A History of Perak: Appendix C - THE PERAK DYNASTY.

Sultan Muzaffar I of Perak was the son of Sultan Mahmud, the Ruler driven from Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511 (p. supra). He married Tun Trang, daughter of his step-mother Tun Fatimah, a lady of the Bendahara family of Malacca. They had a son Raja Mansur (Sejarah Melayu p. 228), who became second Sultan of Perak. Either he or his father had sixteen children, of whom three were sons: Raffles' copy of the " Malay Annals " makes them children of Muzaffar, the Perak account children of Mansur. Perhaps the " Annals" are right. For they give the name of Muzaffar's second son as Raja Ahmad, and the Bustanu's-Salatin (Niemann's Bloemlezing, Hague 1907, vol. II p. 123) gives this name to the father of the next de jure Perak ruler who was carried captive to Acheh and became Sultan 'Ala'u'd-din of that country on 30 March 1577. The tree will then run: —

Perak Dynasty

One MS. (Maxwell 44) whose account, it must be admitted, is confused, makes the third ruler of Perak a Sultan 'Abdu'l-Jalil, and adds that on his death his younger sister, a Raja Kamariah, married her cousin from Johor, who became Sultan Taju'l-'Arifin.

A Perak story (Maxwell MS. 105; JRASSB. 1882, IX, pp. 95, 108), which is our only authority for the first Achinese invasion continues:—" After the death of Sultan Mansur Shah, Perak was conquered by Acheh and the widow of Sultan Mansur Shah and her sixteen children went captives to Acheh. Her eldest son was taken by 'Abdu'l-Khana for her husband and became Sultan

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('Ala’u’d-din or Mansur) of Acheh. During his reign he sent his next younger brother to rule Perak with his capital at Julang, which owing to floods was abandoned for Geronggong. Sultan 'Ala'u'd-din of Acheh is said to have twice visited Perak to organize its government: on the second occasion he was murdered by his captains at the mouth of the river at Acheh and became known as Sri Pada mangkat di-Kuala.

The name of the younger brother of this Sultan 'Ala'u'd-din, who was made by him third ruler of Perak is unknown: it is mere guess-work to call him Ahmad Taju'd-din (JRASSB. 1907, No. XLVTII, p. 98). All we know is that he was termed Marhum Muda and left a son Raja Kechil.

He was succeeded by his younger brother, Marhum Muda Mangkat di-Tebing, " The Younger who died on the River-Bank," whom tradition without authority calls Sultan Taju'l-Arifin (ib.).

This ruler was succeeded by the son of Raja Kechil, who became known as Marhum Mangkat di-darat, " He who died inland ": tradition says his name was 'Ali and his title 'Ala'u'd-din Shah.

A sister of Sultan 'Ala'u'd-din of Acheh bore two sons in Perak, Tengku Tua and Raja Bongsu. Tengku Tua became sixth Sultan and tradition calls him Mukadam Shah. During this reign— perhaps about 1619 when he invaded Kedah—the redoubtable Mahkota 'Alam of Acheh carried captive to Acheh all the Perak royal family except Raja Mansur (younger brother if the Sultan-who-died-inland) who escaped to Johor (where he married Raja Empuan Jambi) and was fetched thence by Dato' Sri Nara 'diraja to be installed Sultan of Perak at Semat. Acheh thereupon seized and took him to Acheh and (at the request of the Maharaja Lela) installed the younger brother of Mukadam Shah, Raja Bongsu (Yusuf ib.) in his stead with the title Sultan Mahmud Shah, afterwards called " He who died in the low land.'' His son, Raja Kobat (ib.), succeeded and was known as Sultan Salahu'd-din or Marhum Pulau Tiga: he, too, died a captive at Acheh. With him the Perak line on the male side died out: apabila dia rnati, putus keturunan, tiada-lah raja lagi di-Perak (Maxwell MS. 24).

