THE ORANG LAUT : 19TH CENTURY BRITISH PERCEPTIONS OF A CHANGING COMMUNITY

Abstract

"As we told stories in dim kitchens Not even one could ever predict How our sons would wake from Dreams, hungering for the names Of their illiterate fathers." -Islanders by Alfian Sa'at This thesis examines British perceptions of the Orang Laut upon the British expansion into the Malay Archipelago at the end of the eighteenth century. I will argue that the long-standing British perception of the Orang Laut as pirates and uncivilized savages is a matter of perspective and does not truly reflect the nature of Orang Laut in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Furthermore, this perception helped lead to the eventual decline of the Orang Laut in Malay society. The first chapter will deal with the coming of the British, their motivations for freedom of trade, their desire to spread civilization, and their rising concerns to the endemic piracy of the region. Their need to control sea traffic for commercial ends brought them into direct confrontation with the Orang Laut. Recognized as a piratical community, the Orang Laut were treated as such in the anti-piracy campaign. The second chapter will elucidate the political and economic roles played by the Orang Laut in the Melaka-Johore Sultanate, drawing attention to the motivations behind their maritime raiding that has been labeled as ‘piracy, by the British. Using native sources and other sources which pioneer the reinterpretation of history within the Malay archipelago, this chapter seeks to re-dress longstanding misconceptions of the Orang Laut. The third chapter will examine the British perception of the Orang Laut in the nineteenth century. Placed in a larger ‘piracy’ discourse that legitimized and invigorated the anti-piracy campaign, the Orang Laut became one of the principal piratical groups responsible for the scourge of piracy within the region. The success of the campaign would have long standing repercussions upon the community. I will conclude by reiterating the fact that the perception of the Orang Laut as a community that was exclusively piratical was a social construct. It served the colonial state formation of the British while it disregarded native perceptions and contexts. Unfortunately for the Orang Laut, the perpetuation of this perception within the piracy discourse has helped contribute to the decline in the status of the Orang Laut within the larger Malay society