Contributed by Dr. Hans Hagerdal
Until 1667, the year when the Bongaai treaty was concluded, where
the Island of Sumbawa more or less constituted a closed cultural
district.
From 1667 to the present, the period of distinct
development, where we consider the year 1815 (the eruption of the
volcano Tambora) as the conclusion of the first part, and the period
from 1815 to today as the second.
The first period, that we
conclude with the flight of the Sumbawan kings from the defeated Gowa,
is the age when Islam obtained a permanent position and had an
increasing influence on the social development. If we had more
information on the pre-Muslim period there would be every reason to
describe the seventeenth century as an age of transition. From the
available information one gets some impression about the changes that
took place, but no clear picture of the culture before these fundamental
changes.
The entire eighteenth century is an age of search for a new political
balance, both internally between the kingdoms on the Island of Sumbawa
and in their relations with Gowa, the Kompeni and the intruding
Balinese. In this period Sumbawa loses its influence on Lombok, and Bima
on Sumba, and, in spite of repeated attempts of restoration, also on
West Flores.
In the nineteenth century there is, under the influence of Islam, an
increasing completion of the process of purification of the
geschenkenverkeer (KOLLA), whereby the political power of the national
government is strengthened. The Tambora disaster in 1815 causes
confusion whereby a more puritan way of life is encouraged, which in
turn leads to a verflauwing (KOLLA) of the contractual relation between
the government of the land and the people.
In the middle of the preceding century comes a stronger
orthodox-conservative influence that departs from the unfortunately
little known religious scholar Abdulgani. This movement again leads to a
purification of the geschenkenverkeer (KOLLA) and a reduction of the
dari system, the institution whereby the subjects could bind the
political power in a network of duties. The kings, forefighters of the
influence of Abdulgani, draw increasingly more old functions into the
core of government.
In the beginning of this century, under Dutch influence, the
governmental powers were yet more strengthened in the government of the
land, but on the other hand the prestige of the government of the land
is shaken because of the integration of the lands in larger
administrative conglomerates. The relation between the government of the
land and the land becomes more impersonal. The recent development
during and after the World War II, and the resulting disappearance of
the Dutch power, has exercised an influence on the whole process the
results of which are not yet clearly visible. (ILLEGIBLE TEXT NOT
TRANSLATED).
I. The period up to 1667.
[Kingdoms before 1616]
A more or less reliable account of literal historical information
does not bring us much further back than the first decades of the
seventeenth century in the case of the Island of Sumbawa. Regarding that
this information tells us that the Island of Sumbawa in that time was
subjugated to the then powerful kingdom of Gowa, and that furthermore
available data makes the cultural preponderance of South Celebes more
than clear, the conclusion would be that the kingdoms of the Island of
Sumbawa also are creations of the Gowanese politics. Thus a leading
authority like van Vollenhoven: "(The principalities) on eastern Sumbawa
and western Flores have been established from South Celebes" -van
Vollenhoven, Adatrecht, p. 435.-
With this statement van Vollenhoven says without many words that the
kingdoms of East Sumbawa not are older than the beginning of the
seventeenth century, but this suggestion seems to have been made because
a power expansion of the South Celebes kingdoms is also mentioned only
by this time. As for West Sumbawa, that Professor van Vollenhoven places
in the area of Bali and Lombok, one might with this line of thinking
project its political history somewhat further back in time, since the
kingdoms from this circle belong to the Hindu sphere of influence.
[Although the students of adat law rightly abstain from making
statements on the field of history, it should be noted that their line
of though in this case departs from historical points of view. Thus
Professor Ter Haar also distinguishes between a popular sphere and a
princely sphere, the latter being societal strangers
(gemeenschapsvreemden). Of these societal strangers he distinguishes
between princes who have entered from outside and princes who have
arisen from the popular order and thereby become estranged. With the
former group the so-called Hindu kingdoms are clearly meant; the
kingdoms of South Celebes Ter Haar brings among the second group. With
the first group of Hindu princes one should think of a process of
historical influences in itself, though it is not explained with too
many words how this process of estrangement should be thought of in both
cases. From the words of van Vollenhoven one could in either case
conclude that a certain historical succession also might be affirmed for
princes who did not come from outside, and this tallies well with the
idea of a terminus a quo that might be applied to the kingdoms of East
Sumbawa after the rise of the South Celebes kingdoms, from whence these
kingdoms would be derived.
A fundamental proof that kingdoms existed on East Sumbawa before the
seventeenth century can not be obtained from available materials. Also
it is by no means convincingly proved that these kingdoms not were
established from South Celebes, but it is important to note that we can
not a priori be affected by the imagined derivation from South Celebes,
or even less quietly assume that the kingdoms from East Sumbawa date
from the period after the well-known power expansion of the kingdoms of
South Celebes. -SECTION CROSSED OVER IN MANUSCRIPT]
[Muslim kingdoms installed by Gowa?]
An argument that perhaps also is important on this point, though
formulated in brief, is the dating of the arrival of Islam. It is quite
certain that the conqueror of Sumbawa, Sultan Alauddin of Gowa
(1592-1639), also was the first prince of South Celebes who took up
Islam, namely in 1605. Since we know that the first sultan of Bima with a
Muslim name, Abdul Kahir (Bara Wadu), who is also known as the man who
officially introduced this religion, died in 1640, we may here have a
hint that he was the first prince who was installed by the first Muslim
sultan of Gowa after his expedition of conquest to Sumbawa. It is true
that Abdul Kahar was the 38th prince according to Bimanese tradition but
this argument need not carry a great weigh since the first 35 names in
this list anyway design nothing but mythical forefathers. For the 36th
prince Sarise, of whom we are told that the first Europeans, perhaps
Portuguese, arrived in Bima during his rule in 1545, we might make an
exception, and also for his successor Sawo, who is accounted for as the
last heathen prince. However, that hardly rocks the fact that a
reasonably reliable summary of princes brings us no further back than
the rise of Gowa.
One should nevertheless not credit this argument too heavily since
the absence of reliable information does not in itself prove that there
were no princes before Abdul Kahir. The information is also actually
derived from sources from Gowa itself. One may accept that the conquest
of Gowa considerably strengthened the influence of Islam, but one may
also reckon with the possibility that Islam was known in East Sumbawa
before the conquest of the land in 1616-1626.
[Islam from Ternate?]
A possibility in this direction might be sought in the contact with
Ternate where Islam had been introduced already in the sixteenth
century. The greatest extent of Ternate's power occurred under Sultan
Babullah (1570-1584) who managed to break the power of the Portuguese in
his realm in 1575. Ternate upheld pretensions on the islands in the
waters close to the Island of Sumbawa far into the seventeenth century.
According to tradition Sultan Babullah brought 70 islands under his
scepter at the height of his powers, and to these one would also count
at least parts of the Island of Sumbawa (the kingdom of Sanggar is
mentioned). Buton was apparently islamized by Babullah in 1580, and he
seems to have visited Makassar about this time and to have handed over
Saleier to Gowa on the occasion. Gowa and Ternate quarreled over Buton
for many years and it was also by this disputed territory of Buton that
Speelman in 1666 encountered the power of Gowa and defeated it. In 1667
Gowa had to cede its pretensions on Buton but Saleier was again
transferred to Ternate, probably because Speelman wished to exclude
Gowa. So in 1667 there was once again a Ternatean garrison in Saleier
which however was so decimated and aroused so much opposition from the
Saleierese that it had to be withdrawn in 1670. In 1675 the power of
Ternate over Saleier practically ceased, though it was still nominally
acknowledged in 1683. -Corpus II/550; III/309.- In 1683 Ternate had to
cede its pretensions on Buton. -Corpus III/304.- Already in 1667 it was
made clear that Ternate and Tidore henceforth could sail to Sumbawa only
with permission from the Kompeni.
It is apparent from all this that it is quite possible that Islam was
known on the Island of Sumbawa before the island was conquered by
Alauddin. One indication can be read in an intriguing communication from
the Sultan of Ternate, who in 1672 noted an incident that took place
"at the time when Paducka Siery had Sultan Bima circumcised"
-Daghregister 1672, p. 266.- It is clear that the Sultan of Ternate with
this "Paducka Siery" alludes to one of his predecessors, though he does
not say who. It is unlikely that a sultan of Bima could have been
circumcised through the Sultan of Ternate once Bima had been conquered
by the enemy of Ternate, Gowa. From this one may reach the conclusion
that this circumcision took place before the conquest of Bima. Also R.
A. Kern speaks carefully in this question: "It is not said if the
introduction of Islam on Soembawa dates from the conquest by Gowa.
Presumably this is the case; after this the island was Mahometan. Of
Muslim activity before that time nothing is known; there was some trade
with the Javanese on the island" -Stapel I/357.-
Though one might not see any positive proof in the story of the
circumcision of a Bimanese sultan by a Ternatean, there is still the
question whether the introduction of Islam through Gowa can be
considered as proven. Under Ternatean influence Islam might very well
have been known before that. That Abdul Kahir would have been installed
by Gowa as the first Muslim prince is nowhere stated, although Stapel
seems to hold this as possible when talks about "the king placed over
them" -Stapel, Bongaais verdrag, p. 25.- Ligtvoet says: "It was the
custom of the Makassarese not to depose a prince from the government
when they had conquered a land for the first time, or to have it ruled
by governors". -A. Ligtvoet, Geschiedenis van Boeton, p. 34.- Certainly
there was, according to Speelman, a grand governor, a kind of
commissioner for Sumbawan affairs who also had the personal right to the
harbour incomes of the port of Papekat, according to Speelman the
seaport of Dompu. Speelman mentions Karaeng Marowangi, Karaeng Aulij,
Karaeng Jancarang alias Karaeng Pasi, and finally Karaeng Popo who in
1678 went to Bima where he passed away in 1680. For the Island of
Sumbawa the taxes decided for Gowa were brought together in Bima.
[Pre-Muslim kingdoms]
That there was in any case a political organization before the coming
of the Gowanese can be concluded from the acceptance of the hukum, the
official representatives of Islam, in the royal council, something that
according to Bimanese tradition took place in the beginning of the reign
of Sultan Abdul Chair, thus around 1640. There is hardly question of
seriously doubting the accuracy of this date. From the whole account it
is more than clear that we have to do with an important change in an
already existing organization. It is difficult to accept that such an
organization that is furthermore based on the dari system was a recent
installation at the time.
All the information taken together strongly suggests the existence of
kingdoms before the seventeenth century which took up Islam probably
around the beginning of that century. There is no information known to
me to positively demonstrate that this was not the case. About 1640 the
later hukum were adopted in the adat, at least in Bima. In Dompu, that
was only conquered by Alauddin of Gowa in 1626, the hukum might have
been adopted into the royal council later on. From an account in the old
papers from Dompu it appears that the official Muslim feast days were
installed no earlier than 1806 in place of the previous feasts of the
realm.
[The dependencies of Majapahit.]
It is much more difficult to imagine conditions in the pre-Muslim
period. In the well-known list of dependencies of Majapahit there are
names mentioned among which are several kingdoms: Taliwang, Dompo, Sape,
Sanghyang Api, Bima and Hutan. -Krom, in Stapel I/270.- Kuperus finds
it likely that Seran mentioned in this list means the petty state
Serang/Setelok in West Sumbawa, an opinion that Le Roux shares. The name
Kadali, also mentioned in this list is tentatively associated by
Kuperus with Kampung Ngali. -G. Kuperus, De Madjapahitsche
onderhoorigheid Serang; C. C. F. M. Le Roux, De Madjapahitsche
onderhoorigheden Hutan, Kadali en Gurun en de oude naam voor het eiland
Flores, TKNAG LIX (1942), p. 770, 922, 914.-
The same names are also partly to be found in the map from the first
maritime expedition of 1595-97 reproduced in Stapel II/351, where Stapel
mentions Sambawa (Sumbawa), Bima and Gunung Api. Aram is according to
Le Roux a place at the north coast that also occurs on other maps and is
called Aranaran by Pigafetta. The latter also, in 1521, mentions a
certain place Mani that according to Le Roux could mean the Island of
Moyo. -Le Roux, Feestbundel KBG, deel II.- Pecato is Pekat. On the
beautiful map from 1681 we read on the original a hardly legible
indication for Aram, seemingly as Azom.
[Stone artifacts.]
Various ancient objects have been found in Sumbawa but they are
poorly known and unsatisfactory registered. As old places in Dompu where
the population points out ancient objects there are in the first place
the Huu area and the place of origin on the Dompu kingdom, where for
example I found a pile of stones, no doubt an old wall just as people
are telling you.
Only an archaeological investigation will be able to establish what
there is to find in the no doubt old cultural sphere of the Island of
Sumbawa where the entire geographical layout according to Kuperus
indicates human activity. The indications given by the people are often
vague and misleading. There was seemingly a time when people worked more
with stone than is the case today, and about the occurrence of
processed stones many stories are told. In Dompu I was shown a square
stone stool that reputedly originated from the original mountain Doro
Nowa. At Ranggo there is a stone mesan (KOLLA) with a small simple
figure. Likewise at Ranggo there is a stone where one may observe a
number of round, very unclear and irregularly arranged incisions. This
stone was according to people used by ncuhi at their games. Such hollows
can be seen in the so-called cup stones which are also found to be
hollowed out. -Dr. F. C. Bursch, De Westerse mens ontdekt zijn wereld,
p. 83.- Dr. Bursch brings these peculiar hollows in connection with
fire-making. In general people are not keen to provide more information
since there are diverse stories about hidden treasures that various
persons, then, are searching for. By the grafwerk (KOLLA) of the bridge
over the river by Dompu a pot has reportedly been found that contained a
number of coins. The pot has disappeared (WEGGEGOOID) and the coins are
hard to track. There are also several stories of cannons that would
have been found in various places in the hills (OR MOUNDS?) where,
however, people do not readily go since these places are taboo, for
example at Donggo Sumba by Kampung Talobara, Dompu.
[The relief of Karaku.]
More interesting is the stone with a relief and an inscription that
was shown to me in Kampung Karaku. This stone rests on the with one
edge at the mountain and one can assume that there is a clear reason why
the stone is found at this place. Regarding the weight of this stone it
is very unlikely that the stone has been brought from elsewhere to this
place in the midst of a ladang area. The relief is worn down and
vaguely visible but portrays a prince on a throne. Behind him are two
figures who hold the payong over his head and in front of him is another
figure who seems to pay homage. At his feet there is a hint of an
animal that might be a cat-like being. Five other objects in front of
the face of the sitting figure are reminiscent of the skulls of kerbaus
or horses. The type of letters used is according to Professor
Poerbatjaraka Old Javanese, in any case not Makassarese.
