Chapter VI - BUGIS, SIAM AND THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY.


At the beginning of the eighteenth century Bugis from Celebes began to play in Peninsular affairs that leading part they were destined to maintain throughout that century. Great traders and seaman, they earned enough to enable them to purchase chain armour and to confront swords and clumsy cannon with muskets and blunderbusses. Moreover they evolved some sort of tactics and, as compared with the Malays, possessed a science of war.

As early as 1717 there were Bugis forces at Langat and five years later one of the five famous Bugis leaders of that day, Daing Parani, is said to have married the daughter of a Bugis Yam-tuan of Selangor. In 1722 the Bugis finally expelled from Riau Raja Kechil, the Minangkabau pretender to the Johor throne, and established as ruler of Johor and Pahang their own legitimate puppet Sulaiman ibni Sultan 'Abdu'l-Jalil Shah. Next they sailed to Kedah and established the eldest son of its deceased ruler on the throne of his fathers: warfare accomplished, Daing Parani married the sister of the new Sultan, and a few months later led his forces back to Riau. Thereupon the younger brother of the new Sultan of Kedah invited the Minangkabau pretender, Raja Kechil, to come and support his rival claim to the throne. Nothing loath to thwart in Kedah the Bugis whom he could not drive from Riau, the irrepressible Sumatran warrior accepted the invitation. The Bugis decided to intervene again as Raja Kechil was certain to renew his attacks on Riau if he were successful in Kedah. The ensuing campaign lasted two years. Kedah trade was ruined. Daing Parani was killed. In the end Raja Kechil was defeated and returned to Siak.

The Kedah campaign affected its neighbour. At some time before his death in 1728 Klana Putra, namely Daing Merewah, first Yam-tuan Muda of Riau, invaded Perak. 'Ala'u'd-din Mughayat Shah was then Sultan of that State. During his reign this ruler was attacked by his younger brother Muzaffar Shah who invaded Perak from Bernam (and therefore probably with Bugis aid from Selangor). Muzaffar Shah worsted the Bendahara and the up-river chiefs: " the Bendahara, Megat Iskandar, disappeared and Megat Terawis took his place." The royal brothers were reconciled. It looks as if this were the fighting to which the same Perak manuscript that gives these details alludes with the sententious awe that always marks its references to the Bugis: " the country was thrown into confusion, and tumult was caused by the invasion of a Bugis, Klana. However by the help of God and the intercession of His Prophet it came to nothing and the enemy departed." Malay folk-lore with vague memories of the Bugis Kedah campaign against the Minangkabau Raja Kechil talks of a warrior Megat
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Page 62 A History of Perak.

Terawis son of a concubine of the ruler of Minangkabau acquiring the office of Perak Bendahara by force of arms and it gives his name the Kedah dialect form of Terawis instead of the ordinary form Terawih. Anyhow in one of these disturbances consequent on trouble in Kedah Tan Saban must have fallen, last of the old Malacca house to be Bendahara of Perak, and the seal of that great office passed into other hands. The Misa Melayu tells us that at Kuala Kangsar Sultan Muzaffar Shah had the son of a Kedah raja for his Bendahara and later one Megat Pendia and finally a Sayid, Sharif Abubakar.

Some time afterwards in the reign of Sultan Muzaffar there was another Bugis invasion of Perak under Daing Chelak who died in 1745. " All the Perak chiefs were at loggerheads so that in the commotion it was impossible to tell friend from foe and even the regalia were nearly endangered. The condition of the Yang di-pertuan," Sultan Muzaffar, " was indescribable not so much on account of the fighting as on account of want of unanimity among his counsellors. At last some of the chiefs joined the Bugis, who then took possession of the regalia. Thereupon the Dato' Bendahara and the chiefs " promoted the Sultan's younger brother Raja Bisnu " from Raja Muda to be Sultan " with the title Muhammad Shah—Muzaffar Shah only regained his throne seven years later when his younger brother died. Of this second Bugis invasion of Perak there is a garbled account in the Misa Melayu:— in the time of Muzaffar Shah " Sultan Berkabat a Minangkabau Raja attacked Bukit Gantang," namely from Kedah. " He had been a favorite of Sultan Muzaffar Shah at Kuala Kangsar, and now with two Bugis rajas Daing Matkah and Daing Menchela' he returned claiming to have been adopted by the Sultan as his son. There was severe fighting until Raja Muda Iskandar defeated the adventurers and drove them back to Kuala Pengkalan." According to a history of Johor the date of this second invasion of Perak was 1742 and the Bugis Yam-tuan Muda of Selangor took part in it. Riau chronicles relate that Raja di-Baroh 'Abdul'1-Jalil, son of Sultan Sulaiman of Lingga, also took part in this " conquest of Perak from Selangor."

The same history of Johor relates that at some time between the death of Sultan Sulaiman of the Riau-Lingga empire in 1760 and the death of Daing Kemboja, Yam-tuan Muda of Riau, in 1777, the Bugis Raja (Lumu) of Selangor was given the title of Sultan Salahu'd-din Shah by a Sultan of Perak at Pangkor and was later installed in Selangor in the presence of Perak chiefs. The Misa Melayu says that this happened in the reign of Sultan Mahmud (or Muhammad) Shah who ascended the Perak throne about 1765 when he made a treaty with the Dutch. Netscher, a careful historian relates how already in January 1756 Sultan Sulaiman of Lingga sent a letter to Daing Kemboja (Raja Muda of Linggi), Raja Tua of Klang and Sultan Salahu'd-din rider of


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Selangor, asking whether or not they recognised him as their overlord. The Tuhjat al-Nafis suggests that the installation was a bright idea that struck the Perak ruler while Raja Lumu was " amusing himself " at Pangkor, and it adds that the Sultan of Perak was present at the installation of Sultan Salahu'd-din in Selangor and contracted a treaty of amity with him. Soon afterwards the Raja Muda and other Perak chiefs were invited to Selangor for the wedding of Salahu'd-din's daughter to Raja 'Abdu'llah son of the ruler of Kedah and on their return were escorted by their host as far as Kuala Bernam.

