Toekoe Bait was one of the most Dutch-hostile hoofden (chiefs) of the XXII Moekims — the sagi containing “de kern van Atjeh’s weerstandsvermogen,” the densest population, the Sultan’s voorraadschuren, and the most determined chiefs. His gebied bordered Toeram, and his hostility provoked the Dutch inval into the XXII Sagi on 3 February 1876 during the conquest of Atoeh.
The Inval into the XXII Sagi
By early February 1876 generaal Pel’s great offensive had carried the Dutch line from the Kroeng Raba on the west coast to Atoch, then northward to Pager Ajer on the left bank of the Atjeh-rivier, and the entire XXV Moekims was in Dutch hands. The XXII Moekims — the sagi that contained the kernel of Atjeh’s resistance and that had never been permanently occupied — remained outside the line. From Toeram, which bordered the gebied of Toekoe Bait, the Dutch made an inval into that Sagi on 3 February 1876. After heeten strijd the enemy was driven out of Atoeh. The operation was a punitive incursion rather than a permanent occupation: the Dutch took Atoeh and the surrounding kampongs but did not attempt to garrison the XXII Moekims as a whole.
The Catastrophe of 13 February 1876
Ten days later, on 13 February 1876, the catastrophe at Atoeh overtook kapitein van Swieten’s small detachment on the drassige sawah near Lamsajoen. Borel does not attribute the catastrophe to Toekoe Bait personally, but the context makes clear that the XXII Moekims remained the most dangerous sector of the Dutch linie, and that any incursion into the sagi — even the reinforcing of the Atoeh post — risked the kind of ambush that destroyed van Swieten’s detachment. The Dutch eventually made a successful inval into the XXII Moekims in mid-1878 under gouverneur van der Heijden, but the sagi was never permanently occupied in Borel’s lifetime. Borel’s recommendation, in the Naschrift of his book, was for repeated tuchtigingen of the XXII Moekims — punitive expeditions — to be conducted by the proposed Indische Brigade until the chiefs, including Toekoe Bait, “het hoofd in den schoot legden.”
Significance
Toekoe Bait is, in Borel’s narrative, the archetype of the XXII-Moekims chief — the most hostile, the most resourceful, and the most difficult to reduce. His gebied bordered the line of Dutch conquest at its most exposed point, and his provocation drew the Dutch into the inval of 3 February 1876 that exposed the Atoeh post and so set the stage for the catastrophe of the 13th.
See Also
- XXII Moekims
- the conquest of Atoeh on 3 February 1876
- Atoeh catastrophe (13 February 1876)
- Pel’s offensive against the VI, IV and IX Moekims (1875–1876)
- Toeram
- Atoeh
- Lamsajoen
- Karel van der Heijden
- Generaal Pel
- Indische Brigade (proposed)
- 1876
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. p. 316.