Colonial informants and the Acehnese-Dutch war

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the contribution of colonial informants during the Acehnese-Dutch war (1873–c.1912) in responding to Teuku Umar’s collaboration with the Dutch authorities. The object of this study is a collection of letters from the Chief Penghulu of Kutaraja (1893–1895), Haji Hasan Mustapa, to his colonial friend, C. Snouck Hurgronje. These letters are held at the Leiden University Library (Cod. Or. 18.097). Hasan Mustapa’s name is rarely mentioned in studies of the Acehnese-Dutch war. He constantly provided information relating to the war to Snouck Hurgronje who was living in Batavia at the time. This study confirms that Hasan Mustapa’s position was significant in gaining information about Teuku Umar’s collaboration with the Dutch authorities. Hasan Mustapa acquired information from both Acehnese informants and Dutch officials, and believed that Teuku Umar could not be trusted. Hasan Mustapa’s information on Teuku Umar was important for Snouck Hurgronje’s advice to the Dutch authorities in the East Indies. This is therefore a study on the closeness of informants and their patrons during colonial times in the East Indies archipelago.

KEYWORDS:

• Aceh
• Dutch
• colonial war East Indies
• Hasan Mustapa
• Snouck Hurgronje
• Teuku Umar

Acknowledgements

Research for this article was supported by the Research Grant Programme of the Directorate of Islamic Higher Education (Diktis), the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Republic of Indonesia in 2018. My great thanks to Wim van den Doel who sent me archival sources of the digital special collections at UB Leiden University. My special thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for Indonesia and the Malay World who provided comments and suggestions for improvements.

Note on contributor

Jajang A. Rohmana is lecturer at Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University (UIN) Bandung. His research interests cover history and Islamic studies. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 Whilst Abdullah (1987) does not provide the Acehnese death toll in numbers, other scholars such as McFate (2018) provide figures ranging from 75,000 deaths or 15% of the population, to 100,000 (Raben 2012).

2 This community refers to Muslims from Southeast Asia covering the Malay Peninsula, East Indies, south Thailand and Mindanao in the Philippines.

3 All the letters are stored at Leiden University Library (Cod. Or. 18.097 S.9 and S.16).

4 Teungku is an Acehnese title for an ulama whereas Teuku denotes a traditional leader (uleebalang).

5 This incident occurred when the European merchant ship, Hok Canton, was detained by Teuku Umar who also had personal issues with Mevrouw Hansen, the captain of the ship. Teuku Umar’s rival Teuku Imeum of Teunom had also previously received ransom for the ship Nisero in 1883. Teuku Umar as the most respected warlord in Aceh resisted Dutch authority amid the competition between the Netherlands in Sumatra and Britain in Melaka to control the pepper trade (Reid 2005: 282–283).