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§ 7. The ulèëbalangships and their constitution.
The ulèëbalangs.The ulèëbalangs, as we have repeatedly said, are the lords of the country, the territorial chiefs par excellence. They are thus called the rajas (in Achehnese parlance = chiefs) of their territories in writings as well as in the spoken language. As the word ulèëbalang signifies military leader, it is not inconceivable that this name was given them under one of the most powerful of the port-kings, who endeavoured to render them subordinate and allowed them the command over the fighting men in their districts, while he tried gradually to monopolize the supreme power for himself. This effort however, was unsuccessful, for the ulèëbalangs have always continued governors, judges and military leaders in their own country, in which as a matter of fact they admit no higher authority.
The territory of an ulèëbalang has no distinctive name in Achehnese, like "mukim" and "gampōng". The expression "ulèëbalangschap" has been adopted by the Dutch, while the Achehnese speak of "the country (nanggròë) of ulèëbalang so and so" or of "the so many mukims". For the sake of clearness and distinction they sometimes unite the two expressions as in "the seven Mukims Baʾét" i. e. the ulèëbalangship consisting of seven mukims, whose chief is called Teuku Muda Baʾét.
Although the title borne by these chiefs may have been derived from the court at Banda-Acheh, their authority is beyond all doubt of more ancient origin and dependant on no royal letters-patent. Their position was confirmed, not created, by the port-kings. Even the edicts of the most powerful rajas of Acheh express themselves with much circumspection touching the ulèëbalangs, which shows that these rajas, while endeavouring to establish a kind of hegemony, understood that they would do better to respect the powerful position of these potentates of the interior.
The ruling of the adat Meukuta Alam[1] that the ulèëbalangs should receive no letters-patent of appointment from the sultan, was prompted by the consideration that they received their office as an inheritance from their forefathers. This rule however appears to have been forgotten later on; at least now-a-days both ulèëbalangs and chiefs of depen-
- ↑ See Van Langen's Atjehsch Staatsbestuur, pp. 401 and 437.
