Sajid Ali was an Atjèhnese Ulama, described by Henri J. H. Alers as “a rather shadowy figure,” who led an underground movement of dissatisfied Ulama in an attempt to seize control of the Poesa from Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh in the aftermath of the Ulama–Uleëbalang social revolution of 1945–1946.
The failed coup within the Poesa
According to Alers’s Om een rode of groene Merdeka, discontent grew within Poesa ranks once it became clear that the Madjelis Penimbang — the body created to redistribute property confiscated from the defeated oelèëbalang class — had ended up staffed almost entirely by Poesa members, so that little of its promised even-handedness was realised. Sajid Ali organised an underground movement among discontented Ulama to wrest control of the Poesa away from Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh. The attempted coup failed, and the rebellious Poesa members were imprisoned at Takengon and Kotabaki.
Consequences
Alers treats the episode as having had far-reaching consequences precisely because it failed: its suppression allowed Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh to have himself proclaimed military governor of Atjeh, consolidating what Alers calls an “Ulama-dictatorship” that would remain durable for years. In his comparative scheme setting the political history of Atjeh alongside that of Java, Alers places Sajid Ali’s abortive coup on the same structural level as Tan Malaka’s failed bid for power on Java — with the crucial asymmetry that in Atjeh, unlike on Java, the ruling figure’s authority emerged from the episode strengthened rather than weakened.
See Also
- Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh
- Poesa
- Madjelis Penimbang
- Takengon
- Ulama–Uleëbalang social revolution in Atjeh (1945–1946)
Source
Om een rode of groene Merdeka: Tien jaren binnenlandse politiek Indonesië, 1943–1953, by Henri J. H. Alers (Eindhoven: Uitgeverij Vulkaan, 1956), Chapter II §9 “Atjeh,” p. 92.
Sajid Ali was an Atjèhnese Ulama, described by Henri J. H. Alers as “a rather shadowy figure,” who led an underground movement of dissatisfied Ulama in an attempt to seize control of the Poesa from Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh in the aftermath of the Ulama–Uleëbalang social revolution of 1945–1946.
The failed coup within the Poesa
According to Alers’s Om een rode of groene Merdeka, discontent grew within Poesa ranks once it became clear that the Madjelis Penimbang — the body created to redistribute property confiscated from the defeated oelèëbalang class — had ended up staffed almost entirely by Poesa members, so that little of its promised even-handedness was realised. Sajid Ali organised an underground movement among discontented Ulama to wrest control of the Poesa away from Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh. The attempted coup failed, and the rebellious Poesa members were imprisoned at Takengon and Kotabaki.
Consequences
Alers treats the episode as having had far-reaching consequences precisely because it failed: its suppression allowed Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh to have himself proclaimed military governor of Atjeh, consolidating what Alers calls an “Ulama-dictatorship” that would remain durable for years. In his comparative scheme setting the political history of Atjeh alongside that of Java, Alers places Sajid Ali’s abortive coup on the same structural level as Tan Malaka’s failed bid for power on Java — with the crucial asymmetry that in Atjeh, unlike on Java, the ruling figure’s authority emerged from the episode strengthened rather than weakened.
See Also
- Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh
- Poesa
- Madjelis Penimbang
- Takengon
- Ulama–Uleëbalang social revolution in Atjeh (1945–1946)
Source
Om een rode of groene Merdeka: Tien jaren binnenlandse politiek Indonesië, 1943–1953, by Henri J. H. Alers (Eindhoven: Uitgeverij Vulkaan, 1956), Chapter II §9 “Atjeh,” p. 92.