Poelò Raja was the island off the west coast of Atjeh where, in July 1902, the real administrative work of H. N. A. Swart began. It was “a relatively small island that was practically pacified, but with, on the mainland, an extensive field for action in which numerous well-known band leaders and their bands put main prang (the war game) into practice.”
Swart as Civil Authority
On 17 July 1902 Swart was relieved of the government of the sub-division sagi of the XXV Moekims and the southern settlements and charged with the government of the sub-division Poelò Raja with the title of Civiel Gezaghebber. He was honourably relieved on 12 October 1903 and transferred to Lho’ Seumawè.
For communication between his station and the mainland Swart even disposed of a “ship of war”, which he used above all for nocturnal crossings and thus for the element of surprise.
It was at Poelò Raja that Swart formulated the administrative principles that would govern the rest of his career, and there that his first clash with Van Daalen occurred: Van Daalen, visiting as acting Assistant Resident of the Onderhoorigheden and taking part in a patrol, judged that an oelèëbalang who paid his respects in the customary manner had shown insufficient respect, which Swart could not see. According to van Heutsz matters at Poelò Raja had all been “veel te slap,” and Swart was instructed to act differently and above all more vigorously in various respects — though “Van Heutsz’s ‘vigorous action’ … does not mean the same thing as the ‘vigorous action’ of his successor Van Daalen.”
Van Heutsz once noted on Swart’s journal, when Swart was commander of the 5th Division of the marechaussée and Civil Authority at Poelò Raja: “now it is time for Captain Swart to go to Teunòm” — beneath which Swart promptly wrote: “Captain Swart will judge that for himself.”
Later
In 1908 there was a great shortage of plough cattle in Poelò Raja and Meulaboh, and eighteen thousand guilders were made available for the purchase of buffaloes. In the administrative reorganisation Poelò Raja was among the sub-divisions placed under a civil administrator in 1909. Van Heutsz recorded in July 1908 that Boreel “in the Poelò Raja district” travelled without military escort and reported it now and then without receiving any remark.
See Also
- H. N. A. Swart
- Gotfried Coenraad Ernst van Daalen
- Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz
- Westkust van Atjeh
- Corps of Military Constabulary of Atjeh and Dependencies
- Lho’ Seumawè
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
Source
Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter IV, pp. 22–23; Chapter IX, p. 91; Chapter XIII, p. 132; Chapter XV, p. 145; Extract from the service record, p. 172.