Toeankoe Machmoed

Properties2
tagsperson, sultan, achehnese, kraton, pre-1873, aceh, 19th-century, regency, sultanate, succession, oeleebalang, idi-rajeu, goudschat, tjoet-nja, colonial, uleebalang, idi, acehnese
aliasesTuanku Mahmud, Toean Koemachmoed, Sultan Machmoed, the young Sultan under Habib's regency, Tuanku Mahmud of Atjeh, Toeankoe Machmoed Idi rajeu, Machmoed Idi rajeu, oeléebalang of Idi rajeu, Sultan Machmoed of Atjeh (pre-1873), Toeankoe Machmoed (pre-1873), Machmoed Idi

11 min read

Toeankoe Machmoed — Tuanku Mahmud — was the young Sultan of Atjeh in the years immediately preceding the Dutch attack of 1873, installed on the throne under the regency of Habib Abdoe’r Rachman after the death of Sultan Saleiman Iskander in 1837. He is named in the Atjeh-Album of 1896 as the prince whom the Habib rescued from the custody of Toekoe Moeda Baid — oeloebalang of the VII Moekims — and for whom the Habib acted as regent during his minority.

In Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96, the dynastic name Toeankoe Machmoed is borne by a later figure (likely a successor in the same kinship line) who, together with his guardian Toeankoe Brahim, “went with many followers over the VII Moekims Baid to Groot-Atjeh, settling at Anao-Galong” in late May 1896, in a movement which brought the pretender Sultan’s entourage into the principal theatre of operations of the Atjeh-oorlog. The chronological range — from the 1837 succession crisis to the 1896 Groot-Atjeh movement — spans nearly sixty years, which is impossible for a single career; the most economical hypothesis is that the title was held successively by members of the same kinship line, with the 1896 bearer inheriting both the dynastic name and the political-symbolic capital of the line.

Background and installation

The Atjeh-Album records that Sultan Saleiman Iskander died in 1837, and that the succession was disputed. The Habib, who had been the principal adviser of the late Sultan, wished to install the young Toeankue Machmoed — son of the deceased Sultan — as his successor, and to act as regent during the prince’s minority. The prince was, however, in the custody of Toekoe Moeda Baid at his kampong of Tjot Bada, and Baid refused to release him. The Habib accordingly assembled a force of two thousand men in the XXVI Moekims and marched on Tjot Bada, where — partly by force and partly by his personal prestige — he compelled Baid to give up the prince within eight days.

The installation of Toeankoe Machmoed as Sultan was, in the album’s account, the principal achievement of the Habib’s early career at the Atjehnese court, and the regency that followed was the period of the Habib’s greatest political influence. The Habib was confirmed as Grootvizier — Grand Vizier — and in that capacity proposed to the young Sultan that the Dutch be admitted to Atjehnese territory for the purposes of trade, on the ground that it was in Atjeh’s interest to be on good terms with the Netherlands.

The disputed succession

The album records that the installation of Toeankoe Machmoed did not go unchallenged. A rival party of chiefs wished to elevate Toeankoe Hoessin — son of Toeankoe Abbas — to the office of havenkoning (harbour-king), and it was only when Panglima Polim, the hereditary Sagiehoofd of the XXII Moekims, declared himself for Machmoed that some measure of calm was restored. The compromise reached was that the Habib, as Grootvizier, would provisionally govern the realm.

The death of Toeankoe Machmoed

The album records that Snouck Hurgronje — the album’s principal source for the religious-political history of pre-war Atjeh — reports the death of the young Sultan during the Habib’s absence in Mekka. The Habib, who had been discredited by accusations that he had used the funds raised for the building of a new mosque to purchase arms, withdrew to Mekka; while he was there, the young Sultan died of cholera at the moment that the war with the Netherlands broke out. The coincidence was, in the album’s reading, the proximate cause of the collapse of the Habib’s political project: with the death of the Sultan, the regency lapsed, and the Habib’s authority — which had been exercised in the Sultan’s name — lost its constitutional basis.

