Kerkhoff Poucut

Kerkhoff Poucut is a Dutch military burial ground located in the hub of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh. The cemetery name is a combination of the Dutch word kerkhof, meaning a churchyard or graveyard, and the Acehnese word poucut or poteu cut, meaning a prince.

Dutch military

Kerkhoff Poucut is recorded as the largest Dutch military cemetery outside the Netherlands. There are around 2,200 graves of white Dutch soldiers as well as recruits from the ethnic groups of Ambon, Manado and Java, besides four Dutch generals, including Gen. Kohler.

Gen. Kohler.

A semicircular gate welcomes everybody visiting Kerkhoff Poucut Cemetery, with a short corridor leading one’s view to old gravestones bearing Dutch names. The white marble walls of the gate are also adorned with the names of Dutch soldiers buried in the graveyard.

Kerkhoof Poucut

Based on the dates on the gravestones, the oldest grave dates back to Dec. 27, 1873, when a Dutch naval officer died from cholera and was buried there. In the middle of the cemetery is the tomb of Meurah Pupok, the only beloved son of Sultan Iskandar Muda.

Meurah Pupok was punished by stoning as ordered by Sultan Iskandar Muda for having committed adultery with the wife of a young officer assigned to train Aceh soldiers. Meurah Pupok was stoned in public as evidence that the Sultan would impose the same penalty on anybody with the same sin. The choice of the Dutch graveyard served as a severe punishment because his son was thus seen as equal to infidel Dutch soldiers.

Dutch soldiers

At present, the cemetery is under the supervision of the PDIA and the Banda Aceh city administration with aid funds from Stichting Peutjut-Fonds, a foundation owned by the families of former Dutch soldiers established on Jan. 29, 1976 after the visit of Dutch military police Col. ( ret. ) J.H.J. Brendgen.

Around 1978, under governor Muzakir Walad, there was pressure to level the burial place and replace it with a more beneficial building like a market or mall. Some people disagreed with the presence of the cemetery of ex-colonizers, mostly being non-Muslims. Furthermore, it is strategically situated and near Baiturrahman Mosque — the pride of the Aceh public.

But fortunately, the governor wouldn’t allow it to happen because the burial place testifies to Aceh’s history, so it should be maintained and preserved to enable future generations to get acquainted with their past through the existing heritage.

So far the cemetery has remained well maintained so that it looks more like a park than a scary graveyard. Almost every day many local people visit this place only for a walk like tourists and even for posing before photographers.