_________________________________________________________________________________
BOOK REVIEW:
By: Dr. Teungku Hasan di Tiro
"HOW
CIVILIZED NETHERLANDS
CREATED PEACE AND ORDER IN ACHEH
IN THE 20TH CENTURY"
BY:
WEKKER (EX:-OFFICER OF THE ARMY OF NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES) PUBLISHED
BY DE AVONDPOST, THE HAGUE, 1907, 160PP.
("HOE
BESCHAAD NEDERLAND
IN DE TWIN-TIGSTE EEUW VREDE EN ORDE
SCHEPT OP ATJEH",
DOOR
WEKKER (OUD-MARÉCHAUSSÉE-OFFICIER VAN HET
NEDERLANDSCH OOST-INDISCH LEGER), DE AVONDPOST, DEN HAAG, 1907, 160P)
________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer's Introduction.
The publication of Amnesty International's SHOCK THERAPY: RESTORING
ORDER IN ACHEH, 1989-1993, which described and documented the
atrocities committed by the Javanese invaders against the people of
Acheh, led this reviewer to seek precedent and if possible, explanation
to such behavior.
The Javanese, now masking themselves as "Indonesians" to justify
their colonial rule over other peoples and countries, had been used
since 15th century as source of cheap local mercenaries by the Dutch
to avoid bringing soldiers from Europe that entailed higher cost.
Over the centuries Java had developed its mercenary culture - a group
of population has become hired professional killers. Suharto, Murdani,
et al, are archetypical descendants of these mercenaries.
What happened in Acheh during Holland-Acheh war (1873-1942) fought
for Holland largely by Javanese mercenaries, was described and documented
in HOW CIVILIZED NETHERLANDS CREATED PEACE AND ORDER IN ACHEH.IN
THE 20TH CENTURY, published in 1907.
Despite it was published 87 years ago, the gruesome tales it was
telling may yet give some clues to the present situation. At some
points the pages of Amnesty's SHOCK THERAPY seems to have been
lifted right from the pages of HOW CIVILIZED NETHERLANDS CREATED
PEACE AND ORDER IN ACHEH. The similarities between strategy and
tactics used in Acheh by the Dutch before and by the Javanese now
is overwhelming as to suggest continuity rather than disruption!
After colonizing Java for some 300 years, the Netherlands formally
declared war on the independent Kingdom of Acheh on March 26, 1873,
and invaded the country with the biggest European force ever assembled
in Southeast Asia up to that time in history, numbered 10,000 men,
under command of general Kohler.
On April 23, 1873, that force was completely defeated by the Achehnese
defenders and general Kohler himself was among the dead. As the result
the Dutch withdrew from Acheh to Java and prepared for the second
invasion.
The second invasion took place on Christmas Day, 1873, with much
larger force under command of general Van Swieten who was called from
retirement to lead the second invasion of Acheh betraying Dutch succeeded
in capturing the Citadel of Acheh - Kuta Radja - by the end of January,
1874. The Dutch thought that after they took the palace, all resistance
would cease, as happened in the rest of the Malay Archipelago. They
thought the fall of Acheh's Citadel was the beginning of the end of
Acheh War.
What actually happened was, that was the beginning of the "One-Hundred
Yeas War of Today" as American Harper's Magazin wrote in its famous
article.
The Dutc was about going to know the big difference between Acheh
and Java. In Java, when palace of the kings fell, resistance collapsed.
In Acheh, the capture of the palace does not end the resistance. To
end resistance in Acheh, the Dutch would have to occupy the whole
country which is twice as large as the Netherlands.
The writer of this book was an officer in the Netherlands East Indian
Army who served in Acheh and witnessed all the atrocities committed
by the Dutch military there which he characterized as cruel, uncivilized,
barbaric, and bestial.
The Dutch were finally defeated in Acheh by the Achehnese and withdrew
for the second time from Acheh in March 1942, 35 years after the publication
of this book and 69 years after the Declaration of war on Acheh. And
never to come back again.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK
The war has been going on without stopping in Acheh since 1873. We
are now in 1907 - the date of publication of this book. That is a
period of 34 years. And no one can tell here when this war will come
to an end.