[Hindu images.]
Yet more interesting are the antiquities that were encountered by H.
Holtz in 1860 in the Bima area, among them two images that are now in
the museum in Jakarta -Archeologische Collectie, no. 2 and 98.- Mr. E.
W. Orsoy de Flines, conservator of the archaeological collection of the
museum, notes in a personal writing: "No. 2, 80 centimeters high, is a
sitting three-headed Civa (no trimurti as the Groenveldt catalogue
indicates); No. 98, 69 centimeters high, probably depicts a Civa in
Kala-shape; it is very worn, thus unclear. Both images are rough and
almost sloppily made and no. 2 is particularly wry. Regarding the style
they would date to "tenth to twelfth centuries", rather younger than
older."
About his findings Holtz writes: "The two Hindu images were found by
me in a water canal near the kampong Tato, and in the paddy fields of
that kampong were also, under a large kanari tree, two fundaments of
stone encountered, on which, according to the regent (rijksbestuurder)
of Bima, the images were previously placed.
According to the regent these images are from an earlier age (when
the Hindu religion was still practiced by the people here), however,
later, after the acceptance of the Mahometan creed, they were taken from
their place and thrown in the referred water canal."
[Bronze kettledrum.]
Important are also the kettledrums that were discovered by the
controleur Kortleven in the years before the latest world war, of which
one example from the Island of Sangeang is reproduced. -Keteltrom K.B.G.
- Archeologisch Collectie (afd. Prehistorie) no. 3365; 79 centimeters
high.- One these drums are found images of people with ships, elephants
and on the upper surface a sun or star with a varying number of rays and
also some four kikkers (KOLLA). Dr. A. T. T. Van der Hoop brings these
images of kikkers in connection with rain-making, to which end one of
the drums in Bima was used until a short time ago. Dr. van der Hoop
places the bronze age in Indonesia in "the last two-three centuries
before the Christian era". -Stapel I/111.- Bronze kettledrums are also
found in the near-lying Saleier and in Roti. Although the land of
origins of these remarkable objects are sought in Tonkin they were also
cast in Indonesia itself. If the Sumbawans were also capable of this art
is not clear, but a foundry guild (dari owa) is found, to which
according to Zollinger the coppersmiths belong. -For the kettledrums,
see A. Thomassen Thuessink van der Hoop / Stapel I/65 and infra.-
[Portuguese antiquities?]
"On the boat trip over the bay to the capital we briefly visited the
ruins of old Portuguese fortresses: worn down walls around the place,
remains of beams and Schlackerhaufe (KOLLA) of a former Schmiede
(KOLLA), from which previously all kinds of torn church images had been
brought up. Close to these ruins cavities with sacred Hindu objects
would be situated, and not far from the capital Bima a badly preserved
Hindu image of stone was recently dug up, that seems to depict Ganesa.
This finding completes those made earlier which have already been
described." -Elbert, Sunda-Expedition, II, 76.- The last passage alludes
to the images discovered by Holtz. Seemingly these antiquities were
situated north of Bima, west of Kolo.
[Gravehouses of stone.]
Now about graves found southwest of Bima. "Among these were a couple
of graves of a considerable age, both with a verwulfsel (KOLLA), one
being covered by wholly massive limestone and the other by baked stone.
No-one could say how old they were. The latter was conceivably from the
age of the Portuguese, since the production of baked stones is not
practiced among the inhabitants. (Note by Zollinger, p. 99: "All baked
stones at the house of the sultan or the mosque have come from Java.")
The graves of those who died later were partly placed in a MURAD
building covered with TEGELPANNOR, that however had suffered much from
the earthquake. These were at their both ends adorned with sculptured
ornaments; those of the kings or male persons had round, those of the
women flat ornaments. Furthermore they were covered with wood where,
besides flower ornaments, inscriptions in Arabic were incised that gave
the name, the place of birth and the year of death of the deceased.
These were not more than a hundred years old." -Reinwardt, Verslag,
323.- According to Bik these graves are in no way reminiscent of Hindu
antiquities on Java.
"There is however no trace or sign to suggest that a temple or a
particular graveyard existed in the neighborhood, and the regent did not
know anything about that.
By all probability the images are connected to the religion of the
orang Donggo who worshipped a supreme being with the Hindu name of Dewa,
as such images until now are called Dewa Dewa, and to the mountain
people of Bima's northwestern coast, also still known as Donggo and are
still heathens, who now and then come to a similar place as the
forementioned by the kampong Tato, called Batoe Paha, to make
offerings."
"Furthermore I have also been going to the other remains of the Hindu
era that are known here, first to Batoe Paha situated at a small inham
(KOLLA) that is found at the western side of the entrance of the Bima
Bay. A cave is found there, where a small niche seems to be hewn into
the wall and where, on both sides, seven small Hindu images, a foot
long, are incised, while a small spring comes up at the foot of the
cave.
One also finds a similar cave, Koeboer Boelang, close to the kampong
Thee, of bigger size and situated of the mountain there, Doro Thee,
where previously (according to legend) also the Dewa were worshipped.
However, there were no other visible signs than a large birangi tree
just by the entrance." -Holtz, Oudheden van Soembawa, T.I.T.L.V., 1862,
p. 157-158.-
Unfortunately the seven small Hindu images in the cave with the
spring by Batu Paha ("hewn stone"), mentioned by Holtz, have
disappeared, as Rouffaer stated in 1909. Perhaps this was the place
where the Dou Donggo formerly descended once per year to make offerings.
-Zollinger, JIABA, 1848, p. 692.- The entire description is remarkably
reminiscent of the myth of the seven brothers and the spring of
Senambani.
[The expedition to Dompo in 1351.]
The only piece of information about the pre-Muslim period is to be
found in the Old Javanese literature, of which we have already mentioned
the list of dependencies of Majapahit as given in the Nagarakertagama
in 1365. An important communication is handed down in the well-known
chronicle about the princes of Tumapel and Majapahit, the Pararaton, 29,
15, where there is mention of a successful "expedition to Dompo…, under
command by the also from inscriptions known toemenggoeng Lord Nala, who
not only held command at this occasion in 1357, but judging from the
Nagarakertagama text always headed the expeditions" -Krom / Stapel
I/277.-
Professor Berg here alludes to two other Javanese manuscript "of
quite recent date", namely the Pamancangah and the Sorandaka, which
describe the time of King Jayanagara (1309-1328). In the Pamancangah we
are told that two field commanders called Damar and Gajah Mada took the
prince of Bedahulu (Bali) prisoner "but later let him free and put him
in charge over an expedition to Sumbawa where he was victorious though
he was killed". -Indonesie, V (1952), p. 392.- "According to the
Sorandaka Gajah Mada… first… subjugated Sumbawa and subsequently made an
attack on King Papolung of Bedahulu, accompanied by Damar and others".
-loc. cit.- In a note Professor Berg comments: "The fight against
Sumbawa might be the padompo of Pararaton 29, 15".
Although one may not make out what exactly happened from this
information, the scholars take the existence of an armed conflict
between Majapahit and Dompu as established. Krom / Stapel, I, p. 271.-
Professor Berg puts the period when Majapahit expanded its political
power by arms between 1331 and 1351, with the last grand action being
that against Bali in 1343, apart from a war with Sunda in 1351.
-Indonesie V/410.-
The dating of the Sumbawa affair to the year 1351 is based on the
fact that it is supposed to have coincided with the action against the
Sundanese. Professor Berg has shown that this does not give us complete
certainty, since the documents have a combination of names that can be
read as Sunda and Sumbawa, and since according to another text the
Dompunese would have fought side by side with the Sundanese on Java,
against the people of Majapahit. That the Pararaton brings Dompu and
Sunda in connection with each other is possibly because the writer of
this chronicle already knew about such a combination of names and
therefore dated the conflict with Dompu in the same year as the conflict
with Sunda. That does not however mean that Professor Berg doubts the
conflict with Dompu in itself, since also "Nagarakertagama 72, 3
mentions a war against Dompo in a context that gives little reason for
doubt about the veracity of the account, that we moreover also find in
the Pamancangah. It seems to me that we can assume on one hand that
there was an action against Sumbawa, and on the other hand that it did
not lead to the annexation of the island." In note 103: "The Sorandaka
account can be considered worthless and without consideration."
Berg is of the opinion that the Majapahit kingdom included the
regions East Java, Madura and Bali and that it did not possess any
political power in the other areas in well-known list of dependencies,
previously quoted with regard to Sumbawa. "According to the
Nagarakertagama 70, 3 the Kingdom of Majapahit was only expanded towards
Bali / Sadeng, and in 79, 3, where the administration of the state is
described, there is mention of Bali as the only nusantara. Seemingly
Sumbawa did not constitute a part of the Kingdom of Majapahit."
-Indonesie V/412.-
[East Sumbawa a Javanese Far East.]
What was the action against Dompu if it was not about the conquest of
the island? Perhaps - says Professor Berg - it was an expedition with
the aim of bringing a princess from that area to the court of Majapahit.
State power on Java, as he says in a boeiend betoog (KOLLA), was
conceived as a princely marriage contract with the outer areas, the
nusantara. The line of thought is that the prince in a sexual ritual
makes the outer areas like his children through the intercourse with the
female personifications of these areas that have been acquired to the
kingdom through his political power. The number of these nusantara were
put at four in the ritual, in accordance with the well-known four-parts
principle that we also find in Sumbawa. So, when an expedition was sent
to Dompu to fetch a princess that could be held as representative of the
power of that kingdom it does not need to mean that Majapahit has
really subjugated Dompu and brought it within the power of its realm,
but only that the Javanese prince in the verkeer (KOLLA) with such a
princess could appropriate that far eastern kingdom in a ritual way as a
ceremonial child, just as he had brought a princess from Sunda, from
the far west, to his court. Thence would also be explained why Dompu is
mentioned in connection with Sunda, namely since the prince wished to
see a princess not only from the far west (Sunda) but also from the far
east (Dompu). The second expedition was mentioned in the same breath
since they were pendants in a ceremonial sense, without meaning that
they actually took place in the same year. Berg, Indonesie, V/416;
IV/481 sq.-
This juxtaposition, though difficult to prove in strict sense, is
sufficiently attractive and gives a reasonable picture of the actual
course of events. That Majapahit really ruled over Sumbawa is unlikely
since the actual sphere of power in the east in 1343 did not stretch
further than Bali, and did not expand much further to the east after
that time. It is clear however that there was a conflict with Dompu, of
which it is difficult to accept that it was anything else than a dwaze
(KOLLA) knightly adventure. Dompu is too far removed and the Sumbawans
are too dangerous adversaries for that.
On the other hand the idea of acquiring political power through a
marriage should not be thought of as unimportant. If in Majapahit there
was indeed the idea that the prince could gain political power in a
ritual way through sexual intercourse I dare not judge, but it is in my
opinion a thought that does not seem completely foreign to this world.
In the mythology of Sumbawa, too, the original prince is the man who
marries the heavenly woman. However on the other side marriage is a
common form of the total contract and one can more than clearly see that
princely marriage and territorial expansion on Sumbawa are on the same
level. One could for example think of the marriage of the crown prince
of Bima with the daughter of the prince of Gowa, from whence Gowa
derived its definite pretensions on Manggarai. One may indeed see these
marriages as an important episode in the total tributary relationship
and not see the exchange of tribute as an exchange of presents to
express a mutual goodwill. The entire political structure of Sumbawa
itself is based on this conception.
[Political consequences of an inter-aristocratic marriage. Sumbawa 1704.]
That a princely marriage between parties of unequal strength were
more similar to a conquest than an international union of friendship it
to be seen from the protestations that Mas Madina, the Sultan of
Sumbawa, made against the marriage that he concluded in 1704 with Datu
Cita, daughter of Raja Bone.
"Thereupon -thus Valentijn relates- Datoe Locka [the father of Mas
Madina] stated, with regard to the troubles that he saw in this
marriage, that they at the very least had to give a dowry or donation to
the bride consisting of 70 to 80 slaves apart from golden rings and
other vereischte (KOLLA) riches of that size, that could not be ignored.
That he also on the seventh or eighth day, when the newly we couple
would cleanse themselves, according to the laws of the land again would
have give some 40 slaves; third, that the entourage of the bridegroom,
as he went to consummate the ceremony, had to consist of no less than 4
or 500 men to escort him, and yet half that number to attend the queen
in the name of the Sumbawan kingdom, and that they all would have to
perform heavy duties at the Boni court without wages, as they would
spare their own people and be attended by those from Sumbawa outside
their country". -Valentijn, III, 2, p. 202.- When they once, because of
these far from light considerations, pondered whether they could not
make the ties to South Celebes somewhat looser and abstain from their
yearly homage, the Makassarese nobles Karaeng Jarannika and Karaeng
Pamolikang organized raids whereby the princes of Sumbawa were "horribly
plundered".
[State ritual in Sumbawa.]
Now it is possible that in the time of Majapahit's power expansion
there was a quite strongly developed form of the ritual concentrated on
tributary relationships centered on the prince, but precisely because
this is a ritual and it is about real riches, the choice of marriage
partner is not wholly unequal. If the prince of Majapahit really wished
to marry a princess from Dompu one may assume that he did not do so in
the blind. Then there must anyway have been the idea in Majapahit that
also Dompu belonged to Majapahit, although this was not the generally
accepted reality. If one stretches the concept of political power it is
possible to cut it away from the concept of kingdom. The whole structure
of the kingdom is always built upon mutual rights and duties connected
with tributary relations. One may indeed claim that Manggarai did not
belong to the Kingdom of Bima, just as one may claim that Sumbawa did
not belong to the Kingdom of Gowa. Even within the kingdom there were
tensions and conflicts. From the generally quite acceptable standpoint
of Professor Berg one may deduce that Majapahit, as apparent from the
Dompu expedition, believed to have pretensions on that island. If it
could be proven that Dompu or the neighboring kingdoms acknowledged the
pretensions through offering tribute, one could claim that Dompu indeed
belonged to the Kingdom of Majapahit. Regarding that we have no accounts
about that, we should on the basis of the preceding accept that Sumbawa
indeed belonged to the cultural, rather than the political, sphere of
influence of Majapahit, and that the list of "dependencies" was not
quite unreal, at least as far as Sumbawa goes, in the same way as
Manggarai was "subjected" to the Kingdom of Bima.
