Pakan Badak

Properties2
tagsplace, kampong, market, acehnese, aceh-war, aceh, geography, geconcentreerde-stelling, 1885
aliasesPakan Badak, Pakan Badak Atjeh, Market of the Badak

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Pakan Badak was a kampong and important market‑place in the interior of Aceh, situated in the VI Moekims of Groot‑Atjeh. It functioned as a commercial hub with two large plank buildings on piles and, from 31 December 1875 onward, as a Dutch military base for operations against the IV Moekims and later the IX Moekims. Its location near the mountain passes of Glitaroem and Beradin made it a strategic waypoint for Dutch forces during the 1875–1876 expedition, notably for the column under General Pel that entered the gorge on the morning of 25 January 1876.

Location and Physical Description

Pakan Badak lay in the interior of Great Acheh, close to the passes of Glitaroem and Beradin, which controlled access to the surrounding valleys. The market consisted of two parallel plank buildings, each about 35 metres long, raised on piles one metre above the ground. Both structures featured a continuous voorgalerij and were divided internally into compartments of 5–6 metres square, serving as lodgings for merchants. Adjacent to these were numerous other solid buildings arranged for trade, stocked with household goods—especially pots, pans and plates—in great quantity. Empty European‑made cupboards and chests with excellent locks were also noted, indicating a thriving commercial environment.

Capture and Dutch Occupation (31 December 1875)

On 26 December 1875 at five in the morning three Dutch columns left the hoofd‑stelling for the conquest of the VI Moekims south‑west of Kota Radja. After taking the enemy fortifications at Mibouw, Ketapan Doewa and Djempit, the forces occupied Pakan Badak. A Dutch report recorded:

“In six days the strong enemy line opposite our posts south of Kota Radja had been broken, turned and abandoned by the enemy. We were wholly master of the VI Moekims and, by the occupation of Pakan Badak, in possession of an important point that was to serve as a base for operations against the IV Moekims.”

On 31 December 1875 the troops reached the market itself. The observer wrote: “Everything bore witness at Pakan Badak to prosperity and to much trade. On the rather large pasar stood, in parallel direction, two plank buildings… Both had a continuous voorgalerij and were internally divided into compartments… In nearly all these rooms, usually serving as lodgings for the merchants, one found empty cupboards and chests of European make, solid and provided with excellent locks. Besides these two buildings there were many others, more or less solid, all evidently arranged for trade; household goods, especially pots, pans and plates, one found there in great quantity.”

Base for Operations against the IV Moekims (January 1876)

From Pakan Badak the Dutch launched operations into the IV Moekims. The principal defenders of the VI Moekims, such as Toekoe Nanta and Toekoe Tjihik Lamnga, had fled there, but the head of the IV Moekims, Toekoe Lampassej, was allied with the Dutch. On 15 January 1876 the advance into the IV Moekims began over the pas of Blang Kala. The troops returned to Pakan Badak on 25 January 1876; in the following ten days they reduced the IX Moekims from 28 January 1876 to 7 February 1876.

Continued Military Activity (June 1878)

By the spring of 1878 the Habib resumed offensive actions. After Van der Heyden departed for Gedong, intelligence reported that the Habib intended a major attack with 2,000 men on the IV Moekims, targeting the posts at Kroëng Raba, Boekit Seboen and Pakan Badak.

Strategic Importance in the 1875–1876 Expedition

The interior position of Pakan Badak, coupled with its market facilities and proximity to mountain passes, rendered it an ideal staging ground. On the morning of 25 January 1876 the column of marines under General Pel marched through the gorge toward Pakan Badak, forming the vanguard of the operation against the IX Moekims. Its capture not only secured a commercial centre but also provided the Dutch with a logistical hub from which to project power deeper into the Acehnese interior.

Evacuation in the Concentration Strategy (February 1885)

Pakan-Badak was evacuated on 28 February 1885 as part of the concentration strategy. The post was not incorporated into the new geconcentreerde stelling (concentrated position) and was among the outer positions abandoned in the systematic reduction of the defensive perimeter. The evacuation proceeded with minimal casualties: 1 killed and 6 wounded. Routes to the post, including the one from Lamdjamoe, were no longer maintained by the Dutch following the evacuation.

Account from H. F. Meijer (1883) — the market post of the VI Moekims

Meijer recounts that the Dutch took possession of this market place on 31 December 1875: on a low, man-made mound west of kampong Lambassan stood two large Atjehnese market buildings, 40 by 6 metres, facing each other at twenty paces — later converted into quarters for officers and men. Around them the Dutch work was laid out as a square redoubt palisaded 46 metres with two round bastions, chicanes before every face; a good way to Sinangri was traced. Pel kept his operating force there for fourteen days for reconnaissance towards Lamdoerian and Lampagar while the work was built.

Its situation made it the door between the IV Moekims and the world of the Dutch: under the strict orders, all who went to or came from the IV Moekims had to appear at Pakan Badak with their pass, first valid for a couple of days, later for a week and a month; its patrol ground covered the valley up to Beradin and kampongs to Lampagar, the mountains to the southwest, and the ravine opposite Goera; and the ripe paddy of its sawahs was the first harvest the submitted people were officially permitted to reap unarmed, at 300 metres from the post. In the first six months the post and the district were never quiet: every stranger moving with goods between the IV Moekims and Olehleh was watched by the officials there, and in July it became the assembly point of the 2nd column of the July operation. It was the post of the commander of the western line.

Account from Verstege’s Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk (1886)

Verstege records from the Koloniaal Verslag that Pakan Badak, after Senelop and Montassik, was the last-named of the posts evacuated between 12 and 28 February 1885 in the completion of the concentration: “al onze troepen begaven zich toen binnen de nieuwe postenlinie, en hiermede was de concentratie voltooid” (“all our troops then went inside the new line of posts, and with this the concentration was completed”, see Completion of the concentrated position (March 1885)).

See Also

Sources

De Geconcentreerde Stelling in Groot-Atjeh, ‘s-Gravenhage: De Gebroeders Van Cleef, 1885, pp. 18, 28.

De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872‑1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 72‑73, 99‑100.

Verslagen der Marine‑Vereeniging III 1889‑1890, pp. 229‑233. 20260707_232246_DLP-55-De_geschiedenis_van_het_Nederlandsche_Korps_Mariniers_van_1665_1945_OCR.txt, pages 138‑141.

Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), p. 82. OCR: DLP-158.

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