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The Raffles Letters
Letter from the Sultan of Johor and Pahang, 1811 during
the British Campaign in Assisting
the Invasion of Dutch Java
Letter from the
Sultan of Johor
and Pahang,
5 January 1811,
(9 Zulhijah 1225)
One of the most beautiful royal Malay letters delivered to Sir
Thomas Stamford Raffles in his capacity as Agent to the
Governor-General with the Malay States. This letter, from the
ailing Sultan Mahmud Syah of Johor and Pahang in Lingga,
was dated as 8 January, confirming support for the British invasion
of Dutch Java by providing a perahu.
The Raffles letters are a collection of intriguing chronicles relating to
the British and Malay States during his posting in Melaka.
Its impressive documentations are all well preserved in the
British Library.
This correspondence unveiled little of the secret mission the British planned in
wresting Java from French-Dutch occupation. A plan to retaliate against
Napoleon Bonaparte and his warring campaign in Europe. In actual
reality, the Raffles letters were dispatched to the Malay Sultans to establish
support, and gain provisions to weaken Dutch colonization on the island of
Java. A sample of the letter pictured, written in diplomatic persuasive tones
by Abdullah Bin Abdul Kadir, a scribe employed by Raffles, included
magnificent presents to gain favour with the Malay Sultans. Every letter that
was sent received favourable response and was replied with presents from the
Sultans in return. It was the start of British involvement in the internal
affairs of the Malay States.
The letter’s elegance lies in its rhythmic patterns and lines fused by the
pot-pourri of eloquent calligraphic melody. Shimmering in the generous effect
of ink and gold on English paper (‘G Taylor 1802’).