Sabah Aoer was, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s survey of the Outer Possessions, the station at the mouth of the Siak River established by the Sultan of Djohore in the early sixteenth century, after the Atjehnese destruction of the kingdom of Gasip, as the centre of Djohorese influence on the lower Siak River. Governed by a sjahbandar (harbour-master) on behalf of the Sultan of Djohore, Sabah Aoer was, in the Bureau’s framing, the geographical hinge between the Atjehnese sphere to the north and the Djohorese sphere to the south.
The Djohorese settlement
The Bureau records the Djohorese settlement at Sabah Aoer as the immediate sequel to the Atjehnese destruction of Gasip. “Hiervan maakte de Sultan van Djohore gebruik om zich aan de monding der Siak-rivier te vestigen” — “Of this the Sultan of Djohore made use to establish himself at the mouth of the Siak river.” The settlement produced “eene belangrijke immigratie uit dat rijk” — “an important immigration from that realm [Djohore]” — and it served the Sultan of Djohore’s twofold strategic purpose: the control of the river-mouth trade between Pagarroejoeng and Malakka, and the protection of Djohore against its Minangkabau enemies.
The sjahbandar and the limits of influence
The administration of Sabah Aoer was, the Bureau records, exercised by a sjahbandar on behalf of the Sultan of Djohore. “Het bestuur over deze Djohore’sche nederzetting (welke eene belangrijke immigratie uit dat rijk tengevolge had) werd in naam van den Sultan uitgeoefend door een sjahbandar, die gevestigd was te Sabah Aoer, en wiens invloed in het binnenland ongeveer tot de S. Mandau reikte” — “The administration over this Djohorese settlement (which had, as a consequence, an important immigration from that realm) was exercised, in the name of the Sultan, by a sjahbandar, who was established at Sabah Aoer, and whose influence in the interior reached approximately as far as the [river] Mandau.”
The sjahbandar’s influence reached, in other words, only as far inland as the Mandau River — a tributary of the Siak River some distance inland of the coast. The Djohorese presence at Sabah Aoer was thus a coastal, river-mouth presence rather than an inland sovereignty, and its purpose was the control of the river-mouth trade rather than the political subjection of the interior.
The strategic purpose
The Sultan of Djohore’s purpose in establishing the Sabah Aoer station was, the Bureau records, twofold. First, the control of the river-mouth trade: the Siak River was the principal trade route between Pagarroejoeng and Malakka, and “in die oude tijden een veel belangrijker handelsverkeer kende dan tegenwoordig” — “in those old times knew a much more important trade traffic than today” — so that the Sultan of Djohore could “belangrijke heffingen eischen aan dien riviermond” — “demand important levies at that river-mouth.” Second, the protection of Djohore against its Minangkabau enemies: the station at Sabah Aoer served “zich tevens beschermen tegen een aanval zijner machtige Minangkabausche vijanden” — “at the same time to protect itself against an attack by its powerful Minangkabau enemies.”
The Radja Ketjil revolution
The Djohorese settlement at Sabah Aoer was, the Bureau records, overthrown in the early eighteenth century by Radja Ketjil. “In het begin der 18de eeuw werd Djohore uit Siak verjaagd door den bekenden Radja ketjil, die zich uitgaf voor een onechten zoon van een der vroegere Djohore’sche sultans” — “In the beginning of the 18th century Djohore was driven out of Siak by the well-known Radja Ketjil, who gave himself out as an illegitimate son of one of the former Djohorese sultans.” With the help of the Minangkabau kingdom of Pagarroejoeng, Radja Ketjil conquered first Siak and then, in 1717, the throne of Djohore itself. He soon lost the Djohore throne, but retained Siak, which from that time was independent of Djohore.
Significance
Sabah Aoer is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s survey, the geographical hinge between the Atjehnese and Djohorese spheres of the late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century East Coast. Its establishment by the Sultan of Djohore — in the immediate aftermath of the Atjehnese destruction of Gasip — defines the southern limit of the Atjehnese sphere; its overthrow by Radja Ketjil in the early eighteenth century closes the long Djohorese-Atjehnese arrangement at the Siak River mouth and inaugurates the independent Sultanate of Siak.
See Also
- Siak
- Acheh
- Djohor
- Mandau
- Pagarroejoeng
- Malacca
- sjahbandar
- Radja Ketjil
- rijk Gasip
- atjehsche-verovering-van-gasip-(begin-16e-eeuw)
- atjehsche-overheersing-der-noordelijke-kuststaatjes
- atjehsche-aanwezigheid-op-de-oostkust-tot-aan-sabah-aoer
- Sumatra’s East Coast
- 1509
- 1511
- 1717
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Afl. 3: Oostkust van Sumatra. Eerste Stuk, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1918), p. 103. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shelfmark LS.08781.
Nota omtrent het Rijk van Siak, by H. A. Hijmans van Anrooy, in Tijdschrift van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, dl. XXX (1885).