CO882-(2-3) — Page 495

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Reference :-

C.O. 882

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commenced to monopolize the valuable tin and gold trade found in some of the districts; and, in this view, their relations would be closer with Naning, Rumbowe, and Johole owing to their immediate proximity, and with Sungie Ujong, owing to the large quantities of tin produced.

Tradition in Rumbowe.-There is said to be a tradition in Rumbowe that the Chiefs are on no account to allow tin mines to be worked in their country. The late Punghulu Akil stated, a short time before his death, that his predecessor had obliged him to swear on the Koran that he would not permit such a thing. It is not said when this policy had its rise. The Dutch,used to get tin from Rumbowe, some parts of which country are known to be rich in tin ore; and the Chiefs bound themselves by Treaty, made in 1759, to deliver to the Dutch at a fixed price, all the tin of Sungie Ujong, Lingie, Rumbowe, and Calong. Whether the non-existence of tin trade at present in Rumbowe arises from the interdiction above stated, or from the want of enterprise of the people, and their unruly character, is not clear, but the fact exists that, at the present day, but little tin is produced in Rumbowe.

Government of Johore.-It does not appear clearly how the States had been governed from Johore before; but, when the Dutch Treaty of 1759 was made, a Bugghese of Riho was in charge, as Viceroy, over all the Interior States, acting directly under the authority of the Sultan of Johore; and the Treaty just referred to was made by the Dutch with Whatever his rights and position this Prince, whom they named Dayang Cambodian. may have been his rule was so little beneficial, that the Chiefs rebelled, and he was obliged to retire to Rhio. He was not replaced, as far as can be found, by any other superior native authority from Johore.

About this time the Sultan of Johore made over to the Dutch his rights over the four States, Rumbowe, Sungie Ujong, Naning, and Johore, only stipulating that his name should be used, or should continue to be used, in the public prayers for royalty recited in the Mosques.

Rule of Menangkabowe Princes.

The result of the interference of the Dutch in the four States, and the absence of Malay rule from Johore, were felt, here as elsewhere, in the want of that direction in religious and social matters, which cannot well be given to a Mahomedan people by a European Government. To supply this want the four States applied to the Sultan at Johore, as he resigned his own authority over them, to procure for them a Ruler from the Royal Family of Menangkabowe, the parent Malay State.

Eum Tuan Besar appointed. The Sultan of Johore did apply to Menangkalowe, and, about the year 1773, Rajah Malaywar, a son of the then reigning Sovereign, was sent to the four States as Ruler, under the title of Eang Depertuan Besar, that is, the Great Ruler. Eang Depertuan (he who rules), colloquially called Eam (pronounced Yam) Tuan, is the title applied to reigning Sovereigns among the Malays. This Prince, being the son of the great Malay Sultan of Menangkabowe, had the title of Eang Depertuan, with the distinction of the word Besar" (great) added.

As it was necessary to have the sanction of the Dutch Government for the appoint- ment, it was arranged that the Menangkabowe Ruler was to call at Malacca, on his way to the interior, to exhibit his written authority, styled “Tarumpoh," a long and pompous document setting out the title of the bearer as Eam Tuan Besar. This practice fell into disuse under British rule at Malacca.

Succession of five Rulers.—On the death of Rajah Malay war, the King of Menangkabowe sent his son Rajah Adil to succeed. He ruled till his death, in 1795, when another Prince, Rajah Itam, was sent, who died in 1808, and was succeeded by Rajah Lingang Laut, who died in 1824. On his death a period of two years expired before the last of the Rulers, Rajah Labu, arrived. This Prince, after a turbulent and disorderly reign of six years, returned to Sumatra in 1832, and no other Prince was sent afterwards. Powers of Ruler.—It appears that the Rulers thus appointed were not allowed to take any active part in the government of the four States. In fact they were considered rather in the light of pageant Princes, the real government being in the hands of the Punghulus and their Sukus: each Pungbulu governing his own State, with the help of his Suku..

Relations of Rulers.~Rajah Adil, the second ruler, left two sons, Rajah Assil and Rajah Saban, and a daughter Tuanku Putih,

Eam Tuan Muda appointed.—Rajah Itam, the third Ruler, married Tuanku Putih, and prevailed on the Punghulus to elevate his borther-in-law Rajah Assil to the office of Eang Depertuan (or Ram Tuan) Muda, that is, the Lesser Ruler; an innovation acquiesced in by the Pungulus, but not accounted for in any way but this, that the Prince was a son of the great Ruler, born in the country, and therefore entitled to a place of honour, and with

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that place, to an adequate revenue. It appears that the Eam Tuan Nuda resided in Rumbowe, while the palace of the Eam Tuan Besar was in Sri Menanti.

