Lam Lheue is a mukim of the XXII Mukims in the highlands of Great Acheh. In The Achehnese it is named, together with Lam Kra’, Krueng Ma’ and Ateue’, as one of a group of mukims united for the purpose of exercising joint judicial authority in districts too remote from the uleebalang’s headquarters for ordinary appeals.
Joint Judicial Unions of the XXII Mukims
In several parts of the XXII Mukims, situated at too great a distance from the headquarters of the uleebalang to admit of all matters of importance being subjected to his decision, the adat had assigned a measure of judicial authority to specified boards of imeums. Groups of three or four mukims were united for this purpose; and the decision of the three or four imeums had the same force as that of the uleebalang himself. Among the examples Snouck Hurgronje cites are the union of Lam Lheue, Lam Kra’, Krueng Ma’ and Ateue’; the union of Sibree, Ba’et and a part of Lam Ara; and a second union consisting of the remaining part of Lam Ara together with Aneu’ Gle and Jrue’.
The Office of the Imeum
The institution to which Lam Lheue belonged illustrates a long-running feature of Achehnese political life: the gradual encroachment of the imeums upon the authority of the uleebalang. The imeum (Ar. imam) had originally been a religious officer attached to the meuseugit (mosque) of his mukim, charged with providing that God’s law should be enforced and especially that the prescribed rites should not be neglected. By Snouck Hurgronje’s time, however, the office had “speedily degenerated” into one of purely worldly authority, and many imeums had succeeded in emancipating themselves from their nominal superiors altogether. Some had attained to the independence of uleebalangs and lacked the name only: the celebrated imeum of Lueng Bata played a distinguished part in the war with the Dutch as a military leader. The joint judicial unions of the highlands — Lam Lheue among them — were a structural expression of this drift, recognising in customary form the authority that the imeums had in fact acquired.
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.