[Affinity with the Hindu-Javanese cultural world.]
That there are indeed good reasons for accepting that there was a
certain affinity between Iava Minor (as Sumbawa was called in earlier
centuries) and Iava Maior itself, is made clear by a description of
Sumbawan culture itself. It is in the first place in the religious
sphere that we clearly see the cultural impulses related to the old
Java. Perhaps the economy in these days was not very different from the
present one. Cattle and rice are still prominent products of export and
it is characteristic that in Javanese an "overseas horse" is still known
as a jaran kore, a horse from Koreh, the old name of the capital of the
former kingdom of Sanggar that verijwel is weggevaagd (KOLLA) through
the Tambora disaster in 1815.
[Trade contacts in olden times.]
In East Sumbawa the horse is also known by its Javanese name jara.
Professor Hoekstra, in his study over "Paardenteelt op het eiland
Soemba" (Batavia 1948), p. 38, relates that the horse has come from
India through the Hindu influence, and that it was brought to the
presently horse-rich Sumba perhaps only in late eighteenth century,
though there is reason to believe that the horse was known on Sumba long
before that. It would be strange if the horse was known many centuries
earlier on Sumbawa than on Sumba, since Sumbawa made pretensions on
Sumba until 1750 and came the more or less regularly.
Kuperus thinks that the Javanese have made the sawah cultivation
known on Sumbawa. -Kuperus, p. 133.- "The island was often visited by
seafarers since it was rich in victuals, in the first hand rice and
cattle; the Company ships from Batavia to the Moluccas regularly landed
at Bima." -Stapel III/464.- Probably this is the reason why the
Portuguese, whose appearance is mentioned as 1545, came to Bima. Of
other important trading products like the well-known sandelwood there
was, at least for these areas, no mention. From Sumbawa the Company
obtained the sappanwood (Caesalpinia Sappan in Latin), of which the
inner wood was used for dyeing in red, even cotton and silk
-Encyclopaedie I/434.- but this article of trade is of limited
importance although the forced deliveries of this product ended only in
1674. Mainly the trade would have been in rice, as appears from a letter
from the General Governor van Diemen to the Heren Bewindhebbers from
1643, where he writes: "Through the Makassarese, Malays and other
foreign nations we have obtained from Macassar and Bima a large quantity
of nice white rice, so that grain, God be praised, is quite abundant in
Batavia… Java also produces rice, but to emphasize before the
headstrong Mattaram that we are not deprived of rice, no Javanese rice
is opgeslagen (KOLLA) and the purveyors told to stay out." -Tiele,
Bouwstoffen, Tweede Reeks, III, 135.
[Roads and villages.]
Probably the villages then were not situated along the major road but
possibly on a hilltop close to a river or in any case close to ground
fit for habitation, surrounded by a wall of piled-up stones (of which
one may still see remains at the original site of Dompu) or by densely
growing hedges. Horse- and footpaths would have been the foremost lines
of communication, in the more distant areas not much more than a grillig
(KOLLA) track, otherwise so sizeable that armed troops of hundreds of
people could pass along them. The big motor-road along the whole length
of the Island of Sumbawa was not completed until about 1920.
[Weaving industry.]
A certain weaving industry is mentioned already by Speelman in his
"Notitie". Cotton was spun from which coarse cloths were woven,
wherewith for example the tribute to Gowa was paid. In Makassar these
cloths were worn by the lesser man or, after intermittent processing,
exported to Manila under the name sarassa oedjon pandan. That there was
no important economic intercourse in Speelman's times is seen from what
he tells about the means of payment. These were "Spanish Reals and
copper pitties from Japara that were valued as 2.000 to 2.500 to a Real;
however, in lack of these one may there [i.e., in the Island of
Sumbawa] and on the whole island come to terms with old iron, needles
and knives."
[Population density.]
How large the population was in olden times is difficult to estimate,
the more since the picture is complicated by the Tambora disaster in
1815. It is once again Speelman who provides a (perhaps exaggerated)
estimate of the military potential in his time, which he describes as
follows:
"During the Makassarese rule the strengh of that island was usually in recent times estimated as follows:
Sambauwa with 10.000 heads and the best soldiers.
Dompo with 8.000 heads, in reputation after them [i.e., Sumbawa].
Tambora with 2.000 heads, mostly horsemen.
Sanggar with 800.
Papeeka with 800.
Biema
with 6.000, these being the first in ranking but the last in reputation
of courage, being generally very scared people." -Speelman, Notitie, p.
379.-
[Entrepot for spice trade since the fourteenth century?]
One may suggest that the Island of Sumbawa became of increasing
importance for the trade between the eastern regions, especially the
Moluccas, and the western kingdoms, the rising trading emporium of
Malakka and the Javanese traders. After the beginning of the fourteenth
century one may imagine the Island of Sumbawa as a station on the way
for traders, a region that was of importance not in the first place
because of its own products but because of its geographical location on
the route of trade, just as it also in later centuries had some
importance for whalers as a station on the route between Australia and
the Philippines, who passed the Sape Strait east of Sumbawa through
which also Sir Francis Drake sailed on his famous journey. The company
steadily brought this intercourse down: in 1667 for Gowa, in 1683 for
Ternate and in 1705 for Java. Only through the contracts of 1857 and
1858 the international trade was allowed once again. Thus the Island of
Sumbawa in many respects became an archaic land.
The image of the old Sumbawa, as it is depicted in the myth before
the introduction of the Hukum about the middle of the seventeenth
century, has many traits in common with the society that forms the
background of the Javanese toneel (KOLLA), as Rassers calls it. It is a
world of though related with that of the Mahabharata, where Bhima was a
central figure, according to Stutterheim the center of a religious
movement in the last centuries of Majapahit. In the total set of
ceremonies, of which the organization of the kingdom was the exponent,
one discerns a salvation doctrine where the holy water is of great
importance. One may read about initiation and princely consecration,
about marriage and wealth, about snake, cat-like creature and horse.
There is a royal council based on a caste-like organization in
functional-ceremonial groups. There is a detailed exchange of tribute.
All this is not sufficient to give a clear picture of the real social
conditions but clear enough to prove the affinity with the Old Javanese
world.
[Islam since the early sixteenth century.]
Islam has considerably gewijzigt (KOLLA) this picture, especially
through the isolation of the princely power, deriving from the attitude
of the Hukum, but not changed beyond recognition. It is about such a
world that the historical sources start to speak a clearer language in
the beginning of the seventeenth century. The sources are not verbose
and they do not always elucidate the central cultural complex, but they
give a more or less coherent account of events.
[Number of kingdoms.]
There were, then, six kingdoms, namely Bima, Sumbawa, Dompu, Tambora,
[Sanggar,] and Pekat or Papekat, but one should consider that we have
to do with centers that questioned each other's independence. Thus
Stapel III/464 does not mention Papekat, or the map of 1681 Sanggar. In
the Kingdom of Bima Bolo had a certain independence; in Dompu the
district of Kempo and in olden times seemingly also Huu; in Sumbawa
various districts had so much independence that it sometimes looked like
a league of states. Taliwang was in fact an independent entity for a
long time. According to the Daghregister, 1674/274-278 Dompu asserted
that an area called Tibore, where the places Wouwoe, Soukou, Tompo and
Kalikon were situated, had to be considered part of Dompu, a claim that
according to Raja Tibore was founded on nothing. On the map of 1681 one
sees the names Kalonco and Tombo in the southeast corner of the Kingdom
of Tambora. In the royal council of Dompu sat a jeneli Tompo, probably
coming from this name that did not exist any more by then. East of D.
Kabumbu lay the land of Corretalouga that was later a bone of contention
between Tambora and Dompu and in 1748 was divided by arbitration by the
Company along a line going east of a mountain by the place called
Tompo, with an eastern portion for Dompu and a western portion for
Tambora. From a letter from 1826 of which I found a copy in Dompu it
appears that the then sultan still considered himself slighted. Tambora
and Dompu experienced further border conflicts until in 1815 the Kingdom
of Tambora was completely swept away.
[Influence outside Sumbawa.]
It is, in this situation, even more difficult to decide whether areas
outside Sumbawa were parts or dependencies of these kingdoms, as when
Abdul Khair writes in 1674 that the Kingdom of Bima before the conquest
by Gowa extended to "Mangay [Manggarai], Sumba, Solor, the two islands
poulo Sauwa [Savu]" -Daghregister 1674, p. 273.- If one holds too
strictly to the constitutional image of a modern state, the entire
existence of kingdoms becomes dubious. In any case the sultans
Abdulhamid, Abdulkadir etc. made efforts to confirm their power over
Manggarai, of which charters of appointment issued for some chiefs in
1784 give a hint. On the insistence of the Netherlands Indies Government
the Sultan Bima kept for some period a benteng at Bari (Manggarai)
against the pirates.
[Sumba, Manggarai.]
In his memorial of 1726 the governor Gobius writes: "Each year the
King of Bima sends mission of two to three ships to Soemba and Magarai
in order to collect the tribute, usually consisting of 40 to 50 slaves
or one slave from every negorij, whereto the population is sometimes not
acquiescent but are forced by weapons. The aforementioned imagined or
real ownership of Soemba and Mangaray appears much less opzigtelijk
(KOLLA) than the frequentation of Makassarese from Gowa; however, when
the traffic of Christian burghers is allowed these could be afgezoet
(KOLLA) by the time."
[Gowa and Manggarai.]
About the pretensions of Bima on Manggarai there are some
misunderstandings, probably due to an unclear passage in Zollinger, who
made a note at the year 1727: "A prince marries a princess from Goa.
Manggarai is donated as dowry." This alludes to the marriage concluded
in this year between the later Sultan of Bima Alauddin and Karaeng
Tanasanga, daughter of Sultan Sirajuddin of Gowa. Probably because of
Zollinger's notice the Encyclopaedie I/307 says: "In 1727 a son of the
Bimanese raja married a raja's daughter from Gowa and received Manggarai
on Flores as dowry." As one may read in van der Velde, exactly the
opposite was meant. On p. 13 in his article Zollinger, however, says:
The sultans of Bima alleged already in olden times to have sovereignty,
not only over the western part of Flores known by the name of Mangareij
but over all the islands in the Mangareij and Sapie Straits, even over
the Sandelwood Island Poeloe Soemba." The misunderstanding about the
claims of Gowa are also found in C. Nooteboom, T.B.G. (1939), 223; J.
Gonda, B.K.I. 103 (1946), p. 17. Correct is C. Coolhaas in his
interesting article "Bijdrage tot de kennis van het manggaraische volk
(West-Flores)", TKNAG LIX (1942), p. 165. Van der Velde tells us that
Bima asserted not to have ceded Manggarai in 1727 and that the claims of
Gowa in later times would be unfounded; at any case Gowa could not show
any written piece of evidence of this transfer.
Also, one should not have an exaggerated image of Bima's power on
Sumba, for after having given the Company a lofty impression of the
possibilities of this island a Bimanese expedition under Jeneli Monta in
1677 was ignominiously put to flight by the Sumbanese. After having
been under the nominal rule of Bima for centuries Sumba placed itself
under the Company in Kupang in 1750.
[Sumbawa and Selaparang (Lombok).]
Also the Kingdom of Sumbawa had to give up its claims on the
neighboring areas, namely those on Selaparang (Lombok). In this case
however that did not happen without lengthy fighting, that will be
described in detail below. About West Sumbawa there are less information
available, but they give the impression that the kingdoms situated here
could muster more power than those in East Sumbawa, so that the total
image of the culture of the West Sumbawan kingdoms was little influenced
by contacts with their dependencies.
[Contacts with the court in Gowa.]
Evident is, however, the cultural and also political emphasis of the
old Kingdom of Gowa that also, as we saw above, had more to tend in
Manggarai than the Kingdom of Bima itself. The year 1667 when the
official political ties between Sumbawa and South Celebes were broken,
has been chosen as the starting point of the modern age. It is
self-evident that not all the relations were broken off at once in that
year, for Makassarese rogues and robbers - as the Company often
characterized them - had their hand in all kinds of internal conflicts
far into the eighteenth century. Marriage relations between the princely
houses of South Celebes and those of Bima and Sumbawa were very
frequent, and Makassar actually lost its importance as a cultural hub
for Sumbawa when the Kingdom of Gowa itself began to crumble. The
grandees of the Island of Sumbawa are forthwith found in the court of
Gowa for a long time. There was also a Makassarese who functioned as
commissioner for Sumbawan affairs. Speelman mentions that Dompu, Bima
and Tambora each had to keep 40 men in Makassar available for Raja Gowa,
who were replaced every new monsoon. According to Matthes Sumbawa and
Bima had the duty to deliver 40 kapoenen (KOLLA) each year to the Sultan
of Gowa. -Matthes, Ethnologie, p. 89.- As for this tribute it is of
course not question of the value (since there were in reality no doubt
much larger duties) but about the principle whereby Sumbawa acknowledged
its tributary duties towards Gowa.
[Alauddin conquers Sumbawa in 1626.]
From the diary of Gowa it appears that the conquest of Sumbawa by
Sultan Alauddin of Gowa took place between 1616 and 1626. How exactly
this was done does not appear from the brief diary notices, but it did
not happen without resistance on the part of Sumbawa. Thus the diary
notes on 13 November: "It is said that the Bimanese have come to rebel."
Then follows on 25 November a remark: "Karaeng-ri-Burane departs for
Bima in order to fight the rebels", followed by a final note on 7 April
1633: "Karaeng-ri-Burane comes back from Bima", and on 21 June 1633:
"The Bimanese themselves are coming. The king speaks; they agree."
[Violent action by Gowa in 1632.]
In this case we know from the Daghregister how we should read these
lapidary notices: "The 23rd -May 1633- the ship Brouwershaven returns
hither from Bima, and brings its -on 24 January 1633- accompanying cargo
back unused since no trade has been possible to carry out there or in
the areas around there, because on their arrival all the rice, hijsen
(KOLLA) and all the negrijs of Bima were burnt, exterminated and
destroyed and the whole land was ravaged by the Makassarese armada the
strength of which was about 400 ships and several thousands of men who
were present in Bima, hurriedly sent there by the King of Macassar in
order to reinstate the King of Bima, his brother-in-law, in his land, as
he had been expelled by his subjects (who rebelled against him) and
brought to the island Gounong Apij, situated close to Bijma.
