Tjoet Gát was a subject of the Sultan of Langkat who, in the early nineteenth century, led the combined forces of the two Keudjeuroeën of Tamiang — Karang and Moeda — to victory against adventurers from Meureudoe who had invaded the Tamiang lands, and whose death in battle and the subsequent grant of the Bandahara territory to his heir became the foundation of the Bandahara chieftaincy and the original source of Langkat’s contested claim to suzerainty over Tamiang. De Buitenbezittingen treats him as a krijgsoverste — a war-leader — whose personal valor and death in action set in motion a chain of events that would shape the politics of the Tamiang lands for the next three-quarters of a century.
The war with the Meureudoe adventurers
The two keudjeuroeëns of Karang and Moeda — themselves the products of the partition of the original Tamiang kingdom of Radja Mengkoeta — faced, in the early nineteenth century, a zwaren strijd against adventurers from Meureudoe. The outcome was in doubt until Tjoet Gát, identified by De Buitenbezittingen as an onderdaan (subject) of the Sultan of Langkat, took command of the combined Tamiang forces and led them to victory. Tjoet Gát himself did not survive the campaign; he fell in action, zelf in den strijd gevallen.
The grant of Bandahara
The two Keudjeuroeën, uit dankbaarheid voor dien dienst — out of gratitude for that service — granted to the heir of Tjoet Gát the land of Bandahara, on both banks of the Tamiang River. The grant was a reward for a service rendered by a man who had died in their defence, and the recipient was the dead hero’s heir, who thereby became the first Radja Bandahara. The new landschapje took its name — Bandahara — from the territory thus ceded.
Langkat’s intervention
The Sultan of Langkat used the circumstance that Tjoet Gát had been his subject as a voorwendsel — a pretext — to proclaim his own suzerainty over the new Bandahara landschapje. On the death of the first Radja Bandahara, he appointed his own nephew, Soetan Moeda Indra Kesoema, to rule over part of the territory — an intervention that provoked the armed resistance of the next Radja Bandahara, supported by Atjeh and Langsa. The ensuing war, unresolved for years, was the entry point through which the Dutch were drawn into Tamiang politics in 1861 and ultimately to the 1878 transfer of Langkat’s rights over Tamiang to the Netherlands-Indies Government.
Significance
Tjoet Gát is the figure around whom the entire complex of Bandahara’s founding, Langkat’s claim, and the eventual Dutch intervention in Tamiang turns. His single act of military service — and his death in that service — produced the territorial grant that became the Bandahara chieftaincy, the Langkat claim that the Dutch extinguished in 1878, and the constitutional question that De Buitenbezittingen traces through the politics of the 1878 transfer and the 1908 incorporation of Tamiang into the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden.
See Also
- Tamiang
- Bandahara
- Sultan of Langkat
- Soetan Moeda Indra Kesoema
- Keudjeuroeën Karang
- Keudjeuroeën Moeda
- Meureudoe
- Langsa
- 1878
- 1908
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 77–78.
Tjoet Gát was a subject of the Sultan of Langkat who, in the early nineteenth century, led the combined forces of the two Keudjeuroeën of Tamiang — Karang and Moeda — to victory against adventurers from Meureudoe who had invaded the Tamiang lands, and whose death in battle and the subsequent grant of the Bandahara territory to his heir became the foundation of the Bandahara chieftaincy and the original source of Langkat’s contested claim to suzerainty over Tamiang. De Buitenbezittingen treats him as a krijgsoverste — a war-leader — whose personal valor and death in action set in motion a chain of events that would shape the politics of the Tamiang lands for the next three-quarters of a century.
The war with the Meureudoe adventurers
The two keudjeuroeëns of Karang and Moeda — themselves the products of the partition of the original Tamiang kingdom of Radja Mengkoeta — faced, in the early nineteenth century, a zwaren strijd against adventurers from Meureudoe. The outcome was in doubt until Tjoet Gát, identified by De Buitenbezittingen as an onderdaan (subject) of the Sultan of Langkat, took command of the combined Tamiang forces and led them to victory. Tjoet Gát himself did not survive the campaign; he fell in action, zelf in den strijd gevallen.
The grant of Bandahara
The two Keudjeuroeën, uit dankbaarheid voor dien dienst — out of gratitude for that service — granted to the heir of Tjoet Gát the land of Bandahara, on both banks of the Tamiang River. The grant was a reward for a service rendered by a man who had died in their defence, and the recipient was the dead hero’s heir, who thereby became the first Radja Bandahara. The new landschapje took its name — Bandahara — from the territory thus ceded.
Langkat’s intervention
The Sultan of Langkat used the circumstance that Tjoet Gát had been his subject as a voorwendsel — a pretext — to proclaim his own suzerainty over the new Bandahara landschapje. On the death of the first Radja Bandahara, he appointed his own nephew, Soetan Moeda Indra Kesoema, to rule over part of the territory — an intervention that provoked the armed resistance of the next Radja Bandahara, supported by Atjeh and Langsa. The ensuing war, unresolved for years, was the entry point through which the Dutch were drawn into Tamiang politics in 1861 and ultimately to the 1878 transfer of Langkat’s rights over Tamiang to the Netherlands-Indies Government.
Significance
Tjoet Gát is the figure around whom the entire complex of Bandahara’s founding, Langkat’s claim, and the eventual Dutch intervention in Tamiang turns. His single act of military service — and his death in that service — produced the territorial grant that became the Bandahara chieftaincy, the Langkat claim that the Dutch extinguished in 1878, and the constitutional question that De Buitenbezittingen traces through the politics of the 1878 transfer and the 1908 incorporation of Tamiang into the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden.
See Also
- Tamiang
- Bandahara
- Sultan of Langkat
- Soetan Moeda Indra Kesoema
- Keudjeuroeën Karang
- Keudjeuroeën Moeda
- Meureudoe
- Langsa
- 1878
- 1908
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 77–78.