Tgk. Tjhi Majét — also Tgk. Majét, Tngk. Tjhi Majét di Tiri — was an Acehnese religious leader, the fourth son of Teungkoe Sjech Saman di Tiri and one of the two voornaamste Teungkoes of the Tiriō bende. He was killed in the chase that followed the colonne Schmidt’s overval on the schuilplaats in May 1911 — shot by the Menadonees Enoch — and his corpse was carried to Tangsé where the bevolking tore his bandages into hundreds of pieces as holy relics. He was the last of the four sons of Saman di Tiri to fall before the boy Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at (his nephew) became the final leader of the bende.
The fourth son
“Of the four sons of Teungkoe Sjech Saman di Tiri … Tngk. Tjhi Majét and Tgk. di Boekét.” The fourth son of Saman di Tiri, Tjhi Majét was one of the two voornaamste Teungkoes of the bende (with Tgk. di Boekét). The eldest son had been killed at the defence of Aneu Galong in 1896; Tgk. Lambada had been killed in a gevecht with a patrouille under luitenant Darlang; Tgk. di Boekét and Tgk. Tjhi Majét lived on as the two voornaamste Teungkoes.
The killing (May 1911)
In the chase of the four vluchtelingen after the schuilplaats assault in May 1911, the Menadonees Enoch shot two of them, including Tgk. Tjhi Majét. “Nog twee ervan door Enoch, waaronder ook Tgk. Tjhi Majét di Tiri.” His son — a small boy — was captured in the levensgevaarlijke afdaling along the steile wand that gained the M. 95; “hij vertelde in zijn onschuld van alles aan de luitenant.” His wife — the only vrouw wounded in the overval — refused the luitenant’s verband and died: “De ongelovige moest van haar afblijven. En zij stierf, terwijl de luitenant er hevig ontdaan en met de hand aan de bamboehoed, stram in de houding, bij stond. Het was het einde van een heldin!”
The relics at Tangsé
The corpse of Tgk. Tjhi Majét was carried to Tangsé. “Het verband en de doeken, waarin het lijk was gewikkeld, werden in honderden stukjes gescheurd en meegenomen als heilige reliquiën” — the bandages and cloths in which the body was wrapped were torn into hundreds of pieces and kept as holy relics. The tearing of the relics is the book’s quiet acknowledgement that Tgk. Tjhi Majét’s death, far from extinguishing the doctrine, made it a permanent feature of the country’s religious memory.
The brother Tgk. di Boekét
After the assault on the schuilplaats, Tgk. di Boekét — the other voornaamste Teungkoe — escaped but later “aan bekomen verwondingen was overleden” — died of the wounds he had received. With both Tjhi Majét and di Boekét dead, “slechts de jonge Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at was er over van heel de Tiri bende” — only the young Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at was left.
Significance
Tgk. Tjhi Majét is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the fourth son of Teungkoe Sjech Saman di Tiri and one of the two voornaamste Teungkoes of the Tiriō bende. His death in May 1911 — and the tearing of his relics at Tangsé — is the book’s marker of the religious memory that the colonial army’s killing of the resistance leaders could not extinguish. The small boy captured at the levensgevaarlijke afdaling — Tgk. Tjhi Majét’s son — is the book’s quiet pointer to the next generation: the boy who would, in turn, inherit the doctrine.
The fourth son
“Of the four sons of Teungkoe Sjech Saman di Tiri … Tngk. Tjhi Majét and Tgk. di Boekét.” The fourth son of Saman di Tiri, Tjhi Majét was one of the two voornaamste Teungkoes of the bende (with Tgk. di Boekét). The eldest son had been killed at the defence of Aneu Galong in 1896; Tgk. Lambada had been killed in a gevecht with a patrouille under luitenant Darlang; Tgk. di Boekét and Tgk. Tjhi Majét lived on as the two voornaamste Teungkoes.
The killing (May 1911)
In the chase of the four vluchtelingen after the schuilplaats assault in May 1911, the Menadonees Enoch shot two of them, including Tgk. Tjhi Majét. “Nog twee ervan door Enoch, waaronder ook Tgk. Tjhi Majét di Tiri.” His son — a small boy — was captured in the levensgevaarlijke afdaling along the steile wand that gained the M. 95; “hij vertelde in zijn onschuld van alles aan de luitenant.” His wife — the only vrouw wounded in the overval — refused the luitenant’s verband and died: “De ongelovige moest van haar afblijven. En zij stierf, terwijl de luitenant er hevig ontdaan en met de hand aan de bamboehoed, stram in de houding, bij stond. Het was het einde van een heldin!”
The relics at Tangsé
The corpse of Tgk. Tjhi Majét was carried to Tangsé. “Het verband en de doeken, waarin het lijk was gewikkeld, werden in honderden stukjes gescheurd en meegenomen als heilige reliquiën” — the bandages and cloths in which the body was wrapped were torn into hundreds of pieces and kept as holy relics. The tearing of the relics is the book’s quiet acknowledgement that Tgk. Tjhi Majét’s death, far from extinguishing the doctrine, made it a permanent feature of the country’s religious memory.
The brother Tgk. di Boekét
After the assault on the schuilplaats, Tgk. di Boekét — the other voornaamste Teungkoe — escaped but later “aan bekomen verwondingen was overleden” — died of the wounds he had received. With both Tjhi Majét and di Boekét dead, “slechts de jonge Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at was er over van heel de Tiri bende” — only the young Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at was left.
Significance
Tgk. Tjhi Majét is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the fourth son of Teungkoe Sjech Saman di Tiri and one of the two voornaamste Teungkoes of the Tiriō bende. His death in May 1911 — and the tearing of his relics at Tangsé — is the book’s marker of the religious memory that the colonial army’s killing of the resistance leaders could not extinguish. The small boy captured at the levensgevaarlijke afdaling — Tgk. Tjhi Majét’s son — is the book’s quiet pointer to the next generation: the boy who would, in turn, inherit the doctrine.
Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)
With his death and that of Tgk. di Boekét the leadership of the Tirò band passed to the sixteen-year-old Tgk. Ma’at, “the last surviving of the Tirò Teungkoes,” who fell in December 1911.
See Also
- Teungkoe Sjech Saman di Tiri
- Tgk. di Boekét
- Tgk. Lambada
- Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at
- Colonne Schmidt campaign against the Tiriō Teungkoes (1910-1911)
- Enoch
- Tangsé
- Prang sabi
- Sjahid
- May 1911
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Atjeh
Source
Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “De colonne Schmidt.”
Tgk. Tjhi Majét — also Tgk. Majét, Tngk. Tjhi Majét di Tiri — was an Acehnese religious leader, the fourth son of Teungkoe Sjech Saman di Tiri and one of the two voornaamste Teungkoes of the Tiriō bende. He was killed in the chase that followed the colonne Schmidt’s overval on the schuilplaats in May 1911 — shot by the Menadonees Enoch — and his corpse was carried to Tangsé where the bevolking tore his bandages into hundreds of pieces as holy relics. He was the last of the four sons of Saman di Tiri to fall before the boy Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at (his nephew) became the final leader of the bende.
Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter XI.