1907

Properties2
tagstimeline, year, colonial, oil, aceh, military, press, acheh, 20th-century
aliasesYear 1907, 1907 AD, 1907 CE, the year 1907, 1907 (year)

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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*.

1907 is the year of the “Wekeer” affair — the publication in De Avondpost in October 1907 of a series of articles by an anonymous maréchaussée-officer from Atjeh, exposing “nodeloze wreedheden” — needless cruelties — committed against the Atjehnese population, “toegelaten zo niet aangemoedigd door Van Daalen” — tolerated if not encouraged by Van Daalen. The year culminated in the resignation of Van Daalen in December and the dispatch of governor-general Van Heutsz on an inspection tour of Atjeh the same month.

The “Wekeer” articles

Under the pseudonym “Wekeer” — a maréchaussée-officer from Atjeh — a series of articles appeared in De Avondpost in October 1907 detailing needless cruelties allegedly committed against the Atjehnese population and tolerated, if not encouraged, by Van Daalen in his capacity as governor and military commander. Minister Fock advised the chambermembers not to waste their time on these articles. The governor-general, he said, had full confidence in Van Daalen, and both he and Van Daalen considered reinforcement of the troop strength in Atjeh unnecessary.

Van Heutsz’s inspection tour

Pressed by the minister, Van Heutsz undertook an inspection tour of Atjeh in December 1907, “opdat ook het publiek overtuigd worde van datgene waarvan ook de gouverneur-generaal overtuigd is, dat wij in Atjeh op de goede weg zijn” — so that the public too may be convinced of that of which the governor-general is already convinced, that we are on the right path in Atjeh. The inspection proved otherwise. In the same month Van Daalen submitted his resignation.

What “the great bell” meant

The “grote klok” — great bell — of Van Heutsz’s warning to Van Daalen at the time of his appointment in 1905 was, in the event, “Wekeer”: the public exposure of atrocities in the press. The 1907 affair is the moment at which the contradiction between the pacificatie rhetoric and the reality of occupation became impossible to contain.

Significance

1907 is the political crisis-year of the Atjehnese occupation. The fall of Van Daalen — the most consequential single event of the post-conquest period — cleared the way for the Van Heutsz report of 1908 that would set the course of the pacificatie for the next decade.

Account from Atjeh by H.C. Zentgraff (1938)

Zentgraff identifies 1907 as a pivotal year in the resistance around Keureutoe and Lho Soekon. In November 1907 T. Tjhi Bentara was restored as oeléëbalang of Keureutoe, reigniting the haat between the baroh and toenong divisions of the district. Separately, the Brief van 18 Radjab 1325 was sent — signed by Toeangkoe Machmoed, Panglima Polim, and Toeankoe Radja Keumala — urging the Tiro-oelamas to submit to the Dutch bestuur. Pang Nanggroë, refusing to yield, elevated the young T. Radja Sabi to the position of oeléëbalang of Keureutoë in the mountains — the adelaarsjong who would remain in the forests until 1919. The pretendent-sultan of Atjeh was verbannen in August 1907. The Colonne Matjan was formed in response to escalating resistance.

Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)

1907 was the year in which the gouvernements rubberonderneming — the government rubber-estate — was opened at Langsa by the Indies government to show how Hevea would do on the low land. The estate was opened on peat-ground; it was to have a planting of 1.000 bouw; by 1915 it had reached barely half that extent. The government rubber-estate is the type-case of the failure of government enterprise in the planting-sector of Atjeh.

Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)

At the end of 1907 the Tirò band fled from Geumpang to Pidië before the patrols of H. J. Schmidt. In November 1907 the half-brother T. Tjhi’ Béntara was restored as oelèëbalang of Keureutòë, whereupon Pang Nanggròë proclaimed the six-year-old T. Radja Sabi oelèëbalang in his stead. The Wekker articles of 1907 belong among the sources of du Croo’s biography.

See Also

Source

“De Maleier en zijn karbouw,” by J. Kreemer, in De Indische Gids 1907, vol. I, pp. 953-964.

De Karbouw — Zijn betekenis voor de volken van de Indonesische Archipel, by J. Kreemer (‘s-Gravenhage / Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve, 1956), Voorbericht (pp. 5-6)

The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), p. 7 (petroleum history, 1907 amalgamation and creation of the B.P.M.).

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. 273-274.

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.

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