At the arrival of the said armada the rebellious inhabitants of Bima
all fled to the mountains, without having… come back when the ship
Brouwershaven departed from there; he assured however that after the
departing of the Makassarese who were constantly around them, he did not
dare display the missive of Mr. General or permit any trade without the
license of the King of Macassar (under whom he and the whole Island of
Cumbala were subjected).
The King of Macassar had generally issued order on Combawa and other
islands in the vicinity that our ships who appeared the would be
provided with water and provisions but not allowed any trade, whereby
the senior merchant Marten Valck, seeing no opportunity to make any
trade in Bima, Rabe, in the Bay of Core Cumbawa, or Panjarockan, set
sail again in order to withdraw to Batavia." From the following it
appears that there was a Makassarese blockade of the entire northern
coast of the island.
It can be seen from this that Gowa deployed a considerable force to
keep Bima down. The Bimanese tradition still keeps reminiscences about
the flight of the king and says that he fled for his brother who was
then king of Sanggar. Speelman relates in his "Notitie" that the
troubles arose since the king stood too much under the pressure of Gowa
whose sultan was his brother-in-law. Influential groups in the
population were dissatisfied with this. Perhaps the resistance was
against the attempts of the king to give more influence to Islam that
was officially adopted in the royal council under his son.
[Resistance against Gowa 1639/40.]
Speelman also relates that the rebellious elements had support from
Dompu although the Sultan of Dompu not resisted the Makassarese as they
came to reistate Abdul Kahir on the throne. They had - as Raja Dompu
says - conflict with Bima but not with Makassar. Probably there is a
connection here with a notice in the diary [of Gowa] on 12 August 1639,
where it is noted: "News come that the Bimanese are about to rebel", and
another on 18 June 1640: "The Dompunese made into slaves by the King
Tuwammenang-ri-papambatunna [Muhammad Sa'id]." The stern action of the
Makassarese could also explain why the brother of Sultan Bima according
to Bimanese tradition found reason to escape to Sumba.
[Marriage relations.]
Seemingly the princes of Sumbawa had adapted themselves to the
suzerainty of Gowa as Abdulkhair, who acceded to the throne of Bima in
1640, in 1646 married Karaeng Bontojene, a daughter of Muhammad Sa'id,
the Sultan of Gowa, and in 1658 with Karaeng Paikka, daughter of another
grandee of Gowa, namely the tumailalang of Gowa Karaeng Cinerana.
According to Bimanese tradition Abdulkhair helped Gowa in the fighting
with Bone in 1646, and the marriage following on that is perhaps an
acknowledgement of its good service. According to Braam Morris it is
from this fight that the stately horse (jara mangila) dates, that the
Sultan of Bima supposedly rode. It is probably not correct that a
stately horse was obtained only then, but only the one that carried the
name of Kapitang. No doubt the Gowans considered the prince of Bima as
an important man. Not only since he had married prominent Gowan wives
but also since in 1666 he was the sub-commander in the Gowan army under
the Makassarese commander Karaeng Bontomaranno.
[West Sumbawa more powerful.]
About West Sumbawa in this time less is known. The Dutch seemingly
had more contacts with the east than with the west and the princes of
the west therefore appear less in the oldest accounts. Also, the diary
of Gowa tells less about West Sumbawa, perhaps since they found that the
stronger kingdoms in the west were not so easy to govern. Already in
1616 they made an incursion in this area that subsequently was conquered
by Alauddin in 1626. Here, too, we find mention of a rising against the
prince, in this case from the mountain negorijen (Donga) that was
suppressed with assistance from Gowa. In the same year as this rising,
1648, the diary [of Gowa] mentions yet a notice, namely that a certain
Maas Pamayan, son of the prince of Selaparang (Lombok), accedes to the
throne. Whether there was any connection between this succession and the
rebellion is not apparent.
[Declining power.]
Selaparang is the place where the Prince of Lombok brought the seat
of his kingdom in the end of the sixteenth century when Islam began to
penetrate, something that according to tradition took place under the
violent propaganda of Sunan Parapen, the priestly prince of Giri
(southwest of Gresik on Java) -H. J. de Graaf, De regeering van
Panembahan Senapati, V.K.I., part XIII (1954), p. 60.- Seemingly the
people of West Sumbawa did not take up Islam right away, since in 1575,
together with the Balinese, they assisted the prince of the Hindu
kingdom of Balambangan in East Java to conquer Panarukan. Later Sumbawa
became Muslim and Bali remained faithful to the old religion and then a
conflict over the hegemony on Lombok broke loose between Sumbawa and
Lombok that after a worsteling (KOLLA) of one century ended with a
definite defeat for the Sumbawans.
[Support for anti-Company actions?]
West Sumbawa was perhaps for Gowa more of an ally than a subjected
region. In any case we do not find West Sumbawa, of whose power even
Speelman had a high opinion, at Buton with the other princes of East
Sumbawa who were assembled there to stengthen Gowa's power that was
defeated by Speelman in 1666. The King Maschijne - as Speelman says - or
Maas Cini - according to the diary of Gowa - did appear before Buton
with nine "smart vessels" but only when the outcome of the fight had
been decided. After that he appeared the in the following year before
Makassar, but then, too, he was content with scouting and finally
quietly disappeared back to Sumbawa before Speelman had had any chance
to speak with him. There he ceded his throne to his brother Maas Gowa,
in the way that princes in this region were humbled after having
committed a political mistake.
The abovementioned Maas Pamayan was then seemingly not the prince any
more, since in 1655 Maas Cini married Karaeng Panaikkang, a daughter of
Raja Tello, and in 1662 with Karaeng Bontojene, the daughter of Sultan
Muhammad Sa'id of Gowa, who had earlier been married to the Sultan of
Bima. He had a handicap, tells Speelman, "having only one foot" since
the other had been lost through a horse's bite.
[Stroeve (KOLLA) position towards the Company.]
That West Sumbawa possessed more power is also seen from the way they
put up their leg against the Company. A contract was concluded under
strong pressure, and as it had once been concluded they did not hold on
to it too strictly, so that the Company repeatedly had to complain about
the slowness in the deliverances of sappan wood. In general the princes
of Sumbawa did not hurry to Makassar at the beginning of their reign to
give the oath. It is a "konkelnest" (KOLLA) the resident complains as
late as 1801. As Gowa had once fallen the Makassarese who departed
because they did not want to accept the situation in their country found
a stronghold in West Sumbawa in the first place, while the kingdoms of
East Sumbawa more distanced themselves from Gowa out of respect for the
Dutch. Makassare often assisted in the fight with the Balinese over
Lombok, probably in the expectation that Sumbawa would not decline to
support the activities of Makassarese immigrants. Such support was
indeed given by Sumbawa.
[Retrospection.]
If one surveys these hazy events the image emerges of a number of
kingdoms who for centuries lay in the radiation sphere of the
Hindu-Javanese culture. What the relation with Java was in sixteenth
century we do not know, especially since so little is known about the
history of Java in this period. -See de Graaf.- After a short
intervening period of relations with the Moluccas came, in the beginning
of the seventeenth century, the power of Gowa that was shattered but
not broken in 1667. We do not see much of a politics of political
preponderance among the Sumbawan kingdoms themselves, in the east even
less than in the west, although it should be borne in mind that the
history of such regions as Manggarai and Sumba is very little known.
[Repercussions of events outside Sumbawa.]
It was also in the first place repercussions of the great events
outside Sumbawa that decided the course of history on this island. We
saw Dompu appear in the light of history for the first time when the
Kingdom of Majapahit expanded its power, at it vanishes in the dark as
also Java vanishes, appearing again only when it is drawn in the power
expansion of Gowa and subsequently of the colonial realm of the Dutch.
The way in which the relations between Sumbawa and Gowa were broken
in the years 1666 and 1667, at least on the surface, is seen from the
events concerning Gowa in these years, as more extensively described by
Stapel. Of these matters we will only give the main lines.
[The fall of Gowa.]
This is in the main the history of the tug-of-war over the supremacy
between the Portuguese and Dutch that was decided by Speelman, the first
of the few who have given important informations about Sumbawa. What
would have happened if the Portuguese and not the Dutch had got the most
influence in these regions can only be guessed at, but one may guess
that perhaps all of Celebes and all of Sumbawa together with the
Philippines would have formed a Catholic bloc since centuries.
Catholicism has only made inroads in this century, after an eclipse of
some centuries, and has now, with the christianization of Manggarai made
its entrance in the spere of power of the nowadays orthodox Muslim
Sumbawa.
According to Gervaise, an author of the seventeenth century, who is
otherwise anything from impartial, there was initially an interest for
Christianity in South Celebes. The prince of Soppeng supposedly accepted
Christianity himself, although Xaverius never worked in South Celebes.
After the conquest of the other Goa in India in 1510 followed in 1511
the Portuguese conquest of Malacca, where in 1558 the bishopric of
Malacca was installed, that embraced the whole Archipelago. -de Graaf,
Geschiedenis, p. 127.- With the seafaring Makassarese thay had no doubt
had contacts from the beginning. Gervaise depicts the situation thus,
that it was more or less by chance that Christianity did not definitely
gain foot in South Celebes. Islam and Christianity would have come
within sight of the Gowans at about the same time and the Prince of Gowa
would have pledged to himself that he would accept the religion whose
official represents first came to him, and that were the envoys from the
queen of Aceh. If indeed Islam in South Celebes was brought in from
Sumatra, as tradition says, is not entirely sure. There are also hints
that Giri on Java could have had a part in this conversion. -de Graaf,
De regeering van Senapati Ingalaga, p. 61.- However, in any case
Christianity was not seen adversely at the beginning. Even two sons of
Ma-alle (with whom Gervaise seemingly means the Prince of Gowa) called
Louis Daeng Rorou and Louis Dauphin Toulalo would have been raised by
the Jesuits in Paris. -Gervaise, Description historique du royaume de
Macacar, 1688, p. 6.- Otherwise Gervaise fails to mention that the
Portuguese, in spite of their apparent missionary zeal, were no models
of Christian zachtmoedigheid (KOLLA). Their behavior in the Moluccas
finally enraged the Moluccan princes so strongly that in 1575, under
Sultan Babullah of Ternate, they delivered such a heavy blow at the
Portuguese power that it could never cope up with the consequences. But
there were, especially after the Dutch had conquered Malacca from the
Portuguese in 1641, more than enough Portuguese left in Makassar to
exert influence there. In 1660 there were some 2000. -de Graaf,
Geschiedenis, p. 199.-
Gervaise is thus not quite wrong when he makes a bitter remark on the
Dutch: "It is already known that it is through their intrigues and
their calumnies that the Catholics and the missionaries have been
expelled and that they would rather see Mahomet reigning, whose
completely sensual morale has much in common with the maxims of
Calvinism, than to see [the Makassarese] follow Jesus Christ, whose
doctrine is a continuous condemnation of their behavior". -op. cit., p.
171.-
[The Company and Gowa.]
The facts about the fight of the Dutch with Gowa are shortly as
follows. The fight over the trading monopoly had already led to an
eruption in 1660, after which, according to a provisional peace, the
Portuguese must leave the city. A definite solution was however not
reached in 1660, also since the English added to the fire after the
naval war with the Netherlands. Moreover the Kingdom of Gowa itself
appeared as the usual political force of these forms of organization:
more a mosaic of smaller units connected by contracts than a
totalitarian bloc. In this mosaic Sumbawa), and then appeared before
Makassar in 1667, that was taken after hard fighting. Subsequently the
Bongaai treaty was signed in 1667 that would have such important
consequences for Sumbawa. Once again the fighting flared up but in 1669
the Prince of Gowa definitely had to subject himself to the Company. The
official contact between South Celebes and Sumbawa was herewith broken
off, although for many years, far into the seventeenth [sic, for
eighteenth] century Makassarese dissatisfied elements looked for support
i.a. in Sumbawa in attempting to rebuild the old power.
[Attitude of Sumbawa.]
Sumbawa chose the side of Gowa in this contest, no doubt after
careful deliberations of the power relationships, since a wrong choice
was expected to bring reprisals from either the one or the other victor.
Also, Bone was not situated much further away than Gowa. For weak
kingdoms such as those on Sumbawa it was simply an act of
self-perseverance when they chose the side of the probable victor. The
choice of a victor that finally turned out to be the defeated was
justified to the extent that the Company did not aim to anchor the
preponderance of Bone any more than that of Gowa. Through that manner of
oscillating between the fighting parties the Sumbawan kingdoms finally
managed to preserve their independence within narrow limits for
centuries.
In accordance with this policy of cunning neutrality Sumbawa took a
reserved friendly position against the Dutch. Foreign ships, as we saw
on page had to load provisions w
In the history of Sumbawa we should distinguish between two periods. Part 2
Jumat, 07 Oktober 05 - oleh : arief
II. From 17 November 1667 until 11 April 1815.
[The contract of 1669.]
It speaks for itself that Speelman did not consider the matter
concluded by this. In 1668 there were envoys from Sumbawa in Makassar in
order to negotiate a treaty, but as new conflicts arose between the
Makassarese and the Dutch they withdrew to their land without having
concluded a contract. -Daghregister 1668-1669, p. 445.- Only as the
Makassarese had to bow before the Company for good in mid 1669 the
envoys appeared again to conclude the first contract on 1 October 1669,
whereby they again gave up the contact with Makassar and gave the
Company a monopoly on trade. The King of Bima was represented by Jeneli
Monta and another jeneli (Zenelijwdo?), Dompu by Tureli Huu; furthermore
there was another person from the Sara Mbojo (royal council) whose
function is not indicated. The envoys explained that their princes would
have liked to come but that they had important reasons to excuse
themselves. The princes did of course not give as reason their fear for
the "just punishment" that had been promised them in article 15 of the
Bongaai treaty, but insisted that "we [the kings] are the only ones in
the lands of Biema and Dompo, daar het volck sich aan gelegen laat
(KOLLA)… If we came over to you in Macassar the whole people would be
scattered, since they are only forest and thuij (KOLLA) people,
unmannered, stupid and without understanding, who do not grasp the
reason." -Corpus II, p. 421/1.-
However, they did get away from Speelman that easily, for he added to
the contract that in any case the Prince of Dompu "with the foremost
ones" now would have to appear before the general and the council in
Batavia, while the Sultan of Bima, if he could absolutely not come, in
any case had to send Tureli Nggampo, who had not been able to come to
Makassar. He was sick and "lecht (KOLLA) very badly". -Corpus II, p.
