Peukan Baroe was the moekim (district) near Sigli in Pidie, within the territory of uléëbalang Teukoe Béntara Pineung, that together with Peukan Sòt formed the stronghold of Habib Oesén and his hostile fortifications (bentengs). The area was the site of the conquest of Peukan Baroe-Peukan Sòt during the Sigli expedition of August 1897.
Pakan Baroe was one of the two moekims of the Pedir country from which, according to the Minister of Colonies J. T. Cremer, the Segli expedition of August 1897 was undertaken to expel the hostile bands.
The hostile positions
From the point Klapa tiga — “the three coconut trees” — shooters directed daily fire against the Dutch administrative establishment and military positions at Sigli. After two more coconut trees were destroyed, the Dutch renamed the point pap satoe (“one coconut”). The Kolonial Verslag of 1897 recorded that the indigenous population and the Dutch establishment suffered annoyance from the evil-willed persons in these moekims, resulting in bloody clashes and bold cases of sea-robbery.
The conquest (August 1897)
During the Sigli expedition, after bombardment by warships and artillery, all the bentengs in Peukan Baroe and Peukan Sòt were stormed and taken by Dutch forces under Van Heutsz on 6–10 August 1897. The defenders fled, leaving many dead, rifles, and white weapons. The bentengs were demolished and the terrain cleared.
In the debate of 1897
Answering Pijnacker Hordijk’s question whether the Dutch would be compelled to go further into Pedir and Gighen, Cremer referred to what had happened at Segli: “daar heeft men denzelfden toestand ongeveer als in het Pedirsche; de vorsten aan de kust zijn ons niet vijandig gezind, maar zij zijn niet krachtig genoeg om de in de Tanawaqt of in de VII Moekims samengestroomde Delama-benden te verjagen, en daarom heeft de expeditie naar Segli plaats gehad; niet om Segli zelf te nemen, maar wel om de vijandelijke benden uit de moekims Pakan Baroe en Pokan Soth te verjagen.”
“Dat is geschied,” he continued; after the expulsion the chief of that district had taken the land under his own management, and it was not at all necessary to keep the place occupied. Only from the fixed post of Segli was daily supervision maintained over the swept district, to which the population was gradually returning.
Significance
The case of Pakan Baroe was Cremer’s model for the treatment of the whole coast: not conquest and occupation, but the clearing of hostile bands from a district, followed by the restoration of the local chief’s administration under distant supervision. He stated that should similar clearances become necessary in the interior or elsewhere, they would be carried out, and that the completion of the steam tram to Selimoen would then be of great advantage to the troops.
See Also
- Peukan Sòt
- Sigli
- Habib Oesén
- Sigli expedition (August 1897)
- Conquest of Peukan Baroe-Peukan Sòt (August 1897)
- Pidië
- Klapa tiga
- Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz
- Pokan Soth
- Segli
- Pedir
- Delama-benden
- Tanawaqt
- J. T. Cremer
- 1897
Sources
H. T. Damsté, “Drie Atjeh-Mannen,” Kolonial Tijdschrift, No. 4, 26e Jaargang (1937), pp. 364–366; Kolonial Verslag 1897, Hoofdstuk C53, p. 11.
Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898, uitgave van de Sociaaldemokratische Arbeiderspartij in Nederland (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br P95-178, p. 55.
Acknowledgement of sources. This article combines material from the publications cited above; the material newly added derives from Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897) and Een strijd in Atjeh (Rotterdam: N.V. Drukkerij Korteweg for the Vereeniging „SIMAVI”, 1934). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.