The Treaty of Quedah of 1786 — referred to in Dutch sources as the afstand van Pinang 1786 — was the agreement by which the Raja of Quedah ceded the island of Pulo Pinang to Great Britain for a yearly payment of 10,000 dollars. The treaty was arranged by Captain Francis Light, who had concluded that Pinang was preferable to Acheh as a site for a British settlement, and it marked the beginning of the British presence on the Malay Peninsula — a presence that would, within a generation, draw Penang into the management of Achehnese affairs and ultimately into the events surrounding the Treaty of Pedir (1819).
Background
European relations with Acheh had, throughout the eighteenth century, been “either very loose or very strained.” Even so powerful a figure as Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal, had to submit in 1786 to the insulting letter of 7 November 1786 from the Sultan of Acheh, who returned the worthless muskets Hastings had sent him and declared that, if he thought of sending more such goods, he had better leave it alone. In the same year Captain Francis Light had hit upon the idea of a British settlement on Pulo Pinang, which he judged more suitable than Acheh.
Light’s report to the Governor-General of Bengal of 15 February 1786 had described Acheh as “a good road, but no place of security against an enemy there — the country is fertile beyond description and very populous. The inhabitants [are] rigid and superstitious Mohammedans, sullen, fickle and treacherous. To form a settlement there of safety and advantage, a force sufficient to subdue all the chiefs would be necessary.” James Price, reporting to the Supreme Board in London from Calcutta on 23 February 1786, agreed: “I prefer Penang to the port of Acheen, as being more healthy and entire free from that oppression, war and confusion which however distressed and at length driven out every European nation who has attempted to settle there.”
The Cession
The outcome of these deliberations was a treaty with the Raja of Quedah by which, for a yearly rent of 10,000 dollars, the island was ceded to Great Britain. The Sultan’s letter, preserved in Van der Kemp’s source, recorded that “Captain Light Deva Rajah came here and informed us that our friend requested Pulo Penang, we have instantly given to our friend and akeel Captain Deva Rajah, to plant the Honble Company’s English flag upon Pulo Penang, a place for trade and to repair your ships of war — and for refreshments, wood and water.” The cession was signed on the 20th day of the Moon Shaval in the year 1199 Regira.
Significance
Although the treaty was with Quedah and not with Acheh, Van der Kemp emphasises its bearing on the subsequent Achehnese story. The early years of Pinang were a “history of suffering,” and at one time the abandonment of the island was considered; yet the thought of a settlement at Acheh — and of gaining predominant influence in that kingdom — was never given up. The supervision of Achehnese affairs was specifically entrusted to the government of Pinang, and a particular circumstance in 1812 brought that supervision more directly into the hands of the Pinang administration. It was from this connection that there flowed the Acheh succession dispute, the Canning mission of 1814, the Coombs mission of 1817–18, and ultimately the Raffles-Coombs commission and the treaty of 22 April 1819.
See Also
- Captain Francis Light
- Warren Hastings
- James Price
- Sultan of Acheh’s letter to Warren Hastings
- Sultan Alaeddin Muhammad Shah of Acheh
- Raja of Quedah
- Penang
- Acheh
- Quedah
- Malay Peninsula
- Bengal
- Acheh succession dispute (1802-1819)
- Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission (1819)
- Treaty of Pedir (1819)
Source
Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159-239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.