"No, he hasn't got a flag, has he?"

Such was the initial reaction of one of the Duke of Sutherland's guests as the boat they were on came to dock at the capital of Johor Baru, seat of the throne of the independent Malay Sultanate of Johor, ruled by his Royal Highness Sultan Abu Bakar bin Ibrahim.

The bewilderment and surprise of the Duke's party was recorded by the British traveller and socialite, Florence Caddy, who was one of his guests on his tour of Malaya and Siam. Their encounter with the Sultan Abu Bakar, was perhaps all the more unique considering the fact that it came at a time when every other Malay kingdom was on the retreat from the encroaching influence of British indirect rule.

Sultan Abu Bakar, on the other hand, was not about to go on the defensive. He would meet the British challenge head-on, in the same way that he greeted his astonished European guests with all the confidence and bravado that they had come to expect only from other Europeans like themselves. Indeed, the Sultan would prove to be the most confounding obstacle that the Malay Kerajaan would hurl at the advances of the British colonisers.

For unlike his other brother-rulers, Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor was a different case altogether. He chose to use the Orientalist discourse which configured his role and identity to suit his own needs in many ways.

True to its contradictory and inconsistent nature, the colonial order of knowledge which portrayed his race as one which was 'naturally' lazy and prone to pathological disorders both real and invented, also happened to regard the Malays as 'nature's own gentlemen'.

Ronald Hyam notes that in official circles at least, "Malayo-Muslims satisfied the canons of gentlemanly manliness" in a way that many other colonial subject races did not. This was one disabling fiction which the Sultan turned to his advantage, and apart from living up to the reputation of a 'natural' gentleman, he would later prove himself to be quite a player as well.

Shrewd player

To appreciate the extent to which he managed to thwart the ambitions of the British colonial powers and to turn their ethnocentric preconceptions against themselves, it is important to understand both the character of Sultan Abu Bakar as well as the socio-political circumstances of his eventful life.

Sultan Abu Bakar was probably the most westernised Malay ruler of the Victorian era. As a boy, he had attended the Keasberry School for Malays in Singapore whose missionary-founder had "made no concessions to the Muslim practices of his Malay pupils". (In other words, pork was regularly served and the teachers could not care less about the sensibilities of the Malay-Muslim students, no matter how royal they were). Thus from his early childhood he had experienced the uncompromising might of this new foreign power which was infringing upon his homeland (1).

But a closer study of the complex relationship between the court of Johor under the rule of Sultan Abu Bakar and the colonial administration of the period demonstrates the extent to which Anglo-Malay relations at that particular stage in colonial history (and at that particular level of colonial social relations) was determined and informed by notions of racial and class differences which both sides tried to deploy against the other.

Sultan Abu Bakar was himself a shrewd political player who was well advised by his dedicated staff of chosen Malay-Bugis advisers, all of whom realised that Johor's independence (and the prestige of the Court of Johor) was a precious and precarious thing indeed.

Recognition from his fellow Malay rulers was not to be taken for granted, and not willingly offered. Contenders and usurpers such as Tengku Alam were also close at hand and had to be watched constantly.

The British, on the other hand, would only recognise his status as Maharajah (in 1868), and later Sultan (in 1885) when they were forced to do so or when successfully out-manoeuvred. The constant threat of British intervention, loss of solidarity and support from the rulers of the neighbouring Sultanates, the fragility of his fledgling state and the prospect of being replaced by a contender were among the factors that shaped the Sultan's political outlook and guided his political designs both at home and abroad.

Sultan Abu Bakar realised that he would suffer the fate of his brother-rulers if he remained inert and did not try to anticipate the moves that would be made against him. There were two ways by which the Sultan could out-manoeuvre his opponents: the first geographical, the second discursive. He chose both.

A-roving we will go

As we have shown above, the modern colonial state was eternally preoccupied with the problem of policing the ethnic and social boundaries that kept the natives outside the sphere of real political and economic power while keeping them in their appointed places at the same time.

This meant that the natives were not only meant to be kept in the allocated social status and roles, but that they needed to be kept physically confined to their allocated spaces as well. Native rulers were no exception, and worse still they could afford the tickets for a luxury cruise which meant that their nomadic excursions would take them way beyond where other natives would dare (or were allowed) to tread.

Thus by the 19th century it was the native rulers like Sultan Abu Bakar who came to represent the great black peril to the West. For as sovereign native men in western territory they represented a threat to the highly stratified and tightly regulated hierarchy of race and class that the colonial order was founded upon.

The movements and activities of these sovereign natives threatened to demolish (or worse still, ridicule) the attempts by the colonial officials to maintain the strict social distinctions and racial hierarchies that kept Europeans and others apart (2).