425, 426/1.-
[The first embassy in 1671.]
After a long delay appeared in Decenber 1671 a first embassy to
Batavia, but again the princes were not accompanying it. It consisted of
Jeneli Kilo for Dompu and the syahbandar for Bima. Batavia was not
satisfied with this constellation, since they very well understood the
reasons why the princes of Bima and Dompu "were not at all inclined".
-Daghregister 1670, p. 177.-
[The second embassy in 1673.]
On 17 August 1673 a second embassy showed up, this time consisting of
Jala Luodijn (Jalal Uddin), a son of Raja Bima, and further state
dignitaries from Dompu, three in number with a following of 60 persons.
On 12 October 1673 they appeared before the Governor General and the
council and withdrew on 28 December 1673 to their land after having been
"purveyed at a certain place outside the city gate, etc." on 23
December. -Daghregister 1673, p. 349.-
[The troubles of 1672/73.]
The accounts that this second embassy carried were of the sort that
Batavia indeed found reason to excuse the princes of Bima and Dompu for
their absence, and further to look away from the detailed written
confession of guilt that the Prince of Bima had submitted. -Daghregister
1668-1669, p. 365.-
In the years 1672 and 1673, namely, the princes of Bima and Dompu had
encountered difficulties with Makassarese malcontents who had hoped to
find support with them for their actions against the Company. There was
murder and plundering. Bima was burnt down in 1673.
This is connected with the situation in Makassar itself where various
parties intrigued. One finds there a group of Boniers who behaved in an
overbearing fashion towards the Makassarese since they had contributed
to their submission, and also towards the Dutch since these needed their
help. One also finds a group around Raja Gowa who in this situation had
no other choice than to throw in his lot with the Dutch. And also there
was a third group that first supported the first group since they
anyway dared face the Dutch, and then the second since they hated the
Boniers. All tried to attract the interest of the princes on the Island
of Sumbawa in one way or another.
The Makassarese were particularly infuriated since in 1669 they had
to humble themselves in Batavia "with a grand following of kings and
other grandees" (about 700 men and women) due to their "headstrongness".
Among those many people for whom it was imagined "how heavy and bitter
this deep humiliation must have been felt for them" was also Harun
Arrasyid, Prince of Tello and son-in-law of Raja Bima. -Corpus II/412.-
On 26 December 1669 this event took place in Batavia and on 30 October
1670 Harun Arrasyin appeared in Tello. On 5 August 1671 Karaeng
Galesong, half-brother of Raja Gowa, went thither as well.
[Actions of Harun Arrasyid and the Sumbawans.]
Seemingly the kings of Bima and Dompu could not be persuaded to take
action, since Harun Arrasyid looked for help in the Kingdom of Sumbawa
where the former commander of the Gowan power, Karaeng Bontomaranno, and
a certain Karaeng Tellolo, a nephew of Harun Arrasyid, had gone. The
Sumbawans fetched assistance from the Banjarese, the son of whose prince
was married to a daughter of the Prince of Sumbawa. This assembled
power then effected a verdict of revenge on Dompu and Bima and thus
caused the aforementioned troubles.
[Death of Harun Arrasyid in 1673.]
The fight was bitter and on 16 June 1673 the diary of Gowa mentions
without comments the decease of the Prince of Tello. If Harun Arrasyid
fell in the fighting is not apparent, but there were rumors that
Abdulkhair had the corpse of his son-in-law dug up and burnt.
-Daghregister 1673, p. 340.- These were the events immediately preceding
the dispatch of the second embassy.
[Further attempts by the Makassarese malcontents.]
The departure of the second embassy was the sign for the Makassarese
malcontents to look outside the Island of Sumbawa for allies in the
campaign of vengeance against Bma and Dompu. The final aim was,
according to rumors circulating, to depose the princes of Bima and Dompu
and proclaim Karaeng Bontomarannu as paramount prince of the two united
kingdoms. -Daghregister 1674. p. 252.- They first turned to Banten
where Karaeng Bontomaranno went in 1674 together with Mangappa, a
brother of Harun Arrasyid who tried to organize an expedition to punish
the desecration of Harun Arrasyid's grave. -Daghregister 1674, p. 346;
1675, p. 7.-
[Their appearance in East Java in 1677.]
For Sumbawa these attempts did not have any further negative
consequences. In Banten the fugitive Makassarese behaved so tactless
that they found it wise to meddle into the conflict between Trunajaya
and Mataram in the eastern salient of Java. Karaeng Galesong had
seemingly less faith in the summon for Banten since he co- signed the
contract that was concluded with the Kingdom of Sumbawa in Makassar on
12 February 1676. After that, however, we find him in the tumult of war
on Java where he died from wounds he received in 1679. Karaeng
Bontomaranno and Mangappa had already fallen in 1677. -De Graag,
Geschiedenis, p. 212-222.- It was finally, again, in the fight against
Cornelis Speelman that they found their deaths.
[Jan Francen Holsteyn, 1674.]
In Batavia it was anticipated in 1673 that the death of Harun
Arrasyid would not settle things. There was no particularly fear of
serious complications in Sumbawa, since it was assumed that Bima and
Dompu could manage themselves against the Makassarese and their
collaborators. "We trust that the kings and their people are now aware
that they could prudently defend themselves against this treacherous
motley crew and completely rinse their lands from them." -Daghregister
1673, p. 356.- However, they decided to send a fleet of eight ships,
that was decided for the eastern quarters and was to pick up an embassy
on the way back, to Sumbawa in order to keep the situation under
surveillance. This fleet stood under the command of Jan Francen
Holsteyn.
[21 months of sighing.]
The Holsteyn expedition was certainly not a triumph march and when he
finally came back to Batavia on 1 October 1675 he bitterly wrote that
he had been "sighing around everywhere for about 21 months" on Sumbawa.
-Daghregister, 1675.- It is true however that it was meanwhile heard
from Makassar that the Kingdom of Sumbawa in the middle of 1674 had
found it wisest to send envoys in order to conclude a contract, when
after five years it had cared little about article 15 that Bima and
Dompu signed in 1669, where these kingdoms promised to declare Sumbawa
"as enemy and after all capability do harm to it."
[Contract with Sanggar, 1674.]
At the beginning things went easy enough. With the petty kingdom of
Sanggar Holsteyn concluded an agreement on 12 August 1674 where it was
accepted without problem that it was to acknowledge the King of Dompu as
its "lawful lord and king". -Corpus II, p. 500.- But when he finally
landed at the Kingdom of Sumbawa it had to be said that "the Captain Jan
Francen without anticipation has found things quite differently on
Sumbawa than what was thought." It was even considered if it would not
be better to "send a good troop thither of the most experienced
Buginese" -Daghregister 1675, p. 29.- since it was feared that
malcontent Makassarese could bring Sumbawa into a war with Bima and
Dompu, but in May 1675 it was mentioned that this danger had receded.
-Corpus II, 542.-
[In Suckelenburg; confirmation of the contract of 1675.]
Meanwhile Holsteyn had an anything than pleasant time in Sumbawa so
that he even had to erect a fortification that he ironically gave the
name "pager Succelenburgh" and which he again geslecht (KOLLA) at his
departure. -Daghregister 1674, p. 257.- In this fort the contract was
confirmed in 1675, that the envoys of King Mas Gowa had concluded in
Makassar last year. -Corpus II, p. 492, 542.-
[Swartius on the Sumbawans in 1668.]
Mas Gowa did not much enjoy his pro-Netherlands policy. His
predecessor and brother Mas Cini had had to abdicate his throne in 1667
since he feared that his country would be affected by the
dissatisfaction of the Dutch due to his choice of party in the Gowa war.
Mas Gowa had initially courteously refused to heed the request by the
Company to also make a contract. Swartius, who had visited the court of
Sumbawa with that purpose in 1668, gives a lively description of the
reception at the court, of which he says "that from the port until his
court there was a rinquet (KOLLA) made of more than thousand people
sitting in a very ordered line right down on their hurcken (KOLLA) with
their shields right before their upper end, many of which had spears and
assegais which were very beautiful with incised gold and silver, and
one could see many with golden krises; right before the king, close by
him, sat two rows of twelve lifeguards with spears that were elaborated
with gold as well as silver, and opposite him on the nether floor were
all his grandees." -Speelman, Notitie, p. 374.-
[Mas Gowa, 1667-1676.]
Of Mas Gowa Swartius says: "The king was a young man with the
appearance of being about 20 a 21 years, of very beautiful stature with
long hair hanging down to the shoulders." From what further happened to
Mas Gowa one gets the impression, that the kings of Sumbawa also later
provoke, that he was to a high degree dependent on the approval of his
grandees of state. As he once confirmed the contract in 1675 that he had
nor wished to conclude in 1668, he had to do with "many kinds of
enemies", not only among the Makassarese staying in his kingdom but also
among his own grandees of state who even "banished" him due to the
contract, so that he "had to live in the forest in the month June".
[Mas Banten, 1676-1701.]
His hope that he "might be king for yet one or two years" with the
Company's assistance was not fulfilled, however, since he was deposed in
1676 and replaced by Mas Banten (1676-1701) who in 1676 had a new
contract made through his envoys in Makassar. Sultan Mas Banten
abdicated his throne already in 1701. Until his decease in 1713 he was
known as Datu Loka (old prince). In Corpus III, p. 24, Stapel expresses
himself somewhat unclear, since the events mentioned there (dispatch of
the embassy to Batavia, troubles under Daeng Tellolo etc.) did not fall
after but before the arrival of Holsteyn in Sumbawa.
[Little support from the allies.]
That Captain Holsteyn had it so unpleasant in Sumbawa was partly due
to the attitude of Bima and Dompu, who did not respond to Jan Francen's
repeated requests for military assistance. Finally, in the end of 1674,
Batavia was so worried about his lot that a second fleet under Gerrit
Coster was dispatched om eens pooshoogte te nemen (KOLLA). When Batavia
later angrily inquired about the sluggishness of the "allies" they
explained in detail that they did not lack zeal but that the merchant
Paulus de Bock had assured them that they must not give too high regard
for this matter, since the Company came to carry on trade and not to
wage war. Sultan Bima had repeated conflicts with de Bock. Valentijn
relates about this de Bock that when he was a senior merchant in
Makassar in 1680, "as he sat with his stoep (KOLLA) talking with some
friends he was impaled with a kris from behind, by one of his slaves
with whose wife he had an affair". -Valentijn, III, 2, p. 136.-
[Contract with Papekat.]
On his journey back Jan Francen had yet a short contract made in 1675
in Bima, with the "free king of Papekat", whose association with the
Company and with Sanggar made in the preceding year was nullified in the
contract with Raja Dompu, who was to be the "lord of protection" of
Papekat. -Corpus II, p. 544.-
[Karaeng Panaragang on Java.]
Although it can be said that the Makassarese in Bima and Dompu no
longer constituted a direct threat any more after the expedition of
Holsteyn and the visit by Gerrit Coster, the more since their attempts
to win interest in Java for an expedition against these kingdoms met
with little success, there were nevertheless people in Bima who where
anything than content with the way things proceeded. To these belonged
the son of Raja Bima himself, by the Makassarese called Karaeng
Panaragang, who in 1676 joined the fugitive Makassarese on Java.
-Daghregister 1676, p. 48.- In 1678 he was back to his father in Bima,
but only temporarily, since in 1679 he fought at the side of Karaeng
Galesong on Java, where he was captured and brought to Batavia by
Captain Jan Francen. -Daghregister 1678, p. 432, 669; 1679, p. 330, 423,
514, 541, 602.-
[Received in Batavia.]
In Batavia much attention was paid to Karaeng Panaragang and he was
given a treatment suitable for an important foreign crown prince. The
Daghregister does not give a great impression of him. It says that he
"debauched badly in opium". As he appeared in the castle in order to
humble himself before the general and the council, he was zo van streeks
(KOLLA) "through his ongemene ontsteltnis (KOLLA) and the weakness of
his body" that a chair had to be given to him.
However, he was seemingly regarded as a man who the Company would
like to win for its cause. He was allowed to go to Cirebon with his
people where he had to assist in guarding against the inneming (KOLLA)
of the Bantenese on behalf of the Company. He was taken up in the social
life of Batavia; we find him at a new year's reception, at the burial
of Mrs. Speelman, at a parade. Finally the Company was blij (KOLLA),
when after endless delays he returned with his 229 followers for the
quiet Bima on 8 March 1682, together with his sister Daeng Nesaly who
had come over to assist her brother in his troubles. The costs for his
allowance were found high enough, but for a part of it a bill was
presented to his father, while he had to sign a letter of debt for
another part. -Daghregister 1680.-
[Death of Abdulkhair, 1682.]
In Bima he succeeded as Sultan Nuruddin after his father Abdulkhair,
when he passed away after an unruly reign of 42 years on 22 July 1682.
Abdulkhair has lived on the traditions of Bima as the man who gave the
hukum a place in the royal council, and as the man who continued the
work of conversion begun by his father Abdul Kahir. As a person he was,
as it seems, a man of some prominence who was found worthy to become
sub-commander of the Gowan military power. Speelman repeatedly held
conversations with him. He was the man with whom Truytman concluded the
first oral treaty of friendship in 1660. In 1646 he fought in South
Celebes on the Gowan side against Bone; in 1666 at Buton against
Speelman, which led to the infamous escape. In 1672-1673 he had to cope
with the troubles instigated by his son-in-law Harun Arrasyid. In 1679
he got into trouble with the Company since he had erected a stone
fortress in defiance of the directions of the contract concluded with
the Company. According to Speelman a fortress was already built in Bima
in 1640 that in 1669 was in a decrepit state. Perhaps this first
fortress was made in the time of his father Abdul Kahir who was known by
the cognomen Mbata Wadu, which could be taken to mean "who has a stone
wall" - perhaps not the kraton wall but the fortress in question. We
should consider Abdulkhair as one of the most important princes of Bima.
[Sultan Nuruddin, 1682-1687.]