For decades what was called our "policy of enlightenment" in Acheh
consisted of massacring innocent civilians, men, women, children and
old men, and burning of whole villages.
Only finally it did occurred to us that Achehnese are also human
beings like us. There are feelings also in their hearts. Wives who
waited for their husbands to come home; mothers who waited for their
sons to return; but none arrived because we had killed them. Those
who returned only to see their homes had been reduced to ashes. All
these have nurtured the feelings of anger in the hearts of Achehnese
towards us Dutchmen.
Books about Acheh could be divided into two categories: those which
contain "official truths" and those which contain "unofficial truths".
The official truths we heard from the mouths of Ministers, and from
other government officials. Unofficial truths we heard from words
of mouths, and from newspapers.
It has become very obvious that we have been walking on the wrong
path in Acheh. Our wrong politics and wrong economics will cause incalculable
disasters. If this war will be conducted according to the present
policy it will last 30X30 years more with continuous lost of money,
energy, and blood. And this war will end with the killing of the last
Achehnese.
Dutchmen, wake up from your slumber!
You have listened to the "official truths" for too long without proof
of their veracity. Lend your ears now to someone who had lived in
Acheh for years and in the position to know the truth about our position
there.
The truth about our position in Acheh is that we have no power there!
The acts of cruelty have been perpetrated there to cover our own powerlessness.
And we have duped ourselves into thinking that we could conquer the
Achehnese by acts cruelty.
This land is populated by young men and young women whose fathers
we have killed and wanted to retaliate against us; by widows who want
to avenge their husband and wanted to retaliate against us; by widows
who want to avenge their husbands who have been murdered by us; by
a people who were previously rich and powerful but we have made them
poor and disunited; by a nation who has been made hard and strong
by suffering 34 years war we imposed upon them; by a people who will
fight us with all possible ways and also with impossible ways; by
a people who are warlike, brave, strong, conscious of their destiny,
lovers of freedom, not adverse to drinking their enemy's blood, and
loyal to their own in the struggle against the infidel.
Killings and massacres which we had perpetrated in Acheh were on
vary large scale due to the decision that had been taken by our official
policy makers there that we look to the entire Achehnese nation as
our enemy, to be treated as enemy, to be called "jahats" (criminals)
who must be shot dead, if necessary all of them. This decision lies
behind the practice of never taking prisoner in Acheh: those who are
capturedor arrested were shot dead as a rule.
An official Decree (Decree N.224, article 3, dated 18 may, 1885)
stated: "All Achehnese who do not possessed Dutch issued Identity
paper and found carrying fire arms or knife, to be considered enemies
and must be shot dead."
What took place in acheh is a guerilla wa. In general, a guerilla
was is the most difficult to wage of all wars. And the most cruel
even when waged among civilized nations. In the present case, our
enemy is a native state, and our own soldiers consist of mercenaries
from Java. This fact should imposed extreme caution to our commanders
to limit cruelty to a minimum because our self-interest and humanity
demand this from us as a civilized nation.
During these last years acts of cruelty, barbarism, and bestiality
are on the increase. Vandalism has spread all over Acheh (an oblique
reference to general Van Daalen, the Dutch governor of occupied Acheh
and the commander of Dutch forces in acheh).
It was a daily occurrence in Acheh when the commanders of our troops
on patrol entered a village they ordered the local people to climb
the coconut trees to pick up the fruit. When the first coconut fell
to the ground, the commanders were reliable reported to have said:
"Oh, there is an ape! I will shoot!" Then they shot down the Achehnese
who fell to the ground from high tree, dead. This was the truth. It
happened so often in Acheh.
The universally used M95 bullet was considered not powerful enough
to kill an Achehnese by one shot, because he could still get up and
fight after being shot with that standard bullet. Therefore our troops
were allowed to use the internationally forbidden dum-dum bullets
against the Achehnese. The bullets were considered inhumane by International
Law.
