Lamkrak — also Lam Krak — was an Atjehnese kampong in the XXII Moekims of Groot-Atjeh, located south of the road that ran along the river upstream from the Dutch post of Lambaroe of the geconcentreerde linie to the temporary post of Anagaloeng. The kampong was the principal encampment of the bandit chief Habib Long in 1896, and the Dutch decision to use Toekoe Djohan Pahalawan to dislodge him was the immediate occasion of Toekoe Oemar’s defection from the Dutch alliance.
The location
The Atjeh-Album of 1896 records that Lamkrak lay ten zuiden van den weg, die langs de rivier stroomopwaarts den post Lambaroe der geconcentreerde linie met den tijdelijk bezetten post Anagaloeng verbindt — south of the road that, along the river upstream, connects the post Lambaroe of the concentrated line with the temporarily occupied post Anagaloeng. The kampong thus lay on the principal line of communication between the geconcentreerde linie and the temporary post at Anagaloeng, and its occupation by Habib Long’s bandit force placed it directly athwart the Dutch outer perimeter.
The encampment of Habib Long
The Atjeh-Album records that, in the months before Djohan’s defection, Habib Long — the Bengaloesche koewachter (Bengali cattle-keeper) turned bandit chief — had established his bende (gang) at Lamkrak. The bandit’s encampment at Lamkrak was the immediate cause of the Dutch decision to use Toekoe Oemar to dislodge him: the album records that the band had, in het gebied van Nja Din een paar huizen verbrande, een dorpshoofd en diens vrouw vermoordde en een paar van de beste voorvechters van Toekoe Oemar neervelde — burned a few houses in the territory of Nja Din, murdered a village head and his wife, and killed a few of the best fighters of Toekoe Oemar. The incursion gave Toekoe Oemar the gelegenheid (opportunity) to orde en rust te handhaven en de Moslemin te verdrijven (maintain order and peace and drive out the Moslemin), and the Dutch accordingly appointed him to dislodge Habib Long from Lamkrak.
The defection of Toekoe Oemar
The Atjeh-Album records that Toekoe Oemar’s response to the Dutch order to march on Lamkrak was the immediate occasion of his defection. The album records that Toekoe Djohan vond redenen, te weigeren, op te trekken tegen Lamkrak — found reasons to refuse to march on Lamkrak — and that the refusal was te onbegrijpelijker (the more incomprehensible) given that Habib Long’s band had recently carried out the outrages in the territory of Nja Din and had killed several of Oemar’s own fighters. The refusal was, however, the proximate signal of the defection: it was followed by Toekoe Oemar’s flight, the desertion of the Dutch-allied hoofden, and the siege of the Dutch outposts at Anagaloeng, Senelop, Biloel and Lamkoenjit.
The warning of Toekoe Ketjik Oemar
The Atjeh-Album records that Toekoe Ketjik Oemar — one of Toekoe Djohan’s volgelingen — secretly warned the Dutch contrôleur Kroesen that Djohan would not march on Lamkrak, but that he instead intended to attack the Dutch troops unexpectedly at the most favourable opportunity. The warning was, in the album’s reading, the proximate cause of the Dutch ability to respond effectively to the defection.
Significance
Lamkrak’s significance in the documentary record of the Atjeh-oorlog is as the kampong whose occupation by Habib Long was the immediate occasion of Toekoe Oemar’s defection from the Dutch alliance. The Dutch decision to use Toekoe Oemar to dislodge Habib Long from Lamkrak — and Toekoe Oemar’s refusal to march — was the proximate signal of the defection, and the warning of Toekoe Ketjik Oemar — delivered to the contrôleur Kroesen — was the proximate cause of the Dutch ability to respond. Lamkrak thus occupies a uniquely consequential position in the chronology of the 1896 crisis.
Account in Hooijer’s De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897)
Lamkrak was a district of Groot-Atjeh whose broad rice-fields lay under the guns of the Dutch post at Lam Barih, described by G. B. Hooijer as dat broeinest der Moslemin — that breeding-nest of the Moslemin — and the intended objective of the operation of March 1896 whose cancellation coincided with the defection of Teukoe Oemar.
The Van der Heijden period
Hooijer recorded that during the encampments of General van der Heijden on both banks of the Atjeh-rivier near Anagaloeng, Dutch columns marched out almost daily to clear the surrounding terrain and Lamkrak te tuchtigen — to chastise Lamkrak.
The projected operation of 1896
At the beginning of 1896 it appeared that part of Toekoe Djohan’s task would be taken from him once Lamkrak had been chastised and cleansed. The march on Lamkrak was fixed in March 1896, and with it was to be completed the great work that would surround the Dutch line with well-disposed districts cleared of Moslemin. At Biloel a shed roofed with sheet iron was erected as magazine and auxiliary hospital, and the post was to be raised from a temporary to a permanent fortification; Toekoe Djohan was to assemble there a thousand warriors and a thousand coolies to begin the action.
Whether Oemar foresaw that his indispensability would thereby lapse, and whether he found in that a reason to break his word and refuse to march against Lamkrak, Hooijer declined to say. On the morning of 29 March 1896 nobody appeared at the passer at Biloel.
Position
The wide rice-fields of Lamkrak were visible from the high watch-houses of Lam Barih, and were the field of fire of the 12 cm. gun mounted there.
See Also
- XXII Moekims
- Groot-Atjeh
- Lambaroe
- Anagaloeng
- Habib Long
- Toekoe Oemar
- Toekoe Oemar’s defection (1896)
- Toekoe Nja Din
- Toekoe Ketjik Oemar
- Kroesen
- Aceh War
- 1896
- Atjeh-Album (Eigen Haard, 1896)
- Teuku Umar
- Deijkerhoff
- Defection of Teuku Umar (March 1896)
- Pahlawan-klucht
- Geconcentreerde Linie
- Kota Radja
- Oleh-leh
- Lombok
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 29 March
- August 1894
- March 1896
- 1894
- 1895
- Lam Barih
- Biloel
- Teukoe Oemar
- Defection of Teukoe Oemar (1896)
- General van der Heijden
- Moslemin
Sources
De Atjeh-Oorlog: Kort Overzicht van Oorsprong, Verloop en Gevolg, door J. A. Kruijt. ‘s-Gravenhage: Loman & Funke, 1896. Chapter XII. OCR-filename: 20260716_140310_DLP-101-De_Atjeh_oorlog_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, p. 72.
Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard, uitgave van de N.V. Het Tijdschrift “Eigen Haard”, Amsterdam, 1896, pp. 4, 7, 28 (Toekoe Oemar — Zijn Verraad; De Poeassa — Atjehers en Kafirs; Een Trouwe Inlander).
De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh, door G. B. Hooijer, Gep. Luit.-Kolonel O. I. Leger, met 24 platen (Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn; Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Centrale Boekerij, Amsterdam. OCR-filename: 20260719_140140_DLP-134-De_verlaten_posten_in_Groot_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 12, 38, 46, 54.
Acknowledgement of sources. This article is a single consolidated account combining the material previously held in this entry with the account given in De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897) by G. B. Hooijer. Dutch terminology has been rendered in English, the original Dutch being retained only in direct quotations and in bibliographic citations.