For the reign of his son Sultan Nuruddin, who only ruled for five
years, not much is known. He was married in 1684 with Daeng Tamemang,
the daughter of Karaeng Cinrana, the tumailalang of Gowa. That he was no
easygoing gentleman can be seen from the fact that he, in the same year
as he returned from his escapades on Java, had a clash with Abdul
Rasul, the Sultan of Dompu, about a daughter of the Makassarese Karaeng
Ballo. How the conflict came about is not apparent, but it is possible
that Nuruddin wished to marry Karaeng Bontowa, a Gowan princess who was
seventeen years in 1682 and only married in 1687, the year when Nuruddin
died. One could imagine that Abdul Rasul would be protesting such a
marriage.
[Forced ally.]
Nuruddin does not seem to have been wholeheartedly devoted to the
Company, as can be read in the remarks of Valentijn, who writes: "these
people of Sumbawa are not entirely to be trusted, as one could clearly
see when in the year 1686, when we had difficulties on Java due to the
death of Mr. Tak, etc., they dared, against the contract made in 1677
[?] (that forbade them to receive any envoys from foreign princes
without our knowledge) not only to receive but also give exceptional
honors to a letter, a flag and some water from the King of Bliton or
Raden Sacti (otherwise best known by the name of Emperor of Maningcabo)
over which some prayers were read; such a letter Bima had received from
him, and besides that the envoy Intsjeh Bongse, a Malay, spitefully said
to Radja Tambora that if he remained faithful to the Company he would
be fatally ill, and that it was urgent, so that he was about to give up
his spirit." -Valentijn, part III, 2, p. 141.-
[Tambora.]
On the same page Valentijn furthermore writes: "Just like the
kingdoms of Bima, Dompo, Tambora etc., on the Island of Sumbawa, stood
under Macassar, we also have introduced a few posts or paggers and
post-keepers. In olden times all the kingdoms on Sumbawa were on their
own; however, as the island was subsequently conquered by the King of
Macassar (apart from Tambora that withstood Macassar for five months but
finally had to submit) they all came under the power of that prince;
however, he kept it no longer than until 1669, when they came under the
Noble Company.
The old King of Tambora made a contract with us in the year 1667;
this prince, however, passed away in the year 1687 and was succeeded by
the father of the present king. In Tambora there are several villages,
namely Cadinding, Canceeloe, Baraboen, Wawo, Lawasa, Papoenti. Laleekan,
Salepe, Sakeewij, Laewong, Waro, Tanga, Soekon, Toewij, Tompo, Caomom,
etc. The name of the king of Tambora in 1688 was Sultan Nilaaneddien,
Abdul Bazet, his deceased father was Djamaleddien and his son, who will
follow him, is called Abdul Djaliel.
The grandees and the royal councilors here are called Djewelis and
Toerelis and the greatest Mantri (or royal councilor) is called
Makandiri Hohau. Here one finds a lot of sappan wood, beeswax, rice,
horses, etc." -loc. cit.-
[Peculiar character of the Tamborese.]
The sympathy that Valentijn appears to have for Tambora is also
shared by others. The Tamborese were, however, no easygoing people as
can be seen from the wars of succession in this kingdom. They were known
as brusque and short-tempered. Resident Tobias estimates, in 1801, that
they "are surely the best and bravest nation on this coast". According
to van der Velde the population came to Tambora from Manggarai, which
their language (that is not that of Bima) would indicate. -Zollinger p.
147.-
[Communication with Dompu and contract, 1675.]
Tambora, Papekat and Dompu were quarrelling during the entire period
where we have information. In 1674 the Sultan of Dompu asserted that he
was the lord of a place called Tibore that is indicated on the map of
1681 as lying in Tambora (see page ). The first thing that Jan Francen
Holsteyn did in 1675 was then to proclaim peace between the two parties,
whereby the kings of Dompu and Tambora (in the contract his name is
Bagoes, Bagoes Ima or Coeta) appeared in Bima with Abdulkhair, Tureli
Nggampo, Jeneli Parado, Jeneli Rasanae and the Kadi as witnesses.
(Instead of Paulus de Broek, read Paulus de Bock - Corpus II, p. 543.-)
The kngs of Tambora and Dompu promised to henceforth "acknowledge
each other as free lords and kings until eternity; the King of Tambora
says that he always will honor Raja Dompo as his larger and elder
prince, and show him the respect that a younger brother owes an elder
brother, understanding that he now and then owes some court service, but
that they will regard each other as brothers." The troubles arisen from
the requests for each other's subjects, cattle and goods were not to
occur anymore, and they would henceforth not impede the travel through
their lands. Then Jan Francen Holsteyn concluded a contract with Tambora
as well.
[Bumi Soro, 1677-1682.]
How stable this eternal peace was is seen already in 1677 when a
certain Bumi Soro brought trouble for the King of Tambora. One can
perceive the anger in the remarks by Batavia, when they state that the
"allies" hardly cared to support each other in the troubles. It was
"certainly no honor but a great dishonor for the kings that Bomisorra so
easily performs his twists", as they say. A true opera war now ensued
where Dompu (and Bima) pretended to take steps to "grab by the head"
"the unruly spirit". One reads how Bumi Soro escaped from Bima, how he
disappeared in the dark of the night, how he know how to acquire the
Ampang district in his hand, and finally erected a benteng in Tambora.
[Help from Dompu.]
The Prince of Dompu now proclaimed grand expeditions with thousands
of soldiers, but it was finally a troop of 100 men advised by the
Resident of Bima that captured Bumi Soro's benteng in the mountains.
Although Raja Bima and Raja Dompu guarded the seaside Bumi Soro could
get away over the Saleh Bay to Ampang. From the droevig (KOLLA) relation
by Raja Tambora it can furthermore be read that his savers helped him
from the coast in de sloot (KOLLA) and finally went strijken (KOLLA)
with their booty. Bumi Soro and his people were exiled to Ceylon, but in
1682 he still appears to have operated in Ampang and Tambora. Raja
Dompu now asked permission to chastise Ampang once for all, since the
Ampangese wreaked damage on his kingdom, but the Company told him that
he must let it be, and admonished him seriously about his particular
perception of friendship. -Daghregister 1680, p. 255, 492; 1681, p. 282,
296, 326, 492, 511; 1682, p. 839, 1226; 1687, p. 357.-
[Murder of Ratu Dompu, 1693.]
What happened during the next years we would have understood better
if the following years of the Daghregister had been published. But that
much is clear that there was so far no talk about peace between Tambora
and Dompu. In 1693 a murder was committed in Kambu that caused great
consternation, namely of the wife of Abdul Rasul who is known to the
diary of Gowa as "the queen of Dompu". At first Jamaluddin, the Prince
of Bima, was suspected of this murder and arrested, but later it would
have appeared that the murder was committed at the instigation of Abdul
Basir, the King of Tambora. The murderer would actually have aimed to
kill Abdul Rasul himself, but in the dark of the night he hit his wife
instead.
[Tambora is supported by Aru Teko against Dompu and the Makassarese.]
The further course of events is unsure, but in 1695 Raja Dompu stood
against Raja Tambora, supported by Makassarese fighting cocks, the
"rascally robbers" Karaeng Jarannika and Karaeng Pamolikang, the last of
which being a sister's son of Muhammad Sa'id of Gowa. That was too much
for the Company and they now sent a troop of Boniers to help Tambora,
commanded by Aru Teko, pretender on the throne of Bone. Aru Teko, a man
who had let hear about him earlier on through robbing expeditions in
Manggarai, could soon bring Raja Dompu to subjugation. Karaeng Jarannika
we later find in Sumbawa again in his robbing-knight role, where he was
killed in 1700. Karaeng Pamolikang was murdered in Tambora in 1704,
after he, too, had wrought havoc on Sumbawa.
[Jamaluddin dies in prison, 1696.]
Meanwhile it was perceived in Makassar that Raja Tambora and not
Jamaluddin of Bima was behind the murder of Ratu Dompu. However, by then
Jamaluddin was already sentenced to death by the president and the
grandees of state in Makassar. Aru Palakka, the powerful Bone ally of
the Company, was personally interested in this case, presumably since he
had not forgotten that Abdulkhair, the grandfather of the unhappy King
of Bima, had been his opponent in his fight against Gowa. He wanted
Jamaluddin to be krised, and when the Company found this a bit too much
for them he made "such a movement in Macassar" that Batavia did not
found anything to do but to replace the president and send Jamaluddin to
Batavia where he "passed away by broken heart in the prison" in 1696,
before the plan of rehabilitation had been carried out. -Valentijn, III,
2, p. 225.- His son and successor Hassan Uddin (1696-1731) pondered
since that time revenge against Dompu that had also played a role in
this affair.
[Exile of Abdul Basir.]
In 1701 Abdul Basir, the Prince of Tambora, was deposed and exiled to
the Cape. Supposedly he had tried to proclaim himself as paramount lord
of the Sumbawan kingdoms. As he appeared again in Sumbawa in 1713
(strangely enough in Bima) he started to make trouble anew and was once
again exiled, this time for good.
[General treaty of 1701.]
The Company in 1701 summoned the kings of Dompu, Tambora, Sanggar and
Pekat in Makassar where they had to conclude a new general treaty,
whereby they once again declared that they would let their disagreements
rest "until eternity".
[Pardon for Raja Dompu.]
Regarding the Prince of Dompu article sixteen states: "Thus declares
Boemy Sorowo, alias Abdul Raksoel, now King of Dompo, in den hoofed
deses gemeld (KOLLA), after the surrender of his gun and his kris, that
he now and forever will be thankful to the Noble Company for its shown
mercy for the ill deeds that he has ever done against the true interests
of the Company; and now recently in the latest troubles and actions
against Dain Mabany, when he, Abdul Ragsul, with the help of the
rascally robbers Crain Jerenika, Pamlikan etc., gepertueert heft
(KOLLA), and due to that could justifiably be not only deposed from his
crown and dignity but also be the subject of punishment as an example
for others; thus he declares that he shall put this crown, graciously
bestowed to him be the Noble Company, on his head as a newly born king,
and therewith remain as pardoned to the honor of the Noble Company,
under a steady and close promise to obey this without question and in
any case humbly serve the Company's requests."
[Succession in Tambora.]
With an eye to the replacement of the exiled Abdul Basir the signers
of the treaty of 1701 made a regulation that did not lead to anything
but narigheid (KOLLA). It was decided, namely, to give the throne of
Tambora in turns to the lineage of the exiled prince and that of
Jamaluddin who was raised as prince in 1701. -Article 17.- Who this
Jamaluddin, with the cognomen Daeng Mamangon, was is not clear. In the
diary of Gowa, however, there is mention about a certain Daeng
Mamangung, 1762 [?] born as son of Karaeng Popo, grandson of the reputed
Karaeng Pattingalloang. Karaeng Popo stood in relation with Sumbawa
since he was the last grand governor of that region at the court of
Gowa. He went to Bima in 1678 where he passed away in 1680. -Corpus IV,
p. 198.-
[Jamaluddin, 1701-1716.]
Jamaluddin held on to the throne until 1716, but then the "anger and
discontent over his hard rule had grown so much" that he went to Bima.
According to the principle of so-called ambulating succession a
represent of the lineage of the exiled prince ascended the throne. The
circumstance that the latter was back in Bima from his exile in 1713,
and caused troubles there, had its influence.
[Abdul Azis, 1716-26.]
Although the new prince Abdul Azis promised in a treaty of 1716 that
he "sacrosanctly will obey, follow and cultivate" the ambulating
succession, the princes and grandees insistently tried to abrogate this
regulation by his death in 1726. Since it was considered in Makassar
that no advantage could be gained from "the wonderlijken (KOLLA) state
of affairs in that petty kingdom" it was decided through a treaty that
from now on the old lineage of the exiled prince would sit on the
throne. Of the other allies there was no one present in Makassar who
could give advice on the point, and it was feared that the present
prince of the minute kingdom of Sanggar was mentally ill. -Corpus V, p.
5.-
[Abdul Rachman, 1726-1748.]
The made contract was confirmed with the new king Abdul Rachman.
-Corpus V, p. 7.- In 1731 Abdul Rachman arrived in Makassar to complain
again, according to van der Velde. He now had a border dispute with
Papekat concerning the place Kadinding. Through mediation of the Company
the border was definitely laid down.
[Abdul Rahim, 1748-1752.]
In 1726 it was hoped in Makassar that "finally all overseas matters
are to be solved here, the sooner the better", -Corpus V, p. 6.- but
before Abdul Rahim succeeded his deceased father there was first a
succession dispute where his brother-in-law Abdul Muhammad, another
pretender, was murdered.
[Disputes with Dompu and Pekat, 1748/49.]
In the same year there was a border dispute with Dompu over a place
called Corre Talouga (Koewe Tjelaka says van der Velde), which was again
laid down through the mediation of the Company. […] These disputes
continued until the Kingdom of Tambora was exterminated in 1815 and was
only concluded in 1861 when the Governor of Makassar made a personal and
threatened with violence if the borderlines were changed again. Even
today there are remonstrations about a decrease of territory in Dompu
although it is no longer known exactly what area it is about.
In 1749 Tambora had yet a dispute with Papekat about 64 slaves
whereby the latter petty kingdom was deemed by the Company to be in the
right.
[Succession disputes.]
There were also forthwith succession troubles. Abdul Rahim was
succeeded by the former regent Abdul Said, of whom it was said that he
eliminated his predecessor by poison in Bima. Abdul Said was however
deposed in 1771, but his son appeared again in 1801, after the reigns of
two intervening kings of whom no particularities are known, namely
Tahamidullah Hidayatun Minallah (1771-1773) and Abdul Rasyid Tajul
Arifin (1773-1801). In 1801 there was trouble again since Vermeulen
relates about the then pretender Muhammad Tajul Masahur that "the
well-meaning Tamborese massacred him shortly after his installation".
Then a youngster of twelve years came to the throne, namely Abdul Gaffar
(Daeng Mataram), a son of the abovementioned Abdul Said. For the first
decade of the nineteenth century there are few data available. It was
the period of Napoleon, the end of the Company, and the English
interregnum.
[Tambora 1815.]
And then the Tambora erupted, which brought a dramatic end to the
existence of an unruly kingdom. With reason the Resident Vermeulen said
in 1801: "As for Dompo, if it was united with Tambora it would
constitute the right balance of that island."
[Aru Teko.]
