Story 2

 Neusoeh

 Dutch Colonialism

Welcome to Koetaradja, as Banda Aceh was called in the colonial days. The field in front of us, lined by wooden barracks from the late 19th century, is one of the most important remains of colonial architecture in this town. The fact that these are all military, rather than commercial buildings, can be seen as a summarization of the Dutch presence in Aceh.

 

Life in the Dutch East Indies, in general, was all about making money, and visitors to other cities in present-day Indonesia can still see traces of this wealth when they look at the buildings that remain from the colonial days. Rows of fancy mansions, bank offices, headquarters of plantation companies, government buildings – almost every Indonesian city has at least a few. In Koetaradja, however, the Dutch never really managed to put making money on the agenda.

Before we continue with our tour, a very short history lesson. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Dutch controlled large parts of Sumatra. The Acehnese Sultanate, however, was still independent. A few hundred kilometers south of Aceh, the Dutch were making tons of money in the rubber and tobacco plantations, and they expected that annexing Aceh.

In addition to that, after the Suez Canal was opened in the 1860s, Aceh was suddenly a place of strategic importance, as all the ships going east passed Aceh. So without any real knowledge of the Acehnese culture, the Dutch went to war in 1873.

After many setbacks and much bloodshed, the city of Koetaradja was captured a few years later, but the rest of Aceh was by no means under Dutch control. Guerrilla warfare ensued. Instead of a trading center, Koetaradja turned into a giant army base.

The barracks we're looking at now used to be the homes of the European officers. While ordinary soldiers in the Dutch colonial army were mostly recruited in Indonesia, especially on Java or the Maluku Islands, the officers always came from Europe. All European nationalities were welcome.

 

The Dutch colonial recruitment center in Harderijk was in those days known as the Gutter of Europe due to the large numbers of criminals, failed students, or bankrupt people that enlisted to the Dutch colonial army, and subsequently ended up in Aceh. Presently, these barracks are still used by the Indonesian army. There are still officers living here.

On the opposite side of this field, the ordinary soldiers live in newly constructed houses and barracks. To really imagine living here in the colonial days, let's take a look at a diary of someone who used to live in one of these officers' houses around 1900, an officer named Terbest. I was transferred to the elite corps, Marechaussee, in Aceh.

There were many advantages. My salary was doubled, and I was given many liberties when I was at home in Neusoeh. Life was so good, I almost felt like a civilian.

No one dared shouting orders to a member of the elites. There were no parades. The food was excellent.

The guy who lived next door came from Germany, a wonderful fellow with whom I spent many pleasant hours. He knew a lot about German poetry. In those days, German schools were much better than Dutch schools, which was the reason many Germans got high positions in the colonial army.

After a while, however, my neighbor changed. Late at night, he would talk about impending doom. He would suddenly stand up and say, I had the feeling we will be attacked tonight, and other depressing things.

At first, I would try to cheer him up, but after a while, I realized he had just drunk way too much and couldn't really be helped. Eventually, he was transferred to Java. 

Still, I had a great time in Neusoeh. The houses were beautiful and quite cool on the inside.