Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah was the oelèëbalang — self-governing authority — of the landschap Idi Rajeu’ in the subdistrict Idi on the East Coast of Atjèh, one of the prominent Atjèhnese self-governing rulers who came to the fore in the late colonial period and a member of the widespread Tjhi’ family whose branches spanned the residency. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan introduces him as one of “the many other oelèëbalangs” who, alongside the more prominent Teukoe Hadji Tjhi’ Moehamad Djohan Alam Sjah of Peusangan, “came to the fore” in the late colonial administration.
The Tjhi’ family
The Tjhi’ family was one of the most prominent oelèëbalang families of Atjèh, with branches in multiple landschap’s. Teukoe Hadji Tjhi’ Moehamad Djohan Alam Sjah of Peusangan — the patron of the founding of the Poesa in 1939 — was the most prominent figure of the family; Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Ali Akbar of the Kawaj XVI on the West Coast was another. Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah of Idi Rajeu’ was, in this sense, the East Coast representative of a family whose branches spanned the residency — the family name (Tjhi’) serving, in Piekaar’s account, as a signpost of the network of alliances that linked the self-governing rulers of pre-war Atjèh.
The oelèëbalang of Idi Rajeu’
The landschap Idi Rajeu’ was one of the eight landschappen of the onderafdeeling Idi on the East Coast. Its oelèëbalang — Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah — was, like the other oelèëbalang’s of the East Coast, the head of a landschap that had originated as a colony of pepper planters. The institutional structure of the landschap — the toeha’ peuët (four elders) and toeha’ lapan (eight-heads) below the landschapshoofd — was the same as that of the other East Coast landschap’s, and Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah’s authority rested on the same combination of territorial rule and personal prestige that characterised the oelèëbalang’s office throughout Atjèh.
Significance
The introduction of Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah in Piekaar’s account — alongside the other oelèëbalang’s who “came to the fore” in the late colonial administration — illustrates the political landscape of pre-war Atjèh: a network of self-governing rulers, linked by family ties and political alliances, whose cooperation with the Dutch administration was the principal instrument of indirect rule. The Tjhi’ family — with its branches in Peusangan, Idi Rajeu’, and the Kawaj XVI — was one of the principal nodes of this network, and its members’ fates in the events of 1942 would shape the political reorganisation of the residency under the Japanese occupation.
A possible post-war successor to Teukoe Nja’ Arif (1946)
Henri J. H. Alers’s Om een rode of groene Merdeka records that when the republican oelèëbalang-administrator Teukoe Nja’ Arif died in April 1946 while interned by the Poesa, he was succeeded as nominal head of Atjeh’s administration by an oelèëbalang Alers names as “Teuku Tjhi Muhamad Daud Sjah” — a figure Alers describes as no more than “a willing instrument in the hands of the great man behind the scenes,” Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh, who had by then made himself head of the Dienst van Godsdienstzaken (Service of Religious Affairs). Alers does not indicate whether this figure is identical with the oelèëbalang of Idi Rajeu’ documented by Piekaar under the same name and title, and given how widely the honorific Tjhi’ was shared across branches of the wider Tjhi’ family, the identification must be treated as tentative rather than established.
See Also
- Idi Rajeu’
- Idi
- Teukoe Hadji Tjhi’ Moehamad Djohan Alam Sjah
- Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Ali Akbar
- Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Thajéb
- Oelèëbalang
- Poesa
- Teukoe Nja’ Arif
- Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh
Sources
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 I, § 2.
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. 91.
Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah was the oelèëbalang — self-governing authority — of the landschap Idi Rajeu’ in the subdistrict Idi on the East Coast of Atjèh, one of the prominent Atjèhnese self-governing rulers who came to the fore in the late colonial period and a member of the widespread Tjhi’ family whose branches spanned the residency. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan introduces him as one of “the many other oelèëbalangs” who, alongside the more prominent Teukoe Hadji Tjhi’ Moehamad Djohan Alam Sjah of Peusangan, “came to the fore” in the late colonial administration.
The Tjhi’ family
The Tjhi’ family was one of the most prominent oelèëbalang families of Atjèh, with branches in multiple landschap’s. Teukoe Hadji Tjhi’ Moehamad Djohan Alam Sjah of Peusangan — the patron of the founding of the Poesa in 1939 — was the most prominent figure of the family; Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Ali Akbar of the Kawaj XVI on the West Coast was another. Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah of Idi Rajeu’ was, in this sense, the East Coast representative of a family whose branches spanned the residency — the family name (Tjhi’) serving, in Piekaar’s account, as a signpost of the network of alliances that linked the self-governing rulers of pre-war Atjèh.
The oelèëbalang of Idi Rajeu’
The landschap Idi Rajeu’ was one of the eight landschappen of the onderafdeeling Idi on the East Coast. Its oelèëbalang — Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah — was, like the other oelèëbalang’s of the East Coast, the head of a landschap that had originated as a colony of pepper planters. The institutional structure of the landschap — the toeha’ peuët (four elders) and toeha’ lapan (eight-heads) below the landschapshoofd — was the same as that of the other East Coast landschap’s, and Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah’s authority rested on the same combination of territorial rule and personal prestige that characterised the oelèëbalang’s office throughout Atjèh.
Significance
The introduction of Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Daoed Sjah in Piekaar’s account — alongside the other oelèëbalang’s who “came to the fore” in the late colonial administration — illustrates the political landscape of pre-war Atjèh: a network of self-governing rulers, linked by family ties and political alliances, whose cooperation with the Dutch administration was the principal instrument of indirect rule. The Tjhi’ family — with its branches in Peusangan, Idi Rajeu’, and the Kawaj XVI — was one of the principal nodes of this network, and its members’ fates in the events of 1942 would shape the political reorganisation of the residency under the Japanese occupation.
A possible post-war successor to Teukoe Nja’ Arif (1946)
Henri J. H. Alers’s Om een rode of groene Merdeka records that when the republican oelèëbalang-administrator Teukoe Nja’ Arif died in April 1946 while interned by the Poesa, he was succeeded as nominal head of Atjeh’s administration by an oelèëbalang Alers names as “Teuku Tjhi Muhamad Daud Sjah” — a figure Alers describes as no more than “a willing instrument in the hands of the great man behind the scenes,” Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh, who had by then made himself head of the Dienst van Godsdienstzaken (Service of Religious Affairs). Alers does not indicate whether this figure is identical with the oelèëbalang of Idi Rajeu’ documented by Piekaar under the same name and title, and given how widely the honorific Tjhi’ was shared across branches of the wider Tjhi’ family, the identification must be treated as tentative rather than established.
See Also
- Idi Rajeu’
- Idi
- Teukoe Hadji Tjhi’ Moehamad Djohan Alam Sjah
- Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Ali Akbar
- Teukoe Tjhi’ Moehamad Thajéb
- Oelèëbalang
- Poesa
- Teukoe Nja’ Arif
- Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh
Sources
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 I, § 2.
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. 91.