Tengkoe Mohamed Amin — also written Teungku Muhammad Amin — was the son and successor of Tengkoe di Tirou as head of the religious resistance in Groot-Atjeh, recognised as such by the Sultan in January 1892, and in 1894 appointed by the Sultan as Kadhi (judge). His leadership of the religious party in the 1890s, his exactions and extortions on the population outside the Dutch line, and his conflict with Toekoe Oemar — which furnished the occasion for Toekoe Oemar’s submission to the Dutch — together constitute the principal internal dynamics of the Atjehese resistance in the final phase of the Atjeh-oorlog.
Succession to the Head of the Resistance (January 1892)
In Groot-Atjeh, Tengkoe Mohamed Amin had succeeded his father Tengkoe di Tirou as head of the resistance, and was recognised as such by the Sultan in January 1892. Other bandit chiefs joined him or fought on their own account against the Dutch; the coasts sent their support. The encirclement of the line and the successful ambushes of Dutch traps steadily increased under his leadership.
Appointment as Kadhi (1894)
In 1894 the Sultan appointed Tengkoe Mohamed Amin as Kadhi (judge). The appointment formalised his position as the principal religious authority of the Atjehese resistance and gave him jurisdiction over the application of religious law to the population outside the Dutch line.
The Conflict with Toekoe Oemar (1892–1893)
Against the exactions, extortions, and acts of violence to which the population outside the line was subjected by the religious party — whose head was still Tengkoe Mohamed Amin, in 1894 appointed by the Sultan as Kadhi — the Chalif El Alam first began to resist more and more, and when these also extended to the 4 and 6 Moekims, Toekoe Oemar opposed them and inflicted some painful losses on the Muslemin. He then asked again to be taken into favour by the administration, and the administration put this in prospect, provided he first gave adequate proofs of good disposition by driving out the Muslemin.
The conflict between Tengkoe Mohamed Amin and Toekoe Oemar — the former the head of the religious party, the latter the powerful West Coast chieftain whose submission to the Dutch was conditioned on his being armed to suppress the religious party — was the internal cleavage in the Atjehese resistance that the Dutch sought to exploit. The exploitation, however, would lead to the defection of Teuku Umar and the final crisis of the war.
The Muslemin under Tengkoe Mohamed Amin
Under Tengkoe Mohamed Amin’s leadership, the Muslemin continued the encirclement of the Dutch line that his father had begun. The encirclement of the line and the successful ambushes of Dutch traps steadily increased. Dutch posts were repeatedly fired upon; trenches were dug between the posts and in the so-called open strip. The friends within and outside the line smuggled on a large scale. Emissaries of the Sultan travelled the coasts to collect money; the Dutch’s best friends paid.
Significance
Tengkoe Mohamed Amin is the principal religious leader of the final phase of the Atjeh-oorlog. His succession to his father Tengkoe di Tirou as head of the religious resistance, his appointment as Kadhi by the Sultan in 1894, his exactions on the population outside the Dutch line, and his conflict with Toekoe Oemar — which furnished the occasion for Toekoe Oemar’s submission to the Dutch and ultimately for the defection of Teuku Umar — together constitute the principal internal dynamics of the Atjehese resistance in the period 1892–1896. He was a member of the famous di Tiro family of religious leaders, whose predecessors had led the original Atjehese resistance to the Dutch in 1873–1874 and whose succession from father to son was a structural feature of the religious leadership of the Atjehese war effort.
See Also
- Tengkoe di Tirou
- Tiro Teungku family
- Toekoe Oemar
- Toeankoe Hasschim
- Toeankoe Mohamed Daoed
- Sultan of Aceh
- Kadhi (Atjehese office)
- Muslemin
- Heiligen Oorlog
- Chalif El Alam
- 4 and 6 Moekims
- Groot-Atjeh
- Kota Radja
- Defection of Teuku Umar (March 1896)
- Aceh War
- Atjeh-oorlog
- January 1892
- 1892
- 1893
- 1894
- 1896
- 1873
- 1874
Source
De Atjeh-Oorlog: Kort Overzicht van Oorsprong, Verloop en Gevolg, door J. A. Kruijt. ‘s-Gravenhage: Loman & Funke, 1896. Chapter XI (the succession of January 1892), Chapter XII (the appointment as Kadhi and the conflict with Toekoe Oemar). OCR-filename: 20260716_140310_DLP-101-De_Atjeh_oorlog_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 61, 68.