Koeta Tjané is the subdistrict headquarters-town of the Alaslanden in the Alas valley of Central Atjèh, the place where the Dutch military and civil administration of the Alas valley resided, the headquarters to which General Overakker moved on 14 March 1942 after Kaban Djahé, and the centre from which the defense of the Alasvalley — the focus of the final Dutch resistance in Sumatra — was organised until its fall on 27 March 1942. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan treats Koeta Tjané as one of the five subdistricts in which the military commander was replaced by civil administration in 1938, and as the key road junction on the Alasweg between Kaban Djahé in the East Coast residency and Blang Kédjérèn in the Gajó Loeós.
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Kota Tjane
The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the Sumatra road plan lists the Alasweg as project no. 13 in its numbered list of fifteen Sumatra road projects: “Weg Kaban Djahe–Kota Tjane (Alasweg). Length 137 K.M.; cost f 1,173,000. For the connection of the Alas lands with the Karo-hoogvlakte and the wegennet of the East Coast. In the main completed.” Kota Tjane thus appears as the southern terminus of one of the two principal road projects of the 1904–1914 decade in the Atjehnese interior.
The completion of the Alasweg from Kaban Djahe to Kota Tjane opened the Alas lands to direct road communication with the Karo highlands and the road network of the East Coast of Sumatra — that is, with the southern rather than the northern coast of Atjeh. Kota Tjane, as the principal town of the Alas lands, thereby became the administrative and economic gateway to the Alas valley region.
The administrative reform of 1938
Koeta Tjané was one of the subdistricts in which, in 1938 and subsequent years, “this replacement took place … in the subdistricts Lam Meukó, Koeta Tjané, Tapa’toean, Blang Kédjérèn and Meulabóh, so that only in the subdistrict of Zuidelijke Atjèhse Landschappen, the scene of the Bakóngan uprising, the military commander remained entrusted with civil administration.” The reform was decided under Resident Jongejans “in consultation with the relevant military authorities,” on the principle that “a union of military and civil authority in one hand was no longer deemed necessary and could make way for normal administration by administrative officials.” The subdistricts Alaslanden (with headquarters Koeta Tjané) and Gajó Loeós (with headquarters Blang Kédjérèn) were merged into a single subdistrict in 1941, in connection with the completion of the road connection Koeta Tjané-Blang Kédjérèn at the end of 1939.
The defense of March 1942
The Alas valley was, together with the Gajó Loeós and Takéngón, one of the three great defence centres of the Atjèh highlands. “The main defense centers would be formed here by the subdistricts of Takéngón and Gajó Loeós and Alaslanden. With a view to a prolonged defense considerable supplies of military equipment, foodstuffs, medicines, etc. had been gathered here.” Koeta Tjané was only “accessible by one motor road: … Koeta Tjané in the Alas valley from Kaban Djahé in the East Coast residency of Sumatra along the 130 km. long Alasweg.” On 14 March 1942 General Overakker “had moved his headquarters from Kaban Djahé to the Alasvalley and first established it at Koeta Tjané, later at the former Japanese undertaking ‘Boekit Toesam’.” The Germans interned at Lawé Sigalagala, “approximately 20 km. south of Koeta Tjané,” had been evacuated under the threat of the rapid Japanese advance via Sibolga, so that “no danger needed to be feared from this side.”
The fall of Koeta Tjané
On 25 March 1942 a Japanese breakthrough took place “from the valley of the Lawé Rénoen, a left-side tributary of the Lawé Alas, to the road Kaban Djahé-Koeta Tjané, at a distance of 80 km. before Koeta Tjané.” The following morning, “[a]t six o’clock, the last troops left Koeta Tjané, after the gasoline depot 2 km. north of Koeta Tjané had been blown up. The market warehouse and the military storage depots, in which large military stocks of foodstuffs, medical supplies, clothing, etc. had to be left behind, were opened to the population by the retreating troops.” “Not until 27 March, in the afternoon at half past one, did the Japanese troops reach the subdivision headquarters. The subdivision head was interned in his home.” The newly appointed division head, Mr. Th. O. B. Gunther, “after arriving in Koeta Tjané from Sibolga on 13 March 1942, had traveled on to Blang Kédjérèn on 16 March.” The self-governing authority of Bambél, Radja Mariboen, was appointed as gun-chó for the entire subdistrict.
Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Kota Tjane — modern Ketane — is the chief place (hoofdplaats) of the onderafdeeling Alaslanden in the afdeeling Gajo- en Alaslanden. Three brigades of the garrison of Blang Kedjerën lay at Kota Tjane. From Blang Kedjerën to Kota Tjane runs a horse-track of 80 km; thereafter an auto-road of 28 km continues to Kota Tjane itself. The full distance from Takengon to Kota Tjane by this route is 238 km — a sample of Sumatran distances. From Kota Tjane one is still separated from Medan by a great road of 218 km.
Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)
Both were laid low. The investigation pointed towards the acting Kedjoerön of Bambél, and when the presumed instigator had been arrested, three Alassers attacked the bivouac guard in March 1915 in an attempt to free him, but were struck down, costing the guard two killed and two wounded. “And… the investigation finally showed that the attempt on Christan’s life was a purely personal act of revenge and that the suspected Kedjoeroen was entirely innocent.”
See Also
- 1904
- 1914
- 1938
- 1942
- 27 March
- Alaslanden
- Alasvalley
- Bireuen
- Blang Kédjérèn
- Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken
- Gajo-landen
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Kaban Djahé
- Major-General Overakker
- Oostkust van Sumatra
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Radja Mariboen
- Takéngón
- Th. O. B. Gunther
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- Wegenplan Sumatra
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Atjeh
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Hot town in the Alaslanden; the pasanggrahan is the hottest. From here auto-road goes another 36 km toward Blang Kedjerèn. From Lawé Oenan cars take traveler to Koeta Tjané.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 80, 84.
Source
Atjèh and the War with Japan, by Dr. A. J. Piekaar, translated from the Dutch original Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan (1949) (‘s-Gravenhage/Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve; English edition), Chapter I § 1, Chapter II, Chapter IV, Chapter V § 3.
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”).
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim.
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 XII.
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. 80, 84.