Figures, places, and events in Acehnese history associated with the year 1905.
People
Figures, places, and events in Acehnese history associated with the year 1905.
People
Account from Schets eener parlementaire geschiedenis (1955)
The following account is drawn from the parliamentary history of the Dutch Second Chamber as narrated by Vermeulen in the colonial section of the 1955 fourth revised edition of Rengers’s *Schets*.
1905 is the year in which Van Daalen was appointed military commander and governor of Atjeh, succeeding Van Heutsz in the latter role when Van Heutsz became governor-general. It is also the year of the Dutch annexation of Celebes and the year of the Fock-Van Heutsz debate on the proper size of the Atjeh gendarmerie.
Van Daalen’s appointment
In 1905 Van Daalen was appointed militair commandant en gouverneur van Atjeh. The Raad van Indië had recommended Colonel Swart, but governor-general Van Heutsz had persuaded the minister to appoint Van Daalen instead. According to testimony preserved in Schets eener parlementaire geschiedenis, Van Heutsz said to Van Daalen on the occasion: “Ga je gang, ik vertrouw je. Ge hebt goede en kwade eigenschappen; ik geef u die post en als gij nu maar zorgt, dat er geen gedonder komt dan kunt gij zolang uw gang gaan, maar als het aan de grote klok komt dan voor jou een ander”.
The Thomson debate on police strength
The liberal MP Thomson, who had served as a captain in Atjeh for several years, argued in the Tweede Kamer that the Dutch forces in Atjeh were too small for the tasks they were assigned. To patrol the whole of Gajoland with seventy men was, in his view, “verregaand onvoldoende” — grossly insufficient. As an alternative to garrisoning he recommended strengthening the police (maréchaussée) in Atjeh, and warned against skimping on the cost. The warning would prove prescient: the “Wekeer” affair of 1907 was to expose precisely the kind of atrocities that undermanning invited.
Beyond Atjeh
In the wake of the pacificatie, Dutch authority was consolidated elsewhere in the archipelago: Djambi and Korintji in 1901, Borneo in 1904, Celebes in 1905, Bali in 1906. The post-Van Heutsz consolidation was thus synchronous with the ethical-policy proclamation of 1901.
Account from Atjeh by H.C. Zentgraff (1938)
Zentgraff records three key events of 1905. On 26 January 1905 the Meurandeh Paja massacre: sergeant Vollaers’s patrol of sixteen bajonetten, bivouacked in the meunasa of Meurandeh Paja east of Lho Soekon, neglected all security measures; armed Acehnese were admitted inside the pagger as fruit-sellers; plotseling werd het signaal gegeven voor den overval; de geheele troep werd met het blanke wapen afgemaakt, de sergeant was de eerste. Of seventeen military, sixteen were killed with the traditional houw bovenop klewang-stroke. Swart then commandant te Lho Seumawé, ran with a patrol in a forced march of nearly eighty kilometres a day to Meurandeh Paja. On 5 March 1905 T. Tjhi Toenong was arrested and shot by firing-squad on the strand at Lho Seumawé. The double gravestone at Bakongan commemorates luitenant Donner’s two patrols, both surprised on the same night on 12 August 1905.
Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia.
Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
1905 was the year in which the Afdeeling Gajo- en Alaslanden was formed in the aftermath of Van Daalen’s expeditions of 1901 and 1904. The afdeeling was re-allotted in 1908 among other administrative areas but was restored in 1922 with chief place Takengon, comprising the onderafdeelingen Takéngon, Gajoe Loeös, Serbödjadi and Alaslanden.
Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)
On 3 March 1905 H. N. A. Swart was temporarily charged with the civil and military authority in the South and East Division of Borneo; on 3 April he was relieved of the government of Lho’ Seumawè; on 24 October he was promoted Luitenant-kolonel. On 3 April 1905 Van Daalen took over the government of Atjeh. On 26 January 1905 the patrol of sergeant Vollaers was destroyed at Meurandéh Paja, leading to the arrest and execution of T. Tjhi’ Toenòng. The Kompeuni had hunted Pang Bintang from 1905 onward.
See Also
- 1901
- 1904
- 1906
- 1907
- 1908
- 1922
- Aceh War
- Atjeh Patchouli-Olie (1932)
- Avondpost “Wekeer” articles (October 1907)
- Bali
- Borneo
- Celebes
- Djambi
- G. C. E. van Daalen
- Gajoland
- H. C. Thomson
- J. B. van Heutsz
- Korintji
- Nieuw beleid in Atjeh (1908)
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Raad van Indië
- Swart (colonel, Atjeh)
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Atjeh-oorlog
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Start of Van Daalen’s governorship (1905-1908) and his pacification work (pacificatie-werk).
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 42.
Source
Schets eener parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland van 1849 tot 1901, by Mr W. J. van Welderen baron Rengers, 4th rev. ed., Vol. IV: Oost-Indië 1891-1918 by Dr W. H. Vermeulen (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1955), pp. 272-273.
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923); Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (1932), where applicable.
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), passim.
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. 42.