But among the captives at Acheh was a Raja Sulong son of Raja Mahmud son of Marhum Kasab of Siak: Maxwell MS. 24 interpolates Raja Brahim between Raja Mahmud and Marhum Kasab and states that the line descended from Nila Pahlawan. Sultan Mansur Shah of Malacca had conquered Siak, its ruler Maharaja Permaisura of the Minangkabau line of Pagar Ruyong being killed and his son Megat Kudu being installed as Sultan Ibrahim of Siak and given Maharaja Dewi a daughter of his

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suzerain to wife (Sejarah Melayu pp. 121-2) by whom he was the father of Raja 'Abdullah, styled Sultan Khoja Ahmad Shah. This Sultan of Siak married a daughter of Sultan Mahmud of Malacca and by her had two sons, Raja Jamal and Raja Biajit (JRASSB. 1925, p. 14). But who was Marhum Kasab? The Sejarah Melayu (p. 263) record that Sultan Ali Jalla 'Abdu'l-Jalil Shah of Johor (rd. 1580-1597) made one of his sons, Hasan, Raja of Siak, which leads one to suppose that Raja Sulong was of the royal house of Johor. Writing to Governor-General Antonie van Diemen on 12 December 1637 Cornelis Simonsz. van der Veer confuses him with his wife (p. 21 supra)—" the newly appointed king of Perak is nephew of the king of Acheh, whose forebear was king of Pahang." For while Raja Sulong was a captive at Acheh, Sultan Mughal or Iskandar II (b. 1611 d. 1641) of Acheh (son of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang) found him a princess for bride, whose father had been Marhum Muda of Pahang and her mother grand-daughter of the second Sultan of Perak, Mansur Shah, and great-grand-daughter of the first. The Achinese sent this couple to Perak and installed Raja Sulong as Muzaffar Shah II. He was a rot faineant, at any rate so short of arm that his consort gave him a slave-girl, Che Perbu, to perform his ablutions—by her he had four children, ancestors of the Rajas at Slat Pulau. He died at Geronggong. The " Malay Annals " (p. 164) gives the following pedigree of his maternal descent:—

Perak Dynasty

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A treaty made between the Dutch and Perak on 7 December 1655 refers to a treaty made by the late Sultan Muda Forca (== Muzaffar) on 15 December 1653, so that Muzaffar Shah II must have died in 1654 or 1655 (Bij. T.L. Vk. Ron. Inst, van N.I., Deel LVII, 1907). Who succeeded him? All Perak accounts say it was his son, Sultan Mahmud—Marhum Besar Aulia'llah—whose mother was grand-daughter of the second and great-grand-daughter of the first Sultan of Perak. But was there a queen regent while he was an infant? The treaty made between the Dutch and Perak on 7 December 1655 refers in its preamble to Sultana Amina Todijn and the young king Muda Forca, which last must be a mistake for the son of Muzaffar II. One account relates that the royal consort of Raja Sulong died while her children were young, so that we cannot say who this Sultanah was. Maxwell MS. 24 says that Mahmud was installed as an infant by the Sultanah of Acheh who gave him a creese and that when the royal drums (naubat) sounded he was dandled by his aunt, who was possibly regent and styled Sultanah. Or was Amina Todijn Sultanah of Acheh?

The " Malay Annals" (p. 168) wrongly suggest that the ruler after Sultan Mahmud was his brother Mansur, " who is now Raja of Perak": actually Mansur died at Pulau Tiga as Sultan (or Yang di-pertuan) Muda, presumably predeceasing his elder brother and never ascending the throne, though three of his sons became Sultans in turn. The second son Muzaffar fought the eldest 'Ala'u'd-din for the throne, the former probably backed by the Laksamana and the Bugis from Bernam and the latter by Raja Kechil's Minangkabau adherents in Kedah and by Bendahara Megat Iskandar, whose pretensions were hateful to the Lower Perak chiefs and who after the royal brothers had made peace disappeared and was succeeded as Bendahara by Megat Terawis, who in turn was succeeded by Sri Dewa Raja (Maxwell MS. 24).