The Dutch Supreme Commander, in his Note No.4159/154, 1905, to the
Governor of Acheh did complain that one milliun dum-dum bullets were
shipped to Acheh from jakarta that year! The Dutch military in Acheh
gave no protection to those captured or arrested by them. Al captured
and arrested persons, men, women, children, were shot dead. So many
examples were given in this book, complete with names, dates, and
places.
When the village of Kuto Reh was occupied in Lingga, Central Acheh,
all prisoners were shot dead: 313 men; 189 women; 59 children; 20
severely wounded women; 31 severely wounded children; not a single
prisoner was allowed to live.
When the village of kampong Likat was occupied, 344 men were killed,
1 who was gravely wounded was also killed. No prisoner was allowed
to live.
The occupation of the village of Kuta Tampeng also ended in slaughter.
To protect themselves from our bullets, the unarmed villagers had
dig holes in the ground for refuge. Our troops surrounded the holes
and rained them with bullets until everyone was dead: me, women, children.
A commandant who took part in that gruesome action told me: "Lieutenant,
my men made the whole affairs an amusing game". It was shameful that
the Government of the Netherlands had made such bloodbaths necessary!
All gardens and plantations that could be found in the mountains
of Acheh were burned down and whoever present there, men, women, and
children, killed without any question asked. For example, when a plantation
was found at Krueng Tadu, in the middle of 1904, two women and a sucking
baby were shot dead. In the village of Samuti, on November 9, 1905,
an old woman and a young woman were shot dead. In the village of Putjok
Wojla, in November, 1905, a women was killed. In May, 1904, in the
garden of Pang Adam, a woman was shot dead. On July 29, 1905, 1905,
nine persons were shot dead in the town of Manggeng, 5 of them women.
In August, 1905, the troops on patrol from Meulaboh shot dead 20 persons,
found a plantation where 15 persons were shot dead, 4 of them. Between
January 16 and 26, 1907, our troops shot dead 9 men, 1 women, and
1 baby.
The once dencely populated districts of Geumpang, Anoë, Serbojadi,
Samarkilang have been made empty by massacres conducted by our soldiers
because those districts were suspected bases for "peace disturbers".
In Acheh we separated the "good people" from the "bad people" by
forcing everybody to carry identity papers issued by us. But we knew
that "peace disturbers" could get the identity paper also through
their sympathizers. Generally the "good people" stayed in their villages
but "bad ones" stay in the mountain plantations or they move from
place to place.
We demand from the villagers: (1) That they live in their village
without moving around; (2) To report immediately to us when the "peace
disturbers" arrived in their village; (3) To work for us, 52 days
a year, without pay, to make our military road to make it easier for
us to chase the " peace disturbers"; (4) To pay fines to us whenever
we imposed on them for whatever reason. In short, we asked from them
a lot, but we gave them nothing.
We could not even give protection to the population against the
guerillas. The Dutch troops, 6000 according to Government statement,
are not enough to control Acheh whose territory twice as large as
the Netherlands.
We allow to the Achehnese to keep two long knives to protect their
household from wild swines. But it cannot be carried outside the house.
If found with knives outside their homes, they will be shot dead,
or fined to work for us for 50 days without pay, or pay us 25 Dutch
guilders!
In the Order No.96, dated August 13, 1903, signed by the Dutch Commander,
was stipulated: "Women and children captured in the mountains must
be taken and delivered to the civil administration." QUESTION: what
has to be done to male prisoners, old and young? No written answer
has ever been given to this question.
What actually happened was that all of them shot dead. The most often
used excuses to kill prisoners were "resisting arrest" or "trying
to escape". What actually happened among Dutch military in Acheh was
"who killed more are more honorable", and "the successful officers
are the ones who killed more achehnese."
Even prizes are given for each Achehnese killed. This is the order
of the day in many military garrisons. See for example, the Journal
of garrisons of Matang Glumpang Duwa, Panton Labu, Paja Bakong, Guntji,
Babah Rot, from May 1 to November 12, 1905.
The refusal to give protection to the captured has become a universal
practice in Acheh among our military force. This competition to murders
has a very bad effect on the mind and moral of younger commanders;
on those who are ambitious; on those who are fighting for promotion;
in short rendering useless our entire peace-and-security policy in
Acheh that had led to the killing of anyone found in the plantations.
