Gajolanden (Gayo Lands)

The Gajolanden — the Gayo Lands — is the highland region of central Aceh inhabited by the Gajo (Gayo) people, the region through which the Gajoweg runs from Bireuën to Takengeun on Laut Tawar. In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), the Gajolanden are the book’s — and the lieutenant’s journey through Aceh — destination: the beautiful lake of the Gajolanden at the end of the Gajoweg, and the region of the [Gajo- en Alaslanden tochten] of Van Heutsz’s period of glory.

The Gajoweg and the Gajolanden

The Gajoweg now leads to Takengeun on the beautiful lake in the Gajolanden, over a distance of 103 km. At km 36 the administrative border of the Gayo Lands begins. The landscape changed and became more park-like. The Gajolanden are the book’s — and the lieutenant’s — destination: the highland region of central Aceh whose administrative border begins at km 36 of the Gajoweg.

The blangs and the Boerni-dit and Boer-ni-dat

The sun was overpowering on the blangs (Gayo plains), but a cool wind blew over the endless, rolling grass-plains. In the distance the blue mountain-ranges and volcanoes loomed up: the Boerni-dit and the Boer-ni-dat. The blangs and the Boerni-dit and Boer-ni-dat are the landscape of the Gajolanden around Takengeun.

The Gajo and Alaslanden expeditions

The [Gajo- en Alaslanden tochten] — the expeditions to the Gayo Lands and the Alaslanden — were among the great successes of Van Heutsz’s period of glory. The Gajolanden are therefore the book’s — and the colonial memory’s — marker of the all-out offensive in the highlands of central Aceh: the region that the [Gajo- en Alaslanden tochten] opened to the colonial army and that the Gajoweg — built by Heinzenknecht under Van Heutsz — connected to Bireuën.

Datoek and Takengeun

The old hunter Datoek — before settling at Blang Rakal in 1917 — had often made journeys to Takengeun. The beautiful time of those journeys — when a good full-grown horse cost only two ringgit (guilders) — is the book’s — and Datoek’s — marker of the old days of the Gajolanden.

Significance

The Gajolanden are significant in Oost-Indisch Journael as the highland region of central Aceh that the Gajoweg connects to Bireuën and that the [Gajo- en Alaslanden tochten] opened to the colonial army. The book’s argument — that the Gajolanden were the destination of the lieutenant’s journey through Aceh, the region of the blangs and the Boerni-dit and Boer-ni-dat, and the old days of Datoek’s journeys to Takengeun — is the book’s marker of the Gajolanden as the highland region of central Aceh. The Gajolanden are therefore the book’s marker of the all-out offensive in the highlands and of the old days of the Gajolanden.

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Gajo-landen

The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the Sumatra road plan lists the Gajo-weg as project no. 14 in its numbered list of fifteen Sumatra road projects: “Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon. Length 76 K.M.; cost f 1,496,000. For the connection of the Gajo lands with the North coast. Completed.” The road was one of the principal infrastructural projects of the 1904–1914 decade in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency, opening the interior Gajo-landen — previously accessible only with difficulty — to direct road communication with the northern coast of Atjeh.

The Bureau’s account also notes that the Sumatra road plan included a separate project — the Alasweg, project no. 13 — connecting the Alas lands with the Karo-hoogvlakte (Karo highlands) and the road network of the East Coast of Sumatra. The Alasweg and the Gajo-weg together represent the two principal road projects of the decade in the Atjehnese interior — both designed to open the highland interior of Atjeh to road communication with the coast.

Conquest

Van Daalen, “the unsurpassed constabulary commander of those days,” undertook his famous march into the then unknown interior of the Gajò and Alas country with a column of two hundred marechaussées provided with only six days’ provisions, crossing the passes of the Barisan ranges. Notwithstanding extremely vigorous and fanatical resistance he operated with that numerically small column for five and a half months almost entirely independently.

Resistance, 1908–1912

In 1908 and 1909 the situation remained “beslist ongunstig”: the keudeh with pasar shed at Blang Kedjerèn was burned, well-disposed chiefs were murdered, and repeated klewang attacks were made on brigades supervising road work or escorting transport. The situation was worst in September, bands of ill-disposed men wandering throughout the sub-division, terrorising the population and threatening with death everyone on good terms with the administration. The infantry garrison of Blang Kedjerèn was therefore replaced by marechaussée — the 1st Division under captain W. Muurling — while a mobile column of three brigades under Kaniess was sent to the western part.

In October the bivouac at Goempang was burned and a klewang attack made on the monthly transport to Koeala Simpang at Pénding, costing three wounded against ten of the attackers killed; but some thirty-eight ill-disposed men were killed that month and a number submitted voluntarily. At the end of November H. N. A. Swart visited the district and could already visit gampongs two hours from Blang Kedjerèn without military escort.

The distinctive character of Gajò resistance

The Koloniaal Verslag for 1910 gave a new insight: “more and more it has become apparent that in the Gajò Loeös both the cause and the organisation of the resistance are of a different nature than in the Acehnese territories. Whereas in the latter religious fanaticism plays a part, in the Gajò Loeös the resistance is waged chiefly by an innate love of independence in the Gajò population.”