Of the next Bugis visit to Perak the Misa Melayu gives a vivid picture. That romantic warrior, Raja Haji, called on the Sultan of Selangor to arrange an attack on Kedah. They then visited Perak together and to the dismay of the Dutch anchored a flotilla of twenty boats above their fort. The Laksamana and Shahbandar went upstream to the island Indra Mulia for instructions, reporting that the Pangeran's intentions were alleged to be " nasty." Sultan Mahmud having no choice declared himself unafraid and ordered that Raja Haji and the Sultan of Selangor should be escorted upstream. On arrival Raja Haji was too impressed with the august presence of Sultan Mahmud, his warriors and his boats to nurture evil designs! The visitors merely asked the hand of Sultan Mahmud's niece for the Sultan of Selangor. Sultan Mahmud consented but was furiously angry when it was suggested that the marriage should take place before the Bugis flotilla left the Perak river. Raja Haji, confident of the result of his formidable visit, sailed on to his successful (1770 A.D.) invasion of Kedah and left Sultan Salahu'd-din behind to be married. At Teluk Pedada off the Perak coast Raja Haji had a son borne to him, Raja Ja'far, afterwards Yam-tuan Muda of Riau. So out of Perak history passed the greatest fighter of all the warlike Bugis, to be shot down in 1784 before Malacca, a badik in one hand, a Muslim tract in the other, his followers about his knees, an unpainted Delacroix. How this debonair warrior would have smiled over the respectful reference to his visit in one Perak history:—" the army of the Pangeran Raja Bugis entered Perak and he had audience with the King, but by the help of God most High and of the royal dignity, no evil or misfortune ensued to His Highness or to the people of Perak.''

In 1772 the Kedah Sultan refused to think of allowing the Madras Government a settlement at Penang unless it undertook to send a force to aid him against Selangor.

About 1800 Sultan Ibrahim of Selangor went to Lingga and stayed there two years endeavouring to get his Bugis nephew Raja 'Ali created Yamtuan Muda of Riau which office for years had been in possession of Engku Muda, son of the Malay Temenggong Tun 'Abdu'l-Jamal. During this time an embassy came from Perak offering the throne of that State to Mahmud, Malay Sultan of Johor, Pahang, Riau. Lingga, the Kerimuns and Singapore.


Page 64  A History of Perak.

Evidently the Malay occupation of Riau had led Perak to over-estimate the power of Sultan Mahmud as against the Bugis. Anyhow Sultan Ibrahim proceeded in force to Perak to demand why Perak had broken the agreement which was like one coverlet for them both, that night in Perak should be night in Selangor, sickness in Perak be sickness in Selangor and the demise of a ruler of either State be announced to the other State. The Laksamana of Perak asked for ten days to report to his master at Rantau Panjang. But after three days the Perak people closed the bar of their river and started shooting. The Selangor warriors reserving fire till their ships were alongside took first one fort and then another. Perak was worsted, and from 1804 to 1806 was subject to Sultan Ibrahim. In 1805 (A.H. 1220) that potentate, announcing to the British Government his intention of blockading the Perak river, wrote:— " the people of Pinang must not go to Perak at present, for Perak from the river Kurau to Beting Bras Basah is my country. This country I have taken by force of powder and ball, with which custom the Governor of Penang is acquainted." Twenty years afterwards in 1825 the Sultan of Perak wrote to the Chau Phya of Ligor how at the time when Marhum Bongsu lived at the Long Reach (Rantau Panjang) Sultan Ibrahim of Selangor attacked Perak whereupon Sultan and chiefs fled upstream to Kuala Plus * to avoid him. A year after this invasion Marhum Bongsu died whereupon the Sultan of Selangor demanded a strip of Perak territory from Kuala Perak up to Kuala Plus * by right of conquest. Perak refused. The Sultan of Selangor attacked but finding a fort erected at Kota Lumut retired and reduced his claim to the territory between Kuala Perak and Kuala Bidor. Again Perak refused and the two rulers agreed to ask other Raias to arbitrate. Selangor lent Perak two guns but when in 1818 Kedah conquered Perak, Selangor demanded and was paid $500 for the two guns! When in 1825 Sultan 'Abdu'llah ascended the Perak throne, Selangor again demanded territory on the Perak river, but when 'Abdu'llah referred the claimant to his overlord the King of Siam, Selangor agreed to compound for 30 bahar of tin!

For at the beginning of the XIXth century Siam resolved to extend her sway over the Malay Peninsula and accordingly in November 1816 commanded Ahmad Taju'd-din Sultan of Kedah to attack his neighbour. " It greatly afflicts me to execute this order " wrote the Sultan. " It is not with my good will that I attack Perak nor at all my wish to become the enemy of that Raja but only to avert mischief from my country." Low records that the old Sultan of Perak addressed a letter to Penang " which exhibited the profound ignorance which has ever characterised the rulers of that petty State. He only asked for two ships of war and two thousand troops, one half of the last to be Europeans (100 being perhaps the utmost strength of the latter at the time in the island).... He offered at the same time the Dinding islands

* Amended from Trus of the Straits Settlements Records.


