Koeala Simpang (modern Kuala Simpang) was a town in the Atjeh Dependencies that served as the eastern terminus of the Atjeh-tramway’s second line from its 1910–1912 extension onward, and as the originating point of the 1913-approved extension through Tamiang to Besitang. In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, Koeala Simpang also marks the geographic transition from the second tramway’s original Sigli–Langsa axis to the projected southern extension toward Arube Bay and the Deli railway network of Sumatra’s East Coast.
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Koeala Simpang
The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the Atjeh-tramway first mentions Koeala Simpang as the eastern terminus of the 1910–1912 extension of the second tramway from Langsa: “between 1910–1912 the Langsa–Koeala Simpang section was added” to the original 1899–1906 Sigli–Langsa line. The Bureau’s account of the 1913 extension approvals — G. Bn. of 17 June 1913 No. 59, 16 October 1913 No. 25, 8 November 1913 No. 40 — places Koeala Simpang at the centre of the projected further extension: “the doortrekking was approved of the Atjeh-tram network from Koeala Simpang through Tamiang to Besitang, and from Pangkalan Soesoe to Telok Taboeban (on Arube Bay, with a good roadstead), while the connecting line between Besitang and Pangkalan Soesoe is also already in preparation.”
The Bureau’s framing makes Koeala Simpang the geographic pivot of the Aroe-baai-plannen (Arube Bay plans) — the project to develop Arube Bay as a deep-water harbour that would compete with Belawan and even with Singapore and Sabang, and to divert the export of Atjehnese products (pepper, rubber, etc.) via Arube Bay rather than via the existing outlets. The Bureau notes that the defenders of the Aroe-baai-plannen “hope, by the laying of this connecting link, to see the first step taken toward the realisation of those future plans” — that is, the diversion of Atjeh’s export trade through Arube Bay instead of through Belawan or Sabang.
Significance
Koeala Simpang is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the geographic pivot of the Atjeh-tramway’s transition from a military to an economic instrument. The 1912 completion of the Langsa–Koeala Simpang extension closed the military phase of the line’s construction; the 1913 extension approvals from Koeala Simpang onward toward Tamiang, Besitang, and Arube Bay opened the economic phase.
Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Koeala Simpang — modern Kuala Simpang — is the chief place (hoofdplaatsje) of the onderafdeeling Tamiang in the afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh, situated at the confluence of the Simpang-kiri and the Simpang-kanan rivers which form the Tamiang river. It lies on the Atjeh-tram line and on the great road that runs along the eastern coast, and is the natural emporium of the Tamiang estates.
Foundation and Growth
The hoofdplaatsje received an extension in the good years before Broersma’s visit, thanks to the presence of about twenty estates in the neighbourhood — the rubber and oil-palm plantations of Soengei Lipoet, Simpang-kiri, Tandjong Semantoh, Aloer Djamboe and the others. With the depression of the early 1920s the activity of the place diminished; the silence that was imposed on the cultures was shared by Koeala Simpang.
Administrative Position
The place is the seat of the onderafdeeling Tamiang. The onderafdeeling was formed in 1908, when Tamiang was detached from the gewest Oostkust van Sumatra and added to the afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh. The opening of Tamiang to private enterprise in 1898 was the first token of confidence in the security of oil-winning and tobacco-cultivation, and Koeala Simpang grew as the natural centre of the new planting activity.
Account from Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf (1925)
Koeala Simpang was hoofdplaatsje of underafdeeling Temiang in afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh, situated at boundary where Deli-spoor and Atjeh-tram meet via three-rail line at Besitang towards Pangkalan Soesoe.
Description
Town owes expansion to presence twenties enterprises surrounding in favorable years before slump after 1918-1921. Shares silence imposed to cultures. Houses Chinese gardeners from Langkat former contract workers noted near Oepah.
Atjeh-tram runs middle through Temiang estates both north and south of town.
Account from J. Roest (1916) — Kwala Simpang and its Chinese shop-houses
In J. Roest’s chronicle De spoorwegverbinding tusschen Deli, Atjeh en de Aroebaai (1916) Kwala Simpang figures, in Schadee’s argument before the Cultuurraad of 20 February 1913, as the place of about eighty Chinese kedeh (shop-houses), nearly all branches of business of their counterparts at Pangkalan Brandan, taking one third of Brandan’s import trade — worth at least a million guilders of trade and f 100,000 of profit in the year: precisely the immediate market for the railway connection the plantation region needed. Kwala Simpang stood on the Langsa tramway with its own harbour; and the hour had of the Atjeh-tram, which Roest reports as the railway dispute’s facts, showed the Langsa harbour at the edge between the trade of the two districts, the Atjeh cultures lying nearer to Langsa by every subsequent extension and Langsa itself, in any further development, having all the chance to become their centre.
See Also
- 1898
- 1908
- 1910
- 1912
- 1913
- Aceh War
- Aroe-baai-plannen
- Aroebai
- Atjeh’s Onderhoorigheden
- Atjeh-tram
- Belawan
- Besitang
- Langsa
- Oostkust van Atjeh
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Pangkalan Soesoe
- Sabang
- Sigli
- Simpang Kanan
- Simpang Kiri
- Singapore
- Tamiang
- Telok Taboeban
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- Temiang
- Atjeh Tram
- Oepah
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Town at the confluence of Simpang Kiri and Simpang Kanan rivers, ~30 km from Langsa. Cosmopolitan center with much foreign capital and foreign workers. Has B.P.M.-terrain Rantau, palmoliefabrick Soengei Lipoet. Soosjewith bin- and tennisbanen.1910 extension of the Atjeh-tram from the Langsabaai. Direct bestuurd gebied.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 90, 292, 331.
Source
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. 69–70 (section “De Atjeh-tram”). Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter II, ‘Tamiang’, pp. 6, 11. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, pp. 8-10, 13-14.
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. 90, 292, 331.