Ali Iskandar of Johor

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Ali Iskandar Shah
Sultan Ali's Mausoleum, Umbai, Malacca, British Malaya
Spouse1. Tengku Ngah
2. Daeng Siti
3. Cik Serimbuk
Issue1. Sultan Allauddin Alam Shah
2. Tengku Mahmud Putra
3. Tengku Mansur Putra
4. Tengku Abdullah 5. Tengku Puteh
6. Tengku Sulong
7. Tengku Sambak
8. Tengku Cik Fatima
9. Tengku Mariam
10. Tengku Sharifah
[2]
Names
Sultan Ali Iskandar Shah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Hussein Muazzam Shah [3]
HouseHouse of Bendahara
FatherSultan Hussein Shah
MotherTengku Perbu[4]
ReligionSunni Islam

Sultan Ali Iskandar Shah I ibni almarhum Sultan Ahmad Hussein Muazzam Shah I

Muar) to Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim,[7] in exchange for a formal recognition as the "Sultan of Johor" by the British and a monthly allowance. Following the secession of Johor, Sultan Ali was granted administrative charge over Muar until his death in 1877, and in most administrative matters, was often styled as the "Sultan of Muar".[8]

Sultan of Johor

Early years

Tengku Ali succeeded his father in 1835 as the Sultan of Johor, but was not recognised as the Sultan of Johor for the first few years of his reign.[8] A proclamation by the British colonial government in September 1840 granted him the right as the legitimate heir as his father's successor, but not amounting to a recognition as the "Sultan of Johor".[9]

In the 1840s, Johor began to receive the first Chinese settlers (mainly immigrants from

Swatow and Chaozhou). The young Temenggong, Tun Daeng Ibrahim, took up the administrative tasks of the state. He imposed taxes upon these settlers, which went to the Temenggong's charge.[10] However, unlike the Temenggong, Sultan Ali was unwilling to involve himself with the affairs of the state but at the same time complained of receiving insufficient allowance from the British. He was well known for his penchant for an extravagant lifestyle, and was chalking up considerable debts by the 1850s.[11]

Meanwhile, loyalty among the local Malays in Johor to the ruling classes became increasingly divided between the royalty and the nobility. In 1852, Thomas Church, the Resident Councillor of Singapore, sums up the situation of the Malays along the East Coast of the Malay Peninsula:

In this neighbourhood, there are two parties, on one side, the Sultan of Lingga, the Sultan of Trengganu, and the young princes of Johore; on the other, the Raja Bendahara of Pahang, and the Temenggong Sri Maharaja.[12]

Nevertheless, there was no major hostility as a result of the division of loyalty between the royalty and the nobility.

Abu Bakar.[14]

By the early 1850s, Johor was effectively under the control of the Temenggong; followers who attempted to act in Sultan Ali's interests were quickly expelled by force by the Temenggong's followers.[15]

Secession of Johor

A series of negotiations between Sultan Ali and the Temenggong ensued with the British colonial government acting as the intermediary, after Sultan Ali had questioned the Temenggong's rights of keeping the state revenue to himself.

Edmund Blundell were roped in to act as meditators.[17]

The British favoured the prospect of the Temenggong in taking over the administration of Johor from the Sultan. Sultan Ali's claims to sovereignty were quickly refuted by the British and the Temenggong, who was quick to point out that the Sultan's late father, Sultan Hussein had never pursued active claims to his sovereignty rights over Johor in spite of his recognition by the British in the

Lingga, Sultan Mahmud Muzaffar Shah and not with Sultan Ali.[18]

The Temenggong and Sultan Ali submitted their proposals to the British Governor in April 1854. The Temenggong agreed to the Sultan's request of his titular recognition as the Sultan of Johor, but was adamant of maintaining absolute charge over the whole of Johor. On the other hand, Sultan Ali had expressed his wish to the governor that the Kesang territory (around

Muar) should be directly governed by him, citing reasons that some of his ancestors were buried there. The British persuaded the Temenggong to concede to Sultan Ali's request and accepted after much consideration.[19]

A treaty was concluded on 10 March 1855, in which Sultan Ali formally ceded his sovereignty rights of

Edmund Blundell (the British Governor of Singapore), who hoped to put an end to Sultan Ali's financial complaints and problems.[14]

Sultan of Muar

Administration in Muar

Sultan Ali delegated the administrative affairs of Muar to the

Temenggong Paduka Tuan of Muar)[22] and spent most of his time in Malacca. Muar was sparsely populated in 1855 and had a population of 800 and no formal structure of government was formed. In 1860, Sultan Ali reportedly borrowed $53,600 from a Chettiar money lender, Kavana Chana Shellapah. Sultan Ali signed an agreement with Shellapah to contribute a portion of his monthly allowance to repay his debt. However, Sultan Ali found himself unable to settle his debts in time, and an angry Shellapah wrote to the British government in 1866. Pressured to liquidate his debts in time, Sultan Ali granted Shellapah the right to trade off Muar to the Temenggong of Johor as mortgage if he is unable to pay off his debts in time.[23]

His relations with Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim remained strained; in 1860, Sultan Ali allowed a Bugis adventurer, Suliwatang, the chiefs of

