S]A'ir Perang Mengkasar

S]A'IR PERANG MENGKASAR SOMBAOPU FORT, MACASSAR (c. 1638). VERHANDELINGEN VAN HET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE DEEL 40 SJA.'IB PEBA.NG MENGKA.SA.B (The Rhyrned Ch_n'ele ol ,he Maea.. ar War) ",. En'J" A.dn Et"'ed and 'ranalated BY C. SKINNER .. 's.G R A VEN H AG E - MAR TIN U SNIJ HOF F - 1 9 6 3 CONTENTS Foreword . VII Introduction The Sja'i; 1 Manuscripts (with 2 facsimiles) 47 Spelling of the Manuscripts . 52 System of romanisation adopted . 58 Explanation of symbols used . 60 Synopsis of the sja'ir . 61 Dates of the more important events . 63 Text and Translation 65 Notes . 222 Appendices 301 A. Words discussed in the Notes. 302 B. Index of proper names occurring in the Sja'ir . 303 C. A no te on maps . 306 D. Bibliography 307 E. Abbrevations used 315 PLATES I. Sombaopu Fort, Macassar (c. 1638) Frontispiece 11. Map of Macassar (1693) . End-paper FOREWORD The present work is based upon a thesis written for the Ph. D. examination of the University of London. As is usually,the case in such circumstances, the work 'stands on the shoulders' of many people, some living and some dead. Among the living, I have benefitted most from the help and encouragement, most freely given, of the following scholars (listed in purely alphabetical order): Professor A. A. Cense, Professor D. G. E. Hall, Dr. C. Hooykaas, Dr. J. Noorduyn, Professor R. RooIvink and Dr. P. Voorhoeve. In addition, it is pleasant to acknowledge the assistance given me by the Libr~an (Mr. J. D. Pearson) and Deputy Librarian (Mr. R. J. Hoy) of the Scbool of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London; to successive Keepers of Oriental MSS. (Dr. P. Voorhoeve and Dr. Th. Pigeaud) of the University of Leiden; and to tbe Librarian (Mr. W. J. Plumbe) of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. Finally, I am deeply - but in na way financially - indebted to tbe Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde and to tbe House of Martinus Nijboff, wbo have combined to publish a book that seeks veniam pro laude. C.S. Kuala Lumpur, 1961. INTRODUCTION THE SJAm In the text-books, the 17th century in Indonesian history is often referred to as the 'Dutch' century and treated in tenns of the activities of the largest and best-organized of the European trading companies in the archipelago, the Dutch East India Company.1 This 'European centric' approach 2 (derived in part from a scarcity of easily available non-European sources) has inevitably tended to create an exaggerated impression of the part played by the VOC,3 and conversely, to obscure the part played by the great Indonesian Sultanates of Mataram, Bantam and Macassar, among whom the VOC was not sa much facile princeps, as primus inter pares. The VOC had, of course, made itself a power to he reckoned with in the east of the arehipelago as early as the first decade of the century, when it had established itself in the islands whose spices provided the Company's shareholders with sueh satisfying compensation for the hazards of speculation, and succeeding decades saw a small factory at Djakatra turn into the Batavia headquarters of a commercial 'empire' stretching the length of the arehipelago. This empire was, to a consider able degree, based on a monopoly of the spice trade and was thus, Booner or later, bound to come into conflict with Macassar, a state which, like Holland, was just entering its golden age. Situated almost exactly half-way between Batavia and the Moluccas,4 1 Cf. the chapter headings used by Hall - 'The Intrusion of the English and Duteh', 'The Expansion of the V.O.C: (Hall: SEA, chapters 14 and 15), and Harrison, 'Dutch and English Beginnings', 'European Company Trade in the Seventeenth Century' (Harrison: SEA, chapters IX and X). 2 For critici sm of this 'European-centric' approach, see van Leur: GNI, p. 593-595. Van Leur's conclusion was that H •••• regarding the seventeenth century. .. the history of Indonesia definitely cannot be made equivalent to the history of the Company" (van Leur: AEC, p. 546; English translation p.270. UnIe ss otherwise stated, all translations of foreign language citations are my own). 