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Silsilah Raja-Raja Berunai. . Sweeney

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

Silsilah Raja-Raja Berunai. . Sweeney

P.L. Amin Sweeney’s 1968 edition of Silsilah Raja-Raja Berunai presents the romanized texts of two eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Malay manuscripts preserving the genealogy, court customs, and political history of the Brunei sultanate, originally composed by Datuk Imam Ya’akub (c. 1735) and completed by Haji ‘Abdul Latif in 1807. The work constitutes the first full critical publication of these London-held manuscripts (SOAS MS. 25032 and RAS MS. 123), both bequeathed by Sir Richard Winstedt, and provides extensive annotation against Sir Hugh Low’s 1880 edition and other comparative sources.

Summary

Sweeney’s edition is divided into two manuscript texts. MS. A (59 leaves, undated, likely early nineteenth century) contains a genealogical table of the Brunei sultans from Awang Khalak Betatar (Sultan Muhammad, r. 1476) through Sultan Muhammad ‘Ala’uddin, followed by an extensive treatise on court protocol, official titles, tribute obligations, trading customs, and ceremonial procedure. The text is attributed to Datuk Imam Ya’akub ibn Haji ‘Abdul Rahman, who states he drew on information from Sultan Muhiuddin, Sultan Kamaluddin, and the Datuk Perdana Menteri, and was completed under the orders of Sultan Muhammad Tajuddin by the khatib Haji ‘Abdul Latif in A.H. 1148 (1735), with the silsilah itself dated to 2 Dhu’l-hijjah A.H. 1221 (1807) (pp. 1–4, 51). MS. B (28 written leaves in a European notebook) was copied by Pehin Orang-Kaya Di Gadong Seri Lela, Awang Aminuddin, by permission of Sultan ‘Omar ‘Ali Saifuddin II on 5 November 1841, and finally recopied and completed by Haji ‘Abdul Ghaffar bin ‘Abdul Mu’min in Sandakan in November 1936 (pp. 3, 32).

The content of MS. A is particularly rich in administrative detail. It describes the coronation ceremony in full, specifying the precise seating arrangements, the number of parasols, banners, and attendants, and the sevenfold prostration accompanied by the sounding of the nobat Iskandar (pp. 11–15). The tribute section enumerates payments from subject areas including Kalaka, Saribas, Serawak, Sabangan, Sadong, Melanau, Sebuyau, Batang Lupar, Mukah, and Sikarong, specifying quantities of rice, sago, gold, and wax (pp. 25–29). The trading customs section records a duty rate of 10%, the system of antar-antaran (gifts in lieu of duty) practiced by Chinese nakhodas, and the specific payments made to the sultan, shahbandar, and trading officials (pp. 51–61). MS. B provides a narrative history including the Ong Sum Peng legend, the succession crisis between Sultan Muhiuddin and Sultan ‘Abdul Mubin, the story of Raja Tengah’s exile to Serawak, and a detailed account of the puspa ceremony of Sultan Muhammad Jamalul ‘Alam on 17 May 1918 (pp. 1–31, 47–54).

Sweeney’s apparatus includes detailed notes on Brunei Malay linguistic features—such as the absence of nasalization before ha, the use of akan in place of the suffix -kan (a feature also recorded by the sixteenth-century Italian visitor Pigafetta), and the otiose alif after final wau—as well as extensive cross-referencing to Low’s 1880 transliteration, the Historic Tablet, and the Annual Report of the State of Brunei (pp. 3–4, 8–10).

Key Findings

  • The core text was composed by Datuk Imam Ya’akub around 1735 and completed by Haji ‘Abdul Latif in 1807 under the orders of Sultan Muhammad Tajuddin, making it one of the earliest surviving written accounts of Brunei court institutions (pp. 2–3, 51).
  • MS. A records that Sultan ‘Abdul Kahar (Marhum Keramat) had forty-one children (MS. A) or forty-eight (MS. B), and that the Spanish attack on Brunei was facilitated by the treachery of Pengeran Seri Lela, whose grievance stemmed from the forced taking of royal women by Pengeran Bendahara Sekam (pp. 70–73, 54–55).
  • The tribute system required annual payments of rice (e.g., 600 pasu from Sebuyau via Kalaka, 800 pasu from Serawak), sago (2,000 lanchang from Mukah), and gold from Melanau, with additional payments due on the death of subject-area ministers (pp. 25–28).
  • Trading customs prescribed a 10% duty; a large junk owed 1,000 rial and a small junk 700 rial, but nakhodas could substitute antar-antaran (elaborate gift lists) plus cash payments of 400 rial to the sultan, 100 to the shahbandar, and 100 to the penyurat and bendahari dagang (pp. 51–57).
  • The puspa ceremony of Sultan Muhammad Jamalul ‘Alam (1918) was conducted in the British “opis besar” (residency) rather than the traditional sea-based palace, marking a significant institutional transition; the British Resident G.E. Cator and M.S.H. McArthur attended as representatives of the Governor of the Straits Settlements (pp. 47–54).
  • MS. B records that Sultan ‘Abdul Mubin destroyed the hereditary crown and regalia by firing them as cannon shot during the battle of Pulau Chermin, and that the current crown is a later reproduction (p. 64).

Conclusion

Sweeney’s edition establishes that the Brunei silsilah tradition, rooted in the eighteenth-century work of Imam Ya’akub, constitutes a primary source of exceptional value for understanding the political institutions, ceremonial life, and economic relations of the Brunei sultanate at the height of its regional influence. The two manuscripts, while sharing a common origin, diverge significantly in emphasis—MS. A being a compendium of administrative custom and MS. B a narrative history—thereby offering complementary perspectives on the same tradition. The publication also documents the gradual transformation of Brunei’s court from a maritime polity with a floating palace to a land-based state under British advisory influence, a transition vividly captured in the 1918 puspa account.

Context

  • Both manuscripts were presented to their respective London libraries by Sir Richard Winstedt, the long-serving British Resident in Brunei (1912–1924), whose administrative position gave him direct access to Brunei royal archives and manuscripts (p. 1).
  • Sweeney notes that additional silsilah manuscripts exist in Brunei and in the Sarawak Museum (as catalogued by Tom Harrisson in Tregonning’s Malaysian Historical Sources, 1962), but he was unable to gain access to them, making this edition of the two London texts a necessary contribution to the field (p. 4).

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