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Siak, Piracy and Early Modern Malay Warfare

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Piracy and surreptitious activities in the Malay Archipelago and adjacent seas, 1600-1840

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Abstract

Warfare in the Malay world during the early modern period often depended on entangled relationships between families and trade partners, during which overt displays of power, feints and retreats, or raiding were as valuable as weapons such as cannons or blunderbusses. By focusing on an invasion of the Siak River by a combined force of VOC ships and local rulers in 1761, this chapter examines in detail the various tactics and weapons at the disposal of warriors during the period, while also placing it in a cultural context in which both Dutch and Malay priorities were often at odds with each other. Ultimately, for rulers in the Malay world, maintaining family and patron-client ties superseded the desire for vengeance or complete defeat.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There are numerous writings about these concepts, but two of the most important are: Bennet Bronson, “Exchange at the upstream and downstream ends: Notes toward a functional model of the coastal state in Southeast Asia” in Karl L. Hutterer ed., Economic exchange and social interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspectives from prehistory, history, and ethnography (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1977), pp. 39–52; O.W. Wolters, History, culture and region in Southeast Asian perspectives (Ithaca: Cornell University, Southeast Asia Program, 1999).

  2. 2.

    Carl A. Trocki, “Chinese pioneering in eighteenth-century Southeast Asia” in Anthony Reid ed., The last stand of Asian autonomies: Responses to modernity in the diverse states of Southeast Asia and Korea, 1750–1900, (New York: St. Martin’s, 1997), p. 86.

  3. 3.

    Roderich Ptak, “Reconsidering Melaka and central Guangdong: Portugal’s and Fujian’s impact on Southeast Asian trade (early sixteenth century)”, in Peter Borschberg ed., Iberians in the Singapore-Melaka area and adjacent regions, 16th to 18th century (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag, 2004), pp. 4–7.

  4. 4.

    A. C. Milner, Kerajaan: Malay political culture on the eve of colonial rule (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1982).

  5. 5.

    Leonard Andaya, The kingdom of Johor, 1641–1728 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1975); Timothy P. Barnard, Multiple centres of authority: Society and environment in eastern Sumatra, 1674–1827 (Leiden: KITLV, 2003).

  6. 6.

    Raja Kecik is also referred to as “Raja Kecil” in some accounts. I use “Raja Kecik” as it is the spelling and pronunciation used in texts from the time.

  7. 7.

    Andaya, The kingdom of Johor; Barnard, Multiple centres of authority; Raja Ali Haji ibn Raja Ahmad, Virginia Matheson and Barbara Watson Andaya eds., Tuhfat al-nafis (The precious gift) (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1982).

  8. 8.

    This pattern is further explored in Timothy P. Barnard, “Texts, Raja Ismail, and violence: Siak and the transformation of Malay identity in the eighteenth century”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 32, no. 3 (2001), pp. 331–42.

  9. 9.

    One of the most famous raids Raja Alam conducted was against the Nancy, an English ‘country trade’ ship, which was richly laden with specie. Raja Ali Haji, Tuhfat al-nafis, p. 97; Joseph N. F. M. à Campo, “Discourse with discussion: Representations of piracy in colonial Indonesia, 1816–25”, Journal of Southeast Asia Studies, vol. 34, no. 2 (2003), pp. 199–214; Timothy P. Barnard, “Celates, Rayat-Laut, pirates: The Orang Laut and their decline in history”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 80, no. 2 (2007), p. 44.

  10. 10.

    Barnard, Multiple centres of authority, pp. 92–98.

  11. 11.

    Barnard, Multiple centres of authority, pp. 98–103.

  12. 12.

    Raja Mahmud died on 23 November 1760. Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 111; Barnard, Multiple centres of authority, p. 105; VOC 2993: Malacca Resolutions, 5 February 1760, f. 75–76; Letters to Outer Areas: Letter to Raja Alam at Batubahara (written 28 June 1760); E. Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak: 1602–1865 (Batavia: Bruining & Wijt, 1870), pp. 110–11.

  13. 13.

    VOC 3024: Malacca to Batavia, 6 March 1761, f. 27–32; F.W. Stapel ed., Corpus Diplomaticum Neerlando Indicum, vol. VI (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1955), pp. 215–18.

  14. 14.

    Many of the subsequent sections of this text, and many of the details, are taken from Barnard, Multiple Centres of Authority, pp. 107–15; For specific accounts of the Dutch return to Pulau Gontong, see VOC 3024 (first part): Malacca to Batavia, 6 March 1761, f. 13–14 and 33–35; Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, pp. 115–18.

