Sultan Abu Bakar

Sultan Abu Bakar (r. 1862–1895) was the ruler of Johor who transformed the state from a modest Malay polity into a modernised, internationally recognised sovereign entity. Installed as Temenggong Seri Maharaja in 1862, he progressively elevated his status to Maharaja in 1868 and finally to Sultan in 1885, the last title conferred with the sanction of Queen Victoria. He was the first Malay ruler to visit Europe, undertaking six such journeys between 1866 and 1895, and his diplomatic engagements with European monarchs, the Japanese Emperor, and the Ottoman Sultan established a pattern of international recognition that defined his reign. His legacy is that of a ruler who used personal prestige, lavish hospitality, and strategic foreign travel to secure Johor’s independence from British protectorate status while simultaneously modernising the state’s infrastructure and economy [1, pp. 1–2].

Rise to Sovereignty and the Construction of Royal Status

Abu Bakar’s path to full sovereignty was neither immediate nor unambiguous. He was installed as Temenggong Seri Maharaja, an executive official title, in 1862, a designation that placed him below the rank of a sovereign ruler in the eyes of both Malay and British authorities [1, p. 1]. In 1868, with the approval of the British authorities, this title was truncated to Maharaja, a step that brought him closer to sovereign status but did not fully achieve it [1, p. 1]. The decisive moment came in 1885, when he adopted the title Sultan of Johor with the explicit sanction of Queen Victoria, and was formally installed at an official ceremony at his residence in Johor Bahru in 1886 [1, p. 1].

The 1885 title was not merely ceremonial. As Dr Eunice Thio has demonstrated, Abu Bakar used his visits to Queen Victoria to resist British efforts to bring Johor under formal protection, meeting Foreign Office officials to discuss and block the Singapore governors’ attempts to extend the Resident system to his state [1, p. 10]. The treaty of 1885, finalized in December and ratified by Abu Bakar and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, F. A. Stanley, formally acknowledged and recognised him as the Sultan of Johor [1, p. 10]. This political achievement, which preserved Johor’s independence in an era when neighbouring states were being absorbed into the British protectorate framework, is notably underrepresented in the Malay official chronicles, which instead emphasise the personal prestige of the encounter with the British Royal family [1, p. 10].

The broader context of British expansion in the peninsula makes Abu Bakar’s position distinctive. The Pangkor Engagement of 20 January 1874, which placed a British Resident in Perak and inaugurated the protectorate system, occurred just weeks before Governor Sir Andrew Clarke’s first official visit to Johor on 10 March 1874 [2, p. 105]. Clarke’s response to the European residents’ address on that occasion framed Johor’s development as a model for the wider peninsula, explicitly committing to “diffusing the advantages of civilization” [2, p. 105]. By 1880, when Governor Frederick Weld visited Johor on the occasion of the opening of the Maharajah’s new Istana, Selangor and Sungei Ujong had already joined Perak in accepting British Residents, and the Johor relationship was being leveraged as a showcase of successful “civilising” partnership [2, p. 108]. Abu Bakar navigated this environment with considerable skill, maintaining formal independence while accepting British advisory presence.

Diplomatic Travels and International Recognition

Abu Bakar’s foreign travels constituted the central instrument of his foreign policy. He visited Europe in 1866, 1878, 1885–86, 1889–91, 1893, and 1895; India in 1875–76; Java in 1881; and Hong Kong, Japan, and China in 1883 [1, p. 1]. The most comprehensive account of these journeys has been presented by John Gullick, who focused on the European, Indian, and Middle Eastern visits [1, p. 1].

The first European visit, in 1866, established the template for all that followed. On 12 May 1866, Abu Bakar’s party was present at a lunch held at St. James’s Palace by the Prince of Wales; on 14 May, they were granted an audience by Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace [1, p. 5]. Winstedt noted that Abu Bakar kissed the Queen’s hand during the visit and sent Manila cheroots as a gift to the Prince of Wales [1, p. 5]. The Hikayat Johor reported that Abu Bakar became a close friend of the Prince of Wales, a relationship that would prove diplomatically valuable in subsequent years [1, p. 5]. The visit successfully enhanced Abu Bakar’s prestige in the interests of his state and dynasty; in 1869, Baginda Omar of Terengganu made a request to the Governor that he be sent as an envoy to England, a request refused on the grounds that Terengganu was under Siamese suzerainty [1, p. 5].

