W. B. Bergsma — Mr. W. B. Bergsma — was a Dutch colonial official whose advice to Snouck Hurgronje in 1888 — to address himself to the minister of colonies Keuchenius with the offer to advise on the contents of the letters of Teungkoe di Tirò and other Atjèhse and Malay writings, and on the nota of the Habib Abdoerrachman ez-Zahir — was the immediate occasion of Snouck Hurgronje’s offer to the minister on 26 July 26 July 1888, and so of the despatch to Indië in the spring of 1889 that would eventually lead to the July 1891–February 1892 residence at Atjèh and the Verslag of 23 May 23 May 1892.
The 1888 Advice
When in 1887 the controleur Van Langen of Langen, from Atjèh, came on leave to the Netherlands and brought Snouck Hurgronje the products of his Atjèhse language studies — and, in particular, the letters of Teungkoe di Tirò and other Atjèhse and Malay writings, which Snouck Hurgronje found “very instructive for our government” — the question arose of how to bring those writings to the attention of the government. On the advice of Mr. W. B. Bergsma, Snouck Hurgronje addressed himself to the minister of colonies Keuchenius, with the offer to tell him what stood in those letters, as also in the nota of the Habib Abdoerrahman. That was on 26 July 26 July 1888 that he did that.
Significance
W. B. Bergsma is the Dutch colonial official whose advice to Snouck Hurgronje in 1888 — to address himself to the minister Keuchenius — was the immediate occasion of the offer that led, in the spring of 1889, to Snouck Hurgronje’s despatch to Indië. The despatch, though originally for the study of Islam on Java (in connection with the Tjilegon murders), placed Snouck Hurgronje in a position to make the July 1891–February 1892 residence at Atjèh, and so to produce the Verslag of 23 May 23 May 1892.
See Also
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Van Langen
- Teungkoe di Tirou
- Habib Abdul Rachman El-Zahir
- Keuchenius
- Verslag omtrent de religieus-politieke toestanden in Atjeh
- Aceh War
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 26 July
- 1887
- 1888
- 1889
- 1891
- 1892
Source
Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, p. 10.