An officer recorded in a garrison Journal for July, 1904, that to
add the score of his killings he murdered 2 more innocent Achehnese
women and a baby.
The aftremath of legitimazing the chasing for Achehnese dead was
the establisment of a betting system for it among Dutch military and
money was made out of it. In West Acheh, a garrison commanding officer
distributed gifts to military units that had killed the larger numbers
of Achehnese each month during 1904-1905.
Dutch officers are betting among themselves in military garrisons
about how the best way to kill Achehnese innocent passers-by outside
in the public street nearby. IS THIS THE CIVILIZATION THAT WE ARE
SUPPOSED TO BE BRINGING TO ACHEH?
In discussions in Parliament in The Hague, it has been concluded
with sufficient evidence on record that in European wars the ratio
between the wounded and the dead stood at something like 3-5 to 1;
that is to say, for every 3-5 wounded, usually you have I dead. But
in Acheh, the ratio between the wounded and the dead was I against
300. That is for every wounded Dutchman or mercenary 300 Achehnese
were shot dead. "This is the truth!"
Another great political mistake was to call those who opposed us
"robbers" and "peace disturbers". This was a very great political
mistake!
From 1899 to 1907 (not include 1873-1898) by Government own admission,
we have killed 17,953 Achehnese, men, women, and children.
In 1906, the Dutch Government acknowledged having killed 2151 Achehnese.
The numbers of guns confiscated 269 pieces. This means those 611 persons
killed were unarmed men without means to defend themselves!
In the middle of 1907, that is 34 years after the Declaration of
War against Acheh, the Government acknowledged having shot dead 700
Achehnese.
In another accounting of the Achehnese dead, the Dutch government
admitted having killed 18,700 Achehnese during the first 8½ years
of the war.
THESE FIGURES PROVED THAT IN ACHEH WE WERE NOT WAGING A NORMAL
WAR BUT WE WERE IN KILLING A NATION!
It can be seen in Acheh War that too many women had fallen victims
to our military murderers. Within a period of one year and five months
66 women were killed along with 14 children and 80 other victims.
The Minister of Colonial Affairs insisted that was because Achehnese
women wore trousers like men, and the Dutch soldiers thought they
were men. This is impossible Government's policies.
The wanton killings of unarmed civilians in Acheh have become daily
occurrances whether they had "identity paper" or not. These took place
everywhere in Acheh and the instances are too many to mention here.
These have become part of daily life for the Achehnese people since
a third of this century.
The Dutch army also engaged in highway robberies as well as stealing
as Captain Van der Maaten documented it in his written report of May
20, 1903.
The truth is that we rule Acheh with whips and swords. Murders and
tortures are ways and means to threaten the Achehnese in order to
make them accept our policy of peace and order according to our own
definition.
ACHEHNESE ARE TORTURED
TO GET INFORMATION
The commandants must have news, information about enemy activities,
otherwise they are consider incompetent, and will not get promotion.
Because of the tactis used to get that information, we are not trusted
by the population. Therefore there left only one way to get information:
by coercion and torture.
The people who already lived in fear became, in addition, the victims
of a torture system in order to give us the secrets of those who opposed
our occupation of their country. The torture was conducted in many
ways: by flogging; by piercing the tender and thin part of the body
like nose, lips, ears, eyes, mouth, with sharp thin metal or with
picks from coconut leave to draw blood; by hanging upside down or
by the wrists; by cricifying; by slowly burning the prisoners with
open fire under him until he confess or otherwise until he dies. This
is done because we are impotent, having not other means to get information.
One day in June 1904, an Achehnese prisoner was brought in my garrison.
The prisoner did not want to tell us where was the hiding place of
his comrades. He was taken out of the garrison and tied to a tree.
Two Javanese coolies were ordered to whip him with rattan until he
speaks. After being whipped 84 times he lost consciousness. Several
pales of cold water were thrown on his face to make him recover his
consciousness. Then the whipping resumes. After being whipped 100
times he began to talk. But now he could no longer walk because his
injury to show the place. It took two days for him to be able to begin
to walk again.
