Tgk. di Barat — Teungkoe di Barat, “de Heer van het Westen” (“the Lord of the West”) — was one of the three great religious resistance leaders of Keureutòë and the Lho’ Soekon district, alongside Tgk. Sjeh di Paja Bakong and Tgk. di Mata Ië. He fought on from 1908 through the Meergebied and the Gajòlanden and was finally killed on 22 February 1912 by the patrol of H. Behrens with two brigades — the death that made the situation in the whole afdeeling Noordkust stable and brought, as du Croo wrote, an end to the district’s suffering.
Career of resistance
Tgk. di Barat worked on the upper Djambo Ajé with Pang Nanggròë, Tgk. Sjeh di Paja Bakong and Tgk. di Mata Ië in the band system that kept Keureutòë in arms after 1905. In 1908 the co-operation of the population — which had had more than enough of the bendewezen — caused two of Tgk. di Barat’s best subordinate leaders to fall, while Tgk. di Paja Bakong lost his best pang. As a result both principal leaders no longer felt safe in Keureutòë and withdrew to the Gajòlanden, where they went into hiding.
In 1911 his presence made itself felt again. In January 1911 a great meeting of the resistance party had taken place at Seureulo in the Meergebied — the present sub-division Takèngön — at the place where Tgk. di Barat was hiding, attended also by bands of Gajòs. But the meeting was unluckily discovered or betrayed, and driven apart by patrols; the Teungkoe’s father-in-law was killed. When in the following month an encounter with the marechaussée likewise ended unhappily, Tgk. di Barat left the Meergebied and returned to the plain of Lho’ Soekon and Lho’ Seumawè.
In June 1911 came reports of the vanished Teungkoe again: he had moved with some adherents from his hiding-places in the Gajò mountains back to the upper Keureutòë. That meant an immediate setback — “Tgk. di Barat bléé Tgk. di Barat.” The report for June recorded: “his presence in Keureutòë revealed itself at once in the defection of the former band-leader T. Ali van Pira’, son-in-law of Tgk. di Paja Bakong, with eight followers, all boys of sixteen to eighteen.” Only some six nights did the fugitives stay away before reporting themselves again; general opinion said that they had come to the Teungkoe without firearms and had been rejected by him.
In the night of 23–24 March 1911 a patrol of one brigade of marechaussée under the bivouac commander at Leuhong, captain Van der Vlerk, was stalked in a marching bivouac in the forest by the Keureutòë-rivier and attacked with cold steel by some ill-disposed persons; a native marechaussée was killed and captain Van der Vlerk and two Acehnese guides lightly wounded, while a model carbine was lost. It was proved that the attack had been carried out by old, devoted members of Tgk. di Barat’s band. All available patrols went out to trace and pursue the Teungkoe.
By December 1911 “the situation was favourable”: Behrens and his men were on Tgk. di Barat’s track, and it might last a couple of months or a year or longer, but the irrevocable end was approaching.
The last pursuit and death, 22 February 1912
Tgk. di Barat had returned to the plain of Lho’ Soekon and Lho’ Seumawè in order to reorganise the resistance together with Tgk. di Mata Ië. But the marechaussée awaited him there too. Their blows first struck Tgk. di Mata Ië — who would prove unfindable or unhittable for years more — but on 22 February 1912 Behrens surprised Tgk. di Barat with two brigades, “and that was the end for Tgk. di Barat.”
The narrative of that surprise, taken by du Croo from H. C. Zentgraaff, turns on the Ambonese sergeant and tracker Dambohpulu, “a twenty-four-carat forest-runner.” At the Aloeë Soea he found the bekas (traces) of the foragers of the Teungkoe’s band, and with the greatest difficulty the brigade was able to follow these well-hidden and partly obliterated traces. The ground was covered with leaves, and the forest-runner’s instinct, more than the actual sense, had made him notice that in some places the leaves were trodden somewhat more firmly into the ground than is normally the case — sufficient warning, for an animal does not conceal its tracks in the forest; only man does that.
