Sabang

Sabang was the free port and coaling station developed on the northern bay of Poeloe We, the island off the northern tip of Acheh, by the Netherlands Indies Government and the Sabang Company from the 1880s onward. Conceived as the only Atjehnese free port and promoted as a rival to Penang and Singapore, it never captured the regional entrepôt trade its founders predicted, but established itself instead as one of the most important bunkering stations in the East Indies, commanding the shipping lanes between Europe and the trading ports of the East.

The island and its occupation (1884–1887)

The harbour was laid out in the northern bay of Poeloe We, an island that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had served the Sultanate of Acheh as a penal colony and that in the nineteenth century held only a very small permanent population on its southern side. The island retained importance for Acheh chiefly because it yielded sulphur, which the warlike sultanate needed for the manufacture of gunpowder. The Netherlands Indies Government took the island into possession in 1884, building a small coal jetty that year on the southern bay of Lhok Balohan and appointing a head official for the island. The Balohan bay proved unsatisfactory for shipping, and a commission sent out in 1887 concluded that the bay at Sabang was the better site.

Conception as an ocean harbour

In 1887 the Batavia-based firm De Lange received a concession to establish a coal station at the Sabang bay; the head of the firm, Van Oosterzee, is remembered in the source as the “spiritual father of Sabang.” The idea of Sabang as an ocean harbour was first propagated vigorously by the then Major Van Heutsz in his 1892 brochure “The Subjugation of Atjeh”, which urged the colony to exploit the island’s natural advantages by opening it as the only Atjehnese free port, from which he expected formidable competition with Penang.

That competition did not materialise as predicted. The long-standing trade between Acheh and Penang — which had built up a standing line of credit for the traders of the coastal districts among their Penang correspondents — together with the limited staying power of the Dutch capital then interested in Acheh’s commerce, kept the import and export trade in its established channels. The transfer of that trade from Penang to Sabang foreseen by Van Heutsz scarcely occurred; only a portion of the trade of the cultivation district on the East Coast of Sumatra was drawn to the new port.

Opening and early growth (1897–1903)

Sabang was opened as a free port for general trade in 1897. A year later, in 1898, the N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang was incorporated and took over the business of the firm De Lange. The beginnings were modest: in 1895 the place still meant little commercially; two simple coal jetties were built for the concession-holder in 1896; and in 1898 a government dry dock of 3,000 tons gross capacity was stationed there, later passing to the Sabang Company under a servitude guaranteeing free docking to Government vessels.

The decisive advance came in 1903, when the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland undertook to route its ships via Sabang rather than Padang, and the Packet Service likewise brought the harbour into its contractual services — giving Sabang direct communication with Europe and the Indian trading ports. The port had been linked by telegraph cable to Oelèë Lheuë as early as 1897; a direct cable to Medan followed in 1912, and in 1911 a radio-telegraphic station — described as among the most powerful in all of East Asia — was established there.

Harbour works and installations

Growing traffic forced continual investment in the harbour and its equipment: a hotel for the passenger service from Acheh and the East Coast of Sumatra, houses and coolie quarters for the expanding workforce, and for the goods trade a breakwater, quay walls, warehouses, trading jetties, coal sheds and coal jetties. A small seaworthy passenger boat maintained the connection between Sabang and Oelèë Lheuë, the starting point of the Atjeh tram, whose landing jetty had to be lengthened for the ferry. The ferry and the warehouses at Oelèë Lheuë were taken over by a daughter company, the Atjeh Transport Maatschappij, which held a privileged position in Government river transport.

For the coal trade the company built large modern installations, including a self-trimming bunker lighter with belt conveyor handling about 150 tons an hour, a lighter with a grab crane of about 100 tons an hour, and several transborders. Alongside the 3,000-ton dry dock there stood an ice factory, a gas factory, an electrically pumped water supply that also served ships, oil tanks, locomotive cranes, slipways for building lighters and small boats, and a large repair workshop able to turn out castings as large as bridge parts for Deli. Some 400 Javanese contract coolies were housed in a camp with its own sick bay, alongside dwellings for Chinese free labourers, the contract system for the latter having been abandoned.

The coal and transit trade

The delivery of steam coal to ships remained the most important part of the company’s business. Coal deliveries grew from 19,000 tons in 1900 to about 130,000 tons in 1906 and a plateau of 210,000 tons in 1912 and 1913, before the war reduced them to 176,000 tons in 1914 and 135,000 in 1915. Until 1899 only Ombilin and Cardiff coal were stored; competition with Colombo, Penang and Singapore then made it necessary to import Bengalese coal, and the standard blend of Bengalese and Ombilin coal in a 2:1 ratio — the “Sabang mixture” — became well regarded in the steamship service.

Before the war the company held contracts with some 130 steamship lines, and the station was preferred to Penang and Singapore: at Penang ships had to wait for the tide, and at Singapore night entry was forbidden, whereas at Sabang the harbour and its lighting allowed vessels to enter at any hour and to bunker day and night with the least loss of time. As a trading harbour its scale can be gauged from the (admittedly incomplete) trade values: imports rose from about f 9,820,000 in 1911 to f 12,956,000 in 1914, while exports climbed more steeply, from about f 9,013,000 in 1911 to f 23,669,000 in 1914.

A transit harbour without a hinterland

By nature Sabang was a transit harbour, lying on a small island with no real hinterland. Its founders hoped that the flourishing of the East Coast of Sumatra and the expected development of Acheh as a cultivation and mining area might in time supply one. The planned ocean harbour at Belawan was not expected to do Sabang much harm — the example of Port Swettenham, whose rise had not injured Penang or Singapore, was cited — since in world shipping the decisive question was which harbour was best placed and served most quickly and cheaply, nationality counting for little. The special trading conditions expected to follow the war were thought likely to strengthen Sabang’s position against competing foreign ports.

