| |
'Keumala Hayati was a descendant of the first Sultan of Acheh, Sultan Ibrahim Ali Mughayat Syah.'
'There is a Jalan Inong Balee' (Widows’ Road) in Banda Acheh, and GAM has named its women’s military wing also Battalion Inong Balee.'
'Indonesia acknowledges Keumala Hayati as a national hero and has named one of its frigates KRI Keumala Hayati, but ironically, this warship is now used to support the Republic’s brutal repression of her descendants.'
|
|
 he Portuguese were the first Western foreigners to make contact with Acheh. It occurred in the earlier part of the 16th century. The capture by the Portuguese in 1511 of the Malay Sultanate of Malacca, an important ally of Acheh, set this Western then top superpower in direct conflict with Acheh, itself then already a regional super power controlling the maritime passage in the Straits of Malacca and the coastal line of the Indian Ocean. During this long conflict there were many armed clashes on land and especially at sea.
The Kingdom of Acheh had been known to have sent several expeditions to try to oust the Portuguese from Malacca, now a State within the Federation of Malaysia. In one of these expeditions, the Achenese fleet on the way to fight the Portuguese in Malacca changed course half-way in order to invade the Sultanate of Pahang, when it received intelligence reports that the Sultan was trying to forge an alliance with the Portuguese. Having defeated it, the Sultan fell in love with its princess and married her, returned the throne to her father and left about one thousand soldiers to help prevent the Portuguese from invading it. These soldiers never returned to Acheh but remained and built a new life in Pahang whose descendants now formed a significant part of the population of this largest State in the Peninsular Malaysia. Her uncle was rewarded to be the ruler of Jambi, one of Achenese territories in South Sumatra. The Princess became so influential in Acheh that her legacy became the foundation of Achenese
"kanun" (etiquette) that she set during her reign as the queen of Acheh.
During this century too lived another legendary woman in Acheh, Tjut Putroe (Princess) Keumala Hayati. She held the position of admiral of the fleet during the reign of Sultan ‘Ala al-Din R’ayat Syah, (1589-1604), known also as Sultan Al Mukammil. Before becoming Fleet Admiral, she commanded the women’s wing of the Achenese Navy.
 |
 |
|
| It was a powerful sultanate and a center of Islamic learning; Acheh was attacked in the 1870's by the Dutch and currently Acheh is a victim of a totalitarian regime, Indonesia, and are suffering thousands of casualties. The ferocity of Achenese warriors—women included—was legendary. The wives of two Achenese sultans led men into battle, and a female admiral once set sail with 500 warships and 40,000 men under her command. |
|
Keumala Hayati was a descendant of the first Sultan of Acheh, Sultan Ibrahim Ali Mughayat Syah (1513-1530), founder of the Kingdom of Acheh Darussalam.
Keumala Hayati must have developed the love of the sea and gained naval knowledge from her grandfather, Admiral Muhammad Said Syah, grandson of Sultan Ibrahim Ali. She in fact initiated the formation of the women’s naval unit mentioned above. She gained her experience in this unit consisting of widows whose husbands, including her own, have died in battle against the Portuguese. The establishment of this unit was in fact Keumala’s own idea with the intention of avenging the death of her beloved husband. The unit was called Armada Inong Balee (The Widows’ Fleet) and were based at a fort called Kuta Inong Balee (Widows’ Fort-see picture) located on the beach at the mouth of the Krueng Raya river near the harbour now bearing her name.
 |
|
| Remnants of a string of forts called Benteng Inong Balee, built by Admiral Keumala Hayati along the beach of Kutaraja, at the mouth of the river Krueng Raya. |
John Davies, an Englishman captain of a Dutch ship that visited Acheh during that time reported that Acheh had an extensive fleet consisting of 100 galleys, some of them with a capacity of 400-500 men. One of the commanders was Admiral Keumala Hayati. Keumala Hayati’s fleet was not just for show. It was involved in many sea battles in the Straits of Malacca. One of these skirmishes involved the borading of two Dutch ships, de Leeuw and de Leeuwin on June 21 1599. Two brothers, Cornelis Houtman, who was killed and Frederick Houtman, who was captured and thrown in jail, captained these ships. There were a few other clashes with the Dutch resulting in the capture or sinking of the Dutch ships by Keumala Hayati. Keumala Hayati was however much remembered for the sinking of a Portuguese Flotilla consisting of 6 galleys in the Straits of Malacca. The English chose to make friends with Acheh and there were a few diplomatic encounters in 1602 between Keumala Hayati, as protector of the gate of the kingdom, and James Lancaster, a naval officer who brought a letter from Queen Elizabeth I for Sultan Al-Mukammil.
 |
|
| Women Battalion, Inong Balee, during a self-defense training at a GAM's camp. |
|
There are quite a few memorial sites dedicated to Keumala Hayati or her Widows’s troops. There is a Jalan Inong Balee' (Widows’ Road) in Banda Acheh, and GAM has named its women’s military wing also Battalion Inong Balee, after Keumala Hayati’s own unit, this battalion also consists initially of widows whose husbands have been killed by the Indonesian military during the 10 year DOM (Military Operational Zone) imposed on Acheh from 1989 to 1999, but now many girls are also joining it. The Republic of Indonesia acknowledges Keumala Hayati as a national hero and has named one of its frigates KRI Keumala Hayati, but ironically, this warship is now used to support the Republic’s brutal repression of her descendants.
This literature was compiled by M.N. Djuli; Sourced mainly from "Prominent Women in the glimpse of History" (editors: Ismail Sofyan, M. Hasan Basry, T. Ibrahim Alfian – 1994) and the New York Times article, "The Widows' Battalion" (01/20/02), also contributed to this essay.
|
