Three Sagis (XXVI, XXV, XXII Mukims)

The Three Sagis (Achehnese lhèë sagòë, Malay tiga sagi) are the three confederations or congeries of mukims that together compose Great Acheh — the kernel of the Sultanate of Acheh and the seat of the port-kings. They are the XXVI Mukims, the XXV Mukims and the XXII Mukims, named in Achehnese idiom after the (originally) twenty-six, twenty-five, and twenty-two mukims of which each was composed. Their chiefs, the panglima sagi, stood or were supposed to stand at the head of the three districts, and were the guardians of the sultanate.

Form of the Triangular Kingdom

The form of true Acheh the Achehnese delight to compare to that of a winnowing-basket (jeu’ee). Proceeding down the Acheh River from its debouchment, one has on the left the territory of the XXV Mukims and on the right that of the XXVI Mukims, the intervening space up to the broad belt of outlying country being occupied by the XXII Mukims. A comparison with the three angles of a triangle has still more deeply engrafted itself into the language; these three confederations or congeries of mukims are called the lhèë sagië (Malay tiga sagi), i.e. “the three angles of Acheh,” and the three uleebalangs or chieftains who stand or are supposed to stand at the head of these three districts are called panglima sagië, or heads of sagi or angles.

Increase of Population and the Traditional Names

Increase of population has given rise to the formation of new districts, yet the traditional name of each sagi has survived. The XXII Mukims, Snouck Hurgronje notes, “really numbers many more mukims than the name implies,” and the same is true, though in a less degree, of the XXV Mukims, while the XXVI Mukims continue to correspond with their ancient name. The pre-eminence of the XXII Mukims within the federation rests on the antiquity of its chief’s lineage, the bravery of the men of his sagi, and its wealth. Its chief, Panglima Polem (“Lord Elder Brother”), is regarded as the doyen of the chiefs of the sagis.

Guardianship of the Sultanate

The three guardians, the panglima sagi, did not succeed in retaining the supremacy over the federate dominions which they had possessed when the metaphorical marriage-contract between sultan and country was first concluded. At the election of a new sultan, which was usually decided by war between the different parties, the scale was turned not so much by the support of the panglimas as by that of the real wielders of power in their sagis. In process of time the number of guardians of the sultanate increased, and Achehnese authorities on adat speak of the “twelve uleebalangs who appoint and dethrone princes,” describing them as four from each sagi. Snouck Hurgronje cautions that this list at most represents the conditions that existed during a short period, and that other chiefs — such as Teuku Kali the Panglima Meuseugit Raya and the Imeum of Lueng Bata — often carried more weight than many of the board of twelve.

The Three Sagis in the Fairs and Feasts

The sagis figured as units in the ceremonial life of the capital. The three sagis followed the usage of the capital in fixing the first day of the Ramadhan fast, “so that everyone could tell in advance what the last three days of Sha’bān would be.” Before the fasting month the people of the XXII and some of those of the XXVI Mukims were in the habit of slaughtering many cows, while elsewhere, as in the XXV Mukims and the territory not included in the three sagis, they slaughtered male buffaloes by preference, since it was believed that the use of too much cow’s flesh results in the sickness called siawan. In the great three-days’ fair at Banda Acheh, “all the sagis lent their contributions to this noisy gathering.”

Account from Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819 — Three Sagis

The Three Sagis (Dutch drie Sagis; British documents “the three Sagees of Acheen”) were the confederated territorial divisions of Acheh proper — the XXII Mukims, the XXV Mukims and the XXVI Mukims — which together exercised effective sovereignty over the capital Banda Acheh when, in 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and Captain Coombs arrived on their commission to treat with the sultanate.

Constitutional position

The three sagis were federations of mukims — territorial districts — surrounding the capital. By the late seventeenth century, as Van der Kemp records, the sultanate already lay “onder voogdij van de hoofden dier om de hoofdplaats gelegen landschappen”, under the tutelage of the chiefs of the lands surrounding the capital. Their federation thus constituted a permanent council of state whose collective consent was indispensable to the recognition of any sultan. Among their chiefs, the head of the XXII Mukims, bearing the hereditary title Panglima Polim (“Heer Oudere Broeder”), was regarded as the foremost; he, “gold als de voornaamste onder de Sagishoofden”.

Authority in 1819

When the Raffles–Coombs commission anchored before Banda Acheh on 14 March 1819, no sultan was in residence: Sultan Jauhar Alum had been driven to Pedir, and Sultan Saif ul-Alum (Syf) had fled to Telok Semawé. The Calcutta government reported that authority at the capital was exercised “in naam door den raad der Sagis, maar in werkelijkheid door Panglima Polim bijgestaan door zijne aanhangers”. The commission sent a circular inviting the chiefs to an assembly; Polim, answering from “his usual place of residence in his own country” of the XXII Mukims, replied that the meeting might take place in eight days but that until then the commissioners were not to land. The reception they met on shore was, as Van der Kemp summarises, “ten hoogste onwellevend”. When a warning of betrayal reached Raffles, he declined to attend the proposed meeting and the assembly never took place — a course the Calcutta government later disapproved.

The shahbandar’s embassy to Pedir

The Three Sagis also played a part in the comedy at Pedir. The shahbandar of Acheh proceeded thither with a commission, ostensibly to offer Jauhar Alum the submission of the three sagis, but in reality, Van der Kemp notes, to deceive him — “quasi om sultan Djohor vergiffenis te verzoeken… doch inderdaad met het doel om den vorst op te lichten”. The death of Tunku Pakih (Packie) removed one obstacle to this intrigue, but the scheme came to nothing.

The letter of 4 December 1822

After the treaty of 1819 the Three Sagis refused to recognise Jauhar Alum. Governor Phillips of Penang sent a circular urging the mukims to submit to him; their reply, the Three Sagis’ letter to Penang (4 December 1822), is one of the principal documents of the affair. They reminded Phillips that when Captain Coombs had first come alone to Acheh, they had declared Syf their sultan; when Coombs returned with Raffles, they had given the same answer under their signatures; they could not now alter their choice. As for Jauhar Alum, “we will never have him for our Rajah more, for we have deposed him and sworn to it on the tomb of Teungku Anjong of Kampong Java”. The Sagis therefore begged that Syf be sent back to them. Phillips, of course, refused.

After Jauhar’s death in December 1823 the Three Sagis, together with the Queen-Mother, “oefenden nu het gezag uit, indien er van gezag sprake kon zijn” — exercised what authority there was. By the time of Fullerton’s minute of 21 March 1825 their de facto independence was taken for granted, and the Acheh treaty of 1819 was pronounced a “dead letter” so far as the capital was concerned.

Source

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.

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.

tags	place, sagi, federation, region, confederacy
aliases	Three Sagis, Tiga Sagi, Three Angles of Acheh, Three Sagi, Thee Sagis, Lhee Sagoe, Three Sagees, Drie Sagis, Federation of the Three Sagis, Confederacy of the Three Sagis

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