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to the British for nothing and the monopoly of all the tin and rattans in Perak for the yearly sum of two thousand dollars, also elephants in exchange for gun powder at the rate of 60 dollars for each of the height of six feet, and 600 to 900 dollars for those of the largest size. . . . The Raja's offer of the tin monopoly would seem to argue an undervaluation of the produce of his country, for at the rate of duty of 6 dollars the bahar which he then enforced, the total produce was only 333 bahar, whereas the country yielded or has yielded a much larger quantity annually." Soon after the Dutch left Perak, 2,000 bahar a year were exported annually by that State to Penang.

In spite of the damage to the tin trade arising from the invasion of Perak, the East India Company pursued its traditional policy and refused to intervene. By October 1817 Kedah had subdued half of the State. On 2 July 1818 the Sultan of Kedah, sending Colonel Bannerman, Governor of Penang, four rare birds and a promise of rare plants (for which His Excellency had asked), thanked him for dispatching Mr. Cracroft to persuade the Sultan of Perak to send the tribute of Golden and Silver Flowers to Ayuthia:—Mr. Cracroft had just negotiated a treaty with Perak to safe-guard free trade with that State. Though the Sultan of Perak reported that his country was beset by land and sea, evidently its conquest was difficult. On September 12 the Sultan of Kedah was complaining to Penang that the task of subduing Perak was hard enough and now on the top of that Siam commanded him to send 100 war-boats and 300 koyan of rice for a force about to oppose the Burmese and, in order to embroil him with England, instructed him that no Kedah rice might be sent to Penang. On October 12 the Bendahara, Laksamana and Temenggong of Kedah were all still engaged in the Perak campaign and, though they would get all the tin they could for sale to Penang, nothing could be promised with the war still unfinished. On 18 November 1818 Sultan 'Abdu'l-Malik Mansur Shah, the old Raja of Perak, reported to Penang that his country was now under the Raja and Bendahara of Kedah. Anderson says that he did not survive many months. 1,000 square miles of country in upper Perak remained Siamese until 1909. In June 1819 the Sultan of Kedah was busy over the dispatch of Perak's Golden-Flower tribute to Ayuthia. In July 1819 anxious as he was to give Pangkor and the Dindings to the English in order to avoid trouble with the Dutch and to help in the suppression of piracy, Ahmad Taju'd-din Halim Shah Sultan of Kedah was too apprehensive of the displeasure of Siam, which had disapproved of Kedah's cession of Penang. " It is true I conquered Perak. The King, Raja Muda and Bendahara transferred the government to me. I directed my agents to depose the old king, invest the Raja Muda with the chief authority and promote the Bendahara to be Raja Muda, but they begged to retain their present titles during the life of the old king, who, they undertook, should cease to exercise authority or take part in councils. I
 

Page 66 A History of Perak.

assented, and Perak and its dependencies were placed under the Raja Muda and Bendahara jointly, subject to my superintendence and control. The Raja Muda exercises over Perak, Pangkor and adjacent dependencies the functions of a sovereign tributary to Slam." At the same time the Raja Kechil Besar and Orang Kaya Besar were removed to Kedah. So for the first time in history a State that had been subject to Acheh and Bugis Selangor but never to Siam now became tributary to the Lord of the White Elephant.

On 28 March 1819 Timmerman Thysen, the Governor of Malacca, suggested to Selangor a new treaty on the lines of its treaty with the Dutch in 1780 and expressed his pleasure at the intention of Selangor to assist Perak, so that, Siamese expelled, Perak also could renew its treaty with the Dutch! On December 8 the Raja of Kedah complained to Penang that the Bugis Raja Husain from Selangor, who formerly lived at the Dindings (where he opened a tin-mine on Pulau Talang), assisted pirates with provisions and had now gone to Tanjong Putus on the Perak river where pirates were again assembled. On 4 November 1820 the Raja of Kedah stated that he did not know if the chiefs of Kurau and Larut had conspired to commit piracy but Perak being under him he will enquire and prohibit its ruler from receiving pirates.

By 1822 mainly with the help of Selangor Perak had expelled her Siamese conquerors but she had to agree to pay tribute to Sultan Ibrahim, who as early as 1819 had left a relative Raja Husain to collect it. " His sons, the Raja Muda and Tuanku Husain, the chief of the settlement at the Dindings, have established posts about thirty miles from the mouth of the river and levy a toll on all tin exported by that channel." So Anderson.

Soon afterwards the Raja of Ligor, a Siamese state on the north-east frontier of Perak, prepared to reconquer Perak and according to the British forced its helpless ruler to sign letters "invoking Siamese protection against Selangor. But did the Raja of Perak act so much under the compulsion of Siam as on account of the exactions of Selangor? In December 1821 what Crawford described as Siam's " extremely contemptible " army had conquered Kedah. Ligor occupied Perak and ordered the Sultan to send Siam the Gold and Silver Flowers of a tributary state; in 1824 the Bendahara, Sri Adika Raja, To' " Peggah " and Maharaja Dinda took them to Ligor and were escorted home by 40 Siamese boats, which the Perak chiefs then loaded with 205 bahar of tin for Ligor. The Sultan of Selangor captured these boats and stationed Raja Husain at Kuala Bidor to levy duties on articles taken up and down the Perak river. In January 1825 Perak was invoking Siamese aid against Selangor and the Sultan wrote of his happiness that Perak had been placed under Ligor, the Perak chiefs retaining executive control. In April His Highness sent the Raja Kechil Muda, Orang Kaya Besar, Sri Lela Paduka, Maharaja Stia and