“The foundation of Gajò society is the tribal bond; mutual deliberation within the blah (clan) is the only source of authority. Those who have gone over to the resistance do not break the bond with the clan; they take part in the common deliberation and are more or less bound by its outcome. Since those in resistance from each clan belong together, there ought to be as many bands as there are clans with men in resistance, which at the beginning of the year was virtually the case. When the bands became too weak to lead an independent existence, those of different clans belonging to the same clan headship joined together. Since the tribal bond is predominant, every clan that counts men in resistance is in its majority hostile to us. Whether the centre of gravity of the clan lies in the village or in the mountains depends on the number and character of the clansmen in resistance, from which it follows that in the Gajò Loeös the first step on the road to pacification must be to bring the centre of gravity of all the clans within reach of the administration, that is, within the villages.”

Once that was done, the uitgewekenen could be brought to submission by pressure on the registered — pressure first of a moral kind, and if that did not help, by measures of compulsion such as requiring a security. “Here, therefore, the resistance must be dealt with in quite a different way than in the rest of Atjeh.”

The Gajò ödöt (adat) of allowing all interested parties a voice in every weighty decision meant that mutual deliberation took a great deal of time.

The pacification, 1910–1912

In 1910 the Kaniess column brought many from the Padang-vallei to submission, returned from a temporary rest at Koeta Radja on 25 August and at once laid low by surprise the irreconcilable Imeum van Tjané Toa. Since women were repeatedly hit in raids, a hoofdenvergadering in March was charged with letting the wives of the uitgewekenen know that they should not wear men’s clothing and should not run away during a raid.

On 20 September the hiding-place of old Rödjö Pasér with his religious men was raided; among seven killed were the two principal Teungkoes and two feared commanders of Reröbö; shortly after, Tgk. Kalipah, principal resistance leader of Penosan, was rendered harmless; in October the Penosan band was attacked and Tgk. Kalipah’s brother killed. The column Darlang held the Péndéngvallei, so that Lebé Grondong moved to neighbouring sub-divisions. Total losses that year: 141 killed, nine prisoners, 302 submissions; 216 uitgewekenen remained.

1911 brought steady submissions — twenty-two of Penosan in January with all their panglimas, twenty-five of Pasér and Reröbö in February — and in March the apparent end of Lebé Grondong, surprised between Tampor and Lésten by a brigade under sergeant Wisse with a haul of one M.95 rifle, a Mauser repeating rifle, a Beaumont and a Mauser self-loading pistol. The same month brought the murder of Rödjö Kemala at the instigation of his kinsman Si Taib, and Taib’s escape from the transport escort at Lésten and death, wounded and starving, on the twenty-sixth.

In April Swart visited the division, inspected gampongs and held a great meeting with the blah-heads; the Kaniess column returned to garrison, its task fulfilled. In May the Kedjoerön Petiambang and fourteen prominent chiefs visited the fair exhibition at Koeta Radja under Muurling’s leadership, and there Rödjö Tjoet Pasér with his panglimas and the blah-heads of Pasér and Reröbö solemnly begged the Governor’s forgiveness. In September came news that Lebé Grondong was not dead: he had toured the Gajò Loeö during the hari raja feasts extorting from the population, had obtained two carbines on the death of the resistance head of Badaq, and in October murdered Rödjö Akoeb of Penosan in revenge for his journey to Koetaradja — though he handed in a panglima, a goeroe and a carbine.

In 1912 both Lebé Grondong and Tgk. Moedö Koetö Serei submitted, so that only Pang Manap with eight followers remained; Pang Manap was laid low in October 1913 in an encounter with police oppassers and the population.

Administration

In the administrative division of 1908 the Gajò Loeös formed part of the afdeeling Bambél with the Alaslanden and Singkel. In 1910 Bambél was abolished; Singkel was joined to the Westkust and the Gajò Loeös and the Alaslanden became independent afdeelingen, each under an officer-gezaghebber. In the Gajò and Alas lands the imposition of fines or securities on political units remained permitted after 1910, “where a lively and living solidary responsibility exists.”

The Gajòweg — the road through heavy mountain terrain to the interior — was built during Swart’s governorship and brought into order for motor traffic; Kr. Seumpo was reached by motorcar along it for the first time in October 1911.

Sources

De Karbouw — Zijn betekenis voor de volken van de Indonesische Archipel, by J. Kreemer (‘s-Gravenhage / Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve, 1956), passim (especially pp. 22, 28, 30, 32, 35, 50, 53, 56, 75, 81, 95, 102, 124, 171, 219).

Het Gajoland en zijne bewoners, by C. Snouck Hurgronje (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1903). Gajosch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, by G. A. J. Hazeu. Atjèh, by J. Kreemer, 2 vols. (1922-23), vol. II, p. 446.

Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapters XI–XII, ‘De Gajo-weg en zijn landschap’ and ‘In het hart van Gajo-land’, pp. 72–87. Also Het Gajo-land en zijn bewoners, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje (Batavia 1903), and Atjeh en de Atjehers, by J. A. Kruyt (Leiden 1877), for the 1874 reports. Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia. OCR-filename: 20260709_002148_DLP-81-Atjeh_OCR.txt. De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 8–9, 22–24, 38, 83, 103–114. DLP-84-Atjeh.pdf, pp. 9–10. The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.

Source

Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), chapter Jagerslatijn and the chapter on den zieleherder.

De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, Deel I, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 53–56 (section “De aanleg van wegen op de Buitenbezittingen”).

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, p. 19; Chapter XI, pp. 112–115; Chapter XIII, p. 136.

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