7 January 1884
 |
| Osram ne nsoromma |
As a new day dawns, the Dutch troops are getting ready to land on the northwest coast of Sumatra under Acehnese control. Their mission is to rescue 29 sailors of S.S Nisero -- 18 of whom British -- being held hostage by Teuku Imam Muda of Teunom, after the British ship with its cargo of sugar from Surabaya ran aground near his territory two months earlier.
The Dutch-Aceh war, now in its 11th years, have caused
strains in the relationship between the two Powers, as British Penang has a
near monopoly on Aceh’s lucrative pepper trade accounting for half of the world’s
total. Now with, Teuku Imam’s demand for Britain’s guarantee that his ports
would be permanent free from Batavia’s shipping restrictions has caused
heightened tension between Britain and Holland. After two months of negotiation
and its ultimatum failed to secure the hostages, Holland has now decided to give force to its threat.
 |
| Teuku Imam Muda, Raja of Teunom (c. 1898) |
This is not the first expedition to Aceh for Kwabena. As a barely trained soldier, he was among the first to be sent to Aceh war in a unit consisting mainly of African soldiers from the Gold Coast just like him. It was part of the first Dutch invasion of Aceh under General Köhler's command…
It was eleven years ago....
After two days of bombardment, the
colonial force made a landing between the port of Ulèë Lheuë and the mouth of
the Aceh river. They were suddenly ambushed by klewang-wielding Acehnese who
had been hiding in the bush and lost a dozen of soldiers before beating back
the attackers.
Six days later after the heavy fighting, the fortified Masjid Raya, the Great Mosque, was seized. But while General Köhler was looking through a binocular to survey the area under a tree behind the mosque, a rain of bullets fatally hit him and nearby soldiers. The shots are followed by a swarm of Acehnese who rapidly cut down survivors like falling leaves.
 |
| Aceh villager with klewang and blunderbuss (c. 1874) |
Shot in his shoulder, Kwabena managed to block an attacker’s blade with his musket but was attacked by another from the side who opened a gash on his leg. As he fell on the ground bleeding into stupor, he saw General Kohler lying in a pool of blood not far away.
Just when the attacker was about to strike Kwabena the same fate with a deadly blow, his klewang stopped midair and slowly lowered. His fellow Acehnese, having finished off their victims, gathered around and started pointing at the unconscious soldier and discussed something among themselves. One, who appeared to be their chief, ordered his men to carry him back into the jungle with them….
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Kwabena regained his consciousness in a hut, he found
his hand tied but his aching wounds had been dressed and the bleeding stopped. He was puzzled by his own escape from death. Why did the Acehnese
fighters spare his life and carry him here?
The chief he previously saw approached Kwabena with a few of his men. His hand clutches on something that Kwabena recognized immediately. It was the leather pendant that his wife had given him before he left his homeland.
The chief asked him in Dutch, “Are you an Ottoman?” Kwabena
was puzzled by the question. The chief showed him the pendant and repeated the
question but couldn’t get an answer to his satisfaction. He turned to say something
to one of the men, who quickly disappeared and came back with what surprised
him even more: a tall man dressed much like the Acehnese but appeared to be a
white man.
The white man introduced himself in Dutch, “My name is Thepen.
The chief wants to know if you are a subject of the Ottoman Empire.”
Kwabena shook his head, “No. Why would they think that? I'm just a Dutch soldier.”
Thepen: Your pendant says that you are protected by the
Ottoman flag.
Kwabena: What are you talking about? It’s an adinkra symbol, Osram ne nsoromma. The moon and a star symbolizing love, bonding and faithfulness in marriage. My wife gave it to me.
Thepen chuckles and turned around to interpret Kwabena’s
answer to the chief. He was stunned by the answer for a moment, while his men bellowed out their laughs.
Thepen: The chief said you’re a very lucky man. Without that
pendant your wife would already be a widow.
Kwabena: But why didn’t they kill me?