From the nature of the leaf, of the break, of the impression in the ground beneath, and the sharpness of the edges of the footprints it was plain that the trail was some five days old; from such indications one reads how many men have passed and when. Dambohpulu held fast; the tracks grew younger every moment. At last he found very fresh bekas in coral-like ground. They gained visibly on the band, moving as fast as possible and with the utmost caution, since the chance is lost if one is oneself seen or heard by an enemy always on the qui vive.
That day the marechaussée did no cooking, and because provisions had run short Behrens picked the sixteen best marechaussée from the two brigades and sent the others back to the bivouac. For the rest the tempo of the pursuit became faster still; it was now an élite band. Dambohpulu ran at the point, bent forward, peering at the ground and the vegetation about him.
Suddenly smoke was seen rising from a small aloeë, and the mise-en-scène was made ready for the last act. The sixteen men were divided into three groups, two of which were to envelop the hiding-place. A waterfall lay between that spot and the marechaussée, and on hands and feet the men crept through the undergrowth, inaudible and invisible, now and then dragging themselves forward on their bellies.
Below the waterfall stood four primitive huts, and in these sat, unaware of the danger, Tgk. di Barat with his wife and two followers who likewise had their wives with them, and four children, two of them the Teungkoe’s.
The marechaussée had crept up to the side of and above the huts; then the group under sergeant Hanff flew through the stream to the waterfall and let itself fall with the water down to the huts. However great the shock to the Teungkoe and his people, they were used to war and instantly ready. The Teungkoe took position among the great stones with his men, and immediately his wife, “a true daughter of this fighting people,” stood beside him. He was ready to fire before Hanff was on his feet again; he aimed at the sergeant and pulled the trigger, but the shot misfired, and so did the second. “The hand of his life’s clock faltered for a moment before it was to stand still for ever.” Then it was Hanff’s turn, and his first shot also misfired: “It was almost as though a judgement hung over them.” Meanwhile the other marechaussée fired; a bullet struck the Teungkoe in the right arm, which fell limp, but he quickly passed his carbine to his wife and held the rentjong in his usable left hand. Then his wife came and placed herself in front of her husband. So the woman stood before her man when one bullet mortally wounded them both. He died very quickly and she followed him an hour later.
“This was the end of Teungkoe di Barat, who chose martyrdom above submission.” Zentgraaff’s comment, quoted by du Croo, was: “How well they fall… and is there one people on this earth that would not write the downfall of these heroic figures with deep veneration in the book of its history?”
Significance
With the death of Tgk. di Barat the afdeeling Noordkust became stable and its condition was reported as favourable to very favourable: “the suffering there was over.” Of the three great resistance leaders of the district, Tgk. Sjeh di Paja Bakong had fallen in 1910 and Tgk. di Barat in 1912; only Tgk. di Mata Ië remained, until 1917. A few of his followers were still being sought in 1913, and from the last of them the Samarkilang band would later form.
See Also
- Tgk. Sjeh di Paja Bakong
- Tgk. di Mata Ië
- Pang Nanggròë
- H. Behrens
- Dambohpulu
- Keureutòë
- Meergebied
- Gajòlanden
- H. C. Zentgraaff
- 1912
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
From the Lho’ Soekonsche; son-in-law of Teungkoe di Mata Ië (married his daughter). Capable oelama and born popular leader. Plundering band leader, sparing no fellow Acehnese. Active 1903-1912. Pursued by the usual men plus v.d. Zee, Van Vuuren, Ebbink, Scheepens. January 1912 Lt. Behrens received reports of his fourageeren; February 1912 located his hideout with help of Ambonese sergeant Dambohpulu. Surrounded: a few huts housing Teungkoe di Barat with wife and 2 children, plus 2 followers with wives and children. When patrol detected, they took position between karang blocks; Teungkoe di Barat’s wife stood beside her husband. First shot hit him in right arm; with left hand drawing his rentjong, he passed his carbine to his wife, who placed herself in front of him - both killed by the same shot. 2 followers also killed; 2 women and 4 children captured.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 368, 369.
Source
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 X, pp. 96–97; Chapter XI, pp. 103–106.
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).
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 368, 369.