Johor

“ Johor is the only Malay state in the southern portion of the peninsula, the whole of which is within the British sphere, which has been suffered to remain under native rule. The non-federated states under British protection (since 1909) are Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah and Perlis (Palit) . The population of the peninsula numbers about 2,000,000, of whom about 600,000 inhabit the colony of the Straits Settlements, about 900,000 the Federated Malay States, about 200,000 the Malay State of Johor, and about 250,000 to 300,000 the remainder of the peninsula. ”

“ Of the Perak regalia we read: “Tan Saban was commanded by his mistress to open negotiations with Johor, and this having been done, a prince of the royal house of that kingdom, who traced his descent from the old line of Menangkabau, sailed for Perak to assume the sovereignty. ”

“ The 12th July, the king of Pahan arrived at Patane, much against his will, accompanied by his wife, who was sister to the queen of Patane, and also by two sons. He left his own country much oppressed by poverty, famine, fire, war, and rebellion. He brought intelligence that the Acheeneers had taken Jahor, and had carried away all the ordnance, slaves, and every thing of value, Rajah Boungson and his children being made prisoners, and the king of Johor having fled to Bintam. Several Hollanders also, who happened to be in a ship at Johor, were taken and slain. ”

“ The maritime power of the kingdom of Siak has always been considerable, and in the history of the Malayan states we repeatedly read of expeditions fitted out from thence making attacks upon Johor, Malacca, and various other places on the two coasts of the peninsula. Most of the neighbouring states (or rivers) on the eastern coast of Sumatra, from Langat to Jambi, are said to have been brought in modern times under its subjection. ”

“ The country of Pahan is very plentiful, being full of gentry according to the fashion of that country, having great store of victuals, which are very cheap, and many ships. It lies between Johor and Patane, stretching along the eastern coast of Malacca, and reaches to Cape Tingeron, which is a very high cape, and the first land made by the caraks of Macao, junks of China, or praws of Cambodia, on coming from China for Malacca, Java, Jumbe, Johor Palimbangan, Grisi, or any other parts to the southwards. ”

“ But a mountain chain, stretching continuously from north to south, though nearer the west coast than the east, forms a difficult barrier between the States on either side, except in Johor, where it spreads out and becomes lower. The rainfall is heavy all the year round and the temperature rather like that of the palm house at Kew Gardens. As a result of these conditions, forty years ago the whole region of the lowland was a great jungle, with the Malay inhabitants living in scattered villages and clearings along the streams which offered the only means of movement. ”

“ The king of Pahan will have much ado to defend himself; owing to the great dearth, and the burning of his house, granaries, and rice; it is also reported that the king of Johor is preparing to go in person against Pahan, while the king of Borneo is making ready for succour. ”

“ The 1st November we saw the point of Jantana, or Johor, and the mount on the island of Bintam, and came next morning in sight of Piedra-branca; about ten o'clock a.m. we came to the dangerous reef that projects four leagues out to sea from the point of Johor. John Huigens van Linschoten describes this shoal well, which we passed not without danger, having the point and three little islands W.S.W. from us. It is good to keep to leewards till you bring these little islands in one line with the point of Johor, and Piedra-branca open with the isle of Bintam. ”

“ Uneasy indeed must lie the head which wears the crown of Pĕtâni!
All the States, as far down the coast as Lĕgeh, are under the protection of the Siamese Government. Kĕlantan and Trĕnggânu still claim to be independent, though they send the bûnga ămas—or golden flower—to Bangkok once in three years. Pahang was placed under British Protection in 1888, and Johor is still independent, though its relations with the Government of Great Britain are very much the same as those which subsist between Siam and the Malay States of Kĕlantan and Trĕnggânu. ”

“ For example, the original language of the Orang Utan [1] of Johor, is constantly becoming more and more displaced by Malay. Not only is it disappearing year by year, but the death of every old man (acquainted to some extent with the language of his forefathers) creates a fresh gap never to be filled up. ”

