Said Akil (also written Syed Akil, Syed Ahkil, Pangeran Akkil; entitled Raja Mooda — “deputy ruler” — at Deli) was the third son of the Penang trader Said Hussein and younger brother of the Achehnese pretender Syf (Sultan Saif ul-Alum). He is chiefly known for his adventure in Deli on Sumatra’s East Coast between 1824 and 1828, when he married the Sultan of Deli’s daughter, was appointed deputy ruler of the state, and reduced it to disorder until British pressure forced his removal. Van der Kemp warns the reader not to confuse this comparatively insignificant personage with the contemporaneous crown pretender Sukadana on Borneo, whose career was described by Professor Veth.
Marriage into the house of Deli (1824)
About 1824 Akil became engaged to, or married, a daughter of the Sultan of Deli on Sumatra’s East Coast. The Sultan himself, in a letter dated 27 August 1824 to the Governor of Penang (printed by Van der Kemp as Appendix 6), begged the British for help against the in-pressing Padries and at the same time announced: “as to my friend’s subject, the son of Syed Hussein, I formerly acquainted Mr. Phillips that I had adopted him as a son”. The marriage thus brought Akil into the Deli royal house as the Sultan’s son-in-law and adoptive son.
The “Raja Mooda” of Deli
When his father-in-law died, he was succeeded by his son, “an insignificant boy of 14 to 16 years”. Akil, “as brother-in-law”, considered that he might profit from the situation, and in 1826 he fitted out “a fairly considerable force” to go to Deli and “play the master”. The Penang government, through its translator John Anderson, warned him by letter of 11 April 1826 that he must leave Deli alone; but when Akil replied that his expedition had no other aim than to fetch his wife “in a glorious manner” from Deli, the government let him go. The young Sultan, as the subsequent correspondence drily notes, “seemed to take this rather well”.
Disordering of Deli and complaints (1826-1828)
Once established at Deli, Akil made himself master of the government. In October 1826 the Sultan of Acheh complained in a brusque letter to the Governor of Penang that this was a violation of the treaty of 1819 (article 1 was probably meant), since Deli was a dependency of Acheh and was now being endangered by a subject of the British government. Anderson again wrote, on 2 November 1826, asking Akil to return to Penang “with as little delay as possible”, but this was talking to deaf ears. By early 1828 the Shahbandar of Deli was writing to the Governor of Penang begging him to “deliver the land from the robber Said Akil”, describing how all the traders’ property had been plundered by Akil and how the traders of Batu Bara had been ruined by him. The Sultan (still the young boy, presumably writing under Akil’s dictation) replied that it was all lies and slander; Akil himself wrote that he was doing nobody any harm and was only waiting to collect some 60,000 dollars owed to him before returning to Penang.
Removal by British pressure (1828)
Governor Fullerton finally wrote on 27 August 1828 to the young Sultan that the numerous complaints against Akil had given rise to the admonitions, and that the British government, “wishing nothing else than to see quiet trade”, could not countenance his doings. Akil was informed that, having proceeded to Deli contrary to the injunctions of the government of Pulo Penang, he was placed without the protection of the British Government in the event of his infringing the laws or injuring the inhabitants of that country. The Bengal government, on being informed, approved the Penang government’s conduct by dispatch of 24 October 1828. With this final intervention Akil’s Deli adventure came to an end; he was effectively read out of British protection and forced to retire.
See Also
- Said Hussein
- Sultan Saif ul-Alum
- Sultan of Deli
- Shahbandar of Deli
- Sultan Alaeddin Muhammad Shah of Acheh
- Robert Fullerton
- John Anderson
- W. E. Phillips
- Said Akil’s Deli adventure (1824-1828)
- Sultan of Deli’s letter to Penang
- Acheh treaty of 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.
Said Akil (also written Syed Akil, Syed Ahkil, Pangeran Akkil; entitled Raja Mooda — “deputy ruler” — at Deli) was the third son of the Penang trader Said Hussein and younger brother of the Achehnese pretender Syf (Sultan Saif ul-Alum). He is chiefly known for his adventure in Deli on Sumatra’s East Coast between 1824 and 1828, when he married the Sultan of Deli’s daughter, was appointed deputy ruler of the state, and reduced it to disorder until British pressure forced his removal. Van der Kemp warns the reader not to confuse this comparatively insignificant personage with the contemporaneous crown pretender Sukadana on Borneo, whose career was described by Professor Veth.
Marriage into the house of Deli (1824)
About 1824 Akil became engaged to, or married, a daughter of the Sultan of Deli on Sumatra’s East Coast. The Sultan himself, in a letter dated 27 August 1824 to the Governor of Penang (printed by Van der Kemp as Appendix 6), begged the British for help against the in-pressing Padries and at the same time announced: “as to my friend’s subject, the son of Syed Hussein, I formerly acquainted Mr. Phillips that I had adopted him as a son”. The marriage thus brought Akil into the Deli royal house as the Sultan’s son-in-law and adoptive son.
The “Raja Mooda” of Deli
When his father-in-law died, he was succeeded by his son, “an insignificant boy of 14 to 16 years”. Akil, “as brother-in-law”, considered that he might profit from the situation, and in 1826 he fitted out “a fairly considerable force” to go to Deli and “play the master”. The Penang government, through its translator John Anderson, warned him by letter of 11 April 1826 that he must leave Deli alone; but when Akil replied that his expedition had no other aim than to fetch his wife “in a glorious manner” from Deli, the government let him go. The young Sultan, as the subsequent correspondence drily notes, “seemed to take this rather well”.
Disordering of Deli and complaints (1826-1828)
Once established at Deli, Akil made himself master of the government. In October 1826 the Sultan of Acheh complained in a brusque letter to the Governor of Penang that this was a violation of the treaty of 1819 (article 1 was probably meant), since Deli was a dependency of Acheh and was now being endangered by a subject of the British government. Anderson again wrote, on 2 November 1826, asking Akil to return to Penang “with as little delay as possible”, but this was talking to deaf ears. By early 1828 the Shahbandar of Deli was writing to the Governor of Penang begging him to “deliver the land from the robber Said Akil”, describing how all the traders’ property had been plundered by Akil and how the traders of Batu Bara had been ruined by him. The Sultan (still the young boy, presumably writing under Akil’s dictation) replied that it was all lies and slander; Akil himself wrote that he was doing nobody any harm and was only waiting to collect some 60,000 dollars owed to him before returning to Penang.
Removal by British pressure (1828)
Governor Fullerton finally wrote on 27 August 1828 to the young Sultan that the numerous complaints against Akil had given rise to the admonitions, and that the British government, “wishing nothing else than to see quiet trade”, could not countenance his doings. Akil was informed that, having proceeded to Deli contrary to the injunctions of the government of Pulo Penang, he was placed without the protection of the British Government in the event of his infringing the laws or injuring the inhabitants of that country. The Bengal government, on being informed, approved the Penang government’s conduct by dispatch of 24 October 1828. With this final intervention Akil’s Deli adventure came to an end; he was effectively read out of British protection and forced to retire.
See Also
- Said Hussein
- Sultan Saif ul-Alum
- Sultan of Deli
- Shahbandar of Deli
- Sultan Alaeddin Muhammad Shah of Acheh
- Robert Fullerton
- John Anderson
- W. E. Phillips
- Said Akil’s Deli adventure (1824-1828)
- Sultan of Deli’s letter to Penang
- Acheh treaty of 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.