Thepen: You see? For them, the symbol of a crescent moon and
a star means the Ottoman flag which the Acehnese Sultan also adopted as
Acehnese flag. These people are expecting the Ottoman troops to help them
fight the Dutch. You have to thank your wife for saving your life.
 |
| Flag of the Ottoman Empire from 1844, also adopted by the Acehnese Sultanate |
The chief then says something
Thepen: The chief said that you wife may have saved you with
the pendant once, but only the Grace of God can keep you alive.
He then lowered his voice and said: If I were you, this would be the moment where you found a new religion ...
Religious conversion is not hard when your life depends on it. Besides, Kwabena
has seen many ex-soldiers near Java Hill who have returned from the Dutch East Indies as
converts. Happy to be alive, he nods and says thank you to the chief.
Meanwhile, the first Dutch expedition ended in a disaster. Having lost its commander and many men to diseases and Acehnese defense, they retreated to Batavia three weeks after landing. The Acehnese reoccupied their capital with highest morale than ever, having won a major battle against a European Power. It’s something unheard of, not only in Sumatra but the whole archipelago.
Over the next few weeks, Kwabena slowly recovered from his
injuries under the care of Thepen who trained Acehnese soldiers to use small
arms for a local rajah. One day, the Dutch man came in with another white man.
Thepen: Kwabena, this is my mate John Swendsen from Norway. He
just came back from Penang.
Kwabena reaches to give Swendsen a handshake.
Kwabena: How did you end up here? Did you know each other
from before?
Swendsen: Thepen and I were originally sailors. We met each
other when he was training soldiers for the Raja of Kedah. After that we tried
our luck as trade partners in Penang, but luck ran out and none of the
Europeans would help outcasts like us. We were destitute until the local
Muslims helped us. Then we entered the service of the Raja of Simpang Ulim and converted
to Islam.
Thepen: They call us “rice Muslims” because we were a
charity case, I guess.
Kwabena: I guess now I am one too.
Swendsen: I heard how you got here. That’s quite incredible.
Kwabena shows him the pendant that saved his life: Yes, I
only have my wife to thank and this.
Swendsen takes a closer look and turns to Thepen with a
smile: Very nice. Maybe we should make ones too.
Thepen smiles back: Why not? If we can find some nice leather.
Kwabena: I’m curious. Why did Aceh adopted the
Ottoman flag?
Swendsen: You see? In the 16th century, Sultan Alauddin al-Kahar of Aceh sent envoy to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent requesting to come under the Ottoman Empire’s
suzerainty in return for military support to fight the Portuguese.
There’s still an Ottoman canon called lada secupak guarding the dalam – royal enclosure – that testifies to that relationship. Again in 1850, Aceh sent envoy to the
Ottoman Empire to renew the relationship. A few years later, Sultan Ibrahim
also sent $10,000 to help the Ottoman’s expenses in the Crimean War.
Kwabena: Wow, you do know a lot about Aceh history.
Thepen: Of course, that’s his job nowadays, running to foreign
consuls trying to find alliance for Aceh.
Kwabena: They must be pinning their hope on the Ottoman.
 |
| Habib Abdul Rahman in Turkey (1873) |
R: Yes. Five years ago, 65 Acehnese notables signed an appeal requesting Ottoman protection against the intransigent Dutch, but it did not get anywhere. So our chief diplomat Habib Abdul Rahman is again carrying Sultan Mahmud’s letter to Constantinople. He must be somewhere between Mecca and Constantinople, as we speak.
Kwabena: How about other Powers?
Swendsen: Our other chief diplomat Panglima Tibang went to Singapore with
the Sultan’s letters for the French and American consuls. France used to be
interested in a base in this area to match British Singapore. Our sultan still
has letters from Louis Phillipe and Napoleon III. But after the Opium Wars, all
they are interested in is China by way of Vietnam. So the Sultan’s letter did
not attract their interest this time.
Thepen: After their recent defeat at the hands of the Germans,
France is very messy right now.
Kwabena: How about the Americans?
Swendsen: Consul Studer was sympathetic. That’s why I was
sent as advisor and translator to the Sultan’s retainer to offer trade
privileges in exchange for driving away the Dutch. We will have to wait for
what President Grant says.
Thepen: We have to be careful not to repeat the same mistake.
