Rumoh Geudong Between Wounds and Mystics || Atjeh History

Dear Steemians

BETWEEN a series of wounds in Aceh, Rumoh Geudong (Pos Sattis, -Kopassus) does have a story and history for the people of Aceh. In the midst of the political issues at the time when the Military Operations Area (DOM) was about to be lifted on August 7, 1999 when Wiranto took office, opportunities for disclosure of human rights violations were shared in Aceh.

Rumoh Geudong is located in the village of Billie Aron, Geulumpang Tiga District, Pidie Regency, or 125 kilometers from the center of Banda Aceh. This Pidie Regency occupies the North Latitude of 4.39-4.60 degrees and East Longitude of 95.75-96.20 degrees.

According to the story of Rumoh Geudong's heir, it was built in 1818 by Ampon Raja Lamkuta, the son of a commander who lives in Rumoh Raya about 200 meters from Rumoh Geudong. During the colonial period by the Dutch, the house was often used as a place to regulate the war strategy initiated by King Lamkuta along with his struggle partners.

However, Raja Lamkuta was finally shot and martyred when an aski siung was carried out by the marsose army in Pulo Syahi, Keumala thanks to the information obtained from the informant (cuak, in Acehnese language). The body of King Lamkuta was buried at the cemetery of the kings in the village of Aron not far from Rumoh Geudong.

Do not just stop the struggle of King Lamkuta, his younger brother Teuku Cut Ahmad finally took over again when he was only 15 years old to lead the struggle against the Netherlands, but he was also martyred by the Dutch who surrounded Rumoh Geudong.

In subsequent periods, Rumoh Geudong was occupied respectively by Teuku Keujren Rahman, Teuku Keujren Husein, Teuku Keujren Gade. Furthermore, during the Japanese entry and colonization of Indonesia until independence, the house was occupied by Teuku Raja Umar (Keujren Umar), the son of Teuku Keujren Husein. After Teuku Raja Umar died, this house was occupied by his son Teuku Muhammad.

The management of Rumoh Geudong is now entrusted to his son Cut Maidawati from Teuku A. Rahman. Teuku A. Rahman inherited the house based on family consultation, from his father named Teuku Ahmad alias Ampon Muda who was the son of Teuku Keujren Gade.

Coffin
Before Rumoh Geudong was used as a military post (Pos Sattis) since April 1990. Still according to the heirs, the placement of a number of military personnel at that time was only temporary, without the knowledge of their owners. Actually the owner of Rumoh Geudong objected, but the Kopassus members who had already turned the house into a military post as well as a "detention center" and did not want to move again.

It was only in 1996 that a letter of borrowing and using a house was signed by Muspika after it was made, but unfortunately without the signature of the house owner. This house is also famous for being haunted because it is inhabited by delicate creatures, so that members of the apparatus who are located there are often disturbed.
Indeed, the existence of a coffin containing a bloodied shroud in Rumoh Geudong was enough to make the inhabitants mystical. From this coffin often came the smooth form of a tiger. According to the narrative of the owner of this house, the shroud covered in blood in the coffin belonged to the grandmother of the hulubalang owner Rumoh Geudong who died due to cruel treatment by the Dutch.

There were disturbances that were indeed felt by the authorities in that place, for example officers who were non-Muslims who slept in the upper house (Aceh's house), were suddenly 'demoted' to the lower house. In 1992, there was also a shooting by a Kopassus member who shot dead his own friend because he dreamed he was visited by a tiger who told him to shoot his friend.
Because some of these events were often disturbing, the military officers only lasted a few months at Rumoh Geudong in Bilie Aron Village and were then forced to move to Amud Village. However, due to less strategic reasons for a military operations post, Kopassus members moved their post from Amud to Rumoh Geudong by asking the help of a well-known cleric, Abu Kuta Krueng to move the delicate makhlus which often haunted those in the coffin through a ritual event. kenduri (small celebration).

The End of the Injury Mark
Pos Sattis or better known as Rumoh Geudong became 'hell' for the Pidie community. The explosion of the disclosure of crimes against humanity in a house that has a land area of ​​150 x 80 meters not far from the Banda Aceh - Medan highway has seriously scratched the wound. Not only the people outside Aceh, even for the people of Aceh, even humanitarian crimes committed by the state apparatus (Pa'i, the term TNI / Polri for the people of Aceh) have exceeded their common sense.

According to local people, from March 1998 until the DOM was revoked on 7 August 1998 (about five months, before the house was burned down by the masses), Rumoh Geudong has been held as a place of detention for more than 50 men and women accused of being involved in the Troublemakers Movement. Keamana-Aceh Merdeka (GPK-AM). However, from the narrative of a victim, when the victim was briefly detained at the Sattis Post for three months, he had witnessed 78 people being taken to the post and tortured. So, it can be estimated how many people in Aceh have been tortured or executed in this place if they are counted starting from 1990 since the first time Sattis Post was used until 1998.

When the Komnas HAM Team conducted a sweeping and investigation into Rumoh Geudong, the team also found various items of evidence such as electrical cables, 70 cm wooden beams which were partially crushed and bloodstains on the walls of the house.

In addition, the team also conducted a sweeping by excavating land in the yard of Rumoh Geudong which was allegedly used as a place for mass graves. After excavation, the team only found finger bones, hands, head hair and leg bones and other bone fragments from the human skeleton.
For the people of Aceh, the hatred of Rumoh Geudong made them very easily provoked by provocations by individuals who had an interest in destroying evidence of crimes against humanity and human rights violations that had occurred in the house.

Exactly on August 12, 1998, about 30 minutes after the Komnas HAM Team led by Baharudin Lopa left the location of the house in search of evidence of truth, was finally burned by the masses.

Of course this is very unfortunate, because there has been loss of evidence of historical markers or historical monuments of atrocities and crimes against humanity that have occurred in this place.

However, another according to Rumoh Geudong's heir. The burning of the house turned out since 1945, had been tried immortally by a group of people, again the results failed because suddenly three tigers emerged from the house and attacked the perpetrators. And for some reason after being used as a Sattis Post by the authorities, Rumoh Geudong can actually be burned.

According to the last narrative of the heir, Teuku Djakfar Ahmad: "Maybe the Rumoh Geudong itself is 'asking to be burned', because it does not want its history tarnished. If you make a monument, maybe people only remember Rumoh Geudong as a place of slaughter. While the history of the struggle might be forgotten. "

This is the tragic story of Rumoh Geudong, in the days of the Netherlands and Japan, this large house became the center of the struggle to defend religion and win Indonesian independence. Hopefully this story will become a history that has never been forgotten by the people of Aceh, memories that have made an impression that can be taken for children and grandchildren later.

Thank you for reading