Lam Sayun is a mukim of the XXV Mukims in Great Acheh. In The Achehnese it is named, together with Lueng Bata and Pagaraye, as one of a trio of mukims which — though properly belonging to the XXV — had at one time constituted a wakeueh district, that is, a territory withdrawn from the ordinary jurisdiction of the Panglima Sagi and reserved for the Sultan’s own purposes.
The Wakeueh Districts of the XXV Mukims
The Arabic word waqf — appearing in Achehnese as wakeueh (Javanese, Malay and Sundanese wakap) — signifies property withdrawn in perpetuity by its owner from all alienation, and devoted to some object permitted by the Moslem law. In Acheh the term was used not only of religious endowments but also of certain districts set aside, by the Sultans, for political ends. Snouck Hurgronje argues that the institution of wakeueh districts was probably intended to enable the Sultan to keep certain territories out of the incessant quarrels of the uleebalangs — to maintain, in other words, a neutral field of observation and operation in which he could place chiefs in whom he reposed especial confidence.
The trio of Lam Sayun, Lueng Bata and Pagaraye was the surviving example of this arrangement within the XXV Mukims. Within living memory, however, the only trace of their former status had been the independence of their chiefs. The influential and powerful imeum of Lueng Bata was indeed on many occasions the adviser and ally of the Sultan; but this very relation made it necessary for the latter to hold this chief in great respect and to treat him with marked distinction.
Historical Significance
Snouck Hurgronje concludes that these wakeueh districts of three mukims — Lam Sayun, Lueng Bata and Pagaraye — were “merely the relics of earlier conditions.” The period during which they served to advance the political aims of the Sultans was in any case of very short duration. The Pagaraye mentioned in this connection is to be identified with the Malay pagar ayer (“water-fence”), the Achehnese form of which is pagar ie. Together with the III Mukims Keureukon and certain districts of the XXVI Mukims and of Pidie, they represent the remnants of a system of royal reservations that had once formed a real element in the constitution of the Sultanate, but which, by the time of the Dutch war, had long since ceased to function as such.
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.