The Raja of Quedah (modern spelling: Kedah) was the Malay ruler who, in 1786, ceded the island of Pulo Pinang (Prince of Wales Island) to the British East India Company in exchange for an annual payment of 10,000 Spanish dollars. The cession, negotiated through Captain Francis Light “Deva Rajah”, laid the foundation of the British settlement of Penang and is treated by Van der Kemp as the indispensable antecedent to all later British interest in the neighbouring sultanate of Acheh. The Raja is referenced in the opening pages of Van der Kemp’s article, where the founding of Penang is contrasted with the chaotic state of Acheh, which had driven every European nation from its shores.
The treaty text
Van der Kemp quotes (in footnote b to page 4) the formal instrument by which the Raja of Quedah made over Pulo Pinang. The text, addressed to the Governor-General of Bengal, runs:
“Whereas, captain Light Deva Rajah came here and informed us that our friend requested Pulo Penang, we have instantly given to our :akeel and friend 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. … Whatever necessaries this island does not afford, shall be supplied by us from our country of Quedah. Signed on the 20th day of the Moon Shaval, in the year 1199 Regira.”
The treaty was thus signed under the Islamic calendar date of 20 Shaval 1199 AH, which corresponds to mid-1786. The Raja’s phrasing — “our friend,” “our :akeel and friend” — captures the personal idiom of Malay diplomatic correspondence, in which political alliance was articulated through the language of friendship and reciprocal obligation. The promised provisioning “from our country of Quedah” signalled that the Raja envisaged Penang as a strategic dependency of his mainland kingdom, not as a free-standing British possession.
Connection to Acheh
Van der Kemp introduces the Raja of Quedah not for his own sake, but to explain why the British turned to Penang rather than to Acheh as their principal settlement in the Straits. He quotes James Price’s report to the Supreme Government in London, dated Calcutta, 23 February 1786: “I prefer Penang to the port of Acheen, as being more healthy and entire free from that oppression, war and confusion which … distressed and at length driven out every European nation who has attempted to settle there.” The Raja of Quedah’s willingness to cede Penang thus spared the Company the difficult project of establishing itself in Acheh proper, even though — as Van der Kemp goes on to note — the idea of an Achehnese settlement was never entirely abandoned. Responsibility for “the leadership of Achehnese affairs” was specifically entrusted to the government of Penang.
Legacy
The cession of Penang by the Raja of Quedah became the constitutional foundation of the British presence in the Straits of Malacca, on which later settlements at Singapore (in 1819) and at Malacca (acquired under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London of 1824) were built. The annual payment of 10,000 dollars, however, became a running sore in Kedah–British relations: the Raja and his successors repeatedly protested that the sum was inadequate compensation for the loss of revenue and that Britain had failed to provide the promised military protection against Siam. The Quedah cession thus stands as both the making of British Penang and the beginning of a long history of Kedah’s grievance against the colonial power it had invited into the Straits.
See Also
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.
The Raja of Quedah (modern spelling: Kedah) was the Malay ruler who, in 1786, ceded the island of Pulo Pinang (Prince of Wales Island) to the British East India Company in exchange for an annual payment of 10,000 Spanish dollars. The cession, negotiated through Captain Francis Light “Deva Rajah”, laid the foundation of the British settlement of Penang and is treated by Van der Kemp as the indispensable antecedent to all later British interest in the neighbouring sultanate of Acheh. The Raja is referenced in the opening pages of Van der Kemp’s article, where the founding of Penang is contrasted with the chaotic state of Acheh, which had driven every European nation from its shores.
The treaty text
Van der Kemp quotes (in footnote b to page 4) the formal instrument by which the Raja of Quedah made over Pulo Pinang. The text, addressed to the Governor-General of Bengal, runs:
“Whereas, captain Light Deva Rajah came here and informed us that our friend requested Pulo Penang, we have instantly given to our :akeel and friend 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. … Whatever necessaries this island does not afford, shall be supplied by us from our country of Quedah. Signed on the 20th day of the Moon Shaval, in the year 1199 Regira.”
The treaty was thus signed under the Islamic calendar date of 20 Shaval 1199 AH, which corresponds to mid-1786. The Raja’s phrasing — “our friend,” “our :akeel and friend” — captures the personal idiom of Malay diplomatic correspondence, in which political alliance was articulated through the language of friendship and reciprocal obligation. The promised provisioning “from our country of Quedah” signalled that the Raja envisaged Penang as a strategic dependency of his mainland kingdom, not as a free-standing British possession.
Connection to Acheh
Van der Kemp introduces the Raja of Quedah not for his own sake, but to explain why the British turned to Penang rather than to Acheh as their principal settlement in the Straits. He quotes James Price’s report to the Supreme Government in London, dated Calcutta, 23 February 1786: “I prefer Penang to the port of Acheen, as being more healthy and entire free from that oppression, war and confusion which … distressed and at length driven out every European nation who has attempted to settle there.” The Raja of Quedah’s willingness to cede Penang thus spared the Company the difficult project of establishing itself in Acheh proper, even though — as Van der Kemp goes on to note — the idea of an Achehnese settlement was never entirely abandoned. Responsibility for “the leadership of Achehnese affairs” was specifically entrusted to the government of Penang.
Legacy
The cession of Penang by the Raja of Quedah became the constitutional foundation of the British presence in the Straits of Malacca, on which later settlements at Singapore (in 1819) and at Malacca (acquired under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London of 1824) were built. The annual payment of 10,000 dollars, however, became a running sore in Kedah–British relations: the Raja and his successors repeatedly protested that the sum was inadequate compensation for the loss of revenue and that Britain had failed to provide the promised military protection against Siam. The Quedah cession thus stands as both the making of British Penang and the beginning of a long history of Kedah’s grievance against the colonial power it had invited into the Straits.
See Also
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.