Telok Semawé

Telok Semawé (Van der Kemp’s spelling; rendered in British documents as Teloksamoy or Tullosumoy; also Telok Semawó in OCR variants) was a town on the East Coast of Acheh, situated between Pedir and Penang and described by Van der Kemp as lying to the west of Pedir. In the second decade of the nineteenth century it became the seat of the rival court of Sultan Saif ul-Alum (Syf) after he was driven from Banda Acheh, and thereafter the scene of the Wilhelmina affair and of recurring Anglo-Dutch friction. In Van Heutsz’s 1893 tract De onderwerping van Atjeh, Telok Semawé is also the seat of the assistent-resident ter Noord- en Oostkust under Scherer’s administration of 1877–1884, one of the open call-ports abolished under the Concentratie of 19 August 1884, and the post re-established under the Van Teijn scheepvaartregeling of 1887–1891.

Syf’s seat

After his installation at Acheh in mid-1815 by his father Said Hussein’s expedition, Sultan Saif ul-Alum soon found the capital too hot to hold. Following the example of his rival Sultan Jauhar Alum, who had retired to Pedir, Syf “zijn verblijf koos te Telok Semawé, ook op de Oostkust tusschen Pedir en Penang”. From this East Coast seat he carried on his contest with Jauhar, levying what revenues he could and at times indulging in outright piracy against passing shipping. From Telok Semawé, after the treaty of 22 April 1819 with Jauhar, the Raffles–Coombs commission sailed to deliver Syf a stern warning: he was told to abandon his claims and answered that he submitted. The submission was worthless, for in July 1819 he still wrote to the Governor of Penang as prince of Acheh and pursued his “rooversleven” unpunished.

The Wilhelmina affair

In June 1819 the Dutch colonial schooner Wilhelmina, under Lieutenant Bouwens, anchored at Acheh while carrying 10,000 dollars and arms on a mission for the government of Calcutta. Her crew mutinied and murdered Bouwens and two of his men; the lieutenant’s wife leapt overboard in terror and two of her children were thrown into the sea. The next day the ship reached Pasangan, six miles from Telok Semawé, where the 24 mutineers landed with their plunder. They then walked along the shore towards Telok Semawé, but were themselves plundered by the coastal population on the way, and on arrival at Syf’s seat were stripped, chained in irons for some weeks, and put to work building a house for the pretender. Syf took 800 dollars of the buried treasure, and the British agent Sartorius was only later able to recover eleven of the criminals, who were sent via Malacca to Batavia.

The Lucas mission of 1821

The Dutch government, on learning of the affair, instructed the Governor of Malacca, Timmerman Thyssen, to demand the stolen money and the surviving mutineers. The despatch of 20 January 1821 was conveyed by the man-of-war Irene under Colonel E. Lucas — the Lucas mission. The Penang government under Phillips, however, refused to allow Lucas himself to proceed to Telok Semawé. Phillips reasoned that Syf had so long been the ruler there that the place would be “the last to acknowledge the authority of Sultan Djohor Alum”, England’s ally by the treaty of 1819. The Penang secretary Clubley accordingly answered Lucas that Syf, “in the admitted exercise of sovereignty at Teloksamoy at the time the mutineers of the brig Wilhelmina arrived with their plunder”, could not be called to account for his acts. The Irene returned empty — Van der Kemp’s “Papieroorlog” closed without result.

After Syf

Telok Semawé remained a place of resort for the disaffected of Acheh. After his submission to the Raffles–Coombs commission, Syf had in fact briefly joined Panglima Polim at the capital against Jauhar, then fled in early 1820 to Calcutta on a captured junk, where he was eventually pensioned and returned to Penang (the Syf’s pension at Penang). The place nevertheless continued to be cited in Dutch and British dispatches as a watchpoint on the East Coast, and appears in the treaty itself: Article 5 guaranteed to British ships “their commercial intercourse with the ports of Acheen and Teluksamoy”, subject only to a temporary blockade by mutual consent.

Telok Semawe in the Aceh War (1874-1881)

In the later period of the Atjeh-oorlog, Telok Semawe was a coast-state on the north coast of Atjeh which hoisted the Dutch flag on July 1874. In August 1874 other coastal states including Pasanga, Kertoï and Endjoeng on the north coast, Perlak on the east coast, Batih and Kloewang on the west coast followed; in October Pasei and Djolok also submitted. By the end of 1874 the Dutch flag had not yet been accepted by Telok Kroet, Rigas and Tenom on the west coast, by Pedir, Merdoe and Samalanga on the north coast, and by Simpang Olim, Arakoendoer and Langsar on the east coast.

Under the administrative reorganisation of March 1881, Telok Semawé became the chief place of the assistant-residency of the Noord- en Oostkust, one of the three assistant-residencies of the gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. The controleurs of the assistant-residency were stationed at Edi, Samalanga and Segli. To the landscapes belonging to this afdeeling, however, self-government was left; only in Groot-Atjeh was direct Dutch administration introduced.

