in 1955, he earned his doctorate from leiden university with a dissertation which was later published as a book, "de hikajat atjeh" ( 'acehnese annals'). topics related to aceh has became his personal interest, which also became his dissertation. his insterest is mainly driven by his personal background because at that time he was part of the first generation of acehnese who studied at leiden university. moreover, at that time there were not as many acehnese books written by native indonesians. in addition, teuku iskandar adore the acehnese culture so much, as he told to his children.