Things did not go well with Aru Teko, the Bonier who subjugated the
Prince of Dompu and his Makassarese party. When he withdrew to South
Celebes in 1700 he discovered a love affair between a certain Daeng
Mambani, a grand lord in Soppeng, and his beloved wife Saena, the
mother-in-law of Sultan Mas Banten of Sumbawa. Faithful to the
Makassarese attitude of masculine honor he concluded this affair with
the kris. Valentijn informs us in detail about the murder and the unrest
that came out of this cause celebre. -Valentijn, III, 2, p. 172 s.q.-
Aru Teko was expelled in 1702 and his goods were confiscated. From the
detailed list that Valentijn gives of these one can see what style of
living such lords led. Of humans only, 499 free people and 337 slaves
followed him. -Valentijn, III, 2, p. 212.-
[Abdul Rasul, before 1666 to after 1701.]
With the contract of 1701, Abdul Rasul, the Sultan of Dompu,
disappears for good from the scene. Abdul Rasul had, like his
father-in-law Abdulkhair of Bima, experienced many adventures. He was
the son-in-law of the Prince of Bima who was captured off Buton. He
participated in the attack on the "Doradus" and the subsequent escape,
and finally enduring conflict with Tambora brought him in trouble with
the Company. From the relation of Speelman one gets the impression that
he was a man of less significance than Abdulkhair, perhaps yet a young
man in 1667. In the tradition of Dompu he lives on as a warlike prince
with the cognomen Manuru Laju, he who passed away in Laju; the people of
Laju are supposedly prone to fighting.
[Siti Aminah Ratu Dompu.]
His wife Siti Aminah is known as the "Queen of Dompu". She was the
daughter of Abdulkhair of Bima and Karaeng Bontojene, the older sister
of Hasan Uddin, the Sultan of Gowa, and she was thus the aunt of the
Sultan of Bima, Jamaluddin, of whom it was initially suspected that he
had murdered her, 20 years of age. She is thus also a sister of Sultan
Nuruddin who was in Batavia as Karaeng Panaragang, but probably not his
sister Daeng Nesaly who visted him there. In 1680 Siti Aminah had such a
reputation that it would probably have been mentioned if this was the
case.
[The marital life of Ratu Dompu.]
Already from the peculiar name Ratu Dompu it can be seen that she was
a lady with a history. From this history one finds certain moments
mentioned in the diary of Gowa, that give a typical hint of the sphere
in which the higher circles moved in these days. Her date of birth is
given as 23 January 1653. Her first marriage, with a certain Daeng
Mattiro, was concluded in 10 February 1663. She was then, according to
the diary, thirteen years old, but if her date of birth is correctly
given only ten. Her first husband was fifteen years at his marriage. On 2
December 1664, however, she had been divorced although not from Daeng
Mattiro but from Karaeng Lekobodong, with whom she had married on 6
December 1663. On 18 July 1665 she gave him a son. At the age of twelve
(or fifteen) she was thus already twice divorced and a mother. After she
had concluded other marriages that are not mentioned, she married Abdul
Rasul, and this must thus has occurred before 1667 since Abdul Rasul is
then indicated as "son-in-law" of Raja Bima. When she was murdered in
1693 she was 62 years according to the diary, an age that does not fit
with other data according to which she would have been 41 or 44 years
old.
[Of her mother, Karaeng Bontojene.]
That her married life was not exceptional can be seen from the
life-story of her mother Karaeng Bontojene. She first married eighteen
years of age with Abdulkhair of Bima with whom she begat three daughters
and one son. After a marriage of nine years she apparently had enough
of Bima and on 8 December 1655 she arrived to her place of birth
Makassar where she gave birth to a daughter on 11 November 1656. For
Abdulkhair that provided reason to divorce her on 27 March 1658.
Abdulkhair had seemingly not the spirit of Aru Teko, since she once
again married Karaeng Jarannika on 20 June 1658, the man who after her
death fought with her later son-in-law Abdul Rasul against Raja Tambora,
and who was probably the father of her last daughter.. The King of Bima
remarried with her (step-)mother, the widow of Sultan Muhammad Sa'id of
Gowa. In 1662 she was banished from Makassar of unknown reason but
married in the same year with Mas Cini, the Prince of Sumbawa, whom she
divorced again within four months. In 1655 [1665???] she was again
divorced, this time from her second husband Karaeng Jarannika, with whom
she must have married anew in the meantime. She passed away in 1669 in
the age of 41 years.
[Her sister Karaeng Bontomatene.]
Also her younger sister Karaeng Bontomatene was a lady of the world.
"A dartel [KOLLA] and quickly drunk animal" says Speelman, who had an
eye for such things. -de Graaf, Geschiedenis, p. 163.- Her father was
not too happy with her marriage with Harun Arrasyid, the Prince of
Tello, since he realized that he could have a better son-in-law than a
Makassarese grandee. From the troubles that Harun Arrasyid caused in
East Sumbawa in the years 1673/74 it appears that Abdulkhair saw it
correctly. She had great influence on Harun Arrasyid and she went with
him when the Makassarese grandees had to humble themselves before the
general and the council. Speelman, who anticipated that this couple
would not perform much good in Bima, had wished "to help the King of
Tello get rid of that pertulante (KOLLA) wife in one way or another."
[Consequences of the murder.]
The rumor-breeding murder of Siti Aminah had enduring consequences.
Jamaluddin of Bima was blamed, seemingly falsely, and finally "passed
away in prison from broken heart" at the age of 23 years, as Valentijn
remarks. -Valentijn, III, 2, p. 225.- Ligtvoet notes the date of the
murder in the diary of Gowa: "The kings of Bima and Dompoe blamed this
murder on each other; however, according to the general feeling of the
princes of Celebes Bima was the guilty." Finally the Prince of Tambora
was pointed out as the real guilty, whence troubles about the succession
to the throne in that kingdom emanated.
[Usman, after 1701-1727.]
Also the troubles in Dompu which were caused by a certain Daeng
Talolo had a connection with this murder. This Daeng Talolo was
according to Dompunese information a son of Abdul Rasul's older sister,
who was married to a certain Bekasi, father's brother's son of Abdul
Rasul, from the lineage of the Raja Bicara. Daeng Talolo was therefore a
cousin of Usman (Mawaa Parabo), the son of Abdul Rasul who sat on the
throne of Dompu as his successor until 1727.
[Unrest caused by Daeng Talolo, 1718-1726.]
About the disturbances caused by Daeng Talolo I found a relation in
Dompu that seems to have been copied from an older source. Although it
is so confused that I can only give a paraphrase and no translation, it
is worth the effort to render it since it gives a view of the conditions
at the time. According to van der Velde Daeng Talolo was supported by
Makassarese and Bimanese and incited by Hassan Uddin, the then Sultan of
Bima. This is in accordance with the referred Dompunese relation where
one can read that the Sultan of Bima was slow to offer help to its
"ally" in Dompu although the resident in Bima urged him to do so. That
was because in that way "the issue of my father, who passed away in the
lap of the Company, is evoked again": sebab membangkitan beta punya bapa
yang hilang didalam pangkuan Kompeni di Betawi itu.
The relation starts in 1718 with a meeting of the Bimanese state
grandees where a certain Siraddunia, sent by the Prince and Raja Bicara
of Dompu, provides explanations where it appears that he has been hired
by followers of Daeng Talolo in order to murder the Prince of Dompu and
set his palace on fire. Five days later there is a second meeting ,
again in the palace of Tureli Donggo where a state grandee from Dompu,
Tureli Dompu, is urged to provide further explanations about conditions
there. It appears that Dompu is in a state of emergency caused by Daeng
Talolo, who also makes visits to Bima. But that is, as it is said in
Bima, innocent, since Daeng Talolo is only treated there since he is
"gila". It is difficult to impede him looking for medical help. So there
is no reason to put the blame on the Sultan of Bima, and one may thus
wait until he is in place after his vacation (sekembalinya Raja Bima
dari bermain).
This discussion finds place because of a question from the Fettor who
is worried about the accounts according to which Daeng Talolo has been
enthroned as prince. This is naturally a foreign issue that Raja Bima
cannot interfere in since it is not he but the Dompunese that must
choose their prince.
Less than a month later there is a new meeting of the Bimanese state
grandees, this time headed by Raja Bima himself, where an answer can be
given to the viewpoints of Fettor Abram Walbur. The Tureli Donggo and
His Majesty have been ill. The affair has now reached more serious
proportions since Raja Bima plans to summon Daeng Talolo himself to Bima
for a conversation. Due to this the fettor is seemingly so scared that
he has called on the allies Tambora, Sanggar and Papekat for the defense
of the trade post in Bima. And that is something for which the fettor
himself has to take the consequences, since Bima naturally cannot find
it good that armed troops from other kingdoms are gathering on its
territory. It has after all never happened that Bima itself has not been
capable of protecting the trading post.
That may well be, admits the resident, but during the five years that
he has spent in Bima not much of this could be seen. Three soldiers
have passed away without Raja Bima having provided reinforcements. An
enormous accusation, answers the sultan, such as would never have
occurred under the former fettor and that in any case could have been
presented in a polite way. Pardon me, says the resident, I did not know
that I could bring this forward in a polite way.
Two days later: new deliberation, still about the summoning of the
allies to Bima. The resident declares that he will go to Bolo in order
to hold the auxiliaries back there. The Bimanese themselves have,
however, taken their measures. And the fettor now actually has a letter
from the governor in Makassar, saying that he can take violent action
against Daeng Talolo if needed.
Two day later again: Things are not at their best in Dompu, says the
fettor, since the Sultan of Dompu is at a loss. That could result in a
desperate fight of life and death between the two parties. As Bima
points out the sending of a commission of investigation has little to
fetch there, since everyone in a former commission were afgerost (KOLLA)
by Daeng Talolo, and another one that would bring rice was killed.
Eight days later: Now the situation in Dompu is really critical, and
foodstuff has to be brought in. As Raja Bima does not possess that, the
fettor himself shall make it available. The following day Tureli Woha
goes with an armed party and with 100 gantang of rice to Dompu and
arrives five days later.
After yet some thoughts have been exchanged over the way that Daeng
Talolo is to be brought to Makassar, there is a week later a conference
at the istana where the resident is present in person and reads a letter
that he has received from the governor, where voorgeleiding (KOLLA) of
Daeng Talolo is demanded, if necessary by violent means. Not in Bima but
in Makassar there will be a general deliberation among all the overseas
princes to decide the question of guilt. Raja Bima opposes this since
he will make no effort with the political affairs of another kingdom. In
a meeting four days later where the resident is likewise present in
person, the sultan again insists that the Dompunese have to regulate
their own affairs and that it was Raja Dompu himself who first took to
violence. The resident again answers that this is how the governor has
decided. Four days later Bumi Waworada and Bumi Jara Nggampo come back
from Dompu, explaining that Raja Dompu cannot read from the letter sent
to him whether he has to appear in Makassar too, and that he moreover
has no desire to do so. Thus ends the relation.
[Daeng Talolo sentenced to death, 1726.]
One can see how Raja Bima on one side held his hand over Daeng Talolo
and on the other side was afraid of supporting him too obviously. This
led to a complicated game of political negotiation, from which it is
clear that the resident himself did not have any power to undertake
anything that lay outside the sphere covered by the contracts. All these
discussions, moreover, went according to the protocol: the syahbandar
and the Bumi Parisi transferred the opinions of the two parties. Only at
two meetings the resident was present in person, though the protocol
was observed there, too, so that the sultan forbade to speak to the
resident otherwise than via the syahbandar.
Hassan Uddin has probably made further attempts to save Daeng Talolo.
The Daghregister of Batavia mentions that an embassy came from Bima on 7
December 1724 with letters of introduction from the sultan "since it is
the first time that the envoys from Your Noble Highness's brother Raja
Bima are to enter Batavia." When the Daghregister has been completely
edited and analyzed one may decide what this embassy had in mind.
The final scene of this drama takes us to Makassar again, where the
kings of Bima, Dompu, Tambora and Pekat actually were present, at least
at some of the meetings since they seem to have been absent at the first
one on 5 December 1726. For Daeng Talolo this meant "the sentence to
death, expressed through the general consent of the allies".
[Samsuddin II, 1727-1732.]
Whether Usman, the King of Dompu, has lived to see the sentence is
unlikely since he passed away in Makassar four days before the last
meeting and was succeeded by his son Samsuddin Abdul Yusuf (Mawaa
Sampela) who governed from 1727 to 1732.
If the relation to Bima improved after that is not known; the relation with Tambora was strained until the end.
[Jamaluddin, 1732.]
As Samsuddin passed away unmarried after a short reign he was
succeeded by his brother Jamaluddin who was dethroned in the same year
because of devious behavior and escaped to Sumbawa, whose king reacted
little (or, generally speaking, not at all) on the urges of the Company
to have the refugee extradited.
[Abdul Kahar, 1732-1749.]
Concerning the succession there was a conflict between a certain Ali
Akbar on one side and on the other the regent Daeng Mamu who was a
sister's son of Abdul Rasul and thus a cousin of Usman who passed away
in 1727. Daeng Mamu seems to have had the support of "all the estates of
the kingdom" but not from all the people, of whom a "good number" went
to Makassar. Daeng Mamu who was chosen as sultan by the state grandees
under the name Abdul Kahar appeared with his rival in Makassar in
November 1732, but it was not until 30 April 1733 that he was confirmed
in his dignity as prince of "that confused kingdom", and then with the
regulation that the princely dignity would fall on the lineage of Ali
Akbar after him. -Corpus V, p. 150.-
[Akhmad, 1749-1765.]
The reign of Abdul Kahar seemingly proceeded well, apart from the
conflict with Tambora that was concluded through mediation of the
Company. At any rate he stepped down due to high age in 1749, to the
benefit of his nephew Akhnad (Manuru Kambu. Initially it seems to have
went well with Akhmad too, for in 1750 he and his brother Abdul Kadir
(Tureli Huu) were, according to van der Velde, bestowed with a banner
and 22 guns by the Company because of their proven fidelity. What the
proof of fidelity was like is not known to me. Perhaps they assisted the
Company with auxiliaries for a military undertaking. However, in 1760
Blok mentions that various subjects left the kingdom as a consequence of
ill conditions that had arisen through conflicts between the two
brothers. Akhmad died in Kambu when he withdrew there after a visit to
Makassar and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Kadir, who judging from
his cognomen Mawaa Alus (the Good) did not perform too badly.