The 1875–76 visit to India, undertaken at the invitation of the Governor-General of Bengal to participate in the grand reception for the Prince of Wales, demonstrated the practical value of Abu Bakar’s personal relationship with the British Royal family. The Hikayat Johor reported that the Prince of Wales expressed his happiness and delight at meeting Abu Bakar, a response that surprised the Indian princes who were unaware of the friendship established during the 1866 visit [1, p. 5]. Gullick confirmed from English sources that Abu Bakar joined the Prince of Wales in a grand ceremony at Government House in Calcutta, after which the three men—Abu Bakar, the Prince, and Sir Andrew Clarke—attended a performance of My Awful Dad at the English theatre [1, p. 6]. Abu Bakar received a 17-gun salute, signifying his status as equal to the Indian princes [1, p. 6].

The 1883 visit to East Asia, accompanied by Dato’ Bentara Luar Muhammad Salleh bin Perang, represented a significant expansion of Abu Bakar’s diplomatic horizons beyond the European and Indian spheres. The party departed Singapore on 28 April 1883, stopping at Saigon, Hong Kong, and Shanghai before reaching Japan [1, p. 9]. The climax of the trip was an audience with the Japanese Emperor at an official reception on 26 June 1883 [1, p. 9]. Michiko Nakahara, drawing on official correspondence from the Japanese Foreign Office and contemporary Japanese newspapers, documented the detailed receptions Abu Bakar received from Japanese provincial governors, ministers, and the British Ambassador to Japan [1, p. 1]. The Tawarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor, the autobiography of Muhammad Salleh bin Perang, provides almost day-to-day details of the journey, including observations on Japanese industrial progress, the large numbers of schools, and the cotton and silk industries [1, p. 15].

The 1885 visit to Italy, reconstructed by Candilio and Bressan from Italian diplomatic, Vatican, and missionary archives, reveals the calculated diplomatic manoeuvre behind what appeared to be a simple transit stop en route to London [3, pp. 43–54]. Both audiences—with King Umberto I at the Quirinale Palace and with Pope Leo XIII in the Throne Hall—took place on 24 April 1885 [3, p. 46]. The audience with the King was arranged on extremely short notice through the Italian Foreign Ministry, with correspondence between Abu Bakar’s secretary Abdul Rahman and Minister Mancini revealing the hurried negotiations [3, p. 45]. The Papal audience raised more complex questions, given the unsettled relationship between the Vatican and the Italian state after 1870; the Congregation de Propaganda Fide issued its recommendation on 22 April 1885, citing Abu Bakar’s documented support for the Catholic mission in Johor, including the granting of land for a church officially opened on 29 May 1883 [3, pp. 48–49]. The Osservatore Romano reported the audience on 25 April, describing Abu Bakar as an “independent Sovereign living in the Malacca Peninsula” [3, p. 50]. Bishop Gasnier’s letter of 18 May 1885 recorded that the news was celebrated in Johor with a toast, and that Father Saleilles “was announcing everywhere that the King had gone to see his Great Priest in Rome” [3, p. 52].

The 1893 visit to Constantinople was motivated by Abu Bakar’s desire to obtain political recognition from Sultan Abdul Hamid, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish Court acknowledged Abu Bakar as Sultan after receiving an explanation that the title was merely within the Malay tradition of sovereignty and not equal to the status of the Turkish Sultan as protector of all Muslims [1, p. 12]. Sultan Abdul Hamid invested Abu Bakar with the Ottoman Crown Order, the Bintang Majidi, normally reserved for sovereign rulers as a sign of friendship [1, p. 12]. W. S. Blunt, who accompanied Abu Bakar to Constantinople, confirmed that the award was exclusive [1, p. 12].

Reception of Foreign Guests and the Politics of Prestige

Abu Bakar’s reception of foreign dignitaries in Johor was a deliberate instrument of statecraft, designed to project an image of a modern, prosperous, and internationally connected sovereign. The 1880 visit of Governor Frederick Weld, which coincided with the opening of the Maharajah’s new Istana, provides a detailed snapshot of this practice. The banquet seated 76 persons, including the Maharajah, the Bandahara of Pahang, the Chief Justice, and the Colonial Secretary; the Maharajah’s family and those of the Chief Justice and Mr. Shelford M.L.C. were guests at the Istana for the week, with an average of 65 dining each evening [2, p. 108]. The addresses presented to Weld—from European planters, the Arab community, Chinese merchants, and the Malayan Gambier and Pepper Society—functioned as veiled petitions for government assistance, and Weld’s replies confirmed that he was actively pursuing Indian immigration schemes for Johor’s new agricultural enterprises [2, pp. 109–110].

