Tuesday, August 17, 2010

My second visit to the tomb of Teungku Chik di Tiro

Back to the supporting articles on Aceh.


Refer to the article Aceh rural views around Indrapuri made over a year ago. In the following trip to Aceh made end of January 2010 I visited again the tomb of Teungku Chik di Tiro.


Just to refresh, Teungku Chik di Tiro was a major fighter who lead Acehnese againts the Dutch invasions made since 1873. More information is available in the article Makam (tomb of) Teungku Chik di Tiro made in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART).



OK. So I have arrived here last year. But then the doors to the actual tomb was locked. This time, in my second visit I found the doors opened. So I came in and pay my respect... to a religious fighter who was entrusted with the mission of continuing the people of Aceh's struggle when the Sultan was forced to step down the throne leaving the nation without a king until now... to the fighter whose grandchild Teungku Hassan di Tiro was instrumental in continuing the fight when Aceh found itself cheated after getting absorbed into the Republic of Indonesia.

And now that Teungku Hassan has passed away 2 months ago leaving Aceh without a real leader except those bound to the modern ways of politicking and its inherent evil self-serving ways, perhaps a Sultan will soon appear to take back the struggle which was once entrusted to Teungku Chik di Tiro. Oh, now I remember. Someone told me that Teungku Hasan was buried at the same complex housing the remains of his grandfather. Whatever, it is my sincere hope that something would soon happen that would return Aceh to its former position as the main centre of learning and dissemination of Islam, at least in the eastern parts of the world.