Glé Groetèë — the caves of the Glé Groetèë — is a cave system on the West Coast of Aceh in which the resistance fighters of the Verzet in Lhong — after breaking out of the surrounded house at Lhong — entrenched themselves to fight their last battle there. In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), the Glé Groetèë is the place of the annihilation: the place where the colonial army decided on annihilation and carried out the decision, leaving “eight holy graves, on which the white pennants would soon rise as erected signs.”
The entrenched in the caves
After a sharp pursuit by the marechaussée, the band fortified itself in one of the caves of the Glé Groetèë to fight its last battle there. The entrenchment in the caves — the resistance fighters’ choice of the cave as their last defensive position — is the book’s marker of their paradise-death: the men who had broken out of the Lhong house and escaped the klewang-fight chose the cave as the place where they would fight to the utmost.
The annihilation
Annihilation was decided upon, and the decision was carried out. When everything was over, the population was given the opportunity — in accordance with the regulations — to bury its fallen. Eight holy graves, on which the white pennants would soon rise as erected signs.
The eight holy graves — the eight holy graves of the annihilated resistance fighters — are the book’s marker of the paradise-death: the resistance fighters who were annihilated in the Glé Groetèë achieved the paradise-death they sought, and their graves became holy graves with white pennants. The white pennants — the white pennants on the graves — are the book’s marker of the resistance fighters’ martyr status: the annihilated men were martyrs of the faith, and their graves were holy graves.
The book’s critique
Afterwards, this outcome was regretted from higher up, because — as it was put — the opportunity for new hatred had thereby been opened. But it was all considered inevitable. But was that so? I think not.
The book’s — and Musket’s — argument is that the annihilation in the Glé Groetèë was not inevitable: the colonial army had failed to use modern methods (tear-gas bombs and gas-masks) that would have taken the opponent alive — and would have prevented the resistance fighters’ paradise-death. The Glé Groetèë is therefore the book’s marker of the colonial army’s failure: the place where the resistance fighters were annihilated — and where, in Musket’s argument, they should have been taken alive.
Significance
The Glé Groetèë is significant in Oost-Indisch Journael as the place of the annihilation of the Verzet in Lhong resistance fighters. The book’s argument — that the annihilation was not inevitable, and that the colonial army had failed to use modern methods that would have prevented the resistance fighters’ paradise-death — is the book’s clearest example of the inter-war colonial critique of the old-time methods. The eight holy graves with the white pennants are the book’s marker of the resistance fighters’ martyr status: the annihilated men achieved the paradise-death they sought. The Glé Groetèë is therefore the book’s marker of the colonial army’s failure and of the resistance fighters’ paradise-death.
See Also
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Verzet in Lhong
- Lhong
- Musket
- Djahat
- Paradijs-dood
- Sjahid
- Atjeh-moord
- Westkust (of Atjeh)
- Atjeh-oorlog
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 Sloebers.