execution suggests a power struggle within the F-organisatie’s Atjèhnese network — perhaps a Japanese decision to dispense with a figure whose correspondence had been compromised, or perhaps the machinations of Said Aboe Bakar against a rival for influence over the West Coast administration.
Significance
The execution of Said Doellah — a sayyid and a principal F-propagandist — was a public act that signalled the Japanese willingness to dispense with their Atjèhnese collaborators when their usefulness was at an end. The unresolved character of the affair — Piekaar’s “pious wish” for a thorough investigation — reflects the opacity of the F-organisatie’s internal politics and the difficulty of reconstructing, from the fragmentary surviving evidence, the relationship between the Japanese military, the F-propagandists, and the Atjèhnese political networks they mobilised.
See Also
- [Said Aboe Bakar]
- [F-organisatie]
- [Fujiwara-kikan]
- [Meulabóh]
- [Kawaj XVI]
- [1942]
Source
Atjèh and the War with Japan, by Dr. A. J. Piekaar, translated from the Dutch original Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan (1949) (‘s-Gravenhage/Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve; English edition), Chapter V.