Toekoe Moeda Soleiman was the guardian (voogd) of the young Panglima Polim, sagi-head of the XXII Moekims in Groot-Atjeh, on whose continued support the Dutch had counted after granting him the opportunity to ship his pepper out of the bay of Kroeng Raja, and whose defection from that expectation in 1896 is recorded by G. B. Hooijer in a single, bleak sentence.
The hope and its disappointment
Hooijer wrote that the establishment of the post at Lam Soet had indeed secured the safety of the stretch of road from Lambaroe near Anagaloeng, but that this had put no end to the enemy’s activity. De hoop, dat Toekoe Moeda Soleiman, de voogd van den jongen Panglima Polim, Sagihoofd der XXII Moekims, ons steun zou blijven verleenen, na hem de gelegenheid gegeven was, zijn peper uit de baai van Kroeng Raja te verschepen, bleek ijdel — the hope that Toekoe Moeda Soleiman would continue to lend the Dutch support, after he had been given the opportunity to ship his pepper out of the bay of Kroeng Raja, proved vain.
At the same time the population of the southern part of the XXVI Moekims took flight, Toekoe Moesa Anaq Batee attacked the passer-goers between Lambarih and Anagaloeng and penetrated the IX Moekims, and the Dutch post on Boekit Daroe was continually shelled — all of which, Hooijer wrote, showed that the Moslemin still needed a lesson.
Significance
The episode illustrates the commercial dimension of Dutch alliance policy in Groot-Atjeh: the concession of an export outlet for pepper through Kroeng Raja was employed as an instrument of political attachment, in the same way that the closing of the West Coast to trade had earlier driven Teukoe Oemar to seek Dutch favour. In both cases Hooijer records the instrument failing.
See Also
- Panglima Polim
- XXII Moekims
- Kroeng Raja
- Lam Soet
- Toekoe Moesa Anaq Batee
- Pepper cultivation in Atjeh
- Moslemin
Source
De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh, door G. B. Hooijer, Gep. Luit.-Kolonel O. I. Leger, met 24 platen (Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn; Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Centrale Boekerij, Amsterdam. OCR-filename: 20260719_140140_DLP-134-De_verlaten_posten_in_Groot_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 49-50.