The 1882 visit of Prince Albert Victor and Prince George (the future King George V), who were serving in the Royal Navy on board HMS Bancchante, received a grand reception that the Syair Al-Marhum Baginda Sultan Abu Bakar di Negeri Johor described in terms of colourful lighting and a gathering of the people of Johor [1, p. 8]. The English royal source recorded that the dinner held on the night of the princes’ arrival was for eighty people and lasted three hours, followed by a magic show [1, p. 9]. Governor Weld, who accompanied the princes, reported to London on Johor’s lack of social development and absence of progress since his first visit in 1880, yet did not criticise Abu Bakar’s extravagance on this occasion [1, p. 8].

The 1889 visit of the Duke of Sutherland and the Prince of Saxe-Weimar, documented by Florence Caddy, revealed the full extent of Abu Bakar’s modernisation programme as presented to foreign visitors. The party was taken to visit the sawmilling industry, coffee plantations, the English school, hospital, and gaol, before proceeding to Muar, a district whose town was undergoing development [1, p. 10]. Caddy noted that the visitors were very impressed with Abu Bakar’s palace and wished they could have stayed longer than the two days planned [1, p. 10]. On this occasion, the Duke was invested with the first-class order of Johor, the Darjah Kerabat, exclusively awarded to royalty from outside Johor, and was called Unkoo, signifying his royalty in the Malay tradition [1, pp. 10–11].

By 1882, the Maharajah’s brick-making company at Johor had exported bricks to Bombay, and telephonic communication between Johor and Singapore had been established by joint conference of the two governments [2, p. 115]. The Maharajah also consented to bear a share of the expenses for constructing a new iron jetty at Kranji, the terminus of the Singapore road opposite the Istana [2, p. 115]. These developments, visible to foreign visitors, formed part of the modernising narrative that Abu Bakar projected to his international guests.

Financial Consequences and the Question of Extravagance

The British colonial authorities’ attitude towards Abu Bakar’s foreign travels shifted markedly after the early 1880s. Governor Frederick Weld’s report to the Colonial Office of 23 November 1880 raised the first criticism of Abu Bakar’s extravagance, though this was directed at the reception of Bendahara Wan Ahmad of Pahang rather than at the visits of Prince Heinrich of Prussia or the King of Hawaii, which had taken place in the same year [1, p. 7]. Weld’s criticism needs to be contextualised: the grand festival was held not only for Wan Ahmad but also to accommodate Weld’s first visit to Johor and was held in conjunction with meetings with the Chinese commercial planters of pepper and gambier [1, p. 8].

The most pointed criticism came from Governor Cecil Smith in a confidential dispatch of 29 May 1893 to the Colonial Office, which reported that Abu Bakar’s previous trip alone had incurred costs of about $100,000 and that his personal extravagance had retarded Johor’s development [1, p. 13]. Smith urged the Colonial Secretary to advise Abu Bakar to shorten his stay in London [1, p. 13]. The Singapore Free Press also raised the concern that Abu Bakar had been absent from Johor for more than a year during his 1889–91 European sojourn [1, p. 11]. Johor’s debt in the 1890s, which amounted to around $100,000, is believed to have been incurred from these overseas visits [1, p. 15].

The financial consequences were formalised in the Johor Constitution of 1895. Article 12 imposed a restriction on the Sultan regarding the period of his absence from the state: if the Sultan were absent for five years, the Council could consider whether to wait for his return or appoint a new Sultan [1, p. 15]. Articles 13 and 14 further stipulated that any ex-sultan who had violated this provision could not regain his position and was obliged to pay allegiance to the new Sultan [1, p. 15]. Abdullah notes that the five-year duration roughly matches the cumulative total of Abu Bakar’s foreign travels, which amounted to approximately sixty months across all his journeys [1, pp. 15–16].

