Sultan of Deli

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tagsperson, sultan, malay
aliasessultan of Delli, Deli Sultan

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The Sultan of Deli (also written sultan of Delli) was the ruler of the Malay state of Deli on Sumatra’s East Coast in the early 1820s. He is known chiefly through two letters preserved in the Roosegaarde Bisschop collection and printed by Van der Kemp: a letter of 27 August 1824 to the Governor of Penang (Appendix 6), in which he sought British help against the Padries and announced his adoption of Said Akil as his son; and the subsequent correspondence, in 1826–1828, in which his young successor was reduced to a cipher by the very man the old Sultan had adopted.

The 1824 letter to Governor Phillips

In his letter of 27 August 1824 to Governor Phillips of Penang, the Sultan of Deli introduced his request for help against the Padries — the religious reformers then overrunning Sumatra’s East Coast — and at the same time made known his adoption of Said Akil. The Padries, he wrote, “have determined to attack all the different states and render them tributary … none of us Rajahs in this quarter will consent to obey them”. He reported that Tanah Putih, Balah and Panei had already been reduced, and that the Padries had expressed their determination to attack Batu Bara and Deli. The Sultan protested his friendship with the British and asked how he might “obtain assistance” from Penang.

In the same letter, almost as an aside, he wrote:

“As to my friend’s subject, the son of Syed Hussein, I formerly acquainted Mr. Phillips that I had adopted him as a son, and I beg now also to inform my friend of this circumstance.”

This passage is the first British intimation that the Penang-born Said Akil — third son of the trader Said Hussein, younger brother of the Achehnese pretender Syf — had been installed as a member of the Deli royal house. The Sultan closed the letter with the modest gift of “two cakes of bees wax” as a token of his respect.

Succession and the rise of Said Akil

When the old Sultan died, he was succeeded by his son, described by Van der Kemp as “an insignificant boy of 14 to 16 years”. Said Akil, “as brother-in-law”, considered that he might profit from the situation; in 1826 he fitted out “a fairly considerable force” and went to Deli “to play the master”. The Penang government, through its translator John Anderson, warned him off by letter of 11 April 1826, but when Akil replied that his expedition was only to fetch his wife “in a glorious manner”, the government let him go. The young Sultan “seemed to take this rather well” — Van der Kemp’s dry summary of a situation in which the boy-sultan was in no position to resist. From this moment Said Akil was Raja Mooda (deputy ruler) of Deli in all but name.

A cipher under Akil’s domination (1826-1828)

Through the years 1826–1828 the young Sultan appears in the Penang correspondence as a mere cipher. When, in October 1826, the Sultan of Acheh complained to the Governor of Penang of Said Akil’s activities in Deli as a violation of the treaty of 1819, it was Akil — not the Sultan of Deli — who answered the British. When Anderson again wrote on 2 November 1826 requiring Akil’s return to Penang, the young Sultan’s voice was still not heard. By early 1828 the Shahbandar of Deli was writing directly to Penang begging for deliverance from the “robber Said Akil”. When, at last, the Sultan’s letter does reappear in the correspondence, it is, “probably always on dictation of Said”, to dismiss the complaints as “all lies and slander”. The Sultan of Deli thus survived his adoptive brother only to be reduced by him.

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 Sultan of Deli (also written sultan of Delli) was the ruler of the Malay state of Deli on Sumatra’s East Coast in the early 1820s. He is known chiefly through two letters preserved in the Roosegaarde Bisschop collection and printed by Van der Kemp: a letter of 27 August 1824 to the Governor of Penang (Appendix 6), in which he sought British help against the Padries and announced his adoption of Said Akil as his son; and the subsequent correspondence, in 1826–1828, in which his young successor was reduced to a cipher by the very man the old Sultan had adopted.

The 1824 letter to Governor Phillips

In his letter of 27 August 1824 to Governor Phillips of Penang, the Sultan of Deli introduced his request for help against the Padries — the religious reformers then overrunning Sumatra’s East Coast — and at the same time made known his adoption of Said Akil. The Padries, he wrote, “have determined to attack all the different states and render them tributary … none of us Rajahs in this quarter will consent to obey them”. He reported that Tanah Putih, Balah and Panei had already been reduced, and that the Padries had expressed their determination to attack Batu Bara and Deli. The Sultan protested his friendship with the British and asked how he might “obtain assistance” from Penang.

In the same letter, almost as an aside, he wrote:

“As to my friend’s subject, the son of Syed Hussein, I formerly acquainted Mr. Phillips that I had adopted him as a son, and I beg now also to inform my friend of this circumstance.”

This passage is the first British intimation that the Penang-born Said Akil — third son of the trader Said Hussein, younger brother of the Achehnese pretender Syf — had been installed as a member of the Deli royal house. The Sultan closed the letter with the modest gift of “two cakes of bees wax” as a token of his respect.

Succession and the rise of Said Akil

When the old Sultan died, he was succeeded by his son, described by Van der Kemp as “an insignificant boy of 14 to 16 years”. Said Akil, “as brother-in-law”, considered that he might profit from the situation; in 1826 he fitted out “a fairly considerable force” and went to Deli “to play the master”. The Penang government, through its translator John Anderson, warned him off by letter of 11 April 1826, but when Akil replied that his expedition was only to fetch his wife “in a glorious manner”, the government let him go. The young Sultan “seemed to take this rather well” — Van der Kemp’s dry summary of a situation in which the boy-sultan was in no position to resist. From this moment Said Akil was Raja Mooda (deputy ruler) of Deli in all but name.

A cipher under Akil’s domination (1826-1828)

Through the years 1826–1828 the young Sultan appears in the Penang correspondence as a mere cipher. When, in October 1826, the Sultan of Acheh complained to the Governor of Penang of Said Akil’s activities in Deli as a violation of the treaty of 1819, it was Akil — not the Sultan of Deli — who answered the British. When Anderson again wrote on 2 November 1826 requiring Akil’s return to Penang, the young Sultan’s voice was still not heard. By early 1828 the Shahbandar of Deli was writing directly to Penang begging for deliverance from the “robber Said Akil”. When, at last, the Sultan’s letter does reappear in the correspondence, it is, “probably always on dictation of Said”, to dismiss the complaints as “all lies and slander”. The Sultan of Deli thus survived his adoptive brother only to be reduced by him.

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.

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