The IV Mukims Ateue — the “Four Mukims of Ateue” — is an uleebalangship within the XXVI Mukims sagi of Great Acheh. Its chief bore the hereditary title Teuku Ateue’, and was counted, alongside Teuku Imeum Tungkob, among the two principal uleebalangs of that sagi. In The Achehnese Vol. I, the IV Mukims Ateue is invoked both as a once-great power now in decline, and as one of the “twelve uleebalangs who appoint and dethrone princes.”
A Power Greater in Earlier Times
Teuku Imeum Tungkob is, Snouck Hurgronje writes, “to this day a powerful chief in the XXVI Mukims. The power of Teuku Ateue’ (chief of the IV Mukims Ateue) on the other hand was according to tradition much more considerable in earlier times than it now is.” This formula — naming a once-powerful house now reduced from its ancient pre-eminence — is a recurring one in the chapter on the constitution of the sagis. The decline of the IV Mukims Ateue is set against the rising power of Teuku Imeum Tungkob of the XIII Mukims Tungkob, whose ancestor, the ulama Teungku Hamba Alah, had been granted thirteen mukims of the XXVI to enforce Allah’s law and whose descendants turned the religious dignity of Teungku into the worldly one of Teuku Imeum Tungkob.
The Twelve Uleebalangs of Tradition
A tradition recorded by Achehnese authorities on adat speaks of “the twelve uleebalangs who appoint and dethrone princes,” describing them as four from each sagi. To make up the tale of twelve, the Achehnese call the head kalis of the three sagis uleebalangs (which, the author cautions, is quite inaccurate) and include in their list the panglima sagi; thus two are left for each sagi who are regarded as the principal uleebalangs. “These chief uleebalangs are, for the XXV Mukims, the two Ne’s already several times alluded to; for the XXVI Mukims Teuku Ateue’ and Teuku Tungkob, and for the XXII Mukims Teuku Ba’et, uleebalang of the VII Mukims, and Teuku Waki Chi’ Gampong Baroh, chief of the V Mukims.” The IV Mukims Ateue thus had a constitutional place, in traditional theory, among the electors of sultans.
A List of Limited Authority
Snouck Hurgronje cautions that this list, even if we disregard its subordination of facts to round numbers, “at most represents the conditions that existed during a short period.” The whole twelve had not in the long run a voice in the affairs of the capital, while some of them had absolutely no share therein. On the other hand, there were uleebalangs in the sultan’s territory and the so-called wakeuëh-districts — such as Teuku Kali the Panglima Meuseugit Raya, the Imeum of Lueng Bata and the Imeum of Chadé — who had much more weight in the scale than many of the members of the board of twelve. The IV Mukims Ateue, despite its traditional place, was no longer in Snouck Hurgronje’s time the power it had once been.
See Also
- XXVI Mukims
- Ateue’
- Teuku Ateue’
- Teuku Tungkob
- Teuku Imeum Tungkob
- XIII Mukims Tungkob
- Teungku Hamba Alah
- Three Sagis (XXVI, XXV, XXII Mukims)
- IV Mukims (of XXV)
Source
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.