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Paduka Sri Nara as envoys to Ligor to reiterate the request for aid. That was the version Ligor dispatched to Penang, and it seems certain that all the while Perak was taking the only course its weakness allowed and trying to play off Siam against Selangor and Selangor against Siam, while the British East India Company refrained from armed intervention:—in 1824 the Supreme Government entertained " the strongest doubts of the practicability of inducing the arrogant and haughty Court of Siam to waive its pretensions" and questioned " the expediency of agitating the proposition at all." Quite probably Perak gladly let the Selangor Sultan intercept her forced tribute to Siam and then irked by Selangor exactions and terrified of Siamese vengeance turned again to Ligor. Accordingly on 1 June 1825 the Sultan of Perak informed Governor Fullerton that " at present Perak is under the Siamese, which prevents me from daring to express my wishes to my friend." On 2 June 1825 the Chau Phya of Ligor reported that Siam had been asked by Perak to expel the Selangor forces, though Siam would not send troops if Governor Fullerton could settle the trouble: he wanted, however, a permit from Penang for 30 or 40 Siamese boats to take the Raja Kechil Muda of Perak home and bring back from Perak its Golden Flowers, tin and other tribute to Siam. In fact, only the bluff and determination of Governor Fullerton, who acting against orders from the Indian government in June 1825 menaced Siam with war, saved Perak and Selangor from cruel invasion such as had overtaken Kedah. In 1825 after its conquests on the Tenasserim coast the Indian Government sent a Captain Burney to Ligor, where the Raja expressed the intention of dispatching 3,000 men by land to help Perak against Selangor. Burney contrived to frustrate this filibustering expedition, denying that Perak was a dependency of Siam and declaring that the English Company could not be indifferent over rights secured to it by treaty as the successor of the Dutch Company. On July 31, 1825 a preliminary treaty signed by Burney and the Raja of Ligor for the consideration of Madras and Bangkok engaged that the Siamese should neither attack nor colonize Perak and Selangor and that the British should not occupy Perak but merely prevent Selangor from disturbing its peace and evict the tax-collector, Raja Husain. As Mr. Mills writes, " to Burney's mind the great point gained by the treaty was that henceforth the Penang Council had for the the first time a legal right to prevent all Siamese troops and galleys from going to Perak and Selangor. Burney also succeeded in persuading the Raja of Ligor not to insist in the treaty on a clause compelling Perak to send the tribute of the Golden Flowers to Bangkok. Whether it was sent or not was left to the decision of the Sultan of Perak, Burney agreeing that the British would make no objection if he should wish to do so. Since to send the Bunga Mas was the last thing the Sultan would willingly agree to, Burney had won a very important success for the Company." Fullerton, delighted at Burney's treaty, then


Page 68 A History of Perak.

appointed the pamphleteer, John Anderson of the Honourable East India Company's Civil Service, Penang, to visit Perak and Selangor and settle the disputes outstanding between them without committing the Company to armed intervention. On 20 August Anderson negotiated a treaty with the venerable Sultan Ibrahim of Selangor confirming the commercial treaty of 1818, fixing the Bernam river as the boundary with Perak, engaging that no Selangor armament should enter Perak by land or sea and that Raja Husain should be removed from Perak for ever. Six days later Ibrahim wrote direct to Governor Fullerton announcing that when he had reinstated the Sultan of Perak with royal honours, they had made an engagement for the imposition of a duty of $12 a bahar on Perak tin, half to go to himself and half to the ruler of Perak, and adding that he had no control over Raja Husain as he had married an aunt of the Sultan of Perak! But the Sultan of Perak, being a " very insignificant person and under great apprehension " was prepared not only to scrap his aunt's husband but to repudiate or ignore any previous engagement with Selangor. Accordingly on 6 September 1825 he signed a treaty accepting the Bernam River as Perak's boundary, engaging not to attack Selangor and to remove Raja Husain from Perak, promising to grant no monopolies and fixing the duty on tin at $6 a bahar. In an access of fear or humility, he even pretended that he would like the British to annex his State, allowing him only a small pension; and with Kedah's plight before him he wrote to Fullerton offering to send Siam the tribute of the Golden Flower, if Fullerton should so advise.

For Ligor continued to play with the weakness of Perak as a cat plays with a mouse. Not daring to attack Perak after the preliminary Burney treaty of 31 July 1825, the Chau Phya yet sent a small force under the guise of an embassy to assist the Sultan in his government, an embassy whose recall Fullerton at once demanded. On 8 August 1825 Fullerton wrote to the Chau Phya that while Britain had no desire to occupy Perak or any other State near Penang, it would prevent the peace of neighbouring States being disturbed by Siam or by Malay aggressors. On 6 September the Chau Phya wrote from Ligor that he was anxious to learn the result of Anderson's mission of Perak and on 9 September that at the request of famine-stricken Perak he was sending there four boats laden each with 5 koyan of rice and carrying twenty-two men. Governor Fullerton advised the Chau Phya that the presence of numerous pirates rendered this inadvisable, that Mr. Anderson was taking grain to Perak and that, as soon as Raja Husain and the Selangor people left, Penang traders would import abundance of rice. A British cruiser was sent to the Perak river to ensure the departure of Raja Husain. On 14 October the Sultan of Perak wrote to Fullerton that he entrusted the government of Perak to the English and to the Chau Phya of Ligor! On 3 November Sultan Ibrahim complained that that was always Perak's answer, when the Sultan was asked to defray his debt of 3,128 Spanish dollars


Bugis, Siam and The British East India Company. Page 69

to Selangor:—the Sultan of Perak protested that Ibrahim had debited him with the debts of other Perak folk, which he could not collect. On 15 December 1825 Sultan Ibrahim wrote noting that Fullerton would settle Perak's debt, which otherwise Selangor would collect, and asking why Fullerton had allowed the Siamese to proceed to Perak, restore the old Laksamana and appoint Nakhoda Muhammad Raja Mahkota? The next day Fullerton wrote a letter of protest to Ligor. On 20 September 1826 when Perak presented a counter-claim for $2,787, the debt to Selangor was still under British consideration.

