NATIONAL REVOLUTION IN NORTH SUMATRA .

Sumatera Timur and Tapanuli 1942 - 1950.

by

Michael van Langenberg

THESIS
Presented to the University of Sydney,
in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree
of Doctor of Philosophy.

1976
 CONTENTS

VOLUME 1
i Acknowledgments . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .... xi
~1aps •.............................. xv
re-colonial Society ..... .....•....
Establishment of Dutch Colonial Ru l e

COLONIAL PRELUDE .................... .

Demographic Patterns ........ .. .. ~ ..
Religious Patterns ..... .......... ..
Primordial Patter~s .... ... ....... . .
Class and Social Stratification . .. .
Colonial Economy in Sumatera Timur .
The Indonesian Nat ional i st Movement

JAPANESE OCCUPATION ......•.•.........

THE REPUBLIC ·ESTABLISHED ............ .
SOCIAL REVOLUTION ................... .

VOLUME 2
WHICH WAY? WHOSE REVOLUTION?
NEGARA SOEMATERA TIMOER. ... .. .•.. .... 588
CIVIL WAR 666
GUERILLAS AND FEDERALISTS . .. .. . ... ... 740
MERDEKA ACHIEVED ............... , . . . . . 821
ASSESSING THE REVOLUTION ............. 918
APPENDICES .................................... . . . 951
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964

Contents (2)
APPENDICES.
1. Plantation production, NST, Oct.1947-Nov.1948 ..
2. Summary from Document 109; 6-9 ................ .
3. Population, Sumatera Timur & Tapanuli 1900-30 ..
4. Population according to Ethnic Group, 1930 .....
5. Population, Native States, Sumatera Timur 19271930 .
6. Population by Afdeeling regions, 1927 & 1930 .. .
7. Populations of major towns 1920-30 ............ .
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
951 952 . 959 960
961 962 963
Books, Theses, Articles, Pamphlets & Unpublished Papers . . . . 964
Newspapers and Periodicals ..................... 990 Docun1ent s ................. , , ... , . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
 PREFACE

The evolution of this study began in early 1968 when I started research for
what was intended to be a study of political integration in independent
Indonesia, focusing upon the structure of relationships between the national and
provincial centres of Jakarta and Medan respectively in the period from 1945 to
1965, By mid-1970, following my first four months of research in Indonesia,
one thing had become abundantly clear: attempts to explain the dynamics of
provincial politics in Medan in the post-independence era invariably led me
back to developments that had taken place throughout North Sumatra between
the start of the Japanese occupation in 1942 and the formation of the unitary
Republic of Indonesia in 1950. It became obvious that this was the crucial
period during which the key determinants behind political motivations and
behaviour in the post-independence era ethnicity, class, religion, commitments
of political ideology, and specific corporate, group and individual interests -
had been stimulated, remoulded or created for the first time.
By late 1970 the initial topic of study had been “put aside in favour of a
more detailed study of the Indonesian National Revolution in North Sumatra:
the eight crucial years between the ending of Dutch colonial rule by the
Imperial Japanese Army and the final merger of the region with an independent,
unitary Indonesian nation-state. To have attempted to explain the “integrative
revolution” which the societies of North Sumatra have undergone since 1950
without a full understanding of the imprint left by the complex and chaotic
developments of the preceding period of National Revo lution, would have
been a futile task.
The geographical regi on upon which this study is focused is the present-
day Province of North Sumatra (Propinsi Sumatera Utara), constituting the
territory of the two residencies of Tapanuli and Sumatra's East Coast at the time
of the Japanese occupation. (1) There are two main reasons for my decision to
limit the study to these two residencies, and to treat them as a single region.
First, the two residencies had been drawn into a close socio-economic
relationship with each other by 1942, closer than either or both residencies had
with Aceh to the north or West or Central Sumatra to the south;
notwithstanding notable exceptions such as the special links between the
1
For a detailed description of the physical geography of Tapanuli. and Sumatra's
East Coast in 1938, see Netherlands East Indies , vol.l; 45-130 .
Mandailing region of South Tapanuli and the Minangkabau region of West
Sumatra. Despite the existence of distinctly separate administrations for each of
the two residencies throughout the eight year period under study here,
particularly during the Japanese occupation, and despite the fact that many of
the major events of 1942-1950 took place within one or other residency, the
sum total of developments in each of the two residencies in this period brought
fundamental socio-economic changes to the region as a whole. Second, after
1950 the residencies of Tapanuli and Sumatera Timur developed distinctive
characteristics as a single region. Mass migration of Tapanuli Bataks into
Sumatera Timur in the immediate post - independence years and the dominating
presence of Medan as the political and economic centre for both residencies had
helped produce a distinctively North Sumatran socio-political structure by the
late 1950s.
Much of this study is devoted to descriptive, raw narrative. Deliberately so,
because the real importance of the period under examination here is that it
constituted a period of major social upheaval: a far-reaching restructuring of the
social order. That restructuring came about through human interaction in a
social context that was chaotic, confusing, disorderly, violent, irrascible and
unpredictable. To understand the nature and scope of that restructuring requires
more than the application of analytic constructs through which the dynamics of
the social context can be explained. Such explanation without empathy I have
consciously sought to avoid. Essential to an understanding of the subject-matter
of this dissertation is a mental picture of and an emotional feeling for the
perpetual motion of disorder dominati ng the social context of the time. Logic
and orderly 'scientific' explanation alone will not provide an understanding of
the importance of the period concerned in the human history of the region being
studied.
The National Revolution in North Sumatra between 1942 and 1950 was
much more than a few relatively institutionalized groups competing for power.
It was a perpetual motion of a vast number of groups - large,small,
institutionalized, ad hoc, foreign, domestic - interacting with one another in an
environment of disorder which was beyond the capabilities of any one of them
alone to control. It was much more than a struggle between Indonesians and
Dutch. It was a struggle, involving a myriad of competing interests and
loyalties, to define and control a new reality. As John Smail remarked in the
preface to his study of Bandung in 1945/46.
At the local level it is no longer possible to see the Revolution exclusively or
even primarily as a struggle between the Dutch and the Indones ians. What we
 see instead is the domestic side of Indonesian his tory in a time of rapid and far-
reaching change, a social revolution as well as simply a nationalist one. (2)
In the case of North Sumat:ra, when looking at the longer, eight-year
period from 1942 to 1950, the distinction between "social" and "nationalist''
revolution is often blurred, at times inapplicable. The National Revolution with
which this study is concerned was not simple, because it was social revolution,
The broadening of local and regional social realities to accommodate a new
national one during these eight years constituted a revolution in the
fundamental changes it wrought upon North Sumatran society.