Significance

Sabang stands as a case of a colonial port that failed in its declared purpose yet succeeded in another. The “illusion” of supplanting Penang and Singapore as the entrepôt of the region was never realised, and the old credit-bound trade with Penang held firm; but by exploiting Pulo We’s deep, all-hours anchorage and the new ocean routes of the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland and the Packet Service, Sabang made itself indispensable as a coaling and transit station on the approach to the Strait of Malacca. It is the clearest expression of how Dutch power, once it had brought Acheh under control, sought to convert the conquest into a commercial gateway.

Sabang as an internment site, 1905–1908

Beyond its role as a commercial harbour, Sabang served during the governorship of Van Daalen (1905–1908) as a site for the arbitrary internment of local chiefs and their families. Van Daalen frequently sent oelèëbalangs — sometimes along with their wives and children — to Sabang without any judicial process; the internment was often indefinite, and Van Daalen claimed such measures were necessary to maintain control. Van Heutsz’s investigation in 1907 as part of the Atjéh-enquête found that in many cases the individuals interned had committed no offence; the internments were arbitrary and not based on the legal provisions of Article 47 of the Regeeringsreglement; and families were separated and left without means of support. Van Heutsz condemned the practice and ordered it ended. After Van Daalen’s removal in 1908, Sabang ceased to be used as an internment site for political prisoners, reverting to its original functions as a naval and coaling station. The episode exemplified the abuses of the Van Daalen era and highlighted the tension between the governor’s discretionary powers and the rule of law.

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Sabang

Sabang was the great ocean harbour and free port established in 1897 on the Sabangbaai of the island of Poeloe We, at the northern tip of Sumatra — the colonial venture that van Heutsz had, in his 1892 brochure De Onderwerping van Atjeh, pressed upon the Government as a competitor to Penang for the trade of northern Sumatra, and which the N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang (the Sabang Maatschappij) operated, after 1898, as the only vrijhaven of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. De Buitenbezittingen devotes an extended chapter to its installations and finances, while conceding that “de grootsche toekomstdroomen van Sabang als handels-emporium voor geheel Noord-Sumatra niet verwezenlijkt hebben” — the grand dream of Sabang as the trade-emporium of all Northern Sumatra was never realised.

Origins, 1884–1898

The Dutch flag was first hoisted over Pulo We in 1884, when a small kolenloods (coal-shed) was built on the Zuidbaai (Lhoʼ Balohan) and a hoofd appointed; an 1887 commission under De Lange concluded that the Noordbaai — the Sabangbaai — was the more serviceable anchorage. The Bataviaasche firma De Lange & Co. received that year the concession for a kolenstation, and De Lange’s Chef van Oosterzee is named by De Buitenbezittingen as “de geestelijken vader van Sabang” — the spiritual father of Sabang. Van Heutsz, then a major, propagated the project in 1892. In 1897 the haven was opened as a vrijhaven for general trade, and in 1898 the N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang was founded, taking over De Lange’s business. A Gouvernements-dok of 3,000-ton capacity, stationed from 1898, later passed into the Maatschappij’s ownership under servitude of free docking for Government vessels.

The Sabang Maatschappij

The Maatschappij held, by 1917, extensive mechanical installations for the bunkering of steamers — self-trimming bunker-lichters with band-transporteurs capable of handling 150 tons per hour, lighter cranes of 2,000–3,000 kg, four transbordcranes, and a 3,000-ton droogdok ceded in ownership by the Gouvernement. In 1903 the Stoomv. Mij. Nederland committed to routing via Sabang rather than Padang; the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij|K.P.M. followed; and by 1911 the island possessed a radio-telegrafisch station described as the most powerful in East Asia. A telegraphkabel had already, in 1897, connected Sabang with Oelèë Lheuë, and in 1912 a direct cable to Medan was added.

Coal and dividends

The kolenbedrijf grew from 19,000 tons delivered in 1900 to a peak of 210,000 tons in 1912–1913, before the war brought a drop to 135,000 tons in 1915. The customary mixture was the so-called Sabang-mixture of two parts Bengaalsche to one part Ombilin-kolen. Dividends on shares of ƒ1,000 rose from ƒ82.50 in 1910 to ƒ125 in 1913, with additional winstaandeel to the Gouvernement under St. 1910 No. 56. The Gouvernement acquired the kaaimuren, steigers, and corps-morts of the haven in 1909 for roughly ƒ1,200,000 and now maintains them itself; the Maatschappij pays a yearly pacht of 3¼ % on the original purchase plus extension costs.

Harbour Traffic Statistics (1904–1913)

The growth of Sabang’s port is strikingly illustrated by the shipping statistics from the period:

Year	Ships Arrived	Gross Tonnage (M³)
1904	588	1,869,000
1908	794	3,429,000
1910	890	4,337,000
1912	1,016	5,507,000
1913	1,061	5,874,000

(Source: Mededeelingen Encyclopaedisch Bureau, p. 308)

Between 1904 and 1913, the number of ships nearly doubled while gross tonnage more than tripled. The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s comparative table of the six principal Indische havens breaks the 1913 figure down as 559 ships from abroad (4,664,000 M³) and 350 ships from inland (1,181,000 M³) — a total of 909 ships (5,845,000 M³), or 1,061 ships (5,874,000 M³) including stroomschepen. The growth between 1909 and 1913 — from 84 ships from abroad (3,841,000 M³) to 559 — is the most dramatic of any of the six principal Indische havens in the Bureau’s table. The Bureau concludes that “the Sabanghaven has, in the short duration of its existence (Sabang Maatschappij founded 1898), as oceaanhaven taken an enormous flight, and now already occupies the first place, as far as concerns the immediate foreign traffic, and the fourth place for the total traffic, compared with all other harbours in the Archipelago.”

Sabang and the Aroe-baai-plannen

The Bureau’s account of the Aroe-baai-plannen of 1913 identifies Sabang as one of the three principal competitors that the projected Arube Bay harbour was designed to rival: “the defenders of the Aroe-baai-plannen, who see in this natural harbour [of Arube Bay] a competitor of Belawan and even of Singapore and Sabang.” This places the Aroe-baai project in the context of the wider ambition to develop the Atjehnese coast as a deep-water harbour region — of which Sabang itself was the principal existing realisation.