In another garrison, a young woman was brought in after her arrest.
According to report she was the wife of a well known resistance leader.
She denied that report. She said she did not even know the man. Therefore
she was tortured by tying her to a tree and two Javanese coolies were
ordered to flog her until she became unconscious for 7 hours. Later
it was proven that the woman was not the wife of the resistance leader.
In another garrison, a woman who was accused of giving food to a
"peace disturber" was arrested and hanged by her ankles. After being
hanged like that for two hours she began talking and gave the information
asked from her. In the garrison of Glumpang Dua an Achehnese prisoner
was so severely beaten by the commandant until the commandant himself
became sick. News are widespread in Acheh how a Dutch commandant barbecued
his prisoners to get information.
In Acheh, it seems that all elements coalesced to blur the distinction
between the good and the bad, between the humane and the bestial,
among the officers and soldiers. That mad them look upon lives as
being nothing. That attidue had made them so irresponsible that they
could no longer live in a normal civilized community with accountability.
They are the ones who spread terror in Acheh by burning villages and
houses with people still inside. This had taken place in Peusangan
with 12 persons died for being burned inside a house.
CORPSES ARE CUT TO PIECES
A Dutch officer in Meulaboh has a hobby to decapitate the Achehnese
he shot dead. Another commandant like to carve a sign of the cross
in the forehead or chest of his victims. He considered these the signature
of his company.
The head of Pang (Achehnese commander) Budiman was decapitated and
brought with fanfare from Glumpang Dua to Lhok Seumawe and back to
Glumpang Duwa.
In 1905 the head of another Achehnese Pang was decapitated at the
Battle of Blang Mane and was brought with ceremony to our garrison
in Bireuën.
I knew a Dutch officer who kept many decapitated Achenese heads for
his collection.
There are stories about our cadavers that had fallen to the hands
of the Achehnese being cut up also. Because now, we too, hed seen
the mountain of enemy flesh stacked-up by our soldiers, we have to
be polite to the Achehnese not to say anything it, if they too had
done it to us.
MURDERS OF OUR OWN GUIDES
In the Journal of the Civil Administration in Takengon, there was
written that an Achehnese guide was shot dead because he did not show
the right path to resistance's hide out.
On the road to Tundjang, a guide was shot dead because of suspicion
that he did not show the correct way.
In another Journal in the Laut Tawar region, was annotated that a
guide was shot dead in front of an Achnese collaborator for not showing
the right direction.
In the margin of a Journal in Lhokseumawe, the present Dutch Governor
of Acheh wrote: "This man should have been shot dead immediately."
The note was written on the spot where it was reported that the guide
had caught on the road in certain place as if he was alerting the
guerillas of the presence of our troops there.
All these cruelties are known to the Dutch Governor of Acheh and
Conquerred Territories and other officialdom. They knew very well
that although we have been fighting the war for 34 years, we have
not succeeded in influencing the Achehnese much less gaining moral
ascendancy over them. This very important to remember.
All things that we do in Acheh based on force and coercion: we force
the Achehnese to work for us without paying them anything; we coerce
them to pay all kinds of taxes to us; in fact we have come to enslaves
them; and there are official taxes and unofficial taxes; every garrison
has its two budget system, one official and another one unofficial
and secret; to get the money we tax the Achehnese with many devilish
excuses: for example for reason that "their gardens are not clean",
"their fences are several centimetres higher than we prescribed",
"they arrived late for work", etc.
The Achenese entertained genuinely deep-seated anger and hatred towards
us. This is because of the war and our cruelty towards them. A peace
and order that we based on our moral superiority is out of the question
in Acheh.
Today, after 34 years of war, they still can shoot us in Kuta Radja
(the capital of Acheh), lam Njong, Rumpet, until Kuta Alam, and Peuniti
(all in the capital district). The polpulation is still on the side
of those who opposed us; they give money and food to them; Keureutoë
and Lhok Sukon (imporatnt region) have become resistance territory
again; Sawang, another important region, has fallen again to enemy
hands; Peusangan, another vital region, has lost to us again; Mukim
Tudjôh, adjacent to the capital, is full with rebels. At the beginning
of 1907 we have to send troops from Kuta Radja (Bandar Acheh) to protect
Seulimum and Indrapuri, two vital cities of this very region.
