22 Moekims

The 22 Moekims — Twenty-two Moekims, written in Dutch 22 Moekims, in Van Heutsz’s spelling also XXII Moekims or Sagi XXII — was the inland Sagi (third administrative division) of Groot-Atjeh, one of the three Sagi’s of the sultanate together with the 25 and 26 Moekims and the Sultan’s own territory. The Dutch conquest of the 22 Moekims under Van der Heijden from March to half June 1879 was the principal military success of Van der Heijden’s governorship and brought the entire valley of Groot-Atjeh under Dutch control for the first and only time before the final pacification under Van Heutsz after 1898. In Van Heutsz’s 1893 tract De onderwerping van Atjeh, the XXII Moekims is the opening chapter of the Van der Heijden conquest — the Sagi of twenty-two mukims whose panglima sagi was Panglima Polim and within which the machtige hoofd Tekoe Moeda Baid held the VII Moekims sub-federation.

Geography

The 22 Moekims was the inland Sagi of Groot-Atjeh — the only one of the three Sagi’s that lay inland rather than on the sea. The two seaward Sagi’s (the 25 and 26 Moekims) lay on the coast; the 22 Moekims lay inland. The Dutch had mainly occupied the 25 Moekims and the Sultan’s territory. All of Groot-Atjeh was to be brought under.

The Conquest (March – June 1879)

The conquest of the 22 Moekims began in March 1879 and was completed by half June 1879. The enemy, fighting as he withdrew, fought with great courage but was everywhere defeated and driven out. After his kampongs and possessions had been destroyed, he fled to the mountains. Along the Atjeh-rivier a line of posts was occupied.

The Loss under Civil Government (1881–1884)

The conquest of the 22 Moekims would prove transient. Under the civil government of Pruijs van der Hoeven (1881–1882) and Laging Tobias (1883–1884), the endless patrols that Van der Heijden had deemed necessary to maintain the peace were virtually abolished. In June 1878 — even before the conquest of the 22 Moekims — Habib Abdul Rachman had invaded the Dutch stelling and the enemy had pressed into the 22 and 26 Moekims. Under civil government, “steeds stoutmoediger drongen sterke vijandige benden de 22 en 26 Moekims binnen en op ons gebied door” (ever bolder, strong enemy bands pressed into the 22 and 26 Moekims and onto Dutch territory), even into the immediate vicinity of Kota Radja and Oleh-leh. The concentration system of 1884 contracted the Dutch stelling back to the perimeter of 1876, abandoning the 22 Moekims to the enemy.

Significance

The 22 Moekims is the inland Sagi of Groot-Atjeh and the principal inland theatre of the Atjeh-oorlog. Its conquest by Van der Heijden in March–June 1879 was the principal military success of Van der Heijden’s governorship; its loss under civil government was the principal disaster of the civil government period; its abandonment by the concentration system of 1884 contracted the Dutch stelling back to the perimeter of 1876. The final pacification under Van Heutsz after 1898 would re-establish Dutch control over the 22 Moekims.

Account from De onderwerping van Atjeh (Van Heutsz, 1893)

In Van Heutsz’s 1893 tract De onderwerping van Atjeh, the XXII Moekims — Sagi XXII, de Sagi’s XXII, the Sagi of twenty-two mukims — is the opening chapter of the Van der Heijden conquest and the territory whose submission fixed the binnen drie maanden precedent the XXVI Moekims campaign would complete. The Sagi was the constitutional unit of Groot-Atjeh — a territorial league of mukims (parish-districts) headed by a panglima sagi and collectively constituting the ancient core of the Acehnese sultanate. The three Sagi’s — the XXII, the XXV and the XXVI — were the territorial framework within which the sultan’s authority had historically been mediated, and they were the operational targets of the Van der Heijden campaigns of 1878–1879. The Sagi-head of the XXII Moekims was Panglima Polim — named by Van Heutsz as het Sagi hoofd der XXII Moekims Panglima Polim. The VII Moekims, a sub-federation within the XXII, was held by Tekoe Moeda Baid, the machtige hoofd der VII Moekims van de Sagi XXII Moekims.

The March 1877 negotiations and their failure

The first Dutch engagement with the XXII Moekims was the onderhandelingen (negotiations) of March 1877, when Panglima Polim and Tekoe Moeda Baid opened negotiations for submission under the impression of G.-G. van Lansberge’s March 1877 visit. Van Heutsz records the opening: werkelijk openden toen Panglima Polim en Tekoe Moeda Baid onderhandelingen tot onderwerping (truly Panglima Polim and Tekoe Moeda Baid then opened negotiations for submission). The negotiations were insincere: de door de Atjehsche hoofden aangeknoopte onderhandelingen moesten slechts dienen om tijd te winnen (the negotiations opened by the Atjehsche chiefs were only meant to gain time). Two besprekingen (meetings) between Tekoe Moeda Baid and the Dutch officials at Telok-Kroet on the Westkust followed, waarbij hij de laatste maal verklaarde zich aan ons te onderwerpen (at the second of which he declared himself willing to submit). The submission never came: De onderwerping van Tekoe Moeda Baid kwam niet tot stand, evenmin die van Panglima Polim (The submission of Tekoe Moeda Baid did not come about, nor that of Panglima Polim). The failure was, in Van Heutsz’s diagnosis, the original error of the verzoeningspolitiek — the policy that gave the Atjehnese a year to re-arm, and that the inval (incursion) of Habib Abdoel Rachman in June 1878 would expose.

The July 1878 campaign

The campaign against the XXII Moekims opened in July 1878, after the inval of Habib Abdoel Rachman into the Dutch-occupied territory had triggered the op Groot-Atjeh geheel veranderen van stelsel (the complete change of system on Groot-Atjeh). The intellectual author of the reversal was the Chief of Staff, majoor A. R. W. Geij van Pittius, who had argued since 1877 for the Zuidoosterlinie along the Atjeh river to be shifted into the XXII Moekims: de Zuidoosterlinie langs de Atjeh rivier te verleggen en daartoe de XXII Moekims in te rukken (to shift the south-eastern line along the Atjeh river and to enter the XXII Moekims for that purpose). In June 1878 Geij van Pittius overtuigde den chef van den staf hem, dat men door expeditien naar de kuststaten het doel — het einde van den oorlog — niet kon bereiken, en dat alleen eene beslissing kon worden verkregen door in Groot-Atjeh zelf den vijand aan te tasten (convinced the chief of staff that one could not reach the goal — the end of the war — through expeditions to the coastal states, and that a decision could only be obtained by attacking the enemy in Groot-Atjeh itself). Van der Heijden accepted the argument: toen besloot de Generaal van der Heijden voorloopig van de expeditie naar Pasangan af te zien en met geheel zijne beschikbare macht voor goed te Groot-Atjeh aan het verzet een einde te maken (the Generaal van der Heijden therefore decided to forgo the Pasangan expedition for the time being and with all his available force to make an end of the resistance in Groot-Atjeh for good).

The July 1878 opening of the campaign is fixed by Van Heutsz in the dagorder text: De krijgsoperatiën in de XXII en XXVI Moekims, die in Juli van het vorige jaar zijn aangevangen en zoo schitterende uitkomsten hebben opgeleverd (The military operations in the XXII and XXVI Moekims, which began in July of last year and have yielded such brilliant results). The campaign was supported by the arrival of substantial reinforcements — onmiddellijk nog 24 Bataljon Infanterie en eene bergbatterij naar Atjeh gezonden werden, terwijl ook de cavalerie op een eskadron werd gebracht, zoodat toen, wat b. v. de Infanterie aangaat, het halve veldleger — 9½ Bataljons — in Atjeh gelegerd was (immediately a further 24 Battalion Infantry and a mountain battery were sent to Atjeh, while the cavalry was also brought up to a squadron, so that then, as for example concerns the Infantry, half the field-army — 9½ Battalions — was stationed in Atjeh) — the half of the field-army was in Atjeh. (Note: the Van Heutsz account of the July 1878 opening complements the existing Kruijt account above of the March–June 1879 conquest of the 22 Moekims; the two narratives reflect different framings of the same campaign sequence — the July 1878 opening under Van der Heijden and the March–June 1879 verovering proper.)

The submission of 13 October 1878

The campaign produced, within three months, the submission of Habib Abdoel Rachman and Tekoe Moeda Baid on 13 October 1878. Van Heutsz records the result: Hoe reeds binnen drie maanden na den aanvang van den eersten veldtocht in de XXII Moekims, de onderwerping van Habib Abdoer Rachman en van Tekoe Moeda Baid op den 13en October 1878 volgde (How already within three months of the beginning of the first campaign in the XXII Moekims, the submission of Habib Abdoer Rachman and of Tekoe Moeda Baid on 13 October 1878 followed). The submission was the principal operational outcome of the XXII Moekims campaign: Habib Abdoel Rachman — the zwager van Tekoe Moeda Baid (brother-in-law of Tekoe Moeda Baid) and de ziel van den tegenstand (the soul of the resistance) — was the religious war-leader whose inval had triggered the strategic reversal; Tekoe Moeda Baid was the machtige hoofd of the VII Moekims and the principal chief of the Sagi. Their joint submission on 13 October 1878 opened the way to the XXVI Moekims campaign of 1879. The result was, in Van Heutsz’s verdict, the operational proof of the Geij-van-Pittius reversal: Met welken schitterenden uitslag onze veldtochten in de Sagi’s XXII en XXVI bekroond werden, wij weten het allen (With what brilliant outcome our campaigns in the Sagi’s XXII and XXVI were crowned, we all know it).

The outermost Dutch outpost at Djerir

The outermost Dutch outpost in the conquered XXII Moekims was Djerir — the uitersten wachtpost (outermost picket) reached by the Commandant van het Indische leger in his September 1879 reconnaissance of the conquered territory. The Commandant’s report, quoted by Van Heutsz, fixed the limit: in de XXII Moekims tot onzen uitersten wachtpost Djerir (in the XXII Moekims as far as our outermost sentry-post Djerir). The Djerir outpost was the territorial expression of the XXII Moekims conquest — the farthest Dutch picket in the conquered Sagi, marking the limit beyond which Dutch authority did not yet run. The Commandant’s reconnaissance extended, in the same month of September 1879, into the XXVI Moekims tot Kroeng Kali in het Noorden, tot Tjot Lepong in het Oosten and into the XXV Moekims tot Kroeng Raba — the three Sagi’s thus reconnoitred in a single inspection that confirmed the Van der Heijden conquest.

Significance (Van Heutsz account)

The XXII Moekims’s significance in Van Heutsz’s 1893 tract rests on its being the opening chapter of the Van der Heijden conquest — the Sagi whose reduction fixed the operational model the XXVI Moekims campaign would extend; the constitutional unit of Groot-Atjeh — the Sagi of twenty-two mukims, headed by the panglima sagi Panglima Polim and containing within it the VII Moekims sub-federation of the machtige hoofd Tekoe Moeda Baid — through which the sultan’s authority had historically been mediated; the first Sagi to be conquered by Van der Heijden in the July–October 1878 campaign that opened the Van der Heijden conquest and that ended with the submission of Habib Abdoel Rachman and Tekoe Moeda Baid on 13 October 1878; and the territory whose outermost Dutch outpost, Djerir, marked the limit of the September 1879 reconnaissance that confirmed the Van der Heijden conquest.

Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)

It was in this sagi that van Heutsz attacked the positions of Panglima Pòlém and drove him to Pidië. In July 1913 Pang Bintang was killed there by chance, when Van Andel of Lam Meulò got the first patrol into the V Moekims Mon Tasië’ after the transfer of controleur Roos van Raadshoven and ran into the band’s hiding-place near the former Koeta Ba’ Teuë on the second day.

Account in Hooijer’s De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897)

The XXII Moekims were the sagi of Groot-Atjeh fringing the Dutch concentrated position on the south-east and bordering the XXVI Moekims, whose sagi-head was the young Panglima Polim under the guardianship of Toekoe Moeda Soleiman, and in which Lam Barih, Anagaloeng, Lam Soet and the granary of Anagaloeng lay.