The Kemala sultanate

The Atjeh-Album records that the later Atjehnese resistance leaders — including Teungku di Tiro — recognised a successor Sultan at Kemala, and that the last brief of this Sultan was the document by which Teungku di Tiro claimed authority to regulate the affairs of religion in Groot-Atjeh. The album does not name this Sultan, but the reference places the Kemala sultanate as the political successor to the line of Toeankoe Machmoed in the resistance period.

Account from Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 (1913) — Toeankoe Machmoed in the Spring of 1896

In Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96, the name Toeankoe Machmoed is borne by a dynastic figure who appears as part of the pretender Sultan’s circle in late May 1896. Kruisheer records — via the written intelligence report of the hoeloebalang of the VII Moekims Baid, Toekoe Moeda Baid — that Toeankoe Machmoed and his guardian Toeankoe Brahim “went with many followers over the VII Moekims Baid to Groot-Atjeh, settling at Anao-Galong” in late May 1896, in a movement which brought the pretender Sultan’s entourage into the principal theatre of operations of the Atjeh-oorlog. His movement is the more concrete of the two — Kruisheer records the route (over the VII Moekims Baid), the destination (Anao-Galong) and the scale (many followers) — and it represents the actual physical transfer of the dynastic party from Pedir to Groot-Atjeh. The choice of Anao-Galong as the settlement location is symbolically and strategically significant: it was the former Dutch benteng (fort) and former religious seat of Teungkoe di Tiro, and its occupation by the pretender Sultan’s entourage represented the symbolic reclamation of the religious-political centre of the XXII Moekims.

The Movement over the VII Moekims Baid

The VII Moekims Baid formed the western landschap of Groot-Atjeh and contained the Lamkrak, Kroeng Mak, Loetoe and Lam Lheue mukims. The overland route from Pedir to Groot-Atjeh via the VII Moekims Baid was the standard corridor for movements between the north coast and the Groot-Atjeh theatre, and the hoeloebalang of the VII Moekims Baid, Toekoe Moeda Baid, was himself a figure of ambiguous loyalty who was “initially neutral… later conferred with Oemar”. The movement of Machmoed and Brahim through the VII Moekims Baid with “many followers” — Kruisheer does not specify the number, but the phrase implies a significant party — would have required the cooperation or at least the acquiescence of Toekoe Moeda Baid, and Toekoe Moeda Baid’s subsequent written report to the colonial government of the movement indicates that he chose to inform the Dutch rather than to obstruct it. The choice of route also reflects the broader pattern of Achehnese military movements in the spring of 1896, in which the VII Moekims Baid served as a corridor for forces moving between the Pedir network and the Groot-Atjeh theatre.

Settlement at Anao-Galong

Anao-Galong — also written Anak Galoeng, Anas Galoeng, Ana Galong, Ana’ Galong — was, in Kruisheer’s account, the post which the Achehnese “considered as the heart of Great Aceh”. It had been the former main residence of Teungkoe di Tiro (who “also died there”), it had been conquered by Teuku Umar’s legion on 30 November 1893, and it had been a Dutch buitenpost (outer post) garrisoned by a captain, three lieutenants and 120 bayonets of the 15e Bataljon through the first semester of 1896. The settlement of the pretender Sultan’s entourage at Anao-Galong — which the text describes as occurring “in late May 1896” — therefore represented the reclamation of the religious-political centre of the XXII Moekims by the dynastic party. The choice of Anao-Galong also suggests a coordinated strategy between the pretender Sultan’s circle and the broader Achehnese coalition: Teuku Umar had himself operated in the western IV/VI Moekims through the spring of 1896, and the arrival of the dynastic party at Anao-Galong (in the XXII Moekims) created a two-theatre Achehnese presence which the Dutch were forced to address simultaneously. The Dutch response — the tuchtiging of V Moekims Montassik on 16–17 June 1896 and the Ladoeng landing of 22–23 June 1896 — was directed at the southern and eastern sectors respectively, and the pretender Sultan himself fled from Panteh-Karang on 16 June 1896, but the Anao-Galong settlement nonetheless represented the high-water mark of the dynastic party’s presence in the Groot-Atjeh theatre.