3 See Abbreviations Used. 4 See the table quoted in Glamann: DAT, p. 26. Verh. dl. 40 2 SlA'IR PERANG MENGKASAR Macassar,5 well-known as a victualling station for the ships of all nations, had just begun to flex its muscles in the struggle to replace Ternaté as the dominant power in the east of the archipelago.6 Perhaps stimulated by its conversion to Islam very early on in the century,7 Macassar soon embarked upon a successful policy of aggrandisement, the expenses of which were borne partly by its conquests and partly by the profits from the rich trade in spices of which Macassar was rapidly becoming the largest entrepot. Any form of independent trading in spices was, of course, a direct threat to the VOC's policy of monopoly and, given the temper of the two parties concerned - the VOC had men like Coen, who can politely he descrihed as 'ruthiess', while the Macas sarese had the reputation of being the 'Haentjens van het Oosten' (Cocks (of the walk) of the East) 8 - it required no gift of prophecy to forecast that sooner or later both sides would resort to war. The first of these wars came about in 1616. The VOC had set up a factory at Macassar as early as 1609 and was by no means pleased when, some four years later, the Sultan of Goa, anxious to play off the one European Company against the other, had given an even warmer welcome to its great rival, the English East India 5 It might be as weil here to c1ear up one or two points in connection with the name 'Macassar'. At the time of the sja'ir, Macassar was the name given by foreigners (and not by the Macassarese themselves) to the area hetween the Garassi' river and Sambung Djawa. In this area, the Sultan of Goa, the senior ruler of the twin-sultanates of Goa and Tallo', had his palace-cum castie, at Sombaopu. The area, being easily the biggest and most important location in the state (far bigger than either the villages of Goa and Tallo') was considered (by foreigners) as the capitalof the state, which was also termed 'Macassar'. As the senior rul er of this state, the Sultan of Goa, residing in his castie in the area, was often taken by foreigners to he th e (sole) ruler of the state, and termed the 'Sultan of Macassar' or 'King of Macassar'. Af ter the campaigns described in the sja'ir, the VOC took possession of the Udjung Pandang area, where they established Fort Rotter dam, which has become the nucleus of the modern town of Macassar. (Speelman: NOT, p. 24-25; Stapel: HBV, p. ~. See also notes to v.13b, v.31c). 6 This and the next four pages contain a historical resumé of the events leading up to Speelman's expedition against Macassar in 1666. It is based largely upon data drawn from Stapel: HBV, p. 1-91, and, to avoid a multiplicity of foot-notes, references made in it will be confined to works other than Stapel: HBV. 7 Stapel's date of 1603 for the 'official' conversion of Macassar is amended to 1605 in Noorduyn's authoritative discussion of the subject (Noorduyn: ISL, p. 247-266). 8 Cf. van Dam: BOC, p. 223: u •••• moreover this Macassar was also much renowned by reason of the great prowess in war of this race, as a result of which it had made itse\f universally respected". INTRODUCTION 3 Company.9 The VOC soon became alanned at the inroads the Macas sarese were making upon the spice trade and asked the Sultan to refrain from trading with the Spice !slands. By way of answer, the Sultan is reported to have made the magnificent reply: "God created the land and the sea: the land he divided out amongst men, but the sea he gave to all. No one has ever tried to forbid men the sea. If you do so, you will he taking the bread out of our mouths - and I am not a rich King." 10 One might perhaps have expected the Dutch to appreciate sentiments strikingly similar to those enunciated by their own eminent jurist only a few years earlier:11 instead - and the parallel with 1945 is by no means a distant one - they declared war. The war dragged on fairly uneventfully until 1637, when van Diemen, on his way back from pacifying South Ceram, had 'shown the fIag' in some strength at Macassar and thereby persuaded the Sultan to sign a treaty by which Macassar agreed to recognise the VOC's interests in the Spice Islands. However, the spice trade provided the Macassarese - not only private traders there, but also, via customs duties, the Macassarese oligarchy 12 - with such a source of profit that it was not long hefore Macassar was once again functioning as the biggest independent spice market in the archipelago, and growing rich and powerful on the proceeds. So powerful indeed that it was able to give both moral and material assistance to the rebels against the VOC in South Ceram and Ambon. In 1653, de Vlaming van Oudshoorn called at Macassar on hls way to Ambon and tried to obtain from the Sultan assurances that he would respect the provisions of the 1637 treaty, but all that the Sultan would vouchsafe by way of answer was a letter for the Governor General in which he asserted that Macassar too had rights in Ceram and Ambon.

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