“ I waited only long enough to see the ladies installed in a suite of rooms in the Residency, then donned a suit of white duck, stepped into a river launch in company with Inchi Mohamed, the Chief Justice, and steamed out into the broad waters of the Maur.
The southernmost kingdom of the great continent of Asia is the little Sultanate of Johore, ruled over by one of the most enlightened Princes of the East. Fourteen miles from Singapore, just across the notorious old Straits of Malacca, is his capital and the palace of the Sultan. ”

“ All up and down the coast, from Sĕdĕli in Johor to the islands near Sĕnggôra, the Fisher Folk are found during the open season. Fleets of smacks leave the villages for the spots along the shore where fish are most plentiful, and for eight months in the year these men live and sleep in their boats. The town of Kuâla Trĕnggânu, however, is the headquarters of the fishing trade, as indeed it is of all the commercial enterprise on this side of the Peninsula. ”

“ Conquers Johor. Attacks Malacca with a great fleet. Receives an embassy from France. Again attacks Malacca. His death. Wealth and power. Islands: near the western coast, account of. Ivory. Jack: fruit. Jaggri: imperfect sort of sugar from a species of palm. Jambi: river of. Colonies settled on branches of it, for collecting gold. Has its source in the Limun country. Town of. Jambu: fruit. James the first: king, writes a letter to the king of Achin. Jeinal: sultan of Pase, his history. Johor: kingdom of. Kampar: river of. King of, negotiates with Alboquerque. ”

“ So have the Portuguese, the Guzurates, the Arabs, Bengalese, and Peguers. As our baas disliked that I should so much frequent the company of the Chinese, he ordered me on board, and came off himself next day in a very dull humour, having had some sour looks from the king.
The 1st of September the king gave out that we were to receive ordnance on board for battering Johor, and to take in soldiers for that service. Many gallies were manned and brought out of the river, and rode at anchor about half a mile from our ships. The sea was all full of paraws and boats. ”

“ His three hundred ton steam-launch was built on the Clyde. Besides the Sultan’s saloon on the lower deck, which was furnished befitting a king, there were cabins for ten people. The promenade deck was under an awning, and was furnished with a heavy rosewood dining-table and long chairs. She carried four guns of long range.
The revenue of Johore amounts to six million dollars a year, to which the Sultan’s [286] private property in Singapore adds nearly a half million more. The bulk of the national revenue is raised from opium, spirits, and gambling. ”

“ In 1819 when Sir Stamford Raffles purchased the island on which Singapore now stands from the father of the late Sultan of Johore, the royal palace was a palm-thatched bungalow, the country an unbroken jungle, and the inhabitants pirates and fishermen by turns; the notorious Strait of Malacca was infested with long, keen, swift pirate praus, and the snake-like kris menaced the merchant marine of the world. ”

“ Two of these (vols. I and III) are introduced in general maps. But the sketch in vol. II is on a larger seale and is confined to the Straits. It is curions that while both the former represent the Peninsula as widening towards Malacca and Johor, the latter, though ten years earlier in date than the map in volume III, yet gives its true shape. But the names on this sketch are most perplexing, there being indeed but five that can be safely identified,—R. of Quedah, R. of Johore (the only Native States shewn) Malacca, R. Formosa and Straights of Singapore (round St. John's) . ”

“ This is the Malay name (nearly answering to 'Land's End,' from Ujung, 'point or promontory,' and tanah, 'land') of the extreme end of the Malay Peninsula terminating in what the maps call Pt. Romania. In Godinho de Eredia's Declaracam de Malaca the term is applied to the whole Peninsula, but owing to the interchangeable use of u, v, and of j, i, it appears there throughout as Viontana. The name is often applied by the Portuguese writers to the Kingdom of Johor, in which the Malay dynasty of Malacca established itself when expelled by Alboquerque in 1511 ”

“ It appears, from his letter, that the Dutch had secured the cession of Rhio from the Sultan of Lingen, whom they recognized as the Sultan of Johore. On his arrival at Singapore, Raffles was visited by one of the two chief hereditary officials of Johore, who represented to him that an elder brother of the Sultan of Lingen was the legal successor to that throne, adding, that as the Dutch had negotiated with an incompetent authority, it was still open to the English to effect a settlement on the territory of Johore. ”

