Lam Leu’ot is a locality outside the VII Mukims of Ba’et in the XXII Mukims of Great Acheh. In The Achehnese it is mentioned as the seat of one of the most important panglimas of the Imeum Peuet kawom (tribe), one of the four great aristocratic tribal confederacies of the Achehnese.
The Imeum Peuet and Its Panglimas
Snouck Hurgronje describes the Imeum Peuet — literally “the four imams” — as the most powerful of the four kawoms which, together with the allied tribes of Lhee Reutoih, Ja Sandang and Ja Batee, made up the traditional aristocracy of the Achehnese people. The appellation appears to be of comparatively modern origin, and seems to indicate that the confederacy was formed under the leadership of four chiefs bearing the title of imam; but the office of imeum in Acheh had long ceased to have any exclusive connection with the kawom organisation, and the name survives as a tribal designation only.
The most important panglimas (war-leaders) of the Imeum Peuet were those of the VII Mukims of Ba’et, and, outside these, that of Lam Leu’ot. There were, however, chiefs of this most numerous clan to be found in other places as well; and in like manner the other three kawoms had their panglima in every place where they were at all well represented as regards numbers.
Tribal Life in the Highlands
The standing of Lam Leu’ot within the tribal geography of the highlands is best understood against the general background of Achehnese kawom organisation. In the highlands, and especially in the neighbourhood of the Dalam at Banda Acheh, blood-feuds (bila) were less the order of the day than in the more remote districts, and the upholders of territorial authority depended less on their kawom than on their own energy and other personal characteristics. In the XXII Mukims themselves an official enquiry had recently shown that tribal life had lost much of its force; in the quarrels and petty wars of the last century the kawoms had played but a secondary part. Even so, the persistence of the panglimaship of Lam Leu’ot as a recognised office of the Imeum Peuet testifies to the survival, in the highlands of Great Acheh, of an older aristocratic order alongside the territorial administration of the uleebalangs.
See Also
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.