KEDAH: 1771-1821 : THE SEARCH FOR SECURITY AND INDEPENDENCE

Abstract

This study attempts to provide a discussion of the major themes in the history of Kedah between 1771 and 1821 within the limitations of locally available and accessible source materials. Chapter One is mainly introductory in nature, providing in outline, notes on source-materials, relevant geographical data, the main features of Kedah's feudal socio-political structure and the Bunga Emas dan Perak. The historical background is also rather superficially entered into showing Kedah's reaction to the major gravitational centres of power in Southeast Asia between (and around) the rise of Melaka and the fall of Ayuthiao. Chapter Two is a discussion of the circumstances surrounding Sultan Muhammed Jiwa is abortive lease of Kuala Kedah to the English East India Company in 1772. Contrary to accepted history, the Bugis "invasion" is found to be a misnomer; the Bugis "threat" and the immediate danger of Siam are known to have been non-existent; Kedah is proved to have been under the Company's protection for a very brief period and Sultan Muhammed Jiwa is seen to have rescinded his Contract with the Company and to have rejected its new proposals almost purely because of its failure to sanction a written undertaking by its representative for limited offensive assistance. Chapter Three is built around Sultan Abdullah's offer of Pulau Pinang to the East India Company in 1785 in return for defensive assistance. The essential considerations behind this are found to have been the urgent need to isolate Kedah from its more powerful neighbouring Burmese and Siamese giants, their claims to suzerainty and their traditional wars by introducing a new element in the traditional balance of power operating in mainland Southeast Asia. Light's occupation and his taking formal possession of the island in 1786 are shown to have been pre-mature and illegal and no formal treaty or agreement for the occupation of the island was actually signed, contrary to what is currently held. Chapter Four encompasses the period 1786-91 when Sultan Abdullah is observed to have been hard-pressed by the fear of a Siamese invasion and the tributary demands of Siam, that is, within the context of the Burman-Siamese wars and made repeated appeals for the Company's assistance by virtue of its being in occupation of Pulau Pinang. His hopes in the faith of the Company, however, are seen to have proved a grand illusion, culminating in the sneak attack and rout of the forces that he had assembled to Perai to eject the Company from the island. Together with other evidence as discussed in Chapter Three, the hitherto almost heroic image of Light is seen to be almost without foundation. Chapter Five (1798-1813) is a reconstruction of the succession problem arising out of Sultan Abdullah's death in 1798, which was to have severe repercussions on the course of Kedah's subsequent history. The rise to power of Sultan Ahmad Taju'd-din with Siamese assistance and his placing Kedah into a fuller tributary petition are traced, together with the problems that arose from the outbreak of hostilities between Burma and Siam. The dual policy of the simultaneous appeasement of Siam on the one hand and of the appeals for British assistance on the other are the main characteristics of this period. The Treaty of 1800 between Diya 'u 'd-din and the Company is also shown to be suspect. In Chapter Six (1813-1819) which deals with Kedah's conquest of Perak, the tributary position that Sultan Ahmad had drawn himself into, comes more fully into play. The most outstanding causes for the conquest are shown to have been the need to testify Sultan Ahmad's loyalty to Siam in the light of charges against him and to safeguard Kedah's own security and interests. The immediate causes of the Siamese invasion of Kedah in 1821 are briefly examined in Chapter Seven (1818-1821). The threat of a major Burmese invasion and Burmese plans to wrest the Isthmian region and Kedah are seen to have coalesced with the growing ambitions of the Governor of Nakorn Si'thammarat, a worsening in relations between Sultan Ahmad and the Governor. Tunku Amboon’s bid for power, the supposition of British non-interference and charges of Sultan Ahmad's collusion with the Burmese. These emerge as the major considerations behind the invasion rather than incidental factors like the delay in the sending of the Bunga Emas dan Perak. The invasion of Kedah and its incorporation as a full province of Siam thus saw an abrupt end to its long search for security and independence.