Outrage by one of the Rajahs. In 1812, the Punghulu of Rumbowe, having refused his consent to the marriage of his sister-in-law to Rajah Hadjee, a son of Rajah Assil, the first Eam Tuan Muda, Rajah Hadjee carried her off by force. A war ensued, in which Rajah Assil took his son's part. The Punghulu called in the aid of Rajah Alli, one of the most able and ambitious of all the Malay Chiefs, and one who subsequently exercised a remarkable influence in the States.

Rajah Alli. Rajab Alli was the son (by a former husband Rajah Aman, brother of Sultan Ibrahim of Salangore) of Tuanku Putih, who, on her first husband's death, became the wife of the Eam Tuan Besar Itan, the third Ruler.

Rajah Alli, who was in exile for treasonable practices against his uncle, Rajah Assil, went to Rumbowe with the Datu Muda of Lingie, and by artifice induced Rajah Assil to retire for the time, promising to restore him to power afterwards. Rajah Assil did so. The result was that he was obliged to leave the country, and Rajah Alli was chosen Eam Tuan Muda in bis place.

Rajah Assil complained to the Resident at Malacca, Colonel Farquhar, who in letters dated 15th July, 1816, and 18th April, 1817, urged the Government of Penang (Malacca during the British occupation from 1795 to 1819 was a Residency under the Government first of Madras and afterwards of Penang) to interfere for the protection of Rajah Assil, whom he styles the Rajah of Rumbowe. As it was anticipated that Malacca was soon to be restored to the Dutch no steps were taken.

Colonel Farquhar, in his letter of the 15th July, says that Rumbowe, though not tributary, strictly speaking, to Malacca, was so immediately under the influence of that Settlement that the succession to the throne required the approval and official confirma- tion of the Dutch Governor and Council (referring doubtless to the Tarumpoh) and that this power and authority had not been relinquished during the English occupation.

Another History.-The above genealogy, as taken from Newbolt, is not in accordance with information received recently from one of the Chiefs of Rumbowe, a very intelligent man, who gave me the following account. According to him Rajah Adil the second Ruler married, first, a daughter of the Punghulu of Jellabu, and second, the daughter of an Inche of Tampin.

By his first wife he had two sons, Rajah Singkol and Rajah Sabban, and by his second wife two sons, Rajah Assil and Rajah Solong. Rajah Singkol had a son Rajah Jusu and he had two sons Rajabs Rasool and Lahah, both of whom are dead. Rajah Sabban established himself in the government of Jellabu, and had a son named Rajah Muda, who succeeded in Jellabu. He had two sons Rajah Ma Ariff, dead, and Rajah Ateet, and a daughter who was married to Rajah Rádin.

Rajah Assil bad four sons and two daughters, but none of them appear to be now alive, nor did they leave any children according to my informant. Rajah Solong left only one daughter, Tunku Putih.

Rajah Lingang Laut had two sons, Rajah Radin and Rajah Ujong or Imaum. Rajah Radin married Intam, a daughter of the Punghulu of Sri Menanti, and by her had a son, Rajah Antar of Sri Menanto; and by his second wife, the daughter of Rajah Muda of Jellabu, he had a son, Rajah Dollah of Jellabu. Rajah Ujong had a son Rajah Ahmen of Sri Menanti.

Rajah Ateet, son of Rajah Muda of Jellabu, and Rajah Dollah, son of the daughter of the same Rajah Muda by Rajah Radin, fought for the succession to Jellabu, and Rajah Ateet was defeated, and now lives in retirement in Jellabu, where Rajah Dollah is the Chief. On the death of Rajah Ujong of Sri Menanti, in 1869, his son Rajah Ahmat- and Rajah Antar, son of Rajah Radin, become competitors for the succession to Sri Menanti.

The same Chief's account of the line of Rajah Alli differs from that given by New- bolt and Begbie. He says that Tunku Putih, mother of Rajah Alli, was daughter of Rajah Solong, son of Rajah Adil, the second ruler, by his wife, the daughter of an Inche of Tam- pin, and his father was Rajah Ahman, son of Sultan Ibrahim of Salangore; that Rajah Alli had a son who died young, and two daughters, both of whom were married by Syed Sabban, who had a son by each of them, Syed Aboo and Syed Hamid, now of Tampin and Kru. Syed Ahman, the present Datu Klana of Sungie Ujong, as son of Syed Amat, brother of Syed Sabban, in said to have pretensions to succeed as Chief of Sri Menanti, but his claim is a very distant one.

Tabular Statements.-In order to make the genealogy more clear, tabular statements according to each account, are given.

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