“ To this the baas answered, that they were English, and that his chief pilot was one of them. The king then said that he must see these men. "As for your merchandize," added he, "I have war with the king of Johor, and if you will assist me against him with your ships, your recompence shall be a full lading of pepper." To this our captain agreed. The 28th of July, the Sabandars, [38] the secretary, the merchants of Mecca, who were Turks and Arabians, together with Don Alfonso Vincente and some others of the Portuguese, came on board with our baas, and all returned passing drunk. ”

“ Wandering isolated in the forests, they had but few opportunities to hold any dealings with the Malays; and naturally kept more exclusively to their own lan- guage than those who trafficked with the Malays more frequent- ly, and lived in their neighbourhood. Thus it happened that in preserving the old language (going as it did hand in hand with primitive habits of life) they found a secret means of bringing to their homes a rich booty from the jungle. This superstition is believed in various parts of Johor, and will, for a long time, protect the ancient language from total extinction ”

“ Just now the Maharajah of Johore, sovereign of a small state on the nearest part of the mainland, a man much petted and decorated by the British Government for unswerving fidelity to British interests, has a house here, and his receptions and dinner parties vary the monotonous round of gayeties. ”

“ Two hundred thousand hard-working, money-making Chinese have been added to the thirty-five thousand Malay aborigines, and the revenue of this remnant of an empire is far greater than was the revenue of the original state.
It remains to be seen whether the young Sultan will follow in the footsteps of his father and preserve to Johore the distinction of being, with the one exception of Siam, the only independent native kingdom in southern Asia. One misstep and he will become but a dependency of the great British Empire, a king only in name. ”

“ This word is usual in both the S. and W. Presidencies, but is unknown in Bengal, and in the N.W.P. It is the Tamil vaṇḍi, Telug. baṇḍi, 'a cart or vehicle.' The word, as bendi, is also used in Java. [Mr Skeat writes—"Klinkert has Mal. bendi, 'a chaise or caleche,' but I have not heard the word in standard Malay, though Clifford and Swett. have bendu, 'a kind of sedan-chair carried by men,' and the commoner word tandu 'a sedan-chair or litter,' which I have heard in Selangor. Wilkinson says that kereta (i.e. kreta bendi) is used to signify any two-wheeled vehicle in Johor."] ”

“ At the Eastern entrance of Johore Strait, the boundary shall be held to pass through the centre of the deep-water channel between the mainland of Johore, Westward of Johore Hill, and Pulau Tekong Besar, next through the centre of the deep-water channel between Johore Shoal and the mainland of Johore, Southward of Johore Hill, and finally turning Southward, to intersect the 3 mile limit drawn from the low water mark of the mainland of Johore in a position bearing 192 degrees from Tanjong Sitapa. ”

“ I was inclined to favour Singapore, [pg 31] especially as she had once let slip something about a fling at fan-tan at Johore. But even had she been born in that amazing island melting pot, her unmistakably Hindu cast of features and mould of figure were hardly accounted for. The Madrassi Tamils of the Straits were coolies, and Rona radiated caste from her slender pink-tipped toes to her crown of indigo-black hair coils. ”

“ Up and down the archway on the other side paces the sentry, clad in loose brown holland uniform and gaiters, with a red fez and orange fringe.
The Maharajah of Johore is a man of about fifty years of age, with iron-grey hair and whiskers, and a full oriental face. He is Maharajah, or Great Rajah, because he governs his princedom of Johore without the assistance of a resident. He was dressed in a loose English gentleman's shooting suit, but wore the silk sarong, twisted round underneath the coat, and a braided smoking-cap. ”

“ All the marble about the palace had to be imported from Europe. The Maharajah [242] drives a break with four in hand, and has an English coachman and some English grooms. He is fond of shooting, and there is plenty of big game in the jungles of Johore, and tiger hunts are easily arranged. We had breakfast in the long, narrow dining-room. Some Chinese beans were served, and a Singapore dish consisting of sampan or sago, with cocoa-nut milk and sugar-cane sauce—a thick treacle—otherwise the food was completely European. ”