Contradictory evidence forced Dutch officials to doubt Malay chiefs’ loyalty

Evidence

Valck’s confidence in his own analysis is shaken. He wonders whether the Malay chiefs are powerless to control the Gayos or, as he thinks more likely, that the chiefs are in complicity with them. When a Dutch military envoy is sent to destroy the fortifications, he reports that villagers professed great relief to be rid of Panglima and his gang, but Valck no longer knows what to believe. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1214