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

In Van Heutsz’s 1893 tract De onderwerping van Atjeh, Telok Semawé was the north-coast port of the Atjehnese Onderhoorigheden that served as the seat of the assistent-resident ter Noord- en Oostkust under Scherer’s administration of 1877–1884, as one of the three open call-ports abolished under the Concentratie of 19 August 1884, and as the post re-established under the Van Teijn scheepvaartregeling of 1887–1891 — only to be abolished one month after Scherer’s departure. The port’s institutional history was, in Van Heutsz’s diagnosis, the empirical measure of the Concentratie’s destructive capacity: a post at which onder Scherer’s bestuur geleidelijk een ordelijken staat van zaken was ingetreden — under Scherer’s administration an orderly state of affairs had gradually set in — was abolished in 1884 and the orderly state of affairs with it.

Seat of the assistant-resident for Noord- en Oostkust

The institutional form by which the Noord- en Oostkust was administered under Scherer was the assistent-resident ter Noord- en Oostkust (standplaats Telok Semawé) — the assistant-resident for the North- and East Coast, with his seat at Telok Semawé. Scherer himself arrived on the Noordkust in 1877 as waarnemend assistent-resident — op dit tijdstip was juist, als wd. assistent-resident, op de Noordkust gekomen de man — de tegenwoordige resident Scherer — uit wiens helder brein het eerst het denkbeeld van eene rationeele regeling voor handel en scheepvaart in verband met onze vestigingen op de kusten, is gesproten (at this time there had just arrived on the Noordkust, as acting assistant-resident, the man — the present resident Scherer — from whose clear brain the idea of a rational regulation for commerce and shipping in connection with our establishments on the coasts first sprang) — and from his seat at Telok Semawé originated the scheepvaartregeling idea that grew into the systematic scheepvaartregeling of May 1883.

Scherer’s administration and the 1884 abolition

Under Scherer’s administration, Telok Semawé became one of the statelets where the scheepvaartregeling produced its intended effect of gradual order. Van Heutsz records the result in his catalogue of the casualties of the 1884 Concentratie: Telok Semawé, Kerti, benevens andere plaatsen, waar onder Scherer’s bestuur geleidelijk een ordelijken staat van zaken was ingetreden en ‘s bestuurs invloed en gezag zich meer en meer vestigden (Telok Semawé, Kerti, besides other places, where under Scherer’s administration an orderly state of affairs had gradually set in and the influence and authority of the administration were establishing themselves more and more). The ordelijken staat van zaken — the orderly state of affairs — that had gradually set in under Scherer’s administration at Telok Semawé and Kerti was, in Van Heutsz’s diagnosis, the empirical proof of the scheepvaartregeling’s productive capacity. The Concentratie of 1884 abolished the post at Telok Semawé together with the post at Samalanga, and reduced the open call-ports of the Noord- en Oostkust from a wider ring to the three named in the Demmeni besluit of 13 October 1884: toen de posten Telok Semawé en Samalanga waren ingetrokken, alleen Edi, Segli en Oleh-leh voor de geheele Noord- en Oostkust (when the posts Telok Semawé and Samalanga had been withdrawn, only Edi, Segli and Oleh-leh for the entire Noord- en Oostkust). The abolition of the Telok Semawé post was, in Van Heutsz’s diagnosis, one of the Concentratie’s destructive casualties — the dismantling of an institutional infrastructure that had taken Scherer seven years to build.

Re-establishment under Van Teijn and abolition after Scherer’s departure

The Telok Semawé post was re-established under the Van Teijn governorship of 1886–1891. Van Heutsz records the re-establishment: reeds in datzelfde jaar, even als zijne voorgangers, eene goed ingerichte scheepvaartregeling met wederoprichting van den post te Telok Semawé noodzakelijk achtte, wilde men niet tot in ‘t oneindige op de onderwerping wachten (already in that same year, like his predecessors, [Van Teijn] considered a well-ordered scheepvaartregeling with the re-establishment of the post at Telok Semawé necessary, if one did not wish to wait indefinitely for submission). The re-establishment was, in Van Heutsz’s argument, the empirical proof of the Concentratie’s destructiveness: the post that had been abolished as superfluous in 1884 had to be re-established in 1887 as indispensable. The Telok Semawé post’s re-established life was short: de post Telok Semawé, die een maand na Scherer’s vertrek werd ingerukt (the post Telok Semawé, which was withdrawn a month after Scherer’s departure). The post at Telok Semawé was abolished one month after Scherer’s departure — the empirical measure of the dependence of the scheepvaartregeling on the personality of its principal administrator.

