The Mystery of the Death of General Governor VOC, Jan Pieterszoon
Coen
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| Nyimas Ayu Utari, Image Source:dream,co,id |
Jan Pieterszoon Coen was born in Hoorn, a port city in the
Netherlands in 1657. He served as General Governor of the VOC in his colonial
lands in the archipelago Nusantara (Indonesia present) twice, the first period
was 1619-1623 and the second period was 1627-1629.
At the beginning of his tenure in 1619, Coen captured the
port city of Jayakarta from British rule, then burned it to the ground. The
following year Coen built a new city on the ruins of Jayakata and changed its
name to Batavia.
After building a military force for approximately 3 years,
in 1621 Coen carried out a massive attack on Banda Island which ended in a mass
massacre. One of Coen's motives in the attack was to punish Banda island
merchants for violating the prohibition against trading with the British. The
occupation attack turned into a field of a massacre of the indigenous
population by Coen's troops. It was recorded that more than 14,000 thousand
people died in it, including women, the elderly, and children.
Among the Dutch community Coen is known as a firm and hard
man with the nickname "Ijzeren Jan, Jan the Iron Fist", he does not
hesitate to give the death penalty to people who are considered not to obey the
rules. Even on June 6, 1629, a few months before his death, Coen still had time
to torture his ancestor Sara Speck and executed Pieter Jacobzoon Kotenhuff
who became his lover in adultery.
In 1869 the Dutch government erected a statue of the Coen
Manumen as high as 4.10 m in the city of Batavia, to be precise in the
Waterlooplien area (now the Banteng Square) in 250 years at the University of
Batavia. At that time the KNIL headquarters was included in the Banteng Field
area. During the Japanese occupation in 1943, the Coen statue was torn down and
removed to the Kota Tua area, Batavia. The bronze statue which is considered
to symbolize colonialism and its cruelty, was destroyed in the smelting around
1963.
There are two historical versions of how and where Jan
Pieterszoon spent the last day of his life, Coen who reportedly died on September
21, 1629.
The first version from among the Dutch.
News of the massacre of the Bandanese, (in Europe the incident was known as the Amboina Massacre) finally reached Europe and it surprised many people, including the royal government officials in the Netherlands, Coen was eventually withdrawn back to the Netherlands. In addition, there were demands from the British government (in mainland Europe, England and the Netherlands were friendly) that Coen be prohibited from returning to the East Indies because he was considered responsible for the murder of British citizens in Maluku.
On various considerations in 1627 JP. Coen returned to
Batavia with the same position as before, namely as Governor-General of the
VOC, but this time his condition was not as good as before. Coen felt his
reputation regarding the Amboina massacre in Banda had limited his steps and
movements as governor. In addition, the two major attacks (1628 and 1629) launched by the
Mataram Sultanate on Batavia, however had consumed his energy.
During wartime, in 1629 the pandemic dysentry that hit the
Batavia area became more widespread, the victims fell including Coen's wife Eva Ment, and their child. The death of people from his closest circle had
drained Coen's energy deeper and knocked him down mentally. In the end JP. Coen
had to give up because the dysentry he suffered ended his soul. according to information Coen's body was buried in de Oude Hollandsche Kerk (Mesum Puppet)
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| JP. Coen Statue. Source:sindonews.com |
The second version of the Mataram Circle,
After the death of his wife Eva Ment and their children on
September 16, 1629, JP. Coen was mentally shattered, this has made Coen lose
his passion and vigilance.
Meanwhile, long before the war began, Mataram had prepared
secret agents who would be infiltrated into the military environment and the
governor's residence.
To carry out this special task, Raden Bagus Wonoboyo, still
part of the elite Mataram troops, prepared his daughter, Nyimas Ayu Utari. Like most
Javanese women at that time, Nyimas Ayu Utari's appearance with a beautiful face with
a soft character did not make people think that she was a tough woman with a
steel mentality. After completing his training he joined Dom Sumuruping Banyu,
a secret service agency of the Mataram Kingdom.
Nyimas Ayu Utari is the great-grandson of the founder of the
kingdom as well as the first king of the Mataram Kingdom, Penebahan Senopati,
and the nephew of the third king of Mataram, Sultan Agung. So it is clear that Nyimas Ayu Utari's appointment was not only because of her beauty but also because of
the very high confidentiality status of her duties, in addition to the
requirements of intelligence, fortitude, and courage possessed by an agent like
herself.
At beginning Nyimas Ayu Utari's entry to Batavia disguised as a
merchant who boarded a commercial ship sailing from Aceh, then became a singer
in a military nightclub, then entered ring 1 of the Governor's residence.
In a chaotic situation due to disturbances from the Mataram troops who were still surviving in the Matraman area, the dysentery pandemic, was added to Coent mentality which had not yet recovered. The situation and conditions were so perfect for an agent operation that had been well prepared. Coen was killed in silence, and his head was rushed out of the Governor General's neighborhood but Nyimas Ayu Utari was shot by the guards who caught her outside Coen's residence.
His body was taken away by Mataram troops who were waiting
for him outside and then rushed to the Depok area and buried there, in Keramat
village, Kabayunan sub-district, Tapos district, Depok city.
According to information developed in Java, the head of JP. Coen from Batavia was brought to Yogjakarta, the center of the Mataram government and then buried on the steps leading to the tombs of the Javanese kings in Imogiri.
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