Significance (per ATJEH ‘96)

Toeankoe Machmoed’s significance in ATJEH ‘96 lies in his embodiment of the actual physical transfer of the dynastic party from Pedir to Groot-Atjeh — a transfer which brought the pretender Sultan’s circle into the principal theatre of operations of the spring 1896 campaign. The choice of Anao-Galong as the settlement location is the most symbolically charged detail in this movement, because it represented the reclamation of the religious-political centre of the XXII Moekims by the dynastic party and the temporary restoration of the religious-dynastic authority which the Dutch conquest of 30 November 1893 had displaced.

Significance

Toeankoe Machmoed’s significance in the documentary record of the Atjeh-oorlog is as the last Sultan of Atjeh recognised by the Dutch before the 1873 expedition, and as the prince whose regency by Habib Abdoe’r Rachman marked the high-water mark of centralised authority in the late sultanate. His death in 1873 — coincident with the Dutch attack — closed the regency and opened the period of Dutch-oeloebalang and Dutch-ulama conflict that would continue until the final conquest of Groot-Atjeh in 1904. The later bearer of the dynastic name in 1896 — recorded by Kruisheer as one of the pretender Sultan’s circle at Anao-Galong — illustrates the persistence of the dynastic principle in the Achehnese resistance, even after the formal abolition of the sultanate.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)

Toeankoe Machmoed was the principal chief of the landschap Idi rajeu in the onderafdeeling Idi, described by Broersma as ‘de nog jonge toeankoe Machmoed’ — the still young toeankoe Machmoed — whose fine dwelling lies near the chief place of Idi and is connected with it by a fine avenue. Formerly the building must have stood as a fortress amid fortified terrain, since transformed into a garden.

The Treasure-House

The old fortress, now a peaceful house, holds a great treasure of gold-work, partly of Atjehnese make, and precious stones, which are the delight of the eyes of the toeankoe’s wife, the tjoet nja — the little aunt — sister of the previous oeléebalang and keeper of many histories of Greater Idi. Broersma notes the treasure in passing, as one of the survivals of the old aristocratic pomp of the eastern-coast oeléebalangs in the new civilian period.

Significance

Toeankoe Machmoed is a representative of the younger generation of oeléebalangs of the eastern coast — ‘nog jong’ — who has inherited the treasure and the fortified house of his predecessor but rules a landschap now at peace. His tjoet nja, the keeper of the family histories, is the type of the Atjehnese aunt who preserves the memory of the Groot-Idi of the generation before the pacification.

Account from Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf (1925)

Toeankoe Machmoed was principal bestuurder in Idi Rajeu, young oeléëbalang whose beautiful residence near hoofdplaats Idi was connected by nice avenue.

Residence and treasure

Formerly building as fortress among fortified terrain since transformed into courtyard (hof). Now old fortress, now peaceful house, harbors great treasure of goldwork partly Atjeh made and precious stones, lust for eyes of tjoet nja, sister of previous oeléëbalang, keeper of many histories from Groot-Idi.

Significance

Represents new generation of oeléëbalangs in Idi subdepartment where Atjeh settlement pattern visible: large blang rice field surrounded by kampongs owning it.

See Also

Source

Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard, uitgave van de N.V. Het Tijdschrift “Eigen Haard”, Amsterdam, 1896, pp. 14–15 (De Geestelijkheid in Atjeh — Habib Abdoe’r Rachman). ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, p. 297. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter VII, ‘Vriendelijk Idi’, p. 51. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, pp. 46-47.

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