Sungei Ujong to settle in Muar and prepare themselves for an attack on Johor.[24] Such bad blood between the Sultan and Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim passed down to the Temenggong's son, Abu Bakar, who succeeded his father after the former died in 1862. Shortly after Abu Bakar became the Temenggong of Johor, he sent a letter to Sultan Ali to reassert of Johor's sovereignty over Segamat. Continued disputes over the sovereignty of Segamat led to an outbreak of a war between the Temenggong's men with the Sultan's. Eleven years later in 1873, attempts made by Suliwatang to collect custom taxes from inhabitants at the Muar estuary led to further conflict with Abu Bakar's (who became Maharaja in 1868) men.[25]

During the remaining years of Sultan Ali's reign, there was no visible economic activity in Muar. Nevertheless, he delegated the duty of collecting Muar's revenues to Suliwatang and his agents, all of whom were later poisoned and killed by the Temenggong Paduka Tuan of Muar. In 1868, Sultan Ali appointed Babu Ramasamy, a Tamil schoolmaster the duty collect the Muar revenues. A European miner approached Sultan Ali in 1872, in which he was granted exclusive mining rights over the entire Kesang territory for five years. Three years later, an American trader approached the Sultan, in which he gave the American the concessionary grant of purchasing 45 square miles (120 km2) of land within the Kesang territory.[1]

Death and succession dispute

Sultan Ali spent his last years in

Maharaja Abu Bakar, after the British government held an election for the Temenggong Paduka Tuan of Muar and the territory's chieftains to decide on the destiny of the Kesang territory, and voted unanimously for Maharaja Abu Bakar as their leader. The British Governor handed over administrative charge of the Kesang territory over to the Maharaja, which upset Tengku Alam and many of his supporters.[30] Their continued claims to the Kesang territory led to the instigation of the Jementah Civil War in 1879.[31]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Winstedt, A History of Johore (1365–1941), p. 128
  2. ^ Ghazali, Istana dan politik Johor, 1835-1885, p.70
  3. ^ In Islamic cultures, the title Al-Marhum means "to one whom mercy has been shown. This is used for Muslim rulers who are deceased. Islamic Names: An Introduction, Schimmel, p. 59
  4. ^ Ali, Hooker, Andaya, The Precious Gift: Tuhfat Al-nafis, pp. 394, 411
  5. ^ Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1937), p. 93
  6. ^ Sejarah Kesultanan Negeri Johor[permanent dead link], Laman Web Rasmi Pejabat Daerah Kota Tinggi (Official Web Portal of Kota tinggi district), retrieved 12 March 2009
  7. ^ The Numismatic Circular (1970), pp. 47, 87
  8. ^ a b Burns, Wilkinson, Papers on Malay Subjects, p.72 In the end they signed the treaty of AD 1855. They gave Tengku Ali the district of Muar to govern as Sultan of Muar; and they agreed to pay him and his...
  9. ^ Jayakumar, Public international law cases from Malaysia and Singapore, p. 270
  10. ^ Turnbull, A Short History of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, p. 124
  11. ^ Turnbull, A History of Singapore, 1819-1975, p. 51
  12. ^ a b Trocki, 'Prince of Pirates: The Temenggongs and the Development of Johor and Singapore, 1784-1885, p. 84
  13. ^ Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, 1826-67: Indian presidency to Crown Colony, pp. 279, 282
  14. ^ a b Winstedt, A History of Johore (1365–1941), p. 107
  15. ^ Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1960), p. 213
  16. ^ Jessy, History of Malaya (1400–1959), p. 224
  17. ^ Swettenham, British Malaya: An Account of the Origin and Progress of British Influence in Malaya, p. 93
  18. ^ Winstedt, A History of Johore (1365–1941), pp. 106–7
  19. ^ Swettenham, British Malaya: An Account of the Origin and Progress of British Influence in Malaya, pp. 96–99
  20. ^ Jessy, History of Malaya (1400–1959), p. 225
  21. ^ (Tun) Suzana (Tun) Othman, Ahlul-bait (keluarga) Rasulullah SAW & raja-raja Melayu, p. 182
  22. ^ R. O. Winstedt, A History of Johore (1365–1941), p. 129
  23. ^ Studer, American and British Claims Arbitration: William Webster: Appendix to the Memorial of the United States, Vol. III, pp. 311–2
  24. ^ Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1937), p. 74
  25. ^ Winstedt, A History of Johore (1365–1941), pp. 128–9
  26. ^ Winstedt, A History of Johore (1365–1941), p. 132
  27. ^ Khoo, Melaka dan Sejarahnya, p. 124
  28. ^ Studer, American and British Claims Arbitration: William Webster: Appendix to the Memorial of the United States, Vol. III, p. 312
  29. ^ Winstedt, A History of Johore (1365–1941), p. 129
  30. ^ Burns, Wilkinson, Papers on Malay Subjects, p. 73
  31. ^ Studer, American and British Claims Arbitration: William Webster: Appendix to the Memorial of the United States, Vol. III, pp. 312, 352

References

Preceded by
Sultan Hussein Shah
 Sultan of Johor
(1835–1855) 		Succeeded by
Sultan Abu Bakar

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