The 1890 closure and the European trader Atkins

Under the Van Teijn closure of 1890, Telok Semawé was one of the three statelets — with Kerti on the Noordkust and Telok Kroet on the Westkust — for which a beperkte invoer van levensmiddelen door middel van licenties (limited import of foodstuffs by means of licences) was permitted. The licensed-import arrangement was the one weak spot of Van Teijn’s sluiting-stelsel — Slechts eene zaak leverde moeilijkheden op en dat waren de licenties van invoer voor Telok Semawé en Kerti (Only one thing caused difficulties and that was the import licences for Telok Semawé and Kerti) — and Van Heutsz criticises the over-liberal handling of the Telok Semawé-Kerti licences as the one operational flaw in the otherwise rigorous closure. The closure at Telok Semawé was, however, safe enough for a resident European trader: Op ditzelfde Telok Semawé exerceerde nog in 1891, tijdens de sluiting, herhaaldelijk de landingsdivisie van H. M. Koning der Nederlanden en heeft er ook tijdens de sluiting, steeds een Europeesche handelaar de heer Atkins gewoond (At this same Telok Semawé the landing-division of H. M. the King of the Netherlands exercised repeatedly in 1891, during the closure, and during the closure a European trader, Mr. Atkins, lived there continuously). The Atkins residence at Telok Semawé was Van Heutsz’s exhibit that the closure, properly enforced, was compatible with a European commercial presence.

The 1893 prescription: Telok Semawé as one of four Noordkust ports

In Van Heutsz’s own 1893 prescription, Telok Semawé was retained as one of the open ports of the scheepvaartregeling. Scherer’s 20 January 1891 lezing before the Indisch Genootschap had named Telok Semawé as one of four Noordkust ports — Op de Noordkust: 1 Edi. 2 Telok Semawé 3 Samalanga 4 Segli (On the Noordkust: 1. Edi, 2. Telok Semawé, 3. Samalanga, 4. Segli) — and Van Teijn had endorsed the reduced list of three: De Generaal van Teijn achtte op de Oost- en Noordkust: Edi, Telok Semawé en Segli, althans vooreerst, voldoende (General van Teijn considered Edi, Telok Semawé and Segli sufficient, at least for the present, on the East- and North Coast). Van Heutsz concurred, and the prescription that closed the 1893 tract retained Telok Semawé as one of the open call-ports of the scheepvaartregeling Van Heutsz would himself implement as Governor of Atjeh from 1898 onward.

Military Evacuation (10 November 1884)

The operational implementation of the Concentratiebesluit at Telok Semawé is recorded in De Geconcentreerde Stelling in Groot-Atjeh (1885). The post was evacuated on 10 November 1884, following the Governor-General’s decision of 19 August 1884, which abolished the position of assistent-resident ter Noord- en Oostkust (assistant-resident for the North and East Coast) whose standplaats (station) it had been. The materials from the evacuated post were transported and reused in the construction of the new post at Lamtih, demonstrating the efficient resource management during the concentration. This reuse reflected the practical approach of the Colonel Demmeni administration: abandoned fortifications were stripped and their materials incorporated into the new defensive line rather than left to the Acehnese.

Account from Verstege’s Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk (1886)

Verstege, asking why the principle that kept the garrison at Malaboeh was not valid likewise for the other coast establishments, names Telok Semawe: “waarom werden dan in Groot-Atjeh zoovele versterkingen prijs gegeven … en waarom werd onze vestiging te Telok Semawe, waaraan sedert 1881 schatten zijn besteed, niet behouden?” (“why then in Groot-Atjeh were so many fortifications given up … and why was our establishment at Telok Semawe, to which treasures had been devoted since 1881, not retained?”) — a question which, in his series of the government’s alter-and-fluctuate decisions that year, remained unanswered (see Concentratie-stelsel (1884-1896) and Blokkade).

Sources

Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159–239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 64, 114.
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. 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 41, 42, 46, 50, 55, 56, 60, 62, 66, 67. OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-107-De_onderwerping_van_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt. De Atjeh-Oorlog: Kort Overzicht van Oorsprong, Verloop en Gevolg, door J. A. Kruijt. ‘s-Gravenhage: Loman & Funke, 1896. Chapter IV (the submission of July 1874), Chapter VII (Scherer’s station), Chapter X (the Van Teijn reopening), Chapter XII (the 1894 scheepvaartregeling and the 1890s unrest). OCR-filename: 20260716_140310_DLP-101-De_Atjeh_oorlog_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 20, 35, 54, 66, 75.

De Geconcentreerde Stelling in Groot-Atjeh, ‘s-Gravenhage: De Gebroeders Van Cleef, 1885, pp. 5, 25.

Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), pp. 88. OCR: DLP-158.

tags	place, town, coast, atjeh, aceh-war, 19th-century, north-coast, dutch-post, onderhoorigheden, scheepvaartregeling, aceh, coastal-state, scheepvaartregeling-haven
aliases	Telok Semawe, Teluk Semawe, Teloksamoy, Tullosumoy, Telok Samoy, Tellok Semawé, Telok Semawó, Telok Semawee, Teloek Semawe, Telok Semawe (Atjeh North Coast state)

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