At that time the activities and movement of the Malay rulers were being orchestrated (and thereby policed) by the colonial authorities with the utmost care for protocol, bearing in mind the already heavy restrictions placed upon them by Malay adat and the pecking order among themselves. But Sultan Abu Bakar had his own motives to travel, which were often not in line with the wishes of the colonial authorities who were trying to catch up with him.

Unlike other Malay rulers such as Sultan Idris Shah, Sultan Abu Bakar did not wait for the British to descend upon his kingdom and pin medals upon his chest after they had effectively colonised it. Rather that allow himself to be won over by the poisonous gifts of the British, he travelled all over his kingdom and the rest of the world to collect his own gifts and to give in return.

To win the hearts and minds of his own people, he embarked on a series of internal reforms which eventually led to the pacification of troublesome regions such as Muar. He also courted the support of the few Malay kingdoms such as Pahang that chose to seek his help in the internecine conflicts that were tearing the Malay kingdoms apart.

Royal tours

Yet his rambles at home did not save Sultan Abu Bakar from the unwelcome attention of the British. Though the Bugis court of Riau conferred upon Temenggong Abu Bakar the right to assume the title of Maharaja in 1868 (a right which it had hitherto reserved only for the use by the rightful heirs of the rulers of Melaka), the far-sighted Abu Bakar could see that the greatest threat to his kingdom came from the British next door in Singapore.

Even after he had proved his ability and support for the British Crown in the wake of the Perak uprising of 1874, the British colonial authorities in Malaya were still inclined to intervene in the affairs of Johor and to discredit its ruler whenever possible.

When the colonial office suggested that Maharaja Abu Bakar be made Sultan and that the throne of Perak should be given to him as well, it was the Governor of the Crown Colonies, Sir William Jervois, who was first to object.

From the very beginning, as Temenggong Abu Bakar realised that he would be forced to out-manoeuvre the colonial authorities closer to home. To win even more support and recognition from abroad, the Sultan embarked on a series of transcontinental tours which took him from Japan and the Far East to the courts of England and Europe, always mindful of the fact that he was being observed and that his activities would eventually be reported back to the High Commissioner.

To avert the most dangerous threat of all that was so precariously close, he travelled further to seek audience with the source of all his worries: the crown of England itself.

Sultan Abu Bakar's first visit to England was in 1866, shortly after he assumed the throne. On this first visit (as Temenggong Abu Bakar) he attended gatherings organised for the Prince of Wales, and was even presented to Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. (Such niceties would be repaid in kind, as he entertained the Prince when he visited Singapore in 1882.)

Not forgetting the other royal houses and courts of Europe, he also sought an audience with the French Emperor Napoleon III. On his return trip from Europe, he prudently stopped in Ceylon and inspected the Malay troops of the Ceylon Rifles in Colombo, making sure to remind them to remain loyal to the Crown of England and the Empire .

Serious threat

In 1876 he turned his attention to Asia and the East, and began his travels with a visit to India where he managed to break the ice between the Prince of Wales and the Indian Princes (during the meeting of the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Star of India), much to the former's relief.

On his second visit to England in 1878, Maharaja Abu Bakar brought with him Muhammad Ibrahim, son of the writer Munshi Abdullah. He was given another opportunity to visit the Queen, who had organised a State ball at Buckingham Palace.

This was followed by another European tour with Paris and Vienna on the itinerary, earning him even more recognition from dignitaries such as Prince Henry of Lichtenstein (which was again repaid in kind in the spirit of noblesse oblige). Prussia and Italy also conferred upon him the honours he so ardently sought.

Inevitably, such mutual pleasantries between fellow rulers also earned Abu Bakar the chagrin of the colonial administration back home as well, who wanted to keep the native ruler in his place. In 1880, the post of the Governor of the Straits Colonies was given to Sir Frederick Weld, and it was he who proved to be the most serious threat to both the Maharaja as well as the autonomy of the Kingdom of Johor. Haji Buyong Adil sums up their relationship thus:

'Perhubongan Gebenor Weld dengan Maharaja Abu Bakar tidak-lah saperti perhubongan Maharaja Abu Bakar dengan Gebenor Cavenagh, Ord dan Robinson dahulu, ia-itu gabenor2 yang memandang tinggi dan bersahabat baik dengan Abu Bakar. Tetapi Weld memandang baginda sebagai sa-orang Raja Melayu yang chongkak dan agak tidak boleh di-harapkan;... Sebalek-nya, Maharaja Abu Bakar pun langsong tidak perchaya kepada Gabenor Weld itu. Nasihat2 yang di-kehendaki baginda berhubong dengan pemerentahan negeri, selalu-lah di-minta baginda daripada peguam2 di-Singapura.'