Now, our hard hearted Supreme Commander (reference to general Van
Daalen) has had his troops wallowing in cruelty and barbarism; they
become hangmen and arsonists who burned the villages and the whole
countryside; emissaries of fear, hate, and revenge. This is the true
situation in Acheh at the end of 1906 - thirty-three years after the
commencement of the war.
Today, it is no longer possible to reduce the scale of revolts against
Holland in Acheh. On the contrary, the resistance has become stronger.
In fact, after we fought a war for 34 years, we are in Acheh today
only the master of a piece of land on which our garrison stand and
over another square meter of land over which our guard post stands.
The commander of Leubu garrison wrote to me recently: "The situation
is not hopeful here. I have just shot 20 peace disturbers. But afterwards
came 20 more. They are brave because they have nothing left to lose
except their lives and they did not value that like we do."
PEOPLE OF THE NETHERLANDS: DEMAND FROM YOUR MINISTERS
TO END "VANDALISM" IN ACHEH WHICH HAS PRODUCED BARBARIAN PRACTICES!
(This writing by Wekker, first
appeared as serial articles in 'De Avondpost' The Hague, later
in book form, roused public opinion until the Dutch Parliament decided
to debate
the matter on November 5-6, 1907)
DEBATES
ON ACHEH
IN DUTCH PARLIAMENT
The Hague,
5-6 November, 1907
(HET ATJEH-DEBAT IN DE TWEEDE
KAMER DER STATEN-GENERAAL)
VAN KOL, MP:
I realize that the situation in Acheh is worse than in the past,
after 34 years we waged war there to bring civilization, peace, and
disciplin to that country which we have conquered.
Now a barbaric condition is being establish in Acheh under the shadow
of the flag of the Netherlands. The dum-dum bullets that are forbidden
to be used anywhere in the world are being officially permitted to
be used in Acheh. People who were not in a position to defend themselves
have been targeted. The wounded were also killed. In Lingga region,
women and children hiding in the pits under ground to save themselves
were killed like wild animals.
It is not so 'parliamentary' to mention it here, but in Acheh they
have made manslaughter a game for fun.
Only in the stories of cruel tortures in the Middle Ages could we
read such barbarism practised. Today Achehnese are hanged by their
wrists with their toes barely touching the ground.
The guides are shot dead; peasants who carried 'rampagoë' - Achehnese
pocket knife to cut beetlenuts - we shot dead under excuse of carrying
weapon; Achehnese are forced to climb coconut palm trees then deliberately
shot dead falling to the ground; Achehnese who refused to kowtow to
our soldiers were tortured; Achehnese aristocrats were forced to wear
Javanese coolies garments and these returned to their villages will
not they kill Dutchmen without remorse to avenge their dignity? Is
it true or not, houses have been burned knowing that there were people
inside?
Our soldiers made mincemeat out of Achehnese dead: evidence has been
found.
Our officers used klewang (Javanese long knife) to cut the sign
of the cross on the chests of foreheads of Achehnese Muslims' dead
who fell to our hands.
Prizes have been given for decapitation of Achehnese and there exist
our officers who collect the decapitated heads of Achehnese he had
killed.
An eye-witness of this war of national extermination has testified
that he had seen our soldiers made mincemeat out of Achehnese dead
until nothing was left except patches of bloods and scattered human
flesh.
We can keep silent if we heard stories of some barbaric tribes who
still from time to time cut the throat of another for his head. For
us, there is no more beastly attitude than to remain silent when our
own army did such thing! Obviously those who rule in Acheh today on
our behalve are people without moral, who have become wild, and mad,
and bloodthirsty.
An officer from our Maréchaussée Division has had the courage to
write a series of articles in the newspaper 'De Avondpost' with the
headline: "How Civilized Netherlands Created Peace and Order in Acheh
in the Twentieth Century."
