The place of publication of this book (‘Late E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1906’). Also, copies of manuscripts from the Leiden library (Malay MSS) are cited throughout. ‘Of this (Umdat al- muhtajin) I have also found a copy in Leiden.‘
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Holland / Netherlands
Holland — more properly the Netherlands — is the European mother-country of the Netherlands East Indies, and the metropolitan power responsible for the long war in Acheh. In The Achehnese Vol. I, Snouck Hurgronje, writing as Adviser for Native Affairs to the Netherlands-India Government, repeatedly contrasts Dutch knowledge of Achehnese affairs with the legend that had grown up abroad.
The European Legend of the Acheh War
“Holland — so runs the European legend — has been engaged in war against Acheh for a period which has extended to about thirty years without having led to the subjugation of that native kingdom.” Shaking their heads solemnly over it, many learned people outside the frontiers of Holland saw in this “worthy fable” a definite indication of Holland’s inability to govern her colonies. Snouck Hurgronje insists that the obstacles in the path of conquest were “very, very great,” and that “with far more wisdom and power than little Holland possesses, the difficulties would have taken a long spell of time to overcome.” Holland’s error, he argues, was that she had continually suspended the action she had begun and indulged in long periods of quiescence, while the most serious trouble of all lay in the fact that “the strings of policy were pulled by ignorant majorities in the Mother-country.”
Holland as Source of Achehnese Scholarship
The book is dedicated, in the first instance, to Dutch scholarship on the East Indies. Snouck Hurgronje quotes Professor Veth’s Atjèh for the principal historical traditions of Acheh, Van Langen’s Atjèhsch Staatsbestuur for the structure of the sultanate, and the writings of G. H. Niemann and G. A. Wilken for comparative ethnography. The exposition of Adat Meukuta Alam and the Makota Alam codes rests on Dutch archival labours, while the ordonnantie of 19 March 1881 for the administration of justice among the native population of Great Acheh was drafted by Mr. der Kinderen and annotated by Mr. L. W. C. van den Berg.
The Author’s Position
In July 1891 Snouck Hurgronje proceeded to Acheh “in pursuance of instructions from the Netherlands-India Government to make a special study of the religious element in the political conditions of that country.” During a residence in Arabia in 1884–1885 he had been in a position, especially at Mecca, to obtain an intimate knowledge of the influence of Mohammedan fanaticism upon the obstinate resistance of the Achehnese to Dutch rule. After Acheh he was appointed Adviser for Native Affairs, Netherlands India, the post from which he wrote the present work. The book was composed in the mother-country and at The Hague, printed in Leyden by E. J. Brill, and translated in the Straits Settlements by A. S. O’Sullivan.
Anglo-Dutch Treaties
Holland’s freedom of action in Acheh was governed by her treaties with Great Britain. In 1824 the Dutch Government, with great lack of foresight, entered into a treaty with Great Britain, under which it guaranteed the independence of Acheh. These ultimately led up in 1871 to a new treaty with England, under which Holland was left with more freedom of action in the control of Acheh, paving the way for the first Dutch expedition of 1873.
See Also
- Leyden
- Netherlands India
- Achehnese War
- Van Langen
- L. W. C. van den Berg
- T. H. der Kinderen
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- A. S. O’Sullivan
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1871
- The Hague
Source
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.