Krueng Ma’ (Achehnese Kruëng Ma’) is a mukim in the XXII Mukims sagi of Great Acheh, named by Snouck Hurgronje in his account of the Achehnese imeum as one of a group of four mukims whose imeums had been accorded, by adat, a measure of judicial authority in their own right.
The reference occurs in the discussion of the degeneration of the office of imeum. Although the imeum was, in his origin, a subordinate religious officer appointed by the uleebalang and intended to act as the latter’s deputy within his jurisdiction, his position had — especially in parts of the XXII Mukims situated too far from the headquarters of the uleebalang to admit of all matters of importance being subjected to his decision — been expanded by adat. “Groups of three or four mukims are united for this purpose,” writes Snouck, “and the decision of the three or four imeums has the same force as that of the uleebalang.” The unions which he names by way of example are: Lam Lheue, Lam Kra’, Krueng Ma’, and Ateue’; Sibree, Ba’et, and a part of Lam Ara; and another part of Lam Ara, Aneu’ Gle, and Jrue’. The mention of Krueng Ma’ thus places the mukim in a recognisable administrative group of the XXII Mukims, lying in the coastal or north-western portion of that sagi.
The grouping itself is significant for the political geography of the sagi. The XXII Mukims, as Snouck repeatedly notes, was the most populous and politically weighty of the three sagis of Great Acheh: its hereditary chief, the Panglima Polem, was accounted the doyen of the panglima sagis, and the increase of population within its territory had given rise, in the course of generations, to the formation of new mukims beyond the original number. The size and population of the sagi made it impracticable for a single uleebalang to keep all matters of importance in his own hands; the delegation of a measure of judicial authority to specified boards of imeums was the practical adat by which the difficulty was met.
The name Krueng Ma’ itself combines the Achehnese word kruëng — “river” or “watercourse” — with the place-name element Ma’, which is otherwise unexplained in Vol. I. The application of the word kruëng to a mukim is a common Achehnese usage, by which the name of the principal watercourse of a district is extended to the district itself. The mukim of Krueng Ma’ thus takes its name from the river of that name, which flows through the territory and forms its principal topographical feature. The same usage is illustrated by the names of other mukims in the same enumeration, such as Lam Lheue and Lam Kra’, in which the element lam (“in” or “at”) is similarly combined with the name of a watercourse.
The position of Krueng Ma’ alongside Lam Lheue, Lam Kra’, and Ateue’ is otherwise its only mention in Vol. I. The mukim is not enumerated among the territorial chiefdoms whose individual histories are given by Snouck, and its imeum belongs to that numerous class of minor Achehnese chiefs whose personal fame was, in the nature of things, little likely to be recorded beyond the limits of their own jurisdiction.
Additional account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Krueng Ma’
Krueng Ma’ (Achehnese Kruëng Ma’) is a mukim of the XXII Mukims of Great Acheh, named by Snouck Hurgronje as one of a group of four mukims whose imeums had, by adat, been accorded a measure of judicial authority in their own right. The mukim is named from the river of the same name which flows through its territory and forms its principal topographical feature.
The Four Mukims of the Imeum Union
In the chapter on the degeneration of the office of imeum, Snouck explains that the imeum was, in his origin, a subordinate religious officer appointed by the uleebalang and intended to act as the latter’s deputy within his jurisdiction. In parts of the XXII Mukims situated too far from the headquarters of the uleebalang to admit of all matters of importance being subjected to his decision, the position of the imeum had been expanded by adat. “Groups of three or four mukims are united for this purpose,” writes Snouck, “and the decision of the three or four imeums has the same force as that of the uleebalang.” The unions which he names by way of example are: Lam Lheue, Lam Kra’, Krueng Ma’, and Ateue’; Sibree, Ba’et, and a part of Lam Ara; and another part of Lam Ara, Aneu’ Gle, and Jrue’.
The mention of Krueng Ma’ thus places the mukim in a recognisable administrative group of the XXII Mukims, lying in the coastal or north-western portion of that sagi alongside Lam Lheue, Lam Kra’, and Ateue’. The grouping itself is significant for the political geography of the sagi; the coastal mukims were those most remote from the inland seat of the uleebalang, and it was therefore in these mukims that the practical adat of the imeum-union had grown up.
The Political Geography of the XXII Mukims
The XXII Mukims, as Snouck repeatedly notes, was the most populous and politically weighty of the three sagis of Great Acheh: its hereditary chief, the Panglima Polem of the XXII, was accounted the doyen of the panglima sagis, and the increase of population within its territory had given rise, in the course of generations, to the formation of new mukims beyond the original number. The size and population of the sagi made it impracticable for a single uleebalang to keep all matters of importance in his own hands; the delegation of a measure of judicial authority to specified boards of imeums was the practical adat by which the difficulty was met.
The Name Krueng Ma’
The name Krueng Ma’ itself combines the Achehnese word kruëng — “river” or “watercourse” — with the place-name element Ma’, which is otherwise unexplained in Vol. I. The application of the word kruëng to a mukim is a common Achehnese usage, by which the name of the principal watercourse of a district is extended to the district itself. The mukim of Krueng Ma’ thus takes its name from the river of that name, which flows through the territory and forms its principal topographical feature. The same usage is illustrated by the names of other mukims in the same enumeration, such as Lam Lheue and Lam Kra’, in which the element lam (“in” or “at”) is similarly combined with the name of a watercourse.
The Emancipation of the Imeums
Snouck observes, in the same chapter, that the institution of the imeum-union is one of the ways in which the imeums “succeeded in emancipating themselves from control” in earlier times. The imeum, though originally a subordinate officer, had in many cases succeeded in acquiring a measure of independence, and the adat by which the joint decision of three or four imeums had the same force as that of the uleebalang was one of the legal expressions of that independence. The same chapter notes that “in times of disorder especially, such as the present, when parties are being formed by others than the traditional chiefs, considerable independence is attained by many imeums”; the union of Krueng Ma’ with Lam Lheue, Lam Kra’, and Ateue’ is a survival, into Snouck’s own time, of the older constitution.
The Position of Krueng Ma’ in the Sagi
The position of Krueng Ma’ alongside Lam Lheue, Lam Kra’, and Ateue’ is otherwise its only mention in Vol. I. The mukim is not enumerated among the territorial chiefdoms whose individual histories are given by Snouck, and its imeum belongs to that numerous class of minor Achehnese chiefs whose personal fame was, in the nature of things, little likely to be recorded beyond the limits of their own jurisdiction. The river-name and the mukim-name together preserve the memory of a small but politically organised district of the highland sagi, one of the many territorial fractions by which the XXII Mukims was constituted.
See Also
- XXII Mukims
- Lam Lheue
- Lam Kra’
- Ateue’
- Sibree
- Ba’et
- Lam Ara
- Aneu’ Gle
- Jrue’
- Panglima Polem
- Great Acheh
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.