Aceh & Snouck.

This is coolbert:

From the "What-When-How" Internet web site:

"ACEH WAR (Western Colonialism)"

"That Aceh War 'military struggles that took place in Aceh for forty years, from 1873 to 1913'"

"The sultanate of Aceh developed as an independent state in the fifteenth century. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the sultanate of Aceh reached the summit of its political and economic power, and was one of the largest states in the region. At this time, it had control over large parts of both the island of Sumatra in present-day Indonesia and the peninsula of Malacca in Malaysia."

Aceh Islamic warriors, combatants during that thirty year state of conflict with the Dutch colonialist power. Today the Islamic Aceh warrior is armed with AK, RPG and PKM.

With particular emphasis in this case on the influence of Snouck Hurgronje. Means, methods and techniques as formulated by and advocated by Snouck, the object the defeat of the Aceh rebels.

Snouck a convert to Islam and also having married a Javanese Princess you might suggest no better person "in the know".

* "[the] government advisor and scholar of Islam Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936) dominated government policy in Aceh in the late 1890s. On the basis of field research in Aceh from 1891 to 1893, Snouck Hurgronje advised strongly that the Dutch depart from a wait-and-see policy and break Acehnese resistance with force [brute force used in a brutal manner]. Snouck Hurgronje promoted the view that resistance in Aceh was religious in character, led by fanatic Islamic leaders (ulema) who were intent on waging a holy war or jihad against the infidel Dutch. The government was hesitant, however, and only adopted Snouck Hurgronje’s proposal in 1896 after several incidents."

* "The implementation of the new policy was in the hands of Major (later General) van Heutsz. Snouck Hurgronje pushed for van Heutsz’s appointment as civil and military governor of Aceh, which appointment came about in 1898. Snouck Hurgronje was appointed as advisor for indigenous and Arabic affairs in the same year, and in this position he served as van Heutsz’s second in command from 1898 to 1903"

* "After 1900 the ideas of Snouck Hurgronje and van Heutsz about pacification started to diverge, with the result that the former left Aceh in 1901, although he formally kept his position until 1903."

* "What Snouck Hurgronje had overlooked in his original analysis of the early 1890s was that Aceh had come under the influence of nationalism and the resistance against the Dutch was as much a social movement of ordinary people fighting for emancipation from their feudal bonds as it was a religious movement. Destroying the resistance through brute force also meant mental decay, apathy, and eventually the destruction of society."

And over one hundred years now since the end of the Aceh War Snouck might be surprised that the apparent militancy of the Aceh people remains undiminished? Even devoted adherents to a cause [that of the Islamic State] almost "beyond the seas"! To this even Snouck would not have an answer?

coolbert.