The Radio-kuststation at Sabang

The Bureau’s account of the radio-kuststation (radio coastal station) at Sabang notes that the station “has little significance for trade, but so much the more for shipping. In 1913 it obtained 3,809 connections with ship stations, while telegrams were exchanged with 737 of these.” The radio-kuststation at Sabang is one of the principal radio stations of the Buitenbezittingen — alongside those at Koepang and Amboina — and was the principal radio station serving the Atjehnese coast.

Economic and Strategic Role

The development of Sabang served multiple colonial purposes simultaneously:

• Commercial hub: Sabang served as a critical transshipment and refuelling point for the K.P.M. and other international shipping companies, connecting the recently pacified region of Atjeh to global trade networks.
• Strategic value: Its deep-water port, accessible at any hour, gave the Dutch navy a secure base commanding the northern approach to the Malacca Strait.
• Export gateway: Sabang served as the primary export outlet for the developing plantation economy of the Atjeh and Dependencies — rubber, pepper, and copra from the east coast were transported to Sabang for onward shipment abroad.
• Tax revenue: A toll was levied on the export of products from the island of Weh, contributing to the colonial revenue of the gewest.

Account from Atjèh and the War with Japan (1949) — Sabang

Sabang is the strategic island harbour off the northern tip of Atjèh, the free-port town on the bay of Poeloe Wè whose airfield, harbour works and oil and gasoline supplies made it — together with Koetaradja — one of the two great strategic objectives of the 1942 Japanese invasion of Atjèh, and where, after three and a half years of Japanese naval occupation, the English fleet reappeared in August 1945 and the Amacab (Allied Military Administration Civil Affairs Branch) landed to restore Dutch authority in northern Sumatra. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan treats Sabang as the focal point of the aerial war against Atjèh, the one subdistrict of Atjèh where the Japanese occupation “would proceed peacefully,” and the eventual Allied bridgehead at the capitulation.

The pre-war island

Of the 8,700 inhabitants who constituted the entire population of the island, “almost 7000 lived in the sub-department headquarters,” and “the Acehnese the rural population was thus far in the minority compared to the population of the subdistrict headquarters, in which the non-Acehnese element held a predominant position.” Of the four independent moekims (Sabang, Balóhan, Ibóih and Paja) from which the directly governed island consisted, “the moekim Sabang or Ië Meulè, in which the subdistrict headquarters was located, was by far the most important.” The sub-district of Sabang “as the only sub-district in Aceh had a flourishing Parindra branch, in which however again mainly the non-Acehnese personnel of the mental hospital, Sabang society and other intellectuals had united.” The Taman-Siswa school association had schools in Atjèh “only in a few places, e.g. in Koetaradja and Sabang.” The mental hospital counted more than 1,400 patients.

The bombing of January 1942

After the declaration of war on 8 December 1941, “the unexpectedly rapid course of the battle immediately placed Sabang in an advanced strategic position.” An English torpedo boat destroyer and auxiliary cruisers took charge of maritime defence; in the coconut plantations a barrack camp was prepared for the Royal Air Force. “On 18 January the first air attack took place, after which the bombings repeated themselves with a frequency of four to five attack days per week until the arrival of the enemy.” Piekaar records that the “strategically important Sabang was repeatedly bombed, most heavily on 22 January 1942.” The workers on the quay and in the workshops of the N.V. Zeehaven and Sabang coal station “felt like trapped rats”; the hills obstructed the view, so an observation post was established on one of the highest peaks of the island. The state mobilisation council “initially considered an evacuation guided by the government unnecessary. A so-called ‘dispersal plan’ would suffice.”

The Japanese landing

When the Japanese attack was launched in the night of 11 to 12 March 1942, “the English naval units and the personnel of the R.A.F. had left the island” and Dutch troop strength had been reduced to two brigades under 1st lieutenant A. C. Verhoeff. The Aceh aircraft watch, appointed by the independent moekim head of Balóhan, reported by telephone “the appearance of the Japanese fleet in the Balóhanbaai on the southern side of the island Wè.” Lieutenant Verhoeff left the island by motorboat; the remaining troops were “considered attached to the administration, charged with field police services.” “No resistance was therefore offered. The airfield, harbor, oil and gasoline supplies fell undamaged into the hands of the enemy. No trace of an F-movement was detected, and no disturbances occurred. Sabang became a Japanese naval base and remained so until 31 August 1945.”

The capitulation of August 1945

When the Japanese capitulation came on 14 August 1945, the preparations for the Allied invasion were in full swing; a “party” of the “1.3.6. force” under B. W. Lefrandt was already located in the mountainous region of Seulimeum. “Still in August the English fleet appeared before Sabang and a temporary naval base was established on Sabang. Also the Dutch navy and the Dutch administration, the latter as part of the Amacab, made their entry.” The thousands of enterprise workers from Atjèh, East Sumatra and Tapanoeli who on the island had performed slave labour for the Japanese army were transferred to the mainland. The Allies’ hesitation to push the occupation inland meant that, throughout the early republican period, Sabang — together with Medan, Padang and Palembang — remained one of the few footholds of direct Allied authority in Sumatra.

Account from Dispereert Niet Vol. XI (1946) — Sabang

Sabang is a city on Pulau Weh, a small island off the north coast of Aceh in Sumatra. Its deep-water harbor, one of the best in the region, was developed by the Dutch after the pacification of Aceh and became a major refueling station for international shipping.

Strategic Importance

Sabang’s location at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca made it strategically important for controlling maritime trade routes. The harbor could accommodate large ships and had the potential to serve as a naval base.

Development

After the Aceh War ended, the Dutch constructed modern harbor facilities at Sabang. The port became a stopping point for ships traveling between Europe and East Asia.

Later History

Sabang remains an important port and naval station to the present day. Its strategic location has kept it relevant in both colonial and independent Indonesia.

Account from Als officier van gezondheid naar Nederlandsch-Indië (Wøller) — a physician’s arrival

Dr. Johan Wøller, a Danish physician bound for service in the Netherlands-Indies army, entered the East Indies through Sabang’s harbour in early 1904. Having heard, at a stop in Colombo, the news of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in February 1904, “some days later they entered the new harbor of Sabang. Netherlands-Indies, the tropics, the land where the adventure awaited him and his young wife, was reached.” From Sabang, Wøller continued by sea to Atjeh en Onderhorigheden, which he reached in April 1904.

Account from Atlas van Nederland en de Indiën (1930) — the schoolroom haven

The *Atlas van Nederland en de Indiën* of G. Prop — a schoolroom geography of the Indies — names Sabang as “voor de kust de belangrijke haven Sabang” in the chapter on Sumatra, in the context of the description of Atjeh. The entry records that “In Atjeh voerden de Nederlanders sedert 1873 oorlog: nu is er vrede en komt weer welvaart. Atjeh levert peper” (“In Atjeh the Dutch waged war since 1873: now there is peace and prosperity returns. Atjeh produces pepper”), and adds that the chief town of Atjeh is Kota-Radja, “voor de kust de belangrijke haven Sabang” (“before the coast, the important harbour Sabang”). Sabang is thus fixed, in the schoolroom memory of 1930, as the principal commercial haven of the Atjeh residency.

Account from Vierhonderd jaren missie (1934) — the Catholic mission station

The mission jubilee volume of 1934 records, in the chapter on the Catholic mission of Koeta Radja-Atjeh, that “Sabang wordt ook geregeld van deze statie uit bediend” (“Sabang is also regularly served from this station”). The phrase fixes Sabang as a station of the Koeta Radja mission — a port-of-call visited at regular intervals by the priest of Koeta Radja for the ministration of the Catholic personnel of the harbour and the shipping.

Account from Melati en rotan (1947) — the poem “Anak Laoet”

The *Melati en rotan* collection of F. Kunst contains the poem “Anak Laoet” (“Child of the Sea”), whose second stanza fixes Sabang as a place of resort for ships’ passengers on the Europe–East-Asia route:

“Niet ver van Sabangs schoon belijnde bocht Droomt er een meertje, ‘Kin der Zee’ geheeten, Dat ‘k tweemaal zag en nimmer zal vergeten, Door bosch bezoomd en zelden maar bezocht.”

The poem’s setting — the lake Kin der Zee “near Sabang’s beautifully contoured bay” — fixes Sabang as a place known to the colonial reader of 1947 by the scenic quality of its bay. The poem’s reference to the steamers that call at Sabang for bunkering (“wanneer bij Indië’s toegangspoort / Een schip op uit- of thuisreis ligt te bunk’ren”) is the documentary evidence of the haven’s function as a coaling-station on the sea-route. The scenic bocht (bay) of Sabang is, in the colonial literary memory fixed by Kunst’s poem, the most visible scenic landmark of the Atjeh coast in the Dutch-colonial imagination.

Account from DLP-84-Atjeh — the only natural harbour and the mail-ship station

The DLP-84-Atjeh pamphlet describes Sabang as the only natural harbour of Acheh, located on the island of Poeloe Weh (Poelau Weh). In the early twentieth century a coal station (kolenstation (coaling station)) was established there, intended to serve mail ships (mail steamers) travelling to the East — destinations explicitly named as Singapore, China and the broader Indies. Although the harbour attracted some traffic, its full potential was only partially realised. The harbour also featured a dock and repair facilities for ships — the pamphlet recording that the vessel J. P. Coen of the Stoomvaart Maatschappij “Nederland” (the Mij. “Nederland”) was among the ships docked there. Sabang’s sheltered bay made it a logical point for refuelling and repairs, but the lack of a fully developed port limited its growth.

Account from De onderwerping van Atjeh (Van Heutsz, 1893)

In Van Heutsz’s 1893 tract De onderwerping van Atjeh, Sabang — Poeloe Waij in Van Heutsz’s spelling, in modern Indonesian Pulau Weh — is the island off the north coast of Atjeh whose deep-water northern bay Van Heutsz proposed, in the closing prescription of the tract, as the site of a Dutch marine station and free port — een groot maritiem station op dien internationalen waterweg (a great maritime station on that international waterway) — that would sideline the British free ports of Penang and Singapore as the commercial entrepôt of the entire Atjehnese rijk. (Van Heutsz had first propagated the Sabang idea vigorously in his 1892 brochure — see the section above on conception as an ocean harbour.)

The island: tanah waqf under direct Dutch rule

The constitutional status of Sabang (Poeloe Waij) was, in Van Heutsz’s diagnosis, that of tanah waqf — a religious endowment-land the Regeering had long declared to be under direct Dutch rule. Van Heutsz records the status in his catalogue of the hoeloebalang federation of the island:

“Poeloe Waij is tanah waqf, dat de Regeering al lang verklaard heeft onder rechtstreeksch bestuur te houden. De inkomsten van het eiland werden echter volgens de Makota alam- voor een gedeelte getrokken door enkele hoofden van moekims in het Noorden der XXVI Moekims, aan zee gelegen” (Poeloe Waij is tanah waqf, which the Regeering has long declared to be under direct administration. The incomes of the island were, however, according to the Adat al-Muluk — for a portion drawn by certain chiefs of the moekims in the North of the XXVI Moekims, situated on the sea).

The tanah waqf status — the island as a religious endowment of the sultan — was the constitutional form by which the Regeering had long claimed direct Dutch rule over Sabang. The operational reality was, however, that the inkomsten (incomes) of the island were, volgens de Makota alam (according to the Adat al-Muluk), partly drawn by various chiefs of the northern moekims of the XXVI Moekims — chiefs who, in some cases, niet tot de XXVI Moekims behoorden, maar stonden rechtstreeks onder den sultan (did not belong to the XXVI Moekims but stood directly under the sultan).

