Teuku Umar, National Hero of Indonesia

Teuku Umar

Teuku Umar was a leader of a guerrilla campaign against the Dutch in Aceh during the Aceh War. He fell when Dutch troops launched a surprise attack in Meulaboh. His body was buried in the Mugo area. After Teuku Umar's death, his wife Cut Nyak Dhien continued to lead the guerrillas against the Dutch. He was later made a Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia (National Hero of Indonesia).
Umar joined the guerrilla forces in 1873 at the age of 19. At first, he fought in Meulaboh; he later expanded his operations to different parts of West Aceh.
At the age of 20, Umar married Nyak Sofia; not long after, he took Nyak Malighai as his 2nd wife. In 1880, Umar married his cousin Cut Nyak Dhien; Dhien later joined him in the guerrilla campaign.
In retaliation, the Dutch governor sent soldiers en masse to capture or kill Umar. Umar was killed in an ambush on February 10, 1899 in Meulaboh.
In the 1930s, Sukarno described Teuku Umar as being one of the pahlawan tiga-sekawan along with Diponegoro and Imam Bonjol.
Teuku has been officially designated as national hero of Indonesia. There are many streets named after him throughout Indonesia, including a main thoroughfare in the well-known suburb of Menteng in Jakarta, as well as a field in Meulaboh.

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