[Abdul Kadir, 1765-1774.]
Of Abdul Kadir we know that he offered much needed assistance to the
Resident Bakkers in 1766, when those in Bima ran into trouble through
the unexpected appearance there of the Sultan of Gowa. Perhaps this has a
connection with the story that Governor Boelen strengthened the
position of Dompu in 1770 as a counterweight against Makassar.
[Abdurrakhman, 1774-1787.]
He was succeeded by his son Abdurrakhman about whom we find the most
somber annotation (in the charter of appointment of his successor): "who
had made the governance of the kingdom unworthy through his accession".
He was deposed in 1787.The publication of political contracts and
treaties in the Corpus Diplomaticum goes no further than the year 1752.
[Abdul Wahab, 1787-1793.]
Then followed the sultan whose name still lives on in the memory of
the Dompunese as a powerful prince: Abdul Wahab with the cognomen Mawaa
Cau, that should mean that he acted after the energetic genoegen (KOLLA)
(cau). He was the man who assisted in halting the invading Balinese in
West Sumbawa in 1788. In Dompu a silver shoulder piece is still proudly
shown that was bestowed upon him at the occasion as an acknowledgement
of honor, that reads: "By Mr. Frederik Alexander Meurer on the occasion
that the King of Dompoe under His Excellence's command, in the most
recent Sumbawan war in 1788, has behaved as a brave ally of the Noble
Company, is this ringcraag (KOLLA) bestowed upon His Highness." At this
campaign Abdul Wahab lost his personal goods and a part of the state
heirlooms through a fire, for which he later got compensation. As
Amaral-Jeneral (the title of honor that was bestowed on him) he lives on
in the tradition.
[Abdurrakhman, 1793-1797.]
Concerning what happened after that I only have access to confused
accounts, from which I would make the following reconstruction. Before
his death Abdul Wahab, ignoring the Company, declared that his son Daeng
I Lauw must be his successor, but that wish was not fulfilled. To the
displeasure of the resident, however, Abdurrakhman (Daeng Maleongi) was
restored to the throne, but only under the condition that he would be
succeeded by Daeng I Lauw, who settled in Bima.
[Abdullah, 1798-1799.]
In 1797 was not, however, Daeng I Lauw but the son of Abdurrakhman,
called Abdullah, king. Nevertheless there was during his short period of
governance yet a reign (interregnum?) by his brother Yakub who also had
the same mother, who was not of the highest social estate (she was from
dari Jara Ngoco).
[Yakub, 1798.]
About Sultan Yakub the story goes that he was mentally ill and
demanded the craziest things from his subjects. In any case he was taken
in custody through the mediation of the Company and put in internment
in Sape.
[Zainalabidin, 1799-1805.]
Then followed in 1799 a Sultan Zainalabidin in whom we might
recognize the abovementioned Daeng I Lauw. This sultan was not generally
acknowledged for in 1803 we find mention of an uprising against the
king that was put down by the resident. The otherwise quite reliable
king-list available in Dompu does not mention either a Zainalabidin or a
Daeng I Lauw. Oral information mentions very vaguely a certain Bali
Bunga (bunga would be instead of buang, exiled), who would have
flourished at the same time as his brother but only ruled part of the
kingdom settled at Doro Tarei. This agreement would have been concluded
since he had complained in Makassar that he had not become a king, but
later he would have been murdered at the instigation of his brother. It
is very much the question whether in this case the historical memory,
which is not based on concrete data, goes that far back in time.
[Daeng I Lauw = Zainalabidin.]
The Resident Vermeulen, who found it to be a matter of prestige for
the Company that the treaty about the succession made with Abdul Wahab
in 1792 was really fulfilled, describes Daeng I Lauw as "a man of
ordered manners, very active and not with a great mind, but courageous."
Since we know that Abdullah was followed by a Zainalabidin in 1799, who
again was followed by Tajularifin in 1805, and Vermeulen wrote his
relation in 1801, Daeng I Lauw should be the same as Zainalabidin,
although the existing Dompunese king-list does not mention this sultan.
It is possible that Zainalabidin has been excluded intentionally since
he had offspring who could have claimed the princely dignity. The
present princes descend in straight though junior line from Abdul Wahab,
and there are also still people in Dompu who claim that they could
actually make claims as being elder descendants of Abdul Wahab. There is
also a possibility that Daeng I Lauw was the oldest son of Abdul Wahab
but not from the first or noblest consort, and that he exactly for that
reason wished to establish that Daeng I Lauw would succeed him in 1792.
Also from the uprising in 1804 it can be concluded that there were
objections against Daeng I Lauw, whatever they may have been like.
[Muhammad Tajularifin, 1806-1809.]
Then follows again a sultan whose name appears in the king-list and
of whose installation we have a detailed account that will be spoken of
more below: Muhammad Tajularifin, whose reign can be determined between
1806 and 1809. About him we have an interesting relation that we will
render in extensio, like the preceding one.
[Muslim feast days, 1809.]
"In the year Ba, Anno Hegira 1224 (=1809 A.D.), on Friday 12 Rabi'ul
Awal, His Majesty Sultan Dompu Muhammad Tajularifin convened with his
ministers and councilors of the Sultanate of Dompu. Namely, in the first
place, Musa, regent of Dompu. Furthermore Jeneli Adu, La Sumba; Jeneli
Huu who is also kadi, Daeng Manuangi; Jeneli Dea, Daeng Manai; Jeneli
Kilo, Daeng Malaba with the cognomen Abdul Tifu; Bumi Luma Rasanae,
Abdul Hamid Daeng Mangali; Bumi Lumi Dea, Abdul Tiful Habir; Jeneli
Tompo, Wau Daeng Masisi. Further fourteen persons of the group of Bumi
and Bumi Nggeko; sixteen persons from the Hukum. Concerning the grand
Maulid feast of the kingdom it was then decided by all Jeneli, Tureli
and Bumi Nae, incuding the person of the Hukum, to observe the four
religious feasts of the year. Namely, twice the Maulid and twice the
great feast. Every Jeneli and Tureli who concerning this agreement in
any respect fails to live up to this without previous knowledge of the
Bumi shall be fined with five Reals; and a Bumi with ten Suku. Such was
the conclusion then."
One can see from this account that the last remains of the pre-Muslim
feasts of state were only officially abolished in the early nineteenth
century. Also later so much was dragging on that people were able to
give a quite clear image of it from memory and hearsay. Islam supplied
the royal council, from old also a religious institution, with
increasingly more religious power of general, supra-societal origins.
The official beginning was made in the middle of the seventeenth century
when the Hukum of Bima was installed. In the early nineteenth century
the entire ceremony, the political instrument in which the people can
zich uiten (KOLLA), was thus galvanized.
[West Sumbawa.]
It is even more difficult to describe the history of the kingdoms in
the west than the situation in East Sumbawa. Firstly, I have mostly
devoted attention to the kingdoms in East Sumbawa, so that I cannot
handle more detailed ethnographical data that could throw light over the
few accounts that we possess. Secondly, The Dutch contacts with West
Sumbawa were not so close. Thirdly, West Sumbawa tended to go its own
way, also because they were more oriented there towards intercourse with
Banjarmasin, Lombok, Bali, and so on, due to the geographical location.
One should consider that the term West Sumbawa is vaguer than East
Sumbawa. About the mutual relations between the various smaller
geographical units nothing is known to me, although it is certain that
for example Taliwang, itself consisting of the three units Taliwang,
Jarewe and Serang (Setelok), had a certain measure of independence until
te beginning of this century. The accounts, in the first place those
from olden times, also give the impression that the Sultan of Sumbawa,
although prince of a powerful kingdom, was more dependent on his state
grandees than the princes of the east.
[East and West Sumbawa.]
The most important trait in the later history of Sumbawa is the
fallout with the Balinese, who during the course of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries came to subjugate all Lombok under their power and
who could finally only be held back from the western coast of the
Island of Sumbawa with difficulty. Particularly close cultural ties with
East Sumbawa did not exist in the past for the period that we can
survey. The east and the west actually spoke different languages. There
were - self-evidently, one has to say - border conflicts with Dompu,
namely over the district of Ampang, where Bomi Soro found a stronghold
in the last years of the seventeenth century. The relations with the
Dutch were clearly characterized by Holsteyn with the meaningful name
Suckelenburg that he gave to the pagger inside which he had to keep
during his brief stay there.
[Stronghold for Makassarese emigrants.]
West Sumbawa was naturally an obvious stronghold for the malcontent
Makassarese who under Daeng Tellolo united here with Sumbawans and
Banjarese in the years 1672/73 in order to support Harun Arrasyid in the
conflict with his father-in-law. The Makassarese played a role in the
struggle against the Balinese: in the fighting on Lombok in 1700 Karaeng
Jarannika (known to us as brother-in-arms with Raja Dompu), his son
Karaeng Bontokeke and Karaeng Bontolangkasa were slain. In 1718 the
reputed son and namesake of Karaeng Bontolangkasa fled to Sumbawa,
having to leave Makassar after the murder of a daughter of the sultan
there. In Sumbawa he was married to Karaeng Bontowa, daughter of the
Sultan Mas Madina. In 1723 he was wounded again in the struggle on
Lombok. Finally he assembled so much power that with weapon in hand he
forced the Sultan of Gowa himself, Sirajuddin, to step down in 1735, but
in 1739 he passed away from wounds received when fighting the Dutch.
The Makassarese were not always gentle guests, as apparent from the
behavior of the abovementioned Karaeng Pamolikang, who demonstrated his
dissatisfaction with the Sumbawans in raids. Sumbawa was not just
watching the conflicts between the Makassarese and the Dutch. Sultan
Muhammad Kaharuddin, who was married with Kareang Bontowa, former wife
of Karaeng Bontolangkasa, supported the Makassarese malcontents in 1735
at the instigation of his wife who could apparently not forget her first
husband. Kaharuddin was pardoned by the Company in 1748 for his
support. It seems that the decrease of Gowa's glory in the second half
of the eighteenth century lessened the contacts with Sumbawa, as regards
both marriage relationships and political interest, but the relation
was never actually broken.
[Islam and Hinduism on Lombok, sixteenth century.]
On Lombok the Balinese had pressed on so far in 1692 that they had
ravaged Selaparang. This is the place where the Prince of Lombok one
century previously went in order to escape the encroaching power of
Islam, that had been brought here from Java. With his flight to
Selaparang the prince did not come out of it much better, since Islam
now penetrated from the east, so that he was pressed from both sides.
Even toegeven (KOLLA) did not help Selaparang since the Hindu Balinese
now came to conquer the by now islamized East Lombok and thereby clashed
with the Muslim Sumbawans who watched the struggle on Lombok as either
allies or suzerains. As so many different belangen (KOLLA) are in
conflict with each other it is difficult to establish a correct
toedracht (KOLLA). The persons that played a role in these conflicts
were not always mentioned by their names but by their titles.
[Mas Madina, 1701-1723.]
Since Mas Madina, who reigned in 1701-1723 as successor of Mas
Banten, the replacement of the youthful Mas Gowa, was known as Datu
Taliwang, it is not known if Mas Madina was indeed Prince of Taliwang or
if was just called that. His father Mas Banten who for unknown reasons
abdicated in 1701 is often mentioned as Datu Loka (old prince) in the
diary of Gowa, for example in connection with marriage contracts.
[Struggle with Bali, until 1723.]
Mas Madina fell in the struggle with the Balinese on Lombok, together
with his brother, in the year 1723, in the same battle where his
son-in-law Karaeng Bontolangkasa was wounded.
[Muhammad Harunarrasyid, 1723-1725.]
Afterwards a certain Muhamad Harunarrasyid reigned, who passed away
two years later according to the diary of Gowa, and was succeeded by
Jalaluddin, who was called Datu Taliwang.
[Muhammad Kaharuddin, 1731-1758.]
Jalaluddin was killed by a gunpowder explosion in his palace in 1731,
an accident that aroused much ontsteltnis (KOLLA) in these days. Then
followed Muhammad Kaharuddin, also called Mappa Susu, who was pardoned
by the Company in 1748 for the support that he gave, at the instigation
of his wife, to Karaeng Bontolangkasa at his rash quest for power in
Gowa in 1735.
[Consolidation of Balinese power over Lombok, 1738-1740.]
During his reign we once again hear about the rise of Balinese power
that had been increasingly strengthened in East Lombok since 1692.
According to Zollinger this power was established for good between 1738
and 1740. In which way this happened is not clear. Perhaps Bali made use
of Kaharuddin's strategic error to give assistance to Karaeng
Bontolangkasa in his quest for power in Gowa. That Sumbawans were
fighting on Lombok in these years is not known to me.
It is also not always clear on which side the Princes of Selaparang
stood themselves, on that of the Balinese or the Sumbawans. The contract
concluded with Sumbawa in 1674 was concluded with a certain Nene Djoura
Saparang, in which one might recognize Selaparang. -Corpus II, p. 493,
note 2.- In 1675 the regents of Selaparang promised to bring a certain
deliverance "as a pledge for many faults committed by them against their
king". If the King of Sumbawa is alluded to it is strange that by this
agreement a bail was given before the dispatch of this deliverance. In
1648, according to the diary [of Gowa], the son of the Prince of
Selaparang, a certain Mas Pamayan, was made Prince of Sumbawa. Also
later it is often difficult to determine about local power-holders in
Sumbawa, on which side they actually stood.
[Karaeng Bontowa, 1758-1762.]
The final scene of the troubles with Bali began in 1762. Here, too,
there was a lady who had great influence on the course of events, namely
Karaeng Bontowa who was herself closely related with the grandees of
South Celebes in the female line. She egged her husband to bestow help
on her rash first husband Karaeng Bontolangkasa and thereby perhaps
indirectly the power of the Balinese. Her husband, Kaharuddin, wrote a
letter to Makassar in 1755 where he bitterly remarked that it was made
known to him from Bone's side that he powerlessly watched the incursion
by the Balinese. At his decease he was succeeded by Karaeng Bontowa
herself, who was henceforth known, simply, as the "Queen Dowager". That
must have been a quite remarkable lady who knew how to make herself
chosen as the ruling princess, and one may assume that that she, with
her relations in South Cele
Sumber : http://www.sumbawanews.com/berita/history-sumbawa-we-should-distinguish-between-two-periods