made in this regard are lengthy.

First, so far as the developments of 1942-1950 have been described and
analysed here, the more complex dyr1amics of communal relations, especially
at the village level (e.g. the dynamics of kinship and clan structures), have
received scant examination. While I would argue that within North Sumatra as
a whole a revolution did occur, the manifestation of that revolution, or lack of,
at a more local level, such as village and urban kampung, has still to be
researched.
Second, is the greater attention focused upon Sumatera Timur as compared
with Tapanuli. Two factors have been responsible: the larger volume of
available written sources concerning the former residency, and the relatively
short period of time I was able to spend in Tapanuli. Altogether the account of
the National Revolution in Tapanuli given here is based upon a much more
limited quantity of date, written and oral, than that which has been available for
Sumatera Timur.
Third, is the insufficient attenti9n paid to the religious dimensions of the
National Revolution in North Sumatra. This partly reflects the lack of attention
given to this facet in the written sources consulted and my own inability to
remedy this deficiency.
Fourth, is the sexist bias of the study. In power terms, the National
Revolution in North Sumatra was a di5tinctly male-dominated phenomena.
Women remained very much in the background. But they nevertheless played
vitally important roles in what took place. My failure to research this became
glaringly obvious as I began to order the data I had gathered. Unfortunately I

2
Smail (1964); v.
have not been able to correct the deficiency. The participation of women in the
events of 1942-1950 thus remains an enormously important area for future
research.
Fifth, is the heavy reliance upon written sources, particularly Dutch and
British reports, as against contemporary personal experiences of Indonesians.
Of the total period of eight months I was able to spend in North Sumatra itself,
much of the time was spent in the acquisition and consultation of local his
torical records. Although many individuals generous ly gave of their time to
recount personal experiences and provide me with their assessments of the
period under study, the number and range of persons I was able to consult in the
time available was far fewer than I would have liked.
Finally, I am aware that the earlier part of the study, up to 1945, suffers
particularly from limitations in both source materials and research. No
comprehensive general social history of North Sumatra prior to 1942 has yet
been written. The nearest is Dada Meuraxa's ethnic/cultural history. A few
specific local and regional histories have been written: Ca stles' study of Dutch
colonial rule in Tapanuli between 1900 and 1942, Tengku Lukman Sinar's
study of the ethnic Malay communities (particularly the Serdang sultanate)
prior to 1900, Thee Kian Wie's economic history of the plantation region in
Sumatera Timur, Chadidjah Nasution's study of Islam in North Tapanuli, and
Schadee's early history of the establishment of Dutch colonial rule in Sumatera
Timur. These alone unfortunately do not provide anywhere near enough a
comprehensive historical picture. Published data on the Indonesian nationalist
movement in North Sumatra before the Japanese occupation, for example, is
sparse in the extreme.
The introductory chapter on the “Colonial Prelude” has been constructed
from the studies mentioned above, supplemented by scattered information
gathered from numerous other published sources and a limited number of
colonial government reports. Of the last-named, the chief sources of
information have been the monthly political reports from 1938 to 1940, (34) and
the annual chronicles (kroniek) of the Institute for Sumatra's East Coast
(Oostkust van Sumatra Instituut). For Tapanuli, I have relied upon Castles'
comprehensive studies. For Sumatera Timur there was no similar study to draw
upon. However, the picture given here would be considerably less sketchy than
it is had more data from Dutch archives been used and had the major pre-War
newspapers of the region - Pewarta Deli, Deli Courant and De Sumatra Post
been consulted.

