Article

Abdu’l-Jalil, Sultan of Johore (1699–1719), ‘Abdu’l-Jamal, Temenggong (ca. 1750) and Raffles’ founding of Singapore

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

Abdu’l-Jalil, Sultan of Johore (1699–1719), ‘Abdu’l-Jamal, Temenggong (ca. 1750) and Raffles’ founding of Singapore

R.O. Winstedt published this article in 1933 as a summary of a short Malay manuscript, compiled from tradition and written in Pahang, which he had held in his personal collection for nearly twenty years before unearthing it after the publication of his History of Johore. The article addresses the early Johore-Pahang dynastic history centred on Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Jalil (r. 1699–1719) and Temenggong ‘Abdu’l-Jamal (active ca. 1750), and offers a new detail on Raffles’ 1819 landing at Singapore. Winstedt’s overarching thesis is that while the manuscript’s pre-nineteenth-century genealogies are unreliable, its account of Temenggong ‘Abdu’l-Jamal provides the first substantive narrative of that figure and clarifies the political dynamics between the Temenggong and Bendahara lineages at Riau and Pahang.

Summary

The manuscript narrates the violent succession that brought ‘Abdu’l-Jalil to the Johore throne in 1699, the subsequent flight and execution of Laksamana Paduka Raja at Trengganu, and the Bugis intervention that installed Sultan Sulaiman in Pahang. Winstedt flags a significant chronological problem: the MS appears to date Paduka Raja’s flight to Trengganu some thirty years too late, placing it after 1688 rather than before, though he concedes the possibility that the title was held by a successor (p. 161). The narrative then moves to the Bugis period at Riau, where the Temenggong ‘Abdu’l-Jamal, married to a daughter of the Bugis leader Upu Klana Putra Jaya, becomes embroiled in a fatal rivalry with his nephew Che’ Engku Besar ‘Abdu’l-Mutalib, son of Bendahara ‘Abdu’l-Majid. The Temenggong’s murder of his nephew, his subsequent arrest, and his death by gunpowder explosion in a kochi at Riau form the dramatic core of the account (pp. 163–164).

Winstedt uses this narrative to resolve a long-standing puzzle: why the children of Temenggong ‘Abdu’l-Jamal adopted the Bugis title “Daing.” He argues that the Temenggong’s close association with Raja Maimunah’s Bugis relatives—daughter of Daing Parani—made the adoption of their maternal title natural, particularly given the father’s apparent mental instability inherited from his own father, Temenggong Tun Abbas (p. 162). The MS also identifies ‘Abdu’l-Majid as Bendahara of Pahang before Sultan Sulaiman’s death in 1760, which Winstedt suggests may require revision of his previously published genealogical tree (p. 162). Finally, the manuscript records that a Malay named Che’ Salleh guided Raffles to Temenggong ‘Abdu’r-Rahman on the evening of the landing, a detail Winstedt notes as new (p. 164).

Key Findings

  • The MS dates Laksamana Paduka Raja’s flight to Trengganu approximately thirty years later than the established date of 1688, a discrepancy Winstedt considers improbable (p. 161).
  • Temenggong ‘Abdu’l-Jamal must have died before Sultan Sulaiman, who died in 1760, providing a terminus ante quem for the Temenggong’s death (p. 161).
  • The MS identifies a third son of ‘Abdu’l-Jamal, Engku Muda, who with his Bugis mother Raja Maimunah ruled Riau after the Dutch ousted the Bugis and died at Bulang after 1806—contradicting the MS’s own claim that only two sons survived the explosion (p. 162).
  • The MS names the Pahang Bendahara drowned about 1802 as Tun Muhammad (Che’ Engku Sentul), and records that all forty of his boatmen were executed by Tun Koris for failing to die with their chief (pp. 163–164).
  • A new detail on Raffles’ founding of Singapore: a Malay named Che’ Salleh took Raffles to Temenggong ‘Abdu’r-Rahman on the evening of the landing, after which the Temenggong sent Che’ Engku Yahya to invite Tengku Husain (p. 164).
  • The MS records that Bendahara ‘Ali of Pahang, upon hearing of Raffles’ installation of Tengku Husain, replied that he would continue his allegiance to Daik (Lingga) and not recognise Singapore (p. 164).

Conclusion

Winstedt’s definitive takeaway is that the manuscript, despite its unreliable genealogies, yields a previously unknown narrative of Temenggong ‘Abdu’l-Jamal that corroborates and expands scattered references in other sources, and that it resolves the question of the “Daing” title by linking it to the Temenggong’s Bugis maternal connections. The article also suggests that the political rivalry between the Temenggong and Bendahara lineages at Riau in the 1750s–1760s was more personal and violent than previously understood, with the Temenggong’s murder of his nephew as a pivotal act.

Context

  • Winstedt was a senior colonial administrator and the pre-eminent Malay historian of his generation; this article was written in the context of his broader project to reconstruct Johore-Pahang dynastic history from Malay manuscripts.
  • The primary source is a single anonymous Malay MS held in Winstedt’s personal collection, written in Pahang and compiled from oral tradition; no other archival collections are consulted beyond cross-references to his own earlier publications in the JRASMB (Vol. X, 1932).

References