Toekoe Hoesin Lhongbatta — also written T. Hoesin Lhongbatta, T. Hoesin Long Bata, Toekoe Hoesin Long Bata, T. Hoesin Longbattah, Lehong Bata, Lhongbatta — was an Achehnese hoeloebalang and band leader of Lam Goet whose defection to Teuku Umar “early” in the spring of 1896 brought with it the “doubtful-minded regions” of 3 Moekims Lamrebo, 4 Moekims Ateuh of the sagi of XXVI Moekims, and the moekims Hoho and Lam-Djampoe of the V Moekims Montassik (sagi XXII Moekims), as recorded in A. Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96. He was seriously wounded in the neck on 21 April 1896, his band at Lam Goet was the target of the tuchtiging of 14 April 1896, and he was confirmed killed on 4 June 1896 during the VI Moekims operation when a maréchaussée patrol under the inlandsch korporaal Brodjo engaged approximately 30 of his men near Beradin. His trajectory — from early defector, to wounded fugitive, to dead leader — is one of the most fully documented Achehnese military biographies in the first semester of 1896.
Defection and the Bringing-Over of the Doubtful-Minded Regions
Lhongbatta’s defection was, alongside T. Tjoet Toengkoeb’s, one of the most consequential early-defector events of the spring of 1896 because of the breadth of the regions he brought with him. The “3 Moekims Lamrebo” and “4 Moekims Ateuh of the sagi of XXVI Moekims” represented a significant slice of the eastern sagi, while the moekims Hoho and Lam-Djampoe of the V Moekims Montassik gave the resistance a foothold in the southern sector as well. Kruisheer’s phrase “doubtful-minded regions” indicates that these territories had been wavering before Lhongbatta’s defection and that his personal decision tipped them into open resistance. The defection immediately triggered a Dutch military response: the tuchtiging of Lam-Goet on 14 April 1896 — under Lt.-Col. Bisschoff van Heemskerck with two companies of the 6e Bataljon — was explicitly aimed at Lhongbatta’s residence, and Kruisheer notes that his “bende” (band) at Lam Goet was the target. The expedition stormed the fortification, destroyed an iron 9 cm cannon with dynamite, and pursued the fleeing enemy to Lam Trieng.
Wounding of 21 April 1896 and Death on 4 June 1896
Lhongbatta was “seriously wounded in the neck on 21 April 1896” in the immediate aftermath of the 20 April 1896 multi-column Dutch operation — a wound which, given the medical resources available to the Achehnese, would have substantially reduced his capacity for active command in the following weeks. By the end of May 1896 Kruisheer reports that Lhongbatta was “with the most of his followers at Oemar” and “would die within days”, a forecast confirmed by the events of 4 June 1896. On that day, during the VI Moekims operation under Kolonel Stemfoort — a two-colonne operation which included 12 brigades maréchaussée under Kapitein Graafland, the 3e Bataljon, 6e Bataljon, 9e Bataljon and two companies of the 14e Bataljon — the spits under the inlandsch korporaal Brodjo (No. 25645) encountered approximately 30 of Lhongbatta’s men at a distance of 50 metres near Beradin. Brodjo “ordered his men to kneel and fire salvoes, then attacked”; both voorste brigades supported, and the band fled leaving two dead and abandoning achterlaadgeweren. “Later learned [that] one of [the] dead was Toekoe Hoesin Long Bata” — the confirmation that Lhongbatta had finally succumbed, not to his 21 April 1896 neck wound but to the maréchaussée engagement on 4 June 1896.
Significance
Lhongbatta’s significance in ATJEH ‘96 lies in his role as the bendehoofd whose personal defection brought the largest single bloc of “doubtful-minded regions” into the Achehnese coalition in the spring of 1896, and whose death on 4 June 1896 — at the hands of an indigenous korporaal of the maréchaussée — represented one of the most important Dutch tactical successes of the IV/VI Moekims operation. His trajectory also illustrates the liprovided that of Achehnese medical care for wounded commanders: although the 21 April 1896 neck wound did not directly kill him, it must have substantially reduced his operational capacity in the seven weeks between the wounding and his death.
See Also
- Tuchtiging van Lam Goet (14 April 1896)
- Operations in IV and VI Moekims (4–5 June 1896)
- Lam-Goet
- Beradin
- Korporaal Brodjo
- Jhr. G. J. W. C. H. Graafland
- Bisschoff van Heemskerck
- Defection of Teuku Umar (29 March 1896)
- Teuku Umar
- 1896
- Aceh War
Source
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, pp. 39, 136, 143, 148, 233.