Gradually the Bugis passed out of Perak politics, except for the courteous survival in Selangor culture of the practice of inviting Perak chiefs to be present at the installation of her Sultans.

But Siam had still to be handled. In the latter half of 1825 the Indian Government approved of the draft Burney treaty and of Anderson's errand to Perak and Selangor and decided to send Burney to Siam on a purely " complimentary and conciliatory" mission, with a commercial treaty and the safeguarding of the independence of the Malay States as secondary objects not to be pressed. Fullerton, however, instructed Burney to press for the restoration of the ex-Sultan of Kedah and for Siam's claims on Perak to be limited to the sending of tribute. Burney's negotiations lasted till June 1826. Siam claimed no suzerainty over Selangor but insisted that the Sultan of Perak wanted to pay tribute: if the English would protect Perak from Selangor, Siam would merely send embassies " to settle and instruct the chief of Perak and give him a title and great presents, in the same manner as the other countries subject to Siam." Inadvertently the Siamese admitted that before the conquest by Kedah in 1818 Siam had no right or claim in Perak, and Burney pressed the rights of the British as inheritors of Dutch treaty-rights. Finally Siam and the English both promised not to attack or disturb Perak or Selangor, while the English engaged not to let Selangor attack Perak. The English Company would not interfere if Ligor or Perak should desire to exchange diplomatic missions of forty or fifty men. Both parties engaged that " the Raja of Perak shall govern the country according to his own will. Should he desire to send the Gold and Silver Flowers to Siam as heretofore, the English will not prevent his doing as he may desire." This was satisfactory but in 1826 Sultan 'Abdullah Mu'azzam Shah of Perak informed Penang that Siamese " embassies " were treating him as a conquered ruler and had bribed the Raia Muda and other chiefs to take their side. On 20 September 1826 the Sultan wrote to the Governor at Pulau Pinang that the Siamese, who had stayed ten months in Perak had gone, but as " a lowly man in awe of " the Governor and " afraid of the Siamese " he enquired if he ought to send the tribute of the Golden Flowers. Before he got that letter, (on 23 September) Fullerton wrote a stern letter to Ligor, declaring that the despatch of Siamese troops or embassies to Perak


Page 70 A History of Perak.

was a breach of the Burney treaty and might lead to war between Great Britain and Siam. The Chau Phya of Ligor replied that the continued presence of Siamese in Perak had been due to his absence at Ayuthia where he had been helping Burney over a treaty:—" the Siamese and Malays sent by me to Perak accompanied the Raja Kechil Muda, younger brother of the Sultan, and the Sultan wrote me at Ayuthia that he had detained them and when I returned would send them back with a Perak chief to wait on me: I have now sent a letter directing their return." On 10 October Sultan 'Abdu'llah wrote again expressing his satisfaction that Captain Burney had induced Siam to recognize the independence of Perak: for " it is my desire to govern it agreeably to former custom and I wish no connection with any Siamese or Malay chiefs to east or west nor will I permit them to interfere in the government of Perak. The Golden Flowers I will send no more to Siam or to Selangor or any Malay Raja. Even if only 20 or 30 soldiers or messengers arrive from Siam or any Malay Raja I will not receive them. Merchants can come and go. My resources are at present limited but I am collecting my ryots who fled owing to the disturbances. 1 rely on the Company to help me against Siam, Selangor and any rebel Perak chiefs. My difficulties I have explained to Captain James Low." For the Governor of Penang had despatched a British " embassy " consisting of Captain Low and forty Sepoys with " a Bombay H.C. Cruizer at his command " to warn Siamese to leave Perak, to advise the Sultan to write Penang a letter expressing his desire (in the terms of the Burney treaty) to " govern his country according to his own will " and to repeat the usual vague promise of help in case of Siamese aggression. A rabid hater of Siamese pretensions Low proceeded actively to help the Sultan deal with the pro-Siamese chiefs of Perak and then, against all traditions of the Company's policy, to make a treaty involving it in Perak affairs " to an extent which was never contemplated or desired." " The Siamese force " writes Low, " forthwith evacuated their position on the bank of the river and the Raja dismissed those who had intrigued with the Siamese and formed a steady government." Elsewhere he describes the ceremony of forming that steady government:—" A large concourse of people were assembled. The chiefs and their attendants were seated on carpets and mats on the floor. In front of the sopha on which the Raja sat, were arranged a low stool on which lay the Koran and a large jar of consecrated water on the top of which was a model of a crown. The Raja advancing dipped the regalia, consisting of armour, in the water, and placed them against a pillow. The new ministers and other officers then approached and had the oath tendered to them. This oath consists of two parts and is very short. The first part is the promise of fidelity; the second imprecates every calamity to afflict the juror and his family to remote generations should he betray the trust and confidence reposed in him. The characteristic levity of the