He told us there, among others, how a Dutch officer had tied an Achehnese
to railroad tracks and then led a locomotif to to run over him! He
told us also how an Achehnese headman because of his inability to
pay a fine that our officer had imposed within 24 hours, the headman
was shot dead! Has there been ever a time when Acheh was ruled by
more cruel oppressors than the present? Has there ever been more unjust
killing and cruelties in Acheh than now? Has there ever been more
houses burnt in Acheh than during this ethnic-cleansing under the
Netherlands' tricolor?
Therefore, Mr. Chairman, we have talked enough about this problem.
We must stop all this atrocities and barbarism at once!
DE STUERS, MP:
Pacification system is based on the use of force to instil fear in
the mind of the natives towards us.
Now we are talking a people, a good many of them we have killed
with swords and fire arms in order to make them understand three decisive
words 'disciplin, peace, order'. Not only that, now we also want them
to betray their own people and their own relatives. These are impossible
demands, morally and materially.
An Achenese can not be a head-man with us if he did not endorse
arrest, fine, exile, dismissal, even killings of his own people -
if they acted contrary to our order. Usually all Achehnese who have
collaborated with us can no longer return to their village without
being guarded by our patrol because they were marked by their relatives,
by their village community, and by the entire population of Acheh.
What we demand from our Achehnese collaborators are impossible to
be accomplished because basically we have forbidden the use of the
fire arms by them. First, we have confiscated their fire arms. Then
we asked them to oppose the rebels without giving them arm to defend
themselves. And we ourselves have not enough troops to guard them.
In Lhok Seumawe 2400 meters of railroad tracks was destroyed without
our ability to do anything about it. Therefore what the Government
demands from friendly Achehnese seemed childish.
Presently in Acheh, and in other 17 provinces, there are many people
being shot dead and slaughtered. We all knew this. Thousands of people
over there can have their peace only in the graves. What the Governor
General of the Dutch East Indies has to say about this?
All of us who read the newspapers remember the propaganda which said
that we made war on Acheh in order "to end slavery', to stop robbery,
to put an end to menstealings," and so forth. To give even deeper
impression to each of this word was given further explanation, thus
"to stop selling and buying slaves, to stop piracy at sees"…and so
on…
Let us think about talks of abolishing slavery in Acheh. I have
just read that in Bali slaves are registered. In Acheh we registered
everything: the people, the animals, the guns, and the slaves. We
suppose to have come to Acheh to abolish alavery. Are not we ourselves
doing it in Acheh? Today wwe are the one who make slavery in Acheh.
We captured the Achense and forced them to do what we like. Recently
we marched 800 of them, all handcuffed, to Kuta Radja. About our wish
to abolish slavery, is not that too expensive to be paid with 18,000
dead?
The fact was that Article 115 of Government Regulation stated that
the abolition of slavery must be done slowly, step by step, - not
by killing 18,000 men!
With regrd to head-hunting, Mr. Van Kol had just told us who are
head-hunters in Acheh!
"These victims" said the Governor General, "have been made necessary
in order to lay down the foundation stone to purify the coarse feelings
and to refine bad habits".
We, who used dum-dum bullets, who tortured then murdered prisoners,
who killed women and children, we have come to Acheh to refine coarse
habits! We have come "to bring the certainty of justice; to bring
peace and tranquillity; to make development possible; to guarantee
a prosperous future for the population of these islands which has
been put in our care by the will of the world community!"
These loose talks are enough reason for me to call this Governor
General a clown!
It is not widely know but the fact is that we are in Acheh because
of the treaty we made with the British where we gave Guinea Gold Coast
(Ghana) to them and they gave us free hands to take Acheh."
In North Sumatra the entire population has been made hopeless since
34 years ago. The greatest hatred was reserved for us. We have come
there to impose our culture with machine guns. There is no more apt
titles for us than robbers and oppressors!
I know that I do not effect any change here. But I believe that sooner
or later the public will know what we have done in North Sumatra and
there will be no Ministers, no Governors General, no Governors of
Acheh and Conquered Territories can withstand the coming public condemnation
of this!
BOGAARD, MP:
The morality of the Netherlands East India Army is not high. This
I must declare openly.