The pepper-gardens and the hoeloebalang federation

The island’s economic life was, in Van Heutsz’s diagnosis, its pepper-gardens — de pepertuinen op P. Waij — whose produce was of better quality than the pepper of the Westkust. Van Heutsz records the pepper-quality: de uitvoer van peper van Poeloe Waij, welke van nog betere qualiteit is dan de peper van de Westkust (the export of pepper from Poeloe Waij, which is of even better quality than the pepper of the Westkust). The pepertuinen were the constitutional theatre of the T. Nja Makam sub-plot: the bendehoofd Nja Makam, op de Oostkust van Sumatra wel bekend (well-known on the East Coast of Sumatra), was a half-brother of the lawful hoeloebalang of Lamnga and T. Nja Daoed panglima Moeda Setia, and his claim on the Paja/Waiy inheritance was the family-tie Van Heutsz proposed to exploit as the lever to coerce him. The hoeloebalang federation of the island — Lamnga, Oedjoeng Sekeh, Ajer Melih, Anak Item, Paja, Balohan — was the constitutional sub-structure whose rivalries the Dutch were to manipulate.

The 1893 prescription: a Dutch marine station and free port

The closing prescription of Van Heutsz’s 1893 tract proposed Sabang (Poeloe Waij) as the site of a Dutch marine station and free port on the great trade-route from Europe to China, Japan, and Australia:

“Ook werkt men daardoor het grootsche plan niet in de hand met P. Waij beoogd, dat door zijne uitmuntende ligging op den grooten handelsweg uit Europa naar China, Japan, Australie en omgekeerd al sedert jaren de aandacht trok van den groothandel en de nijverheid, ook van andere Europeesche natiën, om daar met een flink kapitaal een groot maritiem station op dien internationalen waterweg op te richten” (One thereby also does not further the great plan envisaged with P. Waij, which by its excellent position on the great trade-route from Europe to China, Japan, Australia and back has for years attracted the attention of great commerce and industry, also of other European nations, to establish there with a sound capital a great maritime station on that international waterway).

The grootsche plan (great plan) was, in Van Heutsz’s diagnosis, the commercial-geographic opportunity the weifelende Hollanders (hesitating Dutch) had long neglected: the island’s uitmuntende ligging op den grooten handelsweg uit Europa naar China, Japan, Australie en omgekeerd (excellent position on the great trade-route from Europe to China, Japan, Australia and back) had al sedert jaren de aandacht trok van den groothandel en de nijverheid, ook van andere Europeesche natiën (for years attracted the attention of the great commerce and industry, also of other European nations). The proposed groot maritiem station op dien internationalen waterweg was, in Van Heutsz’s argument, the commercial-geographic instrument by which the Dutch could sideline the British free ports of Penang and Singapore and convert the Atjehnese rijk into a Dutch-controlled commercial entrepôt.

The northern bay and the expert examination

The specific site Van Heutsz proposed was the Noordelijke baai (northern bay) of Sabang — what is, in modern geography, Sabang Bay. The prescription calls for a deskundig onderzoek (expert examination) to verify the bay’s commercial-geographic advantages:

“Blijkt bij nader van Regeeringswege te houden deskundig onderzoek, kort en zakelijk te verrichten om geen tijd te verliezen, P. Waij’s Noordelijke baai werkelijk alle voordeelen en gemakken aan te bieden, die de concessionarissen opgeven en die noodzakelijk zijn voor eene dergelijke inrichting op groote schaal, dan is het voor Nederland van het uiterste belang dat schoone plan zoo krachtig mogelijk te steunen” (If, on a closer expert examination to be held by the Regeering — to be carried out briefly and concisely so as not to lose time — P. Waij’s Northern Bay actually offers all the advantages and facilities that the concessionaries state and that are necessary for such an establishment on a great scale, then it is of the utmost importance for the Netherlands to support that fine plan as powerfully as possible).

The Noordelijke baai was, in the prescription, to be the site of eene dergelijke inrichting op groote schaal — such an establishment on a great scale — equipped met alle hulpmiddelen, die handel en zeevaart tot dusverre alleen te Singapore aantreffen (with all the resources that commerce and shipping have hitherto found only at Singapore). The proposed marine-station was, in Van Heutsz’s argument, the commercial counterpart to the scheepvaartregeling: just as the scheepvaartregeling placed the Dutch on the geldkist van Atjeh (cash-box of Atjeh), the marine-station on the Noordelijke baai would place the Dutch on the great trade-route between Europe and East Asia, with Sabang as the new Singapore.

One of only two vrijhavens of the rijk

The marine-station on Sabang was, in Van Heutsz’s prescription, to be — together with Olehleh — one of only two vrijhavens (free ports) of the entire Atjehnese rijk: moet dan niet alleen die vestiging op Waij eene vrijhaven zijn, maar met Oleh-leh de eenige vrijhaven van het geheele gebied (not only must that establishment on Waij be a free port, but with Oleh-leh the only free port of the entire territory). The two-vrijhaven arrangement — Sabang on the north coast, Oleh-leh on the Groot-Atjeh river-mouth — was, in Van Heutsz’s diagnosis, the commercial counterpart of the scheepvaartregeling: while the scheepvaartregeling levied duties at all the open ports of the Onderhoorigheden, the two vrijhavens were to be duty-free, the commercial poles around which the Atjehnese trade would concentrate. The Nederlandsche vestiging op Waij would, Van Heutsz argued, de bron worden, waaruit geheel Groot-Atjeh voor den invoerhandel putten zal (become the source from which all of Groot-Atjeh would draw for its import-trade), and a vlugge stoomdienst (fast steam-service) between Sabang and Oleh-leh would link the two vrijhavens into a single commercial system.

The garrison: 100 onderofficieren en minderen

The Sabang post was, in Van Heutsz’s prescription, to be garrisoned with 100 onderofficieren en minderen (non-commissioned officers and men) — the same garrison-allotment as Telok Semawe and Samalanga, and heavier than the 75-man allotment of Telok Kroet (Poeloe Raja) and Tampat Toean. Van Heutsz records the garrison-prescription: Deze besparing reeds voldoende om te voorzien in de opterichten posten Telok Semawé, Samalanga, Poeloe Waij ieder 100, Telok Kroet (Poeloe Raija) en Tampat Toean ieder 75 onderofficieren en minderen (This saving already sufficient to provide for the posts to be erected Telok Semawé, Samalanga, Poeloe Waij each 100, Telok Kroet (Poeloe Raja) and Tampat Toean each 75 non-commissioned officers and men). The 100-man garrison was, in Van Heutsz’s argument, insufficient: Om voor de bezetting van Poeloe Waij slechts 2 luitenants en 75 man te bestemmen, zooals ik vermeen dat in beginsel is aangenomen, acht ik niet goed, daar Poeloe Waij een van de gewichtigste posten wordt (To allot for the garrison of Poeloe Waij only 2 lieutenants and 75 men, as I understand has been adopted in principle, I consider not good, because Poeloe Waij becomes one of the most important posts).