Knowing that governor Weld was bent on intervening in the affairs of his state and introducing a British Resident in Johor, the Maharaja decided to travel abroad in search for support once again. In 1881 he visited neighbouring Java, then under Dutch rule.

Frustrated Governor

The year 1883 saw him touring across China and Japan, visiting the court of the Japanese Emperor as well as the cities of Nagasaki, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Saigon, hobnobbing with the local as well as European elites who were keen to view this globetrotting Malay ruler. As usual, this was a source of concern and worry for the colonial officials back home.

The Maharaja's third visit to England in 1885 was an attempt to avert the possibility of his kingdom being brought under the Residential system of indirect British rule (3). As such the Maharaja brought with him his most able advisers such as Dato' Seri Amar Di Raja Abdul Rahman , and together they sought to play the Colonial Office against the Governor of the Straits Settlements.

The gamble paid off, and thus won him the recognition as the Sultan of Johor, an independent ruler of an independent State. The State Secretary for the British Colonies even went as far as assuring the Sultan that Britain would no longer press for the appointment of a British agent in the kingdom of Johor, much to the disgust of the frustrated Governor Weld back in Singapore.

To add insult to injury, the Sultan further consolidated his gains with a fourth visit to England in 1891-93 which ended with the ultimate coup de theatre, a stay at Windsor castle, as a guest of the Queen herself and the friend of the Prince of Wales.

In 1893 he travelled all across Europe where he had the opportunity to meet the Kaiser of Germany, the Kings of Italy and Austria, and was finally met and decorated by Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey, who bestowed upon Sultan Abu Bakar the Honourable Star of Turkey (first class).

Empire defied

By then other Asian monarchs were also cognizant of his achievements: In 1894 the Manchu Emperor of China presented an award to Sultan Abu Bakar for his care of the Chinese merchants and workers in his kingdom.

His journeys at home and abroad had thus saved both Sultan Abu Bakar and his realm, at least temporarily. While his brother-rulers were being moved back and forth, propped up or exiled as pawns in a strategy of extending indirect British rule throughout the Malay lands, Sultan Abu Bakar had defied the architects of Empire by travelling beyond, to where he was not meant to go.

But the reforms he attempted both at home and abroad proved that the discursive boundaries of colonial-capitalist ideology could not hold him either.

[Part 4 will appear on Monday]

Endnotes:

1) Sultan Abu Bakar's own ascent to the throne of Johor as Dato' Temenggong Abu Bakar Seri Maharaja Johor was under somewhat complicated circumstances, aided in part by the British to whom he grudgingly owed his thanks. This long-standing relationship with the West and Britain in particular gave him an obvious advantage over his brother-rulers, many of whom were less au fait with both the norms and the eccentricities of Western lifestyle.

Able to spruce up his appearance with whatever was de rigueur at the time, he was able to make several journeys to the West and adapt his carriage to suit the vicissitudes of the times better than the more conservative Sultan Idris of Perak or the parochial Sultan Abdul Hamid of Kedah, for example.

2) By the late Victorian imperial era these native rulers were moving to and fro between the mother-country and the colonies with alarming frequency. (The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 only complicated things further, as it made their movements all the easier.) Once in the mother-country, there was no telling what they might do.

The Indian monarchs, for example, had the embarrassing habit of choosing spouses whom the colonial authorities were disinclined to consider as appropriate. The marriage of the Maharajah of Patiala to Florry Bryan was a major cause of scandal for the colonial authorities. The marriage of the Rajah of Jind to Olive Monalescu had the same effect, and finally Lord Curzon had to prevent the attempt by the Rajah of Pudukkottai to attend Queen Victoria's Jubilee celebrations in 1897 because he was a young, extravagant man, and the powers that be feared his marrying a European woman.

Underlying these attempts to police and regulate the movements of the native monarchs was also the fear of cultural and racial contamination, for the prospect of mixed marriages and their hybrid progeny would effectively render ineffective the policing of racial and class boundaries that the colonial functionaries had laboured for so long in the colonies.

3) During his stay in England in 1885-86, Sultan Abu Bakar prudently created the Jama'ah Penasihat Johor (the Johor Advisory Board) as his insurance policy against the machinations of the colonial authorities closer to home in Singapore.

The Board was made up of affluent and influential Englishmen led by the Sultan's close English friend, Lieutenant-Colonel William Fielding, who were sympathetic to his concerns and who would lobby on his behalf to the Colonial Office in London.

The Jama'ah Penasihat was also responsible for forewarning Sultan Abu Bakar's staff about any plans that were being hatched against them in London, as well as advising him on matters of state as well as administration in Johor.