3
Documents 183- 184, and 664 - 667 raphy.
 Also, the account of the Japanese occupation suffers from deficiencies in
primary research. Available written sources were few in number and limited in
scope, particularly with regard to Tapanul i. Unfortunately any opportunity to
consult Japanese archives was totally beyond the scope of my research
program. However, Anthony Reid has now made an invaluable start in this
d1rection. (4) In addition, limitations of time made it impossible for me to
adequately consult the extensive archives of the Institute for War
Documentation (Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie) in Ams terdam.
The bulk of the data used in this thesis was gathered in the course of two
visits to Indonesia (in Jakarta and North Sumatra), from December 1969 to
March 1970 and from December 1970 to May 1971, and a three-month stay in
The Netherlands from December 1973 to March 1974. Three main categories of
source material were utilized: official documents, newspapers and journals, and
interviews. All were obtained either in Indonesia or The Netherlands, with the
exception of a few documents and a small quantity of newspaper material
obtained in Australia or from libraries in the United States,
The vast majority of the official documents researched are from the
Netherlands State Archives (Algemene Rijksarchiev) and the archives of the
ministeries of Interior (Binnenlandse Zaken) and Defence (Defensie ) in The
Hague. Most of the remainder were obtained from various sources in Indonesia:
the Department of Interior (Departemen Dalam Negeri) in Jakarta, the office of
the Governor of North Sumatra (Kantor Gubernur Propinsi Sumatera Utara),
the Information Bureau (Jabatan Penerangan) for the Province of North
Sumatra, and from private individuals.
Three main newspapers were consulted : Sumatra Sinbun and Kita
Sumatora Simbun, for the period 1943-1945, and Waspada for the period 1947-
1950. The first two were obtained from the archives of the Insti tuut voor
Oorlogsdoaumentatie, Amsterdam and the third from the private archives of the
publisher, H. Mohammad Said. These were supplemented by short runs and
single issues of several other newspapers and journals obtai ned in the course of
research in both The Netherlands and Indonesia, as well as from libraries in
Australia and the United States.
Information obtained from personal interviews was vital in helping me to
assess and order the written sources; especially the official Dutch documents,
the contents of which were at times of dubious accuracy . In accordance with
undertakings I gave to all those in Indonesia who granted me interviews to

4
See Reid (1976)
protect their anonimity with regard to specific information they provided, no
references to data gathered from such interviews have been cited. I consider this
a small recognition of the honesty and frankness with which all informants
responded to my enquiries. Fortunately I am able to express my indebtedness
more specificaily in the acknowledgments below.
Finally, some brief explanation about the spelling of Indonesian-language
words. Where Indonesian words appear in statements quoted directly from
other written sources, the spelling used in the original text has been retained. In
the case of groups and organizations unique to the period under study, the
contemporary spelling of the time has been retained. For proper names, I have
used what appears to have been the common spelling of the time. In all other
cases, I have used current Indonesian spelling.
Thus, the following alternative vowels and consonants appear in the text:
oe and u, tj and c, dj and j, j and y. At times the same word appears with
different spelling; for example, Atjeh/Aceh, Masjumi/Masyumi, lasjkar/lasykar,
Djakarta/Jakarta, persatoean/persatuan, Soematera/Sumatera.
 Acknowledgments

The research carried out in Indones ia and The Netherlands was made
possible through grants received from the Myer Foundation and the University
of Sydney.
Without the help of a great many people in Indonesia I would have been
significantly at a loss. In North Sumatra, Brigadier General R. Mustafa
Gandasubrata and Ny. Gandasubrata provided me with a home and unstinting
friendship throughout my stays there. To them I am deeply grateful. I am
indebted to Mustafa Siregar for the many hours he devoted to being my guide
and companion in Medan. H. Mohammad Said generously gave me free access
to his personal library and papers. A.C.Hutabarat was a confidante, friend and
teacher of unlimited generosity. Brigadier-General Dr.Harhbpidjati was a
constant helper and advisor. Alam Abas, A.B.Mamora and Ny.Mamora, Lisp.
Emeline and Pastor Linus Fah were others whose friendship I came to value
greatly.
Invaluable documentary material was provided through the generosity of
Nip M.Xarim, Profes sor Ani Ab as Manoppo, Mas.Kadiran, Tengku Lukman
Sinar, Ny.Ani Idrus and Ibu W.F.Nainggolan in Medan, and Ibu Mohamad
Yamin in Jakarta. Chadidjah Nasution in Yogyakarta kindly provided me with a
copy of her thes is on Islam in North Tapanuli. My thanks also go to the
officials in the Kantor Gub ernur and Jabatan Pener angan in Medan who so
graciously assisted me in my research at both those centres.
My thanks a lso go to thos e who so kindly gave of their time to grant me
interviews . In Jakarta were Dr. Mohammad Hatta, General A.H.Nasution,
Pangis i Simamora, Major-General T.B. Simatupang, Colonel M. Simbolon and
Professor Selosoemar djan. In North Sumatra were Tengku Bo erhanuddin,
Selamat Ginting, A.C.