Personal Conduct, Islamic Observance, and Controversies

Abu Bakar’s personal lifestyle reflected a deliberate synthesis of Malay and Western cultural elements. Winstedt observed that “he lived as a young man, half in the old traditional Malay world and half in a world of a cosmopolitan British port” [1, p. 16]. On public occasions, whether travelling abroad or entertaining foreign guests, Abu Bakar expressed his willingness to adopt a Western orientation by wearing European clothes and jewels, eating and serving Western food, speaking English, and playing Western sports [1, p. 16]. His palace was built in accordance with European renaissance architecture [1, p. 16]. Nevertheless, when he addressed a European audience, he always spoke in Malay, translated into English by an interpreter, despite being fluent in English in private conversation [1, p. 16].

His observance of Islamic practice was a matter of both pride and controversy. Florence Caddy recorded that during the Duke of Sutherland’s visit, Abu Bakar served mostly Malay food—yellow rice, Malay curry with countless dishes of sambal, a dish of pineapple minced with fish, turmeric, saffron and chillies, as well as durian—and did not serve ham or pork to his non-Muslim guests [1, p. 18]. Caddy also noted that when Abu Bakar visited England or other foreign places, he only ate food prepared by his own cook, in compliance with the Islamic requirement that a Muslim eat only meat slaughtered by a Muslim [1, p. 18]. He took his own cooking utensils and tableware on his travels [1, p. 18]. At ceremonies for his foreign guests, Abu Bakar and other Malay officials drank only plain water or tea, while English guests were served wine, whisky, and champagne; Abu Bakar explained that these drinks were forbidden by his faith [1, pp. 18–19].

However, W. S. Blunt, who accompanied Abu Bakar to Egypt, reported that Abu Bakar ate lunch with him during the fasting month of Ramadhan, an action noted with disapproval by their Egyptian companions [1, pp. 17–18]. The Malay primary sources also noted that Abu Bakar never performed the pilgrimage to Makkah, the fifth pillar of Islam, despite his frequent travels to Europe which would have provided an opportunity to do so [1, p. 17]. The Hikayat Johor recorded that he died on 11 Dzul-Hijjah, a date of significance in the Islamic calendar, but did not comment on the missed pilgrimage [1, p. 18].

The most serious controversy surrounding Abu Bakar’s personal life was the 1894 case of Mighell v. Albert Baker, in which an Englishwoman named Mighell, claiming to have been Abu Bakar’s mistress since 1885, sued him for breach of promise [1, p. 19]. The case did not proceed further because, under British law, Great Britain had no jurisdiction over Abu Bakar, who was acknowledged as an independent sovereign [1, p. 19]. The Tawarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor also recorded that during Abu Bakar’s 1883 stay in Kobe, he converted four Japanese women to Islam; Amin Sweeney interpreted these conversions as euphemisms for sexual relationships, a claim that Abdullah finds unsubstantiated and that Michiko Nakahara, who used the same source, regards as obscure and unsupported by any other evidence [1, pp. 19–20].

Death and Legacy

Abu Bakar’s final journey to England in 1895 was undertaken in a state of serious ill health. His ministers, officials, and members of the Royal family, through the Chief Minister Jaafar bin Haji Mohammed, tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to postpone the trip [1, p. 13]. Winstedt noted that Abu Bakar had to be carried aboard the ship at Singapore in a chair [1, p. 13]. He arrived in London on 10 May and stayed at Bailey’s Hotel, his regular base, where Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales frequently enquired after his health [1, p. 13]. He died in Mayfair on 4 June 1895 [1, p. 13].

The Malay sources used Abu Bakar’s death in London to further glorify his prestige. The author of the Syair Al-Marhum Baginda Sultan Abu Bakar di Negeri Johor hailed him as the most prestigious Malay ruler, regarding it as more dignified for Abu Bakar to die in England than in Johor, and claimed—falsely—that the Queen and her ministers were present at his deathbed [1, p. 13]. In reality, the news of his death was conveyed to the Queen and the Turkish Ambassador by Abdul Rahman bin Andak [1, p. 14]. The Hikayat Johor claimed that all flags in London were flown at half-mast on the day following his death [1, p. 14]. The Turkish Ambassador, at the command of the Turkish Sultan, participated in the religious rites for Abu Bakar’s body, a fact that the Malays regarded with particular pride [1, p. 14].

His remains arrived in Johor on the British warship Mercury on 31 August 1895, and he was buried at the Mahmudiah Cemetery on 7 September 1895 [1, p. 13]. Despite the financial criticisms levelled at his foreign travels and the controversies surrounding his personal conduct, the official view of Abu Bakar as the father of modern Johor has remained unchallenged in the national narrative and school textbooks [1, p. 20].