According to a captured Dutch officer, it was the first meeting with the
American consul on possible treaty that alerted the Dutch consul in Penang, Read, who wrote
a letter that so panicked the Kompeuni into declaring war. They must have a spy
who tipped them off.
 |
| Panglima Tibang (c. 1878) |
Swendsen: Especially now with the rumored discovery of oil
on the island, they definitely do not want any other European Power on Sumatra,
after all the sacrifices they have made to keep the British out since the 1824treaty. Britain controls north of the Strait of Malacca, and Holland south of it.
Kwabena: Sounds like what they did more recently in 1867 and 1870.
Thepen: Yes, you must have heard about those because it also
concerned the Gold Coast where you’re from.
Kwabena: Of course. Not only we heard about it, but the whole region and all the peoples went through chaos because they never bothered to ask our opinions, let alone consents. First, they swapped forts so that each would have continuous areas of control, and suddenly natives of the same tribes were separated, and enemies suddenly found themselves within the same border.
Swendsen: I heard even the French wanted to get involved, trying to exchange their worthless forts for British Gambia which is surrounded by France's Senegal and Casamance.
Kwabena: I didn't know about the French, but it was messy enough just between Britain and Holland. There were wars among tribes and war
against the Dutch which went so bad that they wanted out altogether.
Thepen: And that’s when they made the agreement. Britain
gets all Dutch possessions on the Gold Coast. Holland gets to do whatever it
wants on Sumatra, as long as it doesn’t jeopardize British Penang’s monopoly on
the pepper trade. Also the Dutch got Indian workers to work in Suriname.
Kwabena: They carve out empires and swap lands and peoples like
a game of cards.
Thepen: Like the good old day when the Pope halved the worldfor Spain and Portugal. I know Britain would rather have Sumatra in Dutch hands
rather than more powerful counties.
Swendsen: My country – well, actually the Danes – also used
to have slave forts on the Gold Coast -- part of which was robbed from Sweden. But after the end of the slave trade,
it’s not profitable anymore, so they sold it off to Britain. I wonder why the
Dutch hanged on to theirs for so long. Maybe gold?
Kwabena: I think the real reason is they have turned the
source of slaves into a supply of cheap recruits to fight for them in Java and
the Moluccas. I am one of them.
Thepen: I am sorry for that. I apologize on behalf of my
people – well, they’re not my people anymore – but they have done that for a
long time. Long before recruiting soldiers from Africa, they once used their
exclusive access to Japan to recruit samurais to do all kinds of dirty works
for them, like the annihilation of the natives of Banda islands just to take away
their nutmeg plantations. Many atrocities have been committed like using opium
to siphon the wealth of other counties, Java war, Bali invasion…
 |
| Painting displayed at Museum Rumah Budaya, Banda Neira, Maluku, Indonesia |
Swendsen chuckles: VOC, the Violent Opium Company. The Brits really learned from the best and went further until they were rewarded with Hong Kong.
Thepen: In turn, the VOC also learned from the Portuguese
and beat them at their own game.
Kwabena: This may be a rude question. But why are you on the Acehnese side, and not your motherland's? Is it only because the Acehnese supported you during your hard time?
Thepen: I have completely lost all respect in Holland after I read Max Havelaar. Now I don't only hate the Dutch, but all imperialists.
Swendsen: Which means pretty much all of Europe.
Kwabena: Do you think the Ottoman will help Aceh again this
time, like when they helped Aceh fight the Portuguese?
Swendsen: I sure hope so. Acehnese in Penang and Singapore
are also finding ways to recruit fighters from across the archipelago to join
Aceh’s war. For them, this is a jihad, a holy war. It’s like going to Mecca
for pilgrimage, but they don't even have to go so far.
Thepen: Let’s hope that they can get to Aceh. If the Dutch
finds out, they will definitely try to stop them.
Swendsen: They must be preparing for another invasion after
the monsoon. We should be prepared, whether outside helps come or not.
Thepen: That’s my job to train our men so that we can beat
them off Aceh again like Koxinga kicked their asses off Formosa two centuries
ago...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment!