Bajang

Bajang (modern Bayang) was a polity on the Westkust van Sumatra lying between Indrapoera and Salido, which voluntarily joined the Painansch Contract system in 1665, ceded the gold-rich lands of Salido and Poeloe Tjingkoek to the Compagnie in 1666, and was the site of recurrent disputes with the Compagnie’s Salido governor through the 1670s and 1680s. In Dr. F. W. Stapel’s Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland it is the Painansch signatory whose internal politics most consistently embroiled the Compagnie.

The 1665 voluntary accession

The Painansch Contract of 6 July 1663 had been ratified in Padang, Tikoe, Priaman and Indrapoera by the campaign of Jacob Cau in 1664–1665. Bajang joined voluntarily. “A short time later the inhabitants of Bajang requested to be also included in the general bond. This was done, after which they themselves drove the Atjehers out of their land” (Korten tijd daarna verzochten de bewoners van Bajang, ook in het algemeen verbond opgenomen te mogen worden. Dit geschiedde, waarna zij zelf de Atjehers uit hun land verdreven). The voluntary character of Bajang’s accession — and the Bajangers’ own expulsion of the Atjehers — is unusual in the Westkust narrative, where most accessions were obtained by Compagnie military force.

The 1666 cession of Salido and Poeloe Tjingkoek

After the Versprect expedition’s destruction of Paoeh in August 1666 the rulers of Bajang, Indrapoera and Taroesan “transferred to the Compagnie in ownership the place Salido with the gold-rich surroundings, from the kali-Loemoepo to Painan, as well as Poeloe Tjingkoek, in the person of Jacob Jorisse Pits” (droegen de vorsten van Bajang, Indrapoera en Taroesan de plaats Salido met de goudrijke ommelanden, van de kali-Loemoepo tot aan Painan, benevens Poeloe Tjingkoek, in eigendom over aan de Compagnie, in den persoon van Jacob Jorisse Pits).

The 1670 re-cession

In 1670 the rulers of Bajang and Indrapoera “gave a new act of cession of the lands of Salido, and Poeloe Tjingkoek, which the government had asked for, because the original piece had been lost at Batavia” (gaven een nieuwe acte van overdracht der landen van Salido, en Poeloe Tjingkoek, waarom de regeering gevraagd had, daar het oorspronkelijke stuk te Batavia was zoekgeraakt).

The 1678-1679 gold-mine dispute

In 1678 a dispute arose between Bajang and Salido over the discovery of a new gold mine at Soengei-Capayan. According to Bajang the mine lay outside the territory of Salido that had been ceded to the Compagnie. Commandeur Hurdt presided over the dispute, which was settled in favour of the Compagnie: “the Holland-friendly [Salido] party triumphed, and on 18 April 1679 those of Bajang humbled themselves before the Compagnie, acknowledging it as stadtholder of the West Coast” (de Hollandsch-Salidosche partij zegevierde, en 18 April 1679 verdeemoedigden die van Bajang zich voor de Compagnie, deze erkennende als stadhouder van de Westkust). The chiefs of Loempo had to accept the contract as well.

The 1680 Padang Conference

The Padang Conference of 29 August 1680 did not name Bajang among the signatories. The “keijser” of Indrapoera, the panglima-radja at Padang, and the governors of Salido and Kotta Tengah are the four named signatories. Bajang’s absence is one of the minor puzzles of the 1680 conference; it may reflect the unsettled state of Bajang after the 1678–1679 dispute.

The 1680-1682 Bajang rising

The Bajang rising was the principal crisis of commandeur Van Leene’s tenure. “After Laurens Pit, on account of illness, had been transported from Padang to Poeloe Tjingkoek, to return from there to Batavia, the new commander Jan van Leene had received the news that at Bajang again disturbances had broken out” (Nadat Laurens Pit wegens ziekte van Padang naar Poeloe Tjingkock getransporteerd was, om van daar naar Batavia terug te keeren, had de nieuwe commandeur, Jan van Leene, bericht gekregen, dat te Bajang weer onlusten waren uitgebroken).

Van Leene marched on Bajang with some allied forces, but “when it came to fighting the auxiliary troops took to their heels, and without them Van Leene could not master the numerous and well-armed rebels” (toen het op vechten aan kwam kozen de hulptroepen het hazenpad, en zonder hen kon Van Leene de talrijke en goed gewapende opstandelingen niet de baas).

The 1682 expedition — more than 600 militaries, with the Ternataansche prince Rotterdam joining — brought the final submission. “With this force the Bajangers were now defeated and their land taken” (Met deze macht werden nu de Bajangers verslagen en hun land ingenomen).

The 1681 re-cession

On 27 February 1681 the rulers of Bajang and Indrapoera “gave a renewed confirmation of the complete cession of the lands of Salido and Poeloe Tjingkoek to the Compagnie” (Nog gaven de vorsten van Bajang en Indrapoera den 27 Februari 1681 een hernieuwde bevestiging van den algeheelen afstand van de landen van Salido en Poeloe Tjingkoek aan de Compagnie). The 1681 re-cession was the Bajangers’ preliminary submission before the 1682 expedition.

The 1687 Lob expedition

In 1687 the Compagnie sent a fresh commissioner to the Westkust. “As ‘express commissaris’ the under-governor of Ternate, Jacob Lobs, went in 1687 to the Westkust and regulated the affairs in Bajang where the prince had fled” (Als ‘expressse commissaris’ ging de ond-Gouverneur van Ternate, Jacob Lobs in 1687 naar de Westkust en regelde de zaken in Bajang waar de vorst gevlucht was). The flight of the Bajang prince suggests that the 1682 settlement had not held.

Significance

Bajang is the Painansch signatory whose internal politics most consistently embroiled the Compagnie. Its voluntary accession in 1665 is unusual; its recurrent disputes with the Salido governor in 1678–1679, 1680–1682 and 1687 are characteristic of the Compagnie’s Westkust experience. The Bajang story is the operational proof that the Painansch Contract system’s “might not meddle in the internal affairs of the princes and chiefs” clause was impossible to maintain in practice: every internal Bajang dispute spilled over into a Compagnie military expedition.

Source

De Koloniën, by Dr. F. W. Stapel, in Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931), kaart 19, blz. 16–22, 3 (tekst bij blad 4 en 5: Atjeh en de Westkust van Sumatra in 1684, De Compagnie in den Archipel na 1684 tot 1791 — Sumatra).

tags	place, sumatra, westkust, achehnese, colonial
aliases	Bayang, Bajang, Baaijang, Baaiang

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