Lam Bada

In the Hikayat Prang Gompeuni, Teuku Asan fixed his head-quarters in the neighbourhood of Lam Bada, ‘the place of his birth,’ after gathering some panglimas and a small force.

Note on the shared place-name. Two distinct Achehnese localities are known as Lam Bada in the sources: (i) a gampong of the XXVI Mukims — the burial-place of the celebrated burong woman Tuan Siti (treated below); and (ii) a kampong of the V Moekims Montassik / Lamkrak complex that was the scene of very heavy combat on 17 April 1896 (treated in the lower sections). The two places share the same name but lie in different sagi of Groot-Atjeh.

Anak Baté was a kampong of Groot-Atjeh lying near the benting of Anak Galoeng, west of the Atjeh river, and the scene of the patrol engagement of 7 March 1896.

P. H. R. Beuming places the benting Anak Galoeng in de nabijheid van de kampongs Anak Baté en Glieng, and records that the patrol of 7 March 1896 moved along the dyke towards Lambarih, turned left at the blockhouse Blang Tjoet in the direction of kampong Anak Baté, and just before reaching it divided into three detachments. Scarcely had the enemy discovered the column in the open sawah when shots fell from the densely overgrown kampong and the Acehnese came up from all sides.

Beuming also records that fire came from the so-called friendly kampong Sibreh during the same engagement, and that the serious fight at Anak Baté was one of the marks of the deteriorating political situation on Groot-Atjeh in early 1896: De politieke toestand op Atjeh, na het ernstige gevecht bij Anak Baté, de onveilige terreinstrook tusschen de bentings Lambaroe en Anak Galoeng, was treuriger dan ooit te voren.

Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Lam Bada

Lam Bada is a gampong in the XXVI Mukims mentioned in The Achehnese Vol. I as the burial-place of the famous burong woman Tuan Siti (also called Pochut Siti), whose tragic legend is one of the more celebrated spirit-histories of Acheh.

The Grave of Tuan Siti

Snouck Hurgronje introduces Lam Bada in his survey of the burongs — female spirits of the Achehnese spirit-world. He explains that “in addition to this story of the origin of all the burongs, each of the more celebrated of these spirits has a history of its own, though there is a general resemblance between the various legends.” He continues: “In Lam Bada (XXVI Mukims) may be seen the grave of a famous burong woman, named Tuan Siti or Pochut Siti. She was of good lineage, but having allowed herself to be seduced and having become pregnant was in the end treacherously drowned by her lover while on a pleasure trip to which he had invited her.”

The Burong Cult

The story of Tuan Siti is offered by Snouck as the type of the burong legend: a woman of good family brought low by seduction and treachery, whose wronged spirit then became a dreaded presence in the gampong where she was buried. Such burong graves — like the still more dreaded tomb of the burong Srabi in gampong Tanjong — were the object of private religious cults and of vows made by the Achehnese, and Snouck uses the Lam Bada example to show how the Achehnese burong cult is rooted in stories of individual women who had lived and suffered in particular places.

Significance of the XXVI Mukims site

Lam Bada’s appearance in Vol. I, though brief, places it among the specifically named sacred sites of Achehnese popular religion. Its identification as a gampong of the XXVI Mukims — the same lowland sagi in which the great mosque of Indrapatra (near Ladong) had once stood — gives it a particular importance as a place where the older stratum of female-spirit worship persisted under the cover of the official Islam of the sultanate.

Lam-Bada / Anak Baté (V Moekims Montassik) — the 1896 military theatre

Lam-Bada / Anak Baté — written in Dutch as also Lam Bada, also Anak Bate, Tjot Bate — were kampongs in the V Moekims Montassik / Lamkrak complex that were the scene of very heavy combat on 17 April 1896 and the source of the shellings against Senelop from 15 April 1896. As described in Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96, Lam-Bada / Anak Baté was the site of a friendly-fire incident on 17 April 1896 in which the mountain battery of Lt. Hoolboom killed 6 European fusiliers of the Dutch side. The kampong of Glieng was separated from Anak Baté by 500 metres of high wooded ground, to which the enemy withdrew.

Description and Location

Lam-Bada and Anak Baté lay in the border country between the V Moekims Montassik and the Lamkrak complex, at the eastern end of the V Moekims Montassik where it adjoined the XXVI Moekims. The kampongs were the source of the shellings against Senelop from 15 April 1896 onward, and were within range of the Dutch post. The kampong of Glieng was separated from Anak Baté by 500 metres of high wooded ground, to which the enemy withdrew during the 17 April 1896 fighting. The kampong of Lam-Bada was the principal settlement of the cluster and the site of the friendly-fire incident. Anak Baté is also referred to as also Anak Baté, one of the seven mukims of the broader Lamkrak complex. The kampong of Lam-Djamé (in the N. rand of Lam-Krak) and the Kling fortification of Mon Selassa / Mon Seulassa on the border with Ana Batee were nearby.

Historical Background

Lam-Bada and Anak Baté had been part of the hostile V Moekims Montassik / Lamkrak complex throughout the Atjeh-oorlog. The kampongs had been a base for hostile benden (war-bands) operating against the buitenposten of the buitenlinie — particularly Senelop and Kroeng Gloempang. After the defection of 29 March 1896 the kampongs became a base for direct attacks on Senelop, from which they were within shelling range. The Anak Baté was the moekim whose Kling fortification of Mon Selassa / Mon Seulassa on the border with the Lam-Lheuë was one of the principal Achehnese versterkingen (fortifications) of the southern sector.

Role in the 1896 Operations

Lam-Bada and Anak Baté were the source of the shellings against Senelop from 15 April 1896 onward — the heaviest shellings the post endured. On 17 April 1896 the kampongs were the scene of very heavy combat in the course of the battle of Senelop (the lifting of Senelop by Van Heutsz’s first colonne). The combat was characterised by the friendly-fire incident in which the mountain battery of Lt. Hoolboom killed 6 European fusiliers of the Dutch side — one of the most-noted incidents of the engagement. The enemy withdrew to the kampong of Glieng, separated from Anak Baté by 500 metres of high wooded ground. Lam-Bada was also a reference point for the diversionary operation of 2 May 1896 under Van Heutsz, in which the 3e Bataljon also positions toward Lam-Bada and Lam-Sinjing. Lam-Bada was attacked and occupied at 3:10 PM on 16 June 1896 in the course of the tuchtiging (chastisement) of the V Moekims Montassik.

Significance of the V Moekims Montassik site

Lam-Bada and Anak Baté were the principal Achehnese strongpoints within shelling range of Senelop and the scene of one of the most-noted incidents of the April 1896 crisis — the friendly-fire incident of 17 April 1896. The kampongs demonstrated the vulnerability of the buitenlinie to Achehnese shellings from neighbouring kampongs, and their eventual occupation in the tuchtiging of 16–17 June 1896 marked the Dutch shift from passive defence to active tuchtiging.

Sources

The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.

ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 76, 82, 86–87, 96–99, 102, 104–111, 117–119, 154, 305, 307, 385, 387, 401, 403.

Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911; uitgegeven ten bate van het te stichten Herstellingsoord voor Rijks-Ambtenaren). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br N 82-144

Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.

tags	place, aceh-proper, gampong, xxvi-mukims, holy-site, burong, tuan-siti, achehnese, dutch, aceh-war, military, lamkrak, v-moekims-montassik, kampong, aceh, groot-atjeh, 1896
aliases	Lam Bada, Lam Badá, Lam-Bada, Anak Baté, Anak Bate, Tjot Bate, kampong Anak Baté, Ana' Batée

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