Research and Documentation

The historiography of Sultan Abu Bakar is characterised by a significant divergence between Malay and English-language sources. The Malay primary sources—Hikayat Johor, Tawarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor, Syair Tanah Melayu, and Syair Al-Marhum Baginda Sultan Abu Bakar di Negeri Johor—tend to be uncritical, fragmentary, and prone to invention and exaggeration, reflecting the traditional Malay historiographical convention of glorifying the ruler without criticism [1, pp. 1–3]. The Tawarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor, originally written in the Malay Jawi script, was transliterated by Amin Sweeney and translated into English as Reputations Live On (1980), making it accessible to a wider scholarly audience and serving as the backbone of the Malay-language evidence base [1, p. 2]. The Hikayat Johor, written by Major Mohamed Said Sulaiman, the private secretary to Sultan Ibrahim (Abu Bakar’s son), is regarded as an official historical account [1, p. 2].

The English-language sources, by contrast, offer more rounded, comprehensive, and occasionally critical portrayals. John Gullick’s Rulers and Residents (1992) provides the most comprehensive account of Abu Bakar’s visits to Europe, India, and the Middle East [1, p. 1]. R. O. Winstedt’s A History of Johor 1365–1941 A.D. (reprinted 1992) offers a broader contextual framework [1, p. 1]. Dr Eunice Thio’s work on British policy towards Johor illuminates the political dimensions of Abu Bakar’s diplomatic manoeuvres [1, p. 10]. Michiko Nakahara’s study of the 1883 Japanese visit, based on Japanese Foreign Office correspondence and contemporary newspapers, fills a gap in the English-language literature [1, p. 1]. Candilio and Bressan’s 2000 article, drawing on Italian diplomatic, Vatican, and missionary archives, documents the 1885 Italian visit previously unexamined in English-language scholarship [3, pp. 43–54].

The British colonial correspondence, held in the Colonial Office series (CO 273) at The National Archives, Kew, provides the primary documentary evidence for the financial and political dimensions of Abu Bakar’s reign [2, p. 119]. The Windsor Royal Archives, including Queen Victoria’s journal and the diaries of Kings Edward VII and George V, offer firsthand accounts of the royal audiences [1, p. 21]. The 2022 JMBRAS publication of facsimile documents from the 1874, 1880, and 1882 visits by the Governors of the Straits Settlements to the Maharajah of Johor provides direct access to the ceremonial and economic dimensions of the Anglo-Johor relationship during the critical period of British expansion in the peninsula [2, pp. 105–119].

A. Rahman Tang Abdullah’s 2011 comparative study remains the most systematic attempt to unravel fact from fiction in the Malay accounts, identifying verifiable chronological errors, omissions of documented events, and the structural conventions of traditional Malay historiography that shaped the official narrative [1, pp. 1–22]. His analysis of Abu Bakar’s Islamic observance and his conduct at social functions with foreign dignitaries raises themes previously unexamined by other scholars [1, p. 1]. The cumulative effect of this body of research is to present Abu Bakar not as the unblemished figure of the Malay chronicles, but as a politically astute ruler whose foreign policy was driven by a clear objective—the preservation of Johor’s sovereignty—pursued through means that were both effective and costly.

MBRAS Sources

• A. Rahman Tang Abdullah (2011). Sultan Abu Bakar’s foreign guests and travels abroad, 1860s-1895: fact and fiction in early Malay historical accounts. JMBRAS 84: 1–22
• L. Bressan and A. Candilio (2000). Sultan Abu Bakar’s visit to the Italian king and to the Pope. JMBRAS 73: 43–54
• F.A Weld (2022). Visits of the Governor of the Straits Settlements to the Maharajah of Johor in 1874, 1880, and 1882. Facsimile reprint. JMBRAS 95: 105–119

References

1. A. Rahman Tang Abdullah (2011). Sultan Abu Bakar’s foreign guests and travels abroad, 1860s-1895: fact and fiction in early Malay historical accounts JMBRAS 84(1): 1–22.
2. F.A Weld (2022). Visits of the Governor of the Straits Settlements to the Maharajah of Johor in 1874, 1880, and 1882. Facsimile reprint JMBRAS 95(1): 105–119.
3. L. Bressan and A. Candilio (2000). Sultan Abu Bakar’s visit to the Italian king and to the Pope JMBRAS 73(1): 43–54. Read on JSTOR