Simpang Anas was a place on the Acehnese coast cited in the Koloniaal Verslag and in the Atjeh debate of 16 November 1897 as the scene of a case of the running in of war contraband — oorlogscontrabande — during the Dutch blockade of the coast.
In the debate
Van Vlijmen, pressing for a larger number of recherchevaartuigen than the three requested by the government, argued from the Voorloopig Verslag that precisely the rivers and creeks frequently gave opportunity to small prauwen to bring in contraband, and that Dutch warships could not adequately watch against it. “Ik noem bij voorbeeld het geval, dat geciteerd wordt in het Koloniaal Verslag, van het binnenbrengen van oorlogscontrabande te Simpang Anas.” — I name, for example, the case cited in the Colonial Report of the bringing in of war contraband at Simpang Anas.
He concluded that the Dutch could not be quick enough in building search vessels, and that only when those vessels were in action would the enemy begin to feel Dutch power through the obstruction of the import of war material. He would rather have seen ten requested than three.
Context
The case belongs to the enforcement problem of the scheepvaartregeling — the shipping regulation by which the Dutch sought to control the trade of the Acehnese coast, introduced under Minister Van Dedem. Kuyper made the same point in his speech, insisting that it was mistaken thrift to be niggardly with the recherchevaartuigen, whose function was to prevent ammunition being continually imported into Atjeh: “Willen we onze positie op de kust handhaven, maakt dan op eens het aantal dier recherchevaartuigen compleet.” — If we wish to maintain our position on the coast, then complete at once the number of those search vessels.
H. van Kol pointed on the other side to the persistence of smuggling despite every measure, quoting the Indische Gids to the effect that the further profits went to the smugglers, “ondanks het uitvoerverbod der Britsche autoriteiten, en de verbodsbepalingen op den invoer, en de blokkaden der Nederlandsche Regeering; ondanks de sluiting der kusten en scheepvaartregeling.” — despite the export prohibition of the British authorities, and the prohibitory provisions on import, and the blockades of the Netherlands Government; despite the closing of the coasts and the shipping regulation.
See Also
- Recherchevaartuigen
- Scheepvaartregeling
- Van Vlijmen
- Abraham Kuyper
- Koloniaal Verslag
- Atjeh debate in the Tweede Kamer (16-17 November 1897)
- 1897
Source
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, pp. 33–34, 23, 68.
Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898 (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.