Landsdrukkerij, Batavia · Atjeh: verzameling van bulletins nopens de tweede expeditie. Aangeboden aan den Gouverneur-Generaal van Nederlandsch-Indië door het personeel der Landsdrukkerij. Batavia: Landsdrukkerij, 1874. Leiden University Libraries, KITLV, shelfmark M c 162 (Aceh Books). · 1874
- Identifier
-
KITLV-AB-M-c-162
- Type
-
Buku
- Publisher
-
Landsdrukkerij, Batavia
- Date Issued
-
1874
- Bibliographic Citation
-
Atjeh: verzameling van bulletins nopens de tweede expeditie. Aangeboden aan den Gouverneur-Generaal van Nederlandsch-Indië door het personeel der Landsdrukkerij. Batavia: Landsdrukkerij, 1874. Leiden University Libraries, KITLV, shelfmark M c 162 (Aceh Books).
- Creator
-
Landsdrukkerij (Batavia); telegram J. van Swieten dkk.
- LC Classification
-
DS646.15.A3
- LCSH Subject
-
Aceh War, Indonesia, 1873-1904--Sources; Swieten, J. van (Jan), 1807-1888; Aceh (Indonesia)--History, Military--Sources; Government publications--Indonesia
- BISAC Category
-
HIS003000 History / Asia / Southeast Asia; HIS027000 History / Military / General
- Language
-
Belanda
- Description
-
Atjeh. Verzameling van bulletins nopens de tweede expeditie, "Aceh. Collection of bulletins concerning the second expedition", is an official album printed by the Landsdrukkerij, the state printing office of the Netherlands Indies in Batavia, in 1874. Its title page states that the compilation was presented to the Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies, commander-in-chief of the King's land and sea forces east of the Cape of Good Hope, by the staff of the Landsdrukkerij. In the KITLV collection now managed by Leiden University Libraries it carries shelfmark M c 162 and belongs to the Aceh Books digital collection. It contains 27 numbered bulletins first issued as extraordinary numbers of the government daily Javasche Courant, each reprinted on its own page within a black border and under the royal Dutch arms, plus an unnumbered notice dated 1 May 1874.
Almost every bulletin reproduces a telegram from Lieutenant General J. van Swieten, commander of the expedition, or from the naval commander and the Military Commander of Sumatra's West Coast. The telegrams were sent via Penang, Singkil or Sibolga, since Aceh had no telegraph link, and were published in Batavia a few days later. The bulletins are thus the earliest form of war reporting distributed by the government to the colonial public. They are short and dense, written to persuade readers that the expedition was going well, yet behind their official phrasing lies much information about Aceh and its resistance.
The first bulletin, issued 12 December 1873, reports that on 9 December the troops landed at Pedropunt under enemy fire, that General Verspijck led the first operation, and that a base was established at Kuala Gigieng. The following bulletins record the capture of the Moesapi fort, Kotta Perak and a line of other works, with the Acehnese leaving eighty-five dead in one fort. On 20 December it was reported that the Acehnese had abandoned the beach works on the east bank of the Krueng Aceh, and that General Bixio, commander of the Italian ship Maddaloni that carried troops, had died of cholera. On 22 December Van Swieten reported that Tongkoe Kali had been taken, that the Acehnese had withdrawn from both banks, and that the Dutch were seeking contact with the Sultan, who was said to be inclined to submit.
The late December bulletins show the invaders' difficulties. The troops camped on the right bank of the Krueng Aceh not far from the kraton, facing Kampung Jawa, and linked both banks with a bridge of areca trunks. A shortage of coolies, many sick, and cholera forced a pause. The steamer Baron Mackay reached Padang with 94 sick and wounded, and several officers died of cholera. On 26 December there was heavy fighting on the plain before the kraton with serious losses. The ninth bulletin reports that the Raja of Pidie came to the kraton with 1,500 men to strengthen the war party, and that the Dutch envoy to the Sultan was threatened with death, bound, robbed and taken inland. The Dutch letters were torn up and never delivered to the Sultan, and the bulletin notes tersely that the people rule. This brief line reveals that Acehnese resistance did not depend on a single figure but was driven by chiefs and people.
