Teuku Sabi was an Atjèhnese oelèëbalang who, returning from exile on Java, became in 1944–1945 the principal channel of contact between the nationalist movement led by Sukarno and the political leadership of Atjeh, exchanging telegrams with Sukarno that were published, in the ornate style of the period, in the Atjèh Shimbun. Henri J. H. Alers’s Om een rode of groene Merdeka cites this exchange as evidence that, until the very end of the Japanese occupation, contact between the Merdeka movement on Java and political Atjeh remained thin — confined largely to Teuku Sabi’s personal correspondence rather than to any organised link between the two islands.
Return from exile and contact with Sukarno
Alers records that as the Indonesia Merdeka idea gathered strength on Java toward the end of the Japanese occupation, the response in Atjeh — beyond the propaganda efforts described by Piekaar — was at first confined to a personal telegram exchange between Sukarno and Teuku Sabi, described as an oelèëbalang “returned from exile” on Java. The telegram, quoted by Alers from the Atjèh Shimbun’s special edition in the florid language typical of the period, declared that “the Atjèhnese reuntjong and Atjèhnese blood must be forged into a fortress of steel, to shatter the enemy should he dare an attack from West or North” — adding that “final victory is on our side, and Indonesia’s independence is assured.”
Contrast with Daud Beureuh’s reticence
Alers draws a deliberate contrast between Teuku Sabi’s public embrace of the national Merdeka campaign and the pointed reticence of Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh, who is recorded as having stayed “on the sidelines” throughout this period. Alers suggests that Teuku Sabi’s enthusiasm, like that of Teukoe Nja’ Arif, may have reflected the hope among some oelèëbalang’s that alignment with the national movement could serve as a counterweight to the rising power of the Poesa within Atjeh itself — a hope that the events of the social revolution of the following year would disappoint.
See Also
Source
Om een rode of groene Merdeka: Tien jaren binnenlandse politiek Indonesië, 1943–1953, by Henri J. H. Alers (Eindhoven: Uitgeverij Vulkaan, 1956), Chapter III §14, p. 69.
Teuku Sabi was an Atjèhnese oelèëbalang who, returning from exile on Java, became in 1944–1945 the principal channel of contact between the nationalist movement led by Sukarno and the political leadership of Atjeh, exchanging telegrams with Sukarno that were published, in the ornate style of the period, in the Atjèh Shimbun. Henri J. H. Alers’s Om een rode of groene Merdeka cites this exchange as evidence that, until the very end of the Japanese occupation, contact between the Merdeka movement on Java and political Atjeh remained thin — confined largely to Teuku Sabi’s personal correspondence rather than to any organised link between the two islands.
Return from exile and contact with Sukarno
Alers records that as the Indonesia Merdeka idea gathered strength on Java toward the end of the Japanese occupation, the response in Atjeh — beyond the propaganda efforts described by Piekaar — was at first confined to a personal telegram exchange between Sukarno and Teuku Sabi, described as an oelèëbalang “returned from exile” on Java. The telegram, quoted by Alers from the Atjèh Shimbun’s special edition in the florid language typical of the period, declared that “the Atjèhnese reuntjong and Atjèhnese blood must be forged into a fortress of steel, to shatter the enemy should he dare an attack from West or North” — adding that “final victory is on our side, and Indonesia’s independence is assured.”
Contrast with Daud Beureuh’s reticence
Alers draws a deliberate contrast between Teuku Sabi’s public embrace of the national Merdeka campaign and the pointed reticence of Teungkoe Moehamad Daoed Beureu-éh, who is recorded as having stayed “on the sidelines” throughout this period. Alers suggests that Teuku Sabi’s enthusiasm, like that of Teukoe Nja’ Arif, may have reflected the hope among some oelèëbalang’s that alignment with the national movement could serve as a counterweight to the rising power of the Poesa within Atjeh itself — a hope that the events of the social revolution of the following year would disappoint.
See Also
Source
Om een rode of groene Merdeka: Tien jaren binnenlandse politiek Indonesië, 1943–1953, by Henri J. H. Alers (Eindhoven: Uitgeverij Vulkaan, 1956), Chapter III §14, p. 69.