Toekoe Djohan’s campaign

Scarcely had Toekoe Djohan completed his work in the XXVI Moekims when a new task was set him: an attack on that part of the XXII Moekims bordering the now cleared XXVI Moekims. Only if the Moslemin were also driven out of it, Hooijer wrote, could lasting rest be counted on in the liberated territory. The resistance met there far exceeded that in the XXVI Moekims: only after seven days of fighting and considerable losses could Oemar make himself master of Lam Barih, a quarter of an hour from the geconcentreerde linie. Pressing on through the kampong (village) belt, he reached Anagaloeng on 20 December 1893 and took it the next day after a furious fight.

Separation from the IX Moekims

The establishment of the post of Lam Koenjit on 4 July 1894, together with Biloel and Tjot Goeë, served among other purposes to separate the XXII Moekims more effectively from those of the IX Moekims.

Anagaloeng as the granary

Hooijer recorded that the Achehnese called Anagaloeng de navel van het land — the navel of the country — and that it was the voorraadschuur der XXII Moekims, the granary of the XXII Moekims. Dutch soldiers were quartered there once Mad-Amin had been driven out of both the XXII and the XXVI Moekims.

Terrain

The XXII Moekims were, in Hooijer’s account, healthier and drier ground than the marshy XXVI Moekims. Although the plain often stood under water when the river could not contain the run-off from the largely deforested mountain ridges of the interior, the surplus drained towards the foot of the hills and thence by creeks to the lower river or the sea. Fever-pale soldiers’ faces regained their healthy colour there; the temperature was less oppressive, the winds cool; and the view extended over the mountain masses to where the Atjeh-stroom and the Selimoen-rivier unite.

1896

The hope of continued support from Toekoe Moeda Soleiman, guardian of the young Panglima Polim, sagi-head of the XXII Moekims, after he had been allowed to ship his pepper out of the bay of Kroeng Raja, proved vain. Rest had seemed to prevail tot in de meest verwijderde landschappen der XXII Moekims after the earlier fighting; that peace collapsed with the defection of Teukoe Oemar.

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

The 22-mukim sagi/region of which Panglima Polém is Sagihoofd. (Note: at one point called XXVI moekims in the ultimatum - possibly XXII vs XXVI variant spellings.)

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 356, 357.

Sources

Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 131, 228, 327–329, 336–337, 350–355. Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159–239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781. J.W. van Lansberge en de praktijk van art. 4 van de Geheime Instructie van 5 Juni 1855, by M. Boon, Academisch Proefschrift ter verkrijging van den graad van doctor in de letteren en wijsbegeerte aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 1943, Utrecht: N.V. A. Oosthoek’s Uitgevers-Maatschappij, pp. 39-48.

De Atjeh-Oorlog: Kort Overzicht van Oorsprong, Verloop en Gevolg, door J. A. Kruijt. ‘s-Gravenhage: Loman & Funke, 1896. Chapter VI (the conquest), Chapter VIII (the loss under civil government). OCR-filename: 20260716_140310_DLP-101-De_Atjeh_oorlog_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 30–31, 41.

De onderwerping van Atjeh, door J. B. van Heutsz, Majoor der Infanterie, gewezen Chef van den Staf in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. ‘s-Gravenhage: De Gebroeders van Cleef; Batavia: G. Kolff en Co., 1893, esp. pp. 13, 17, 21–23, 25, 37. OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-107-De_onderwerping_van_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.

Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter III, XII, XIII.

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. 14, 38, 40, 42, 48, 50.

Acknowledgement of sources. This article is a single consolidated account combining the material previously held in this entry with the account given in De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897) by G. B. Hooijer. Dutch terminology has been rendered in English, the original Dutch being retained only in direct quotations and in bibliographic citations.

Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 356, 357.

tags	place, aceh, administrative-division, inland-sagi, aceh-war, 19th-century, groot-atjeh, van-der-heijden, sagi, mukim, moekim, administration, achehnese, district, military, precolonial, region, sultanate
aliases	22 Moekim, Twenty-two Moekims, XXII Moekims, 22 Mukim, Sagi of the 22 Moekims, XXII Mukims, Sagi XXII, de Sagi's XXII, XXII Mukims (22 Mukims), 22 Mukims, 22 Sagi, Dua Puluh Dua Mukim, Sagi der XXII Moekims, mountains of the XXII Mukims, Twenty-two Mukims, Sagi of XXII Mukims, XXII Mockims

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