The blokhuis Sabang: a separate reference

The name Sabang also appears in Van Heutsz’s text as the name of a blokhuis (blockhouse) on the bestaande linie of Groot-Atjeh — a separate place-name from the island of Poeloe Waij. The blokhuizen Sabang en Pagani are recorded in the garrison-prescription as blockhouses to be lifted later: Later kunnen ook de blokhuizen Sabang en Pagani gemist worden, het laatste al vrij spoedig (Later the blockhouses Sabang and Pagani can also be dispensed with, the latter fairly soon). The blokhuis Sabang on the Groot-Atjeh linie is to be distinguished from the island of Sabang (Poeloe Waij): the blokhuis is on the Groot-Atjeh defensive linie, while the island is the site of the proposed marine-station and free port. The two share only the name.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)

The Sabang-Mij — the Sabang Maatschappij — was the company that operated the harbour of Sabang on the island of Pulau Weh, and the parent of the Atjeh Transport-Mij. The Atjeh Transport-Mij, a subsidiary of the Sabang-Mij, operates the praow-service at Oelèë Lheuë, and has besides a small steamer which calls at the trading-pier at Oeleleh to bring or fetch goods and passengers.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)

Sabang — the chief place of the island of Pulau Weh off the north-western tip of Sumatra — was established in the early civilian period as ‘een station in zee met een toekomst’ — a station at sea with a future — and was the principal port of call of the Kon. Paketvaart at the northern entrance to the Straits of Malacca. The first ship of the Kon. Paketvaart-Mij., the Nederland, was greeted there by the governor in September 1903 — the Willem III. Sabang was outside the toll-area: ‘Sabang is buiten het tolgebied, evenzoo Riouw en Bengkalis.‘

The Leprosarium

Lepers from the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden are housed in the former military hospital at Sabang, where they are cared for under the supervision of a government doctor by Ambonese nurses. There are about fifty patients admitted. Consideration has been given to transferring the care of that institution to the Leger des Heils (Salvation Army). The frequent insanity in Atjeh led to an investigation in 1920, by an expert in mental diseases, into the necessity of a lunatic asylum in Atjeh. Although the governor of Atjeh proposed to build a central institution for the treatment of lunatics at Lam Teumet in Seulimeum, the government, for the sake of economy, did not consent; but recently it has approved that the former military hospital at Sabang be fitted up for the admission of lunatics who require institutional care.

The Atjeh-Tram and the Harbour

The Atjeh-tram line runs from Oelèë Lheuë in the south to Pangkalan Soesoe in the south-east. Cattle from Groot-Atjeh, the centre of which is Seulimeum, goes by tram to Sabang and to Medan. For Medan the cattle are usually loaded at Lam Baró, a halt further on, and the tram then brings them to Besitang. From there the cattle are led by road to Medan, because a longer train-journey would be harmful to the animals.

Significance

Sabang is the principal harbour of call at the northern entrance to the Straits of Malacca, and the principal institution of the colonial government in Atjeh for the care of lepers and lunatics. Its free-port status made it an exception to the toll-regime of the rest of the gewest.

Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)

On 14 December 1909 Swart went to Sabang to pay his respects to the new Governor-General Idenburg, who approved his political conduct entirely and promised all possible support, asking him expressly to take no notice of the press campaign against him. On 22 December he was at Sabang again “to say goodbye to the retiring Governor-General, my unforgettable teacher (Van Heutsz). His Excellency was in high spirits and left the Indies with a contented mind.”

Sources

The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.

De Europeesche Industrie [“The European Industry”], section De Buitenbezittingen (“The Outer

Possessions”), in Grooten van Zee en Land in Nederlandsch-Indië, Vol. 6, pp. 243–244 (English

translation from the Dutch).

De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 15–16, 25, 46–47, 243–244. ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 144, 514, 781. Coen, Koopman van Heeren Zeventien. Geschiedenis van den Hollandshen Handel in Indië (1598-1614), by Johan van der Woude (Amsterdam: C.V. Uitgeverij v/h C. De Boer Jr., 1948), Hoofdstuk V “Voorgangers, Hollanders en mededingers tot 1614. Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” (p. 113). De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 1: Sumatra, Algemeene Hoofdstukken, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), Hoofdstuk I (Oro-hydrographisch), pp. 12, 26.

Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 23, 24, 25, 47, 186, 281, 282, 283, 284, 295, 311, 329, 334, 365, 367, 368.

Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)

Sabang was the free harbour (vrijhaven) on the northern bay of the island Poelò We, north of Atjeh at the entrance of the Strait of Malakka, developed from a small government coal depot (1884) into the ocean harbour and coaling station of the Maatschappij Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang, and from 29 September 1903 a fixed call of the mail steamers of the Stoomvaart Maatschappij “Nederland” — “the first harbour-place of Netherlands India” for ships coming through the Suez Canal or around the Cape.

Early history

The attention of the Netherlands Indian government was first drawn to the island of We in the war years after 1873, when the need was felt of a good harbour near Sumatra’s North Coast suitable as operation-base, coal station and evacuation-place for sick and wounded; a government commission instituted in 1877 had to report, however, that We was then unsuitable as an evacuation place. In 1884 the Government established a small coal depot on the island’s Balohan (South) bay and appointed an oelèèbalang as head of the island; a request for exploitation addressed to the Government by a combination of trading men was declined. After a hydrographic and topographic survey in 1887 it became clear that the northern bay — the Sabang bay — was by its natural disposition the fittest, and the Batavia firm De Lange & Co, under the able leadership of J. M. H. van Oosterzee and supported by the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij, asked for and obtained a concession for the establishment of a coal station. General (then Major) J. B. van Heutsz had almost from the beginning, in word and writing, propagated Sabang’s viability (see his De onderwerping van Atjeh, 1892); critics mocked the mail-service plans as “de gril van een groot man” (“the whim of a great man”, M. van Geuns) and as “De Penangsche Hollander” (H. J. Martij).