  15. 15.

    Tengku Said, Hikayat Siak (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1992); Donald J. Goudie ed., Syair perang Siak: A court poem presenting the state policy of a Minangkabau/Malay family in exile (Kuala Lumpur: MBRAS, 1989); Barnard, Multiple centres of authority.

  16. 16.

    Hikayat Siak, pp. 153–54.

  17. 17.

    Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 117; VOC 3024 (first part): Malacca to Batavia, 6 March 1761, f. 14–15.

  18. 18.

    According to the Hikayat Siak and Syair perang Siak, the populace of Bukit Batu and other ports near the Siak River mouth knew of the coming force, and voluntarily moved upstream to Mempura once the Alam-VOC fleet was sighted. Hikayat Siak, p. 154; Syair perang Siak, p. 155.

  19. 19.

    Syair perang Siak, p. 158. My translation.

  20. 20.

    Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 119; Syair perang Siak, pp. 165–77.

  21. 21.

    Syair perang Siak, pp. 189, 177–91; Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 120; Hikayat Siak, p. 154.

  22. 22.

    Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, pp. 121–23; Syair perang Siak, pp. 191–94.

  23. 23.

    Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, pp. 122–24; Syair perang Siak, pp. 194–97.

  24. 24.

    Syair perang Siak, p. 200; Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, pp. 125–26.

  25. 25.

    Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, pp. 126–27.

  26. 26.

    For more information on warfare in Southeast Asia in the early modern era, see Anthony Reid, Southeast Asia in the age of commerce, 1450–1680, vol. 1 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), pp. 121–29; Leonard Y. Andaya, “Interactions with the outside world and adaptation in Southeast Asian society 1500–1800” in Nicholas Tarling ed., Cambridge history of Southeast Asia, vol. 1 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 387–91; Michael W. Charney, Southeast Asian warfare, 1300–1900 (Leiden: Brill, 2004).

  27. 27.

    Hikayat Siak, pp. 125 and 145.

  28. 28.

    Hendrik Poethoeven, a Dutch sergeant at Pulau Gontong in 1759, was taken to Mempura where he became a slave and converted to Islam. During the 1761 invasion he was found in Mempura. Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 128.

  29. 29.

    Hikayat Siak, p. 125; John Anderson, Mission to the east coast of Sumatra in 1823 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 25.

  30. 30.

    Charney, Southeast Asian Warfare, p. 124.

  31. 31.

    Syair Perang Siak, pp. 197–99; Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 123.

  32. 32.

    Charney, Southeast Asian Warfare, pp. 23–41; Syair Perang Siak, p. 141–51.

  33. 33.

    Charney, Southeast Asian Warfare, pp. 42–72; Syair perang Siak, p. 143. The use of weapons for spiritual purposes is also described in L. Andaya, “Interaction with the outside world”, pp. 392–94.

  34. 34.

    Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 119. Raja Alam built a similar ship in his 1737 attack on Riau, while Alaung-hpaya used one in Burma during his 1754 attack on the Mons. See Ali Haji, Tuhfat-al nafis, p. 86; Michael W. Charney, “Shallow-draft boats, guns, and the Aye-ra-wa-ti: Continuity and change in ship structure and river warfare in precolonial Myanma”, Oriens Extremus, vol. 40, no. 1 (1997), p. 28.

  35. 35.

    Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 120; Syair perang Siak, pp. 189 and 177–91; Hikayat Siak, p. 154.

  36. 36.

    Algemeen Rijksarchief (ARA, The Netherlands Royal Archives): Colonial Maps and Drawings, VEL 362.

  37. 37.

    The two quotes are Chronicles I, 13, 14, and Psalms 102, 16. The various Dutch commanders also specifically thanked God for allowing for the final victory in their reports sent back to Melaka. See VOC 3062 (third part): Incoming Letters from Siak: Report of Visboom to Gov. David Boelen (16 August 1761), 12 July. They are also reproduced in Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 127.

  38. 38.

    Hikayat Siak, p. 154.

  39. 39.

    Barbara Watson Andaya, To live as brothers: Southeast Sumatra in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993), p. 25; Syair perang Siak, pp. 137–39.

  40. 40.

    Hikayat Siak, pp. 154–55.

  41. 41.

    Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, p. 128.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Timothy P. Barnard (Associate Professor)

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  1. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Y.H. Teddy Sim

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Barnard, T.P. (2014). Siak, Piracy and Early Modern Malay Warfare. In: Sim, Y. (eds) Piracy and surreptitious activities in the Malay Archipelago and adjacent seas, 1600-1840. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-085-8_2

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