The next four rulers of Perak were brothers: the eldest died a young man about 1728 and the youngest, Sultan Ahmadin, died very old in 1806. On his death the domestic troubles, which always beset the Perak throne in the absence of a foreign foe, started once more. For three months the body of the Sultan Ahmadin was kept at Sayong on the way to burial at Brahmana Indra. The deceased's nephew, Bendahara Mahmud, grandson of Sultan Mahmud who died about 1773, would not come to the funeral. Finally the Raja Muda buried the dead ruler and ascended the throne as Sultan 'Abdu'l-Malik Mansur Shah. The new Sultan ruled from Pasir Garam, but up-river Bendahara Mahmud held sway. The new Sultan's daughter, Che' Puan Busu, married a Raja Ahmad and bore him a son afterwards Sultan Ngah Ja'far. Who was this Raja Ahmad? Maxwell MS. 103 in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society (translated in JRASSB. 1884, XIII p. 313) nowhere gives his pedigree, calls him incidentally "son

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of the reigning Sultan " (a term often covering " son-in-law") and makes a mistake over the name and family of his wife. A Perak MS. collected by myself and now in the Library of the School of Oriental Studies speaks of him as the son of a Raja Said. Another Perak pedigree admits that Che' Puan Busu married this Raja Ahmad but wrongly makes Sultan Ngah Ja'far the son of his uncle! Maxwell MS. 44 mentions him once in a hopelessly corrupt passage and elsewhere calls him merely the father of Sultan Ja'far. Maxwell MS. 24 records how " at that time Perak was split into two at Denai Blanja on the left bank of the Perak river and at Chondrong Kandis on the right. Upstream the Bendahara Raja Mahmud ruled from Sayong. Downstream Sultan 'Abdul-Malik Mansur Shah ruled at Pasir Garam: his children were Raja Muda 'Abdullah, Raja Aminah (wife of Raja Ngah Laut) and Che' Puan Busu. Now Raja Ahmad, who had the title of Raja Kechil Tengah, married Che' Long, who had the title of Raja Che' Puan Bongsu (or Busu) and she bore him three children, a girl Raja Che' Puan Muda. . and sons Raja Ngah Ja'far and Raja Alang Iskandar." This passage implies that a Raja Ahmad married a daughter of Sultan 'Abdul-Malik Mansur Shah and begat the future Sultan Ngah Ja'far who as Raja Muda lived at Pengkalan Pegoh, Kinta, and as Sultan at Pasir Panjang Iridra Mulia. A pedigree collected in Perak corroborates this and describes Raja Ahmad as a raja from Daik: moreover Sultan Idris himself used to declare that he was descended from a Raja of Daik, that is the old Lingga, capital of the Riau-Lingga Empire. Perak tradition says that Raja Ahmad was invited to Perak by Sultan 'Abdul-Malik Mansur Shah as a famous warrior, perhaps to fight Kedah, perhaps to resist Bendahara Mahmud. Not only did he marry the Sultan's daughter but he got his brother-in-law made the next Sultan and his own son made Bendahara. Finally according to the evidence of Laksamana Muhammad Amin at the signing of the Pangkor treaty, Raja Ahmad was made Sultan Muda. If Raja Ahmad came from Daik, then like the present rulers of Johor and Pahang he was descended from the Bendaharas of Malacca.

Again. In the next reign internecine troubles broke out, the Siamese having bribed some of the royal family to take their side, so that in 1926 Captain Low went from Penang and presided at the installation of fresh Raja chiefs.

Even after the English had freed Perak of danger from Siam and Selangor, the Perak royal house was divided against itself. In 1832 Raja Muda reported to the Governor of the Straits Settlements a conspiracy by the Bendahara against the new Sultan Shahabu'd-din.

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Yet again in 1853 the next ruler, Sultan 'Abdu'llah Muhammad Shah, had to leave his palace and a pretender described himself as Sultan Safi-u'd-din Mu'azzam Shah, but the British seem to have quashed the rebellion (p. 76).

When this Sultan 'Abdu'llah died, Sultan Ja'far was elected his successor though not present at the obsequies. And his successor Ali was away in Larut for four months after the death of Ja'far (JRASSB. 1880, VI p. 165). Yet in the absenc of civil disturbance the heir presumptive must attend the Sultan's funeral.

Finally in 1872 there came the famous struggle between Sultan Ismail and the Raja Muda 'Abdu'llah.