The company harbour

In 1892 De Lange & Co contracted for the building of piers and sheds and for the delivery of coal, in the first place to the Government and War Navy but also to private parties; on 1 April 1896, when the first piers, sheds and dwellings were completed, the free harbour Sabang was opened to general trade (Langhout elsewhere dates the opening to 1895). In 1897 the exploitation passed to the specially founded N.V. “Zeehaven en Kolenstation”, directed by the Factory of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij, and powerfully continued with the support of Governor Van Heutsz. In 1901 G. C. Quarles van Ufford took the direction, and with his “inflexible faith in the future of Sabang” helped the enterprise over the dead point. The year 1903, when the first mailboat Koning Willem III was festively piloted in (see Inauguration of the Sabang mail service (1903)), was a milestone; the first administrator, C. G. Vattier Kraane, was made Knight of the Order of Oranje-Nassau. In 1904–1905, four (later five) electrically driven coal-transporters replaced coolie labour for loading and discharging. Under administrators L. L. F. de Greve and H. Smit the works steadily extended, until in 1909–1910 a fixed agreement came about with the Government: a broad strip of the company’s coastal land with all piers, sheds, factory and electric power-station passed into government ownership at cost price, the company receiving them back in long-lease (erfpacht) against a yearly canon and a share in the profits — securing the Government against the harbour ever falling under foreign control. Later expansions in the interest of trade and navigation would be paid by the Government and taken into the lease.

Situation, facilities and traffic

Sabang lay, Langhout writes, most favourably conceivable: north of Sumatra at the entrance of the Strait of Malakka, on the traffic route to and from East Asia both of ships steaming through the Suez Canal and of those coming from or going to the Cape; coal could be obtained there at prices equal to or lower than at the rival coaling stations Colombo and Singapore (from Bengal, the Ombilin fields, Natal, Japan, Australia). The Sabang bay is a splendid, wholly sheltered natural harbour, safely entered by night; bunkering proceeded at great speed by night as well, with five electric transporters and two floating bunker machines. The company kept a modern repair shop for ships, machines, electro- and combustion motors, with all ships’ necessaries in stock; a 3,000-ton floating dock and slipways for small craft, with a 5,000-ton dock under construction at the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij at Amsterdam for transport in the summer of 1923 (391’3” long, 64 English feet 7½ inch wide between the wrijf-rolls, taking ships of 19 feet draught, with a travelling electric crane lifting 5,000 kg); a fresh-water conduit, electric light, a hotel for waiting passengers, a brick- and tile-works, and a newly built hospital equipped to the latest requirements for Europeans and for the native and Chinese workforce. The Atjeh Transport Maatschappij maintained a regular service with Oelèë Lheue; the Dordtsche Petroleum Maatschappij possessed three large and one small tank for liquid fuel in the harbour; and the N.V. “Ret-Sabang” exploited a factory of triplex (tea- and rubber-) chests, with timber from Singkel. On the island Roebia in the Sabang bay a quarantine station for pilgrims returning from Mekka was set up in 1912.

Statistics and competition

The book’s traffic and turnover statistics (see Maatschappij Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang) show the growth: 181 merchant vessels and 23,122 tons of coal in 1902; 1,071 vessels and 213,351 tons (with 111,000 tons goods traffic) in 1913; the slump of the war years to 423 vessels and 33,583 tons in 1918; and recovery to 648 vessels and 113,179 tons in 1921. The opening of the ocean harbour of Belawan (Deli) cost Sabang the transhipment of Deli goods (tobacco and rubber), but many freighters formerly running along Sumatra’s West Coast now went by the East Coast to Belawan and called at the cheap crossing-point Sabang for West-Coast cargo or bunkers; Langhout concludes that both harbours have wholly different reasons of existence and that Sabang will remain of great importance — as coal station, for transhipment, docking and repair, and as harbour of the Government of Atjeh.

See Also

• 1.3.6. force
• 11 March
• 1873
• 1898
• 1903
• 1904
• 1909
• 1913
• 1919
• 1920
• 1930
• 1934
• 1941
• 1942
• 1945
• 1947
• 22 January
• 31 August
• A. C. Verhoeff
• Aceh War
• Acheh
• Amacab
• Anak Laoet (poem)
• Aroe-baai-plannen
• Aroebai
• Atjeh Transport Maatschappij
• Atjeh Transport-Mij
• Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
• Atjeh en Onderhorigheden
• Atjeh-tram
• Atjehsche moorden
• Atlas van Nederland en de Indiën (1930)
• B. W. Lefrandt
• Belawan
• Buitenbezittingen
• Catholic Mission of Koeta Radja-Atjeh
• Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
• Groot-Atjeh
• Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz
• J. B. van Heutsz
• Van Heutsz
• Johan Wøller
• Koeta Radja
• Koetaradja
• Kon. Paketvaart
• Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM)
• Kota Radja
• Kutaradja
• Lam Baró
• Lam Teumet
• Leger des Heils
• Leproserie in Atjeh
• Melati en rotan
• N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang
• Oelèë Lheue
• Opiumregie in Atjeh
• Penang
• Petroleum industry in Atjeh
• Poelau Weh
• Poeloe Wé
• Poeloe We
• Rubber Industry in Atjeh
• Sabang
• Sabang Maatschappij
• Sabang-Mij
• Seulimeum
• Strait of Malacca
• Sumatra
• The Subjugation of Atjeh (1892)
• Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
• Vierhonderd jaren missie in Nederlandsch Indië (1934)
• W. F. Palmer van den Broek
• H. N. A. Swart
• General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
• Pacificatie van Atjeh
• Atjeh
• Pulo Batee
• Pulo Breueh
• Ulee Lheue
• Meura’sa
• Banda Acheh
• Balohan
• Oelèë Lheuë
• Sultans of Atjeh
• 1884
• 1887
• 1911
• 1914
• Marine
• Oleh-leh
• H. M. Merapi
• Naval Demonstration in Kroeng-Rababaai (1–4 May 1896)
• Marine Bombardment of Lepong (25 May, 4–5, 8–9 June 1896)
• Ladoeng Landing and Glé Broeë Attack (22–23 June 1896)
• kampong Sabang
• 1896
• Paulus van Caerden
• Paulus van Caerden’s Atjeh visit (1600-1601)
• Sultan of Atjeh (1589-1604)
• Bantam
• 1601
• De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 1
• Goudberg
• Weesberg
• Poeloe Breuë
• Barisan
• Oorlogsdetachement Sabang
• Sabang bombing (22 January 1942)
• Japanese invasion of Atjèh
• 1917
• Maatschappij Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang
• Poelò We
• G. C. Quarles van Ufford
• Inauguration of the Sabang mail service (1903)
• Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

Free port at the entry point of the Dutch East Indies. Harbor establishment, coal steigers, hangars, dock (5000 ton), all of the Sabang Maatschappij. Hotel ‘de Koepel’ (the Soosje), Catholic and Protestant churches, open-air swimming pool, old kazematten (casemates). Smuggling center 1930-1934. Airfield unused except 6 Oct 1934. Has a psychiatric hospital (krankzinnigengesticht) with ~1300patients.Pulau Wehat the foot of the island’s volcano; free port of Aceh.Poelau Weh; coal station and repair yard of the N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang (‘Sabang Mij.’); used for direct shipping of copra to EuropePort and town on the island ofPoelau Weh with a natural deep-water bay. Originally an operation base, coal station, and evacuation site for wounded/sick. Opened as a free port (vrijhaven) on 4 April 1896. Site of the N.V. ‘Vrijhaven en Kolenstation Sabang’ with electric coal transporters, dry docks (3000-ton floating dock and 5000-ton sectional dock), workshops, ice factory, hospital, hotel, and BPM fuel tanks. After Belawan Deli ocean harbor opened, Sabang lost transshipment trade. Also the location of a onderafdeeling consisting of the islands Poelau Weh and RondoIsland/port; site of the krankzinnigengesticht (mental asylum). Some patients walk freely inSabang itself, attend voetbalwedstrijden and bioscoopvertooningen. Mentioned as on the uiterste punt (extreme point) of Sumatra.

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 23, 24, 25, 47, 186, 281, 282, 283, 284, 295, 311, 329, 334, 365, 367, 368.

Source

Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter XV, ‘Groot-Atjeh’, p. 108.

De Europeesche Industrie [“The European Industry”], section De Buitenbezittingen (“The Outer Possessions”), in Grooten van Zee en Land in Nederlandsch-Indië, Vol. 6, pp. 243–251 (English translation from the Dutch). B. A. van Sandick, Sabang en Belawan als oceaanhavens [“Sabang and Belawan as Ocean Harbours”], in Indische Mercuur (1913), No. 49 — cited in the source.

De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 15, 25–27, 243–248.

J. B. van Heutsz als Gouverneur Generaal 1904-1909, by J. C. Lamster (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon N.V., 1938), pp. 198, 255. Rijksarchief, Den Haag.

Atjèh and the War with Japan, by Dr. A. J. Piekaar, translated from the Dutch original Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan (1949) (‘s-Gravenhage/Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve; English edition), Chapter I §§ 1–4, Chapter II, Chapter V § 1, Chapter VII § 4.

“Dispereert Niet: Twintig Eeuwen Historie van de Nederlanden”, Deel XI, by A. Algra and H. Algra (Franeker: T. Wever, 1946).

De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, Deel I, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 48–51 (section “Het Havenwezen”), p. 63 (section “Post- Telegraaf- en Telefoondienst”), pp. 69–70 (section “De Atjeh-tram”).

De Buitenbezittingen 1904, in: Mededeelingen van het Encyclopaedisch Bureau. Batavia: G.C.T. van Dorp & Co., [ca. 1915], p. 308.

Als officier van gezondheid naar Nederlandsch-Indië, by Dr. Johan Wøller, trans. Greta Baars-Jelgersma (Utrecht: Erven J. Bijleveld), p. 11.

Atlas van Nederland en de Indiën voor de Lagere School, by G. Prop, 12th ed. (Zutphen: W. J. Thieme & Cie, MCMXXX 1930), p. 58 (chapter XIV, “Oost-Indië,” section C, “Sumatra”).

Vierhonderd jaren missie in Nederlandsch-Indië, 1593–1934 (Batavia: Algemeen Comité van Voorbereiding tot de Feestelijke Herdenking van 400 jaar Missie in Ned.-Indië, [1934]), p. 96 (chapter on the Koeta Radja-Atjeh station).

Melati en rotan: Gedichten van F. Kunst, pentekeningen van Johanna Roberti (Bandoeng: Vacuüm-Handel Maatschappij Vortex en Uitgeverij en Boekhandel W. Mellink, 1947), p. 16 (“Anak Laoet”).

DLP-84-Atjeh.pdf, pp. 15-16.

De onderwerping van Atjeh, door J. B. van Heutsz, Majoor der Infanterie, gewezen Chef van den Staf in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. ‘s-Gravenhage: De Gebroeders van Cleef; Batavia: G. Kolff en Co., 1893, esp. pp. 74, 94, 106, 107, 113–116. OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-107-De_onderwerping_van_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.

Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim; Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (1932), for the Koloniaal Instituut and Handelsmuseum.

Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapters XV and XX, ‘Groot-Atjeh’ and ‘Ten slotte over staatkunde’, pp. 104, 107, 136–137.

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 XIII, XIV.

Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 62, 64–65, 70–71, 84–86, 93, 141–153, 154–155, illustration captions pp. 4, 139, 142, 146, 181, 188–189.