Sibreh — also known as Sibreh (Ba’ Seping) — was a kampong in the III Moekims Lamkrak of Groot-Atjeh, which was burned by the Dutch on 29 June 1896 in the tuchtiging which followed the Surprise of Ana’ Galoeng. The kampong — estimated by Dutch intelligence to have been garrisoned by 12 men, with its Passar (market) garrisoned by 30 men, at the time of the surprise attack — was the principal civilian settlement in the immediate vicinity of the benteng (fort) of Ana’ Galong, and its burning was the closing act of the surprise of Ana’ Galoeng of 29 June 1896. The kampong was the home of Toekoe Haschim, the mukimhoofd (parish-head) of Sibreh, who figures in the intelligence records of the second semester of 1896.
The Tuchtiging of 29 June 1896
The kampong of Sibreh was burned by the 1e colonne under Van Heutsz on 29 June 1896, as part of the tuchtiging (punitive expedition) explicitly ordered in the operational plan of the surprise of Ana’ Galoeng: het verbranden van de kampongs Rahat en Sibreh der VII Moekims Baid, en het vernietigen der eigendommen aldaar. The burning was the closing act of the surprise attack, and was followed by the withdrawal of the three colonnes to the geconcenteerd linie via Ana’ Galoeng, Lambarih, and Lambaroe. The tuchtiging of Sibreh and Rahat was the standard Dutch punitive response to Acehnese resistance, applied to the kampongs of the III Moekims Lamkrak in the immediate vicinity of the benteng (fort) which the Acehnese had considered the hart van Groot-Atjeh.
The Dutch Intelligence on Sibreh
The Dutch intelligence on Sibreh, as recorded by Kruisheer, was as follows: Ana’ Galoeng was volgens berichten door ±50 man bezet, Passar Sibreh door 30-en Sibreh (Ba’ Seping) door 12 man. In Ba’ Tjerlaq, Blang Tjoct, Bockloet, Lambarih en Belang zouden zich geen vijanden ophouden. The estimated enemy strength at Passar Sibreh was 30 men; at Sibreh (Ba’ Seping) — Sibreh proper, distinguished by its alternative name Ba’ Seping — only 12 men. The tuchtiging was thus directed primarily against the civilian infrastructure of the III Moekims Lamkrak, with the military garrisons of the kampongs already dispersed or dissolved by the storming of the benteng (fort).
Significance
Sibreh is significant in the documentary record of ATJEH ‘96 — Tweede Deel as one of the two kampongs (with Rahat) burned by the Dutch on 29 June 1896 in the tuchtiging which followed the Surprise of Ana’ Galoeng. The kampong — the home of Toekoe Haschim, the mukimhoofd (parish-head) of Sibreh — was the principal civilian settlement in the immediate vicinity of the benteng (fort) of Ana’ Galoeng, and its burning was the visible demonstration, to the surrounding population, of the consequence of harbouring or supporting the Acehnese resistance at the benteng (fort). The kampong would be reoccupied by the Acehnese and would again be the object of Dutch operations in the second semester of 1896 — the recurring pattern of tuchtiging and reoccupation which characterised the slow, attritional warfare of the second semester.
In the eye survey of Groot-Atjeh (1937)
Sibreh appears in Dr. C. E. Gomperts’s eye survey of 1937 among the parts of Groot-Atjeh “waar de Westersche invloed meer is doorgedrongen” and where traffic was busier — with Oeloe-Lheuë, Seulimeum, Indrapoeri, Lho-Nga and Kroeëng-Raja.
Gomperts used these districts as a measure of the frequency of venereal infection among the population: the annual reports of the Gouvernements-Indisch arts for 1936 and 1937 recorded only eight and nine gonorrhoeal infections in total, from which he concluded that the share of gonorrhoeal infection in the causes of blindness in the surveyed area “zeer gering moet zijn.”
See Also
- ATJEH ‘96 — Tweede Deel (book by A. Kruisheer)
- Rahat
- Ana’ Galong
- III Moekims Lamkrak
- VII Moekims Baid
- Toekoe Haschim of Sibreh
- Surprise of Ana’ Galoeng (29 June 1896)
- Tuchtiging of Sibreh and Rahat (29 June 1896)
- Tuchtiging of Lam-Krak Moekims (9–10 June 1896)
- Lambarih
- Lambaroe
- Groot-Atjeh
- Aceh War
- 1896
- 1913
- Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937
- C. E. Gomperts
- Blindheid in Groot-Atjeh
- Oogheelkundig kampongonderzoek in Groot-Atjeh (Maart-December 1937)
- Oogheelkundig kampongonderzoek in Groot-Atjeh (Maart-December 1937)
Source
ATJEH ‘96. Tweede Deel (2c Deel), door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 3 kaarten en 6 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-90-Atjeh_96_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_3_kaarten_en_6_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt., pp. 1, 7, 19, 23, 138.
Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937 (“Orienting Ophthalmological Survey among the Atjehnese Population of Groot-Atjeh during 1937”), by Dr. C. E. Gomperts, offprint from the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië, Afl. 19, Deel 80 (1940), pp. 1191-1238 (Batavia-Centrum: G. Kolff & Co.). Received by the editors 25 October 1939. Offprint DLP-157, Bibliotheek KITLV.