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Malayan disposition was not even repressed by this solemn act, for the Raja and some of his chiefs indulged their mirth occasionally, to the evident mortification of some of his chiefs then present whose gravity was ludicrously contrasted with it. Several of those who had intrigued with the Siamese betrayed evident symptoms of alarm. Indeed under a less indulgent Prince they must have lost their heads." A Malay MS. records that Bendahara Radin, a grandson of the sixteenth Sultan, went to Ligor, and that in 1826 the English had his brother Raja Muda Ngah Laut created Yang di-pertuan Muda, Bendahara Chulan (afterwards twenty-first Sultan) created Raja Muda, Raja 'Abdu'llah (afterwards twenty-second Sultan) created Raja di-Hilir. Low's treaty of 18 October 1826 which though always recognised appears never to have been formally ratified, stipulated that Perak should not pay tribute to Siam, Selangor or any one else, or receive embassies, armaments, or the smallest parties of men other than non-political traders: these conditions fulfilled, the British engaged to assist the Sultan to expel any Siamese or Malays who " may at any time enter the Perak Country with political views or for the purpose of interfering in any way with the Government of His Majesty." " These measures " as Low complacently remarks, " secured the independence of Perak." At the same time, he continues, " the Raja wanted to see the English flag hoisted in Perak and he proffered a written deed, ceding to them the island of Pangkor off the mouth of the river, but neither of these offers was accepted by the British Government "—though in 1819 the English had wanted to occupy Great and Little Pangkor and the territory on both banks of the Sungai Binding, and the Sultan of Kedah had said he dared not risk the displeasure of Perak, while the Sultan of Perak had wanted payment for the concession. On 20 October the Sultan sent the Bendahara, the Orang Kaya Besar, the Laksamana and Sri Dewa Raja to Penang to borrow $10,000 and get 400 muskets with ammunition on credit. " I regard Perak," His Highness wrote, " as under the superintendence or in the safe-keeping of the Honourable East India Company which must protect it and superintend its Government as if it were an English State." On 25 October, he wrote to Low engaging to build a fort at Kota Lumut and maintain a force there to combat pirates, to erect a small house there for the temporary accommodation of any British officer, to order the Laksamana and Shahbandar to build a fort at Kuala Bidor and settle that district, to expel harbourers of pirates from all coastal towns, to enforce payment of debts to foreign traders, to prevent slave-traffic in British subjects, to encourage agriculture, to arrange for the collection of export duties and to establish schools. On 3 November Governor Fullerton wrote a guarded letter to Ligor, warning the Chau Phya that further breaches of the Burney treaty in Perak might lead to war with the British and on 7 November he reported the doings of the Chau Phya to the ministry at Bangkok: Low's treaty he referred to the Governor-General.


Page 72 A History of Perak.

Not yet, however, did Siam abandon its pretensions. In November 1826 the Raja of Perak asked for a British agent to come and advise him, reporting that he had sent the Temenggong to make excuses and tell thirty Siamese, who had arrived at Pulau Kamiri on the Plus, that he would not meet them; but Ligor declared that the Siamese were only taking return presents to the Sultan. In March 1827 the Chau Phya sent silks for the Sultan and his chiefs and promised a boat-load of sugar and rice, at the same time inviting the Sultan to come to Ligor and proceed to Ayuthia, so pleased was the Lord of the White Elephant that His Highness desired to be the slave and tributary of Siam. The Sultan replied that, according to the Governor of Penang, a treaty had been made between Siam and the East India Company, stipulating that the Siamese should not again enter Perak: " so I think it unnecessary for me, a poor man, to wait on the Chau Phya and I beg to be excused. The Chau Phya is correct in saying that the Sri Adika Raja captured an elephant six cubits tall: I had the animal cared for and meant to send it to the Chau Phya but after a month in captivity it died." On 10 March Sultan 'Abdu'llah thanked the Governor of Penang for sending a cruiser with $3,500 (less the cost of a ketch and prahu bought for him), 200 muskets, two casks of powder, 500 bundles of ball cartridge and 1,000 musket flints: he promised to co-operate with Captain Low against pirates, especially against Nakhoda Udin, since 1822 appointed Penghulu at Kurau by the Ligorian (as Low termed him) but so bold a pirate that he frequently raided Penang and kidnapped British subjects to sell into slavery. To the delight of the Sultan of Perak Low fired on Kurau, burnt the village and wrote to Alang 'aidin (Penghulu Bukit Gantang) and Isma Yatim (Serama Maharaja) to hunt down Udin's associates. Udin was captured by the Police at Penang, where (as Fullerton informed the Chau Phya) he had " the audacity to come." As the court at Penang did not possess Admiralty jurisdiction, it was not competent to try Udin. So as he appeared to be a Siamese subject he was sent to Ligor with a polite request that he should be dealt with effectually. The Chau Phya, as Mr. Mills relates, " was very seriously annoyed, and when in June 1827 Burney came to Ligor to exchange the ratified copies of the treaty of 1826 with Siam, he complained bitterly of the attack on Udin.... He contended that Kurau was part of Kedah, and not of Perak, denied that Udin was a pirate and also attacked Low's treaty with Perak in 1826 as a piece of sharp practice." The Raja talked over Burney, who informed the Supreme Government that Kurau was Siamese and Udin not a pirate: Burney further criticised the Penang Council and Captain Low for their interference in Perak. Low was suspended from political employment. However, Fullerton proved that in 1825 Burney had put up a map showing Kurau to be in Perak and had also advocated for Perak the very policy Low was suspended for pursuing: he also put up clear evidence that Udin was a pirate. On 12 July


Bugis, Siam and The British East India Company. Page 73

1827 he sent Ligor a copy of Burney's map and declared that the destruction of Kurau and the capture of Udin were in order and required no discussion. On 6 September, however, he informed Ligor that he would hear Udin's defence and he wrote to the Raja of Perak to send witnesses against him. In November 1827 the Supreme Government climbed down and reinstated Low. But as late as February 1828 Fullerton was still investigating the Kurau incident to judge from the arrival in Penang of two Perak chiefs, Sri Maharaja and Tan Jana Pahlawan headman of Kurau, who were cognisant of Udin's transgressions.

Though his very name has been forgotten at Kuala Kangsar, Captain James Low was the saviour of Perak, risking his own career to save her from Siamese suzerainty and spare her the cruel fate of Kedah. And along with the name of Low, Perak ought to inscribe in letters of gold the name of Robert Fullerton, Governor of Prince of Wales' Island, Singapore and Malacca, who inspired and defended the insubordination of his officer Captain Low.

Relieved of the Siamese menace Sultan 'Abdullah endeavoured to organize the administration of his country. On 15th June 1827 he informed Penang, " If my life is spared, I shall visit every part of Perak, establish the several districts in the old way and appoint chiefs so that the country may be settled." He summoned all the chiefs and persuaded them to live with him at Pasir Panjang Indra Mulia, and he employed one, Puteh Abubakar of Penang, to help him in the conduct of public affairs. Low found 'Abdu'llah " a very quiet person and very indulgent to his subjects.... He hears complaints and settles business early in the morning, breakfasts about 10 and dines about sun-set or later.... On the weekly fast days the Raja assembles all his officers and attendants in the Mosque and repeats along with his Imams and them selected passages from the Kuran.... As they become warmed by their devotions they nod and shake their heads violently in concert.... One day the Raja gave a feast to his people, it being an anniversary. A long and slightly built shed was prepared as a kitchen. Here five or six huge iron pots were placed over fires. In each of these about thirty fowls were boiled. They live, however, very plainly, fish, rice and a little seasoning with fruits being their common food. Very few of them will taste wine and none drink spirits. The Raja and his people dress in very ordinary garb except on occasions of ceremony and at these periods only, they are clothed from the waist upwards.... The women seem partial to sky-blue cotton and can dress themselves with considerable neatness. They display a good deal of the upper part of the body, only throwing their upper dress which is a narrow piece of cloth carelessly across the breast.... Many appeared to have as fair complexions as the Chinese. It was particularly remarked by all our party that the distinguishing characteristic of the Hottentot women, although in a less degree, is very generally a prominent one among the


Page 74 A History of Perak.

females of Perak." That was a picture of Perak in 1826 when Siamese " embassies " had slaughtered all the cattle and left only a few goats, buffaloes and poultry. Low's mission changed all that. But there were still domestic troubles, about which the Sultan often took Penang into his confidence, gladly accepting advice. In July 1828 the Raja Muda let the opium, gambling and spirit farms to Amoy Chinese, though they were let already to another! It required force to remove the Amoy people. On 2 November the Dato' Srinara returning from Penang was attacked off Pangkor by four pirate perahu; the Raja Mahkota came to his aid; Perak lost two men killed and five wounded but captured a pirate junk containing 4 koyan of rice, six Chinese, two Siamese " padris " and one Haji. On 4 November the Governor warned the Sultan of Perak on no account to receive the ex-Raja of Kedah within his borders as it would lead to further trouble with Siam. On 29 February 1829 Penang suggested that Perak might liquidate an old debt for cash and muskets by sending tin. On 26 March 1829 the Sultan informed Fullerton that as requested he had sent the Orang Kaya Besar from Ijok and other forces to expel from Krian, Tengku Long Puteh, a brother-in-law of that enemy of Siam, the ex-Sultan of Kedah. Penang warned 'Abdu'llah not to encourage Patani immigrants from Pulai and Baling, for fear of offending Ligor. Perak was still very poor. The Raja wrote to the Resident-Councillor, Penang, begging him to induce a Chinese ship to visit Perak annually and buy elephants " which would be a great relief to the poor distressed inhabitants." He could not pay his debt in tin-ore, as he was assured " the consequence of removing ore to such a distance would ruin the mines! " but in August 1829 he did send a perahu with tin. In 1830 Captain Parker and Lord Frederick Beauclerc visited Perak and the Sultan addressed a letter to their chief Sir Edward Owen K.C.B., Rear-Admiral of the Blue, thanking him for the promise of a man-o'-war in the event of invasion.

In 1830 the Straits Settlements had ceased to have a Governor and became a Residency subject to Bengal. So in a letter dated 26 June 1831 Sultan Shahabu'd-din announced to the Resident his accession to the Perak throne. Still Perak had its troubles. At the end of 1831 the Sultan sent the Laksamana to report a rice famine and obtain on credit ten guns with powder and ball, some cash and four or five koyan of rice. In January 1832 the Raja Muda reported a conspiracy by the Bendahara against the new Sultan. In April the Sultan reported a rumour that Selangor had assembled twenty boats to attack Perak, but the advent in May of an English merchant, George Stuart, allayed the panic of the Perak people and the Sultan appointed Mr. Stuart his confidential agent in the Colony. The Selangor scare lasted several years and seems to have been connected with a Perak debt to that State. In 1837 the Sultan of Perak thanked the Resident-Councillor, Penang, for telling him that Selangor would not invade his country


Bugis, Siam and The British East India Company. Page 75

and he denied having approached Ligor for aid. In 1842 there were further rumours which led to the Sultan of Selangor being warned by the British.

In 1831 when the Malays rose against the Siamese in Kedah, the ex-Sultan Ahmad Taju'd-din, unbowed by the stoppage since 1827 of his annual allowance of $10,000, at last left Penang for Malacca rather than risk removal by force. But in 1836 having got leave to visit Deli he left Malacca and bolted to Bruas to collect forces to invade Kedah. Nothing would persuade him to desist and two British warships had to visit Bruas, destroy the Malay fleet and carry the ex-Sultan back to Malacca. Two years later the Kedah Malays again rebelled against Siam but in 1839 were re-conquered. Then in 1842 backed by a letter from Governor Bonham the ex-Sultan after twenty years of exile tendered his submission to the Lord of the White Elephant and was restored to the throne of a State which Siam had found it unprofitable to hold by force. Flushed with success the turbulent old Sultan seized Krian claiming it to be part of Kedah. The Sultan of Perak asked for British assistance in accordance with Low's treaty. On 22 November the Governor warned Sultan Shahabu'd-din not to attack his aggressor, advised the Sultan of Kedah to relinquish his claim and asked the Chau Phya of Ligor to remonstrate with him. On 13 May 1844 Ahmad Taju'd-din was informed that the Supreme Government was withholding its annual payment to him of $10,000 a year until he should quit Krian and remain peaceably in Kedah for twelve months. Even this did not move him. Only in 1848 did he retire when the Governor threatened armed intervention. In that year, 1848, the Sultan of Perak applied for arms and ammunition to be used against the Laksamana who had usurped the revenue from duty on tin exported down the Perak River!

In 1851 and 1852 only a few letters passed between Penang and Perak. On 7 January 1851 Mr. Blundell, Resident Councillor, Penang, told the Sultan of Perak that he and not the British must arrest one Megat 'Arif and his gang of marauders for disturbing Krian: Mr. Blundell sent for Megat 'Arif and got his promise to reform, but Megat 'Arif broke his promise and Blundell invoked the aid of the Sultan of Kedah. At the end of the year the Governor, Colonel Butterworth, sent a schooner to Bruas to investigate a case of piracy and in December informed Sultan 'Abdu'llah Muhammad Shah of Perak that thirteen pirates had been captured, four of whom were hanged and the rest banished to Bombay for life; the Raja Kechil Sulong of Perak appeared to have shared the spoils. Resident Councillor Lewis wrote several letters to Che' Long Ja'far of Larut about the rendition of fugitive convicts and the detention of tin bought by a Penang Chinese.

Then came civil war in Perak. As early as 8 August 1851 Governor Butterworth had expressed doubts to the Sultan of Selangor as to his story of dissensions in Perak, adding that anyhow


Page 76  A History of Perak.

it was no concern of the British. Soon however there was trouble between the Sultan of Perak and Bendahara (later Sultan) Ja'far when a British man-of-war was sent to protect the customs station for tin at Kota Stia. On 17 March 1853 the Governor replied to Raja Ngah 'Ali of Perak, asking what he meant by the sentence " The Sultan has left his palace" Who occupied it? There must be a ruler. Butterworth refused the ivory tusks Raja Ngah 'Ali had sent, declaring that it was not an English custom to accept presents. Actually the Sultan had fled and taken refuge with the Laksamana. In April the Governor informed the Sultan that Low's treaty stipulated for British aid only in the event of external aggression: on 18 May he replied to the Sri Adika Raja, Panglima Kinta, Shahbandar and Panglima Bukit Gantang that not he but their Sultan, 'Abdullah Muhammad Shah, should receive their complaints about the disturbances caused by the Sultan's son, Raja Yusuf; in June he informed the Sultan that the Governor-General still refused him permission to intervene but the Sultan could appeal to Kedah for help if he liked. In September 1853 the officer administering the government, Blundell, informed Fort William that influential chiefs had deposed the Sultan and elevated the Raja Muda to the throne. The Sultan was said to be a debauchee whose sons were beyond his control and ruined the country. Blundell had advised Kedah that our treaty with Siam forbade armed interference, and he suggested to India that he should be authorized to arbitrate between the parties. In June 1854 a claimant to the Perak throne wrote to the Governor describing himself as Sultan Safi-u'd-din Mu'azzam Shah. In July Blundell went to Perak and interviewed the Raja Muda and chiefs. On 23 November 1855 the Governor was still advising Sultan 'Abdu'llah Muhammad Shah that he could not intervene in the domestic affairs of Perak. " When Sultan 'Abdu'llah Muhammad Shah died," wrote Swettenham in 1880, " he and his son were in open warfare with by far the greater part of the chiefs of Perak and when the time came to elect a Bendahara, Yusuf's claims by birth were outbalanced by his unpopularity." On 3 September 1857 the Governor congratulated Sultan Ngah Ja'far on his accession. Of this ruler as a practical administrator Sir Frank has left a vivid picture. One day a woman of his harem came out to listen to the Kuran-chanting of a Trengganu man famous for his voice. Aggrieved at this her relations wanted to kill the Trengganu man but feared his famous creese. They consulted the Sultan, who replied, " Take his creese first, you fools, and then kill him." One of the relatives then made an excuse to borrow the creese, and the others stabbed the Trengganu Rizzio till their weapons met in his body.

In 1858 the East India Company came to an end and the Straits Settlements passed under the control of the India Office. Two of the grievances the local public had nursed against the old Company were that it had pusillanimously sacrificed the exiled Sultan of Kedah to Siam and that it refused to interfere in the


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domestic affairs of the Malay States. Not until after 1867 when the India Office had transferred the Colony to the care of the Colonial Office, was this policy of aloofness abandoned.

In 1867 in view of requests from Straits-born Chinese to settle there the Sultan of Perak was asked to arrange for the cession of the Bindings in accordance with the treaty of 1826, which had given to the East India Company " the Pulo Dindings and the islands of Pangkor, together with all and every one of the islands hitherto included within the Perak State " in order that piracy might be suppressed. In 1868 the Laksamana pretended to agree with the British view that this was meant to embrace both banks of the Dindings River but the Sultan disapproved of the occupation of both the banks though he would allow a settlement between Pulau Talang and the River Dinding on payment of a subsidy. Downing Street objecting to the occupation of new and disputed territory, the matter remained in abeyance until the Pangkor treaty of 1874 defined the boundaries in accordance with the British view and so aroused the suspicion of the Malays at a singularly inopportune time.

Again, in January 1870 the Sultan of Perak requested the Governor's aid to rectify Selangor's encroachment on the Perak side of the Bernam River.

The narrow interests of the old trading company, the indifference of the India Office to an outlying region were now things of the past. As early as 1862 there had been the writing on the walls of the Chinese kongsi houses in Larut: the old policy of isolation was doomed.



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