I believe that no one can touch the heart of a nation with the point
of the bayonets. It cannot be made to follow our orders by threats
of automatic weapons alone….
VAN DEVENTER, MP:
It is very difficult for us to admit the fact that after 34 years
of war and working very hard to establish our power in Acheh we have
failed.
We can no longer cover-up the truth that we do not rule Acheh but
we merely threaten it with our state terrorism. The time had long
come for us to make amend.
VAN BYLAND, MP:
With regard to the war in Acheh, enough have been written and debatted.
But I think this war was based on other than what most people think.
This war was not against the Achehnese (sic) but against Islam. This
is a religious war. This is what I fear most about this war.
Islam is the greatest enemy of our politics and civilization throughout
our colonies.
THOMSON, MP:
When I was in Acheh I knew what happened.
I have condemned without hesitation the burnings of entire villagers,
the cutting of fruits trees, the destruction of abandoned animals.
How was the feelings of persons who saw only scattered ashes left
on the place where their houses stood before? This is the sort of
thing we have not thought about.
I saw one of our soldiers using his boots turning round the body
of a dead Achehnese while searching the cadaver's pockets for golds.
I also have in my possession a photograph showing feets of Achehnese
children killed in one of our garrisons. Such activities did not cause
any disgust amongst us!
In the officers' clubs in Acheh it is now forbidden to mention "cutting
throat" because, they say, people in Holland do not like it. But it
is all-right to say just "cutting…" and what is cut is the male organs
- which in Holland people do not dare to say it in public.
This war has produced inhuman acts. With acts of cruelty that certain
to produce hatred we cannot pacify a people like the Achehnese. We
must abandon this barbaric system.
LIZERMAN, MP:
One morning, in January 1874, while I was working outside the town
of Solo, in Central Java, I heard the sound of cannon shot fired from
our garrison in town. It was followed by 99 other shots st few second
intervals. The same cannon shots were fired from every garrison throughout
the Dutch East Indies to announce to the populace that the Palace
of Acheh has fallen to the hands of the Dutch army. Everyone thought
involuntarily : now the most difficult task has been accomplished.
This must be the beginning of the end of the Acheh War.
Ever since, the optimistic note has been followed by the pessimistic
one like mountain ranges are followed by the valleys and back to the
mountain ranges again and infinitum. Now, we are again in the pessimistic
period.
The optimistic view was based on our lack of knowledge about our
real situation in Acheh and due to our ignorance about Achenese history
and about Achehnese nation.
The Achehnese are not like other peoples in the East Indies who easily
surrender especially when the palace of their kings have fallen to
our hands, then nor further resistance was offer. In Acheh the situation
is vastly different: if we had not controlled all, we have no control
at all!
The killings and the cruelty must be stopped forthwith. It has been
more than enough time to make the Achehnese, who did not ask their
country be made part of the Dutch East Indies, to have an opportunity
to appreciate that they had become subjects of the Netherlands.
DE STUERS, MP:
Three years ago, when I was involved in the bloody events in Lingga
and Alas, I had felt then that we might be involved in international
difficulties with Britain, France, Germany and others not yet known
to us who would attack us for violating humanitarian law so brazenly
in North Sumatra. Now we also being criticized for treating our subject
people oppressively.
The resistance against us in Acheh has been going since 35 years.
This resistance has nothing to do with our debate here. It has been
offered independently from what we are saying here and this resistance
is getting stronger. I said this because there are some who said that
our criticism of the Government is strengthening the resistance.
I will not lie in this matter and I will tell the truth: the Achehnese
who have been killed by us were mostly unarmed civilians without means
to defend themselves!
The imbalance in tha ratio of confiscated fire arms and the numbers
of Achehnese shot dead by us proved that this is not a normal war
which we have been waging; we have been engaged in exterminating a
people of a country! For me this is a sympton of unhealthy situation!
THE RESULT OF THIS DEBATE WAS A RESOLUTION
REQUESTING
THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF THE NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES
TO GO PERSONALLY TO ACHEH TO INVESTIGATE
THE SITUATION AND TO REPORT HIS FINDINGS
TO PARLIAMENT FOR FURTHER ACTION.
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