Naval reports in the tenth and eleventh bulletins describe operations on the Pidie coast, forts and villages burned by ships' fire, and an attempt by armed boats carrying 400 men up a shallow river. The twelfth bulletin of 7 January 1874 reports that the fort of Pidie was badly damaged and set alight, a powder magazine exploded, and the Raja of Gigieng, ruler of Pidie, offered his land to the government and offered himself as mediator, fearing the war would ruin his country. It also details siege preparations, including approach trenches and batteries to bombard the kraton and mosque with 12 centimetre guns and 20 centimetre mortars.
The great mosque was taken on 6 January 1874. The fourteenth bulletin says it and the kraton had first been bombarded for several hours with little effect, because the Acehnese defence consisted of well-blinded field works that had to be stormed by infantry. Dutch losses were recorded as 17 dead and 107 wounded. Later bulletins record the capture of Kotta Petjoet in mid-January, cutting the kraton off from the river side. Van Swieten himself admitted that the work and energy the enemy put into its defence was unbelievable. The eighteenth bulletin reports an Acehnese attack with klewang that killed Lieutenant Raaijmakers and five soldiers, and notes that the kraton could not be seen at all because of the vegetation.
The nineteenth bulletin, issued 27 January 1874, contains the famous line "De Kraton is ons", the kraton is ours. Through an enveloping movement the kraton was surrounded and the Acehnese abandoned it on 24 January. Yet the following bulletins show that victory did not bring conquest. On 1 February it was reported that Panglima Polem and the Sultan seemed determined to continue the war, and that the Sultan was said to have died of cholera. The twenty-first and twenty-second bulletins say that the XXV and XXVI Sagis showed signs of submission and that proclamations promising freedom of religion and custom were circulated, but chiefs remained hostile and built new defences inland. Van Swieten also wrote that he had protested against the choice of a new Sultan.
The twenty-third bulletin, 11 February 1874, records that the Acehnese leaders chose Tuanku Daud, nine years old, grandson of the late Sultan Ibrahim Mansur Syah, as Sultan with four guardians, which Van Swieten called a vain attempt to continue resistance. He meanwhile ordered a fort for 500 men and a camp for 1,500 inside the kraton. The twenty-fourth bulletin admits that the people were tired of war, but that the chiefs stayed away and prevented the people from showing a better attitude. The twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth bulletins report the storming of a fort of Teuku Nanta of the VI Mukim, built against Teuku Nek of Meuraxa, a Dutch ally, and the attack on Ketapang Dua in Mukim XXII, with Acehnese losses estimated at two hundred including four panglima. The last bulletin, 5 March 1874, reports ships leaving for the north, east and west coasts with proclamations and documents for the recognition of sovereignty, while the notice of 1 May 1874 announces that the main force would embark for home.
For Aceh studies, the compilation matters as a day-by-day official chronology of the opening phase of the Aceh War. It records places, fortifications, figures and events, including the Raja of Pidie, Panglima Polem, Teuku Nanta, Teuku Nek, the XXII, XXV and XXVI Sagis, and the choice of Tuanku Muhammad Daud, who would become the last Sultan of Aceh. Yet the bulletins are also state propaganda, written to announce victory. Reading them alongside the criticism in Herinneringen aan de tweede expeditie tegen Atjeh reveals the gap between the official narrative and the troops' experience on the ground. The digital edition is presented through IIIF images from Leiden University Libraries.
- Rights
-
Domain publik. Salinan digital dari Leiden University Libraries (KITLV), koleksi Aceh Books.
- Alternative Title
-
Aceh: collection of bulletins concerning the second expedition
- Source
-
Leiden University Libraries, Digital Collections
IIIF manifest
- Extent
-
27 buletin dan 1 pengumuman, satu halaman per buletin; 70 citra digital
