Sultan Mahmud Shah II

Sultan Mahmud Shah II (original name King Mahmud) was the 10th Sultan of Johor (reign: 1685 to August 1699). Born in 1675, he was installed as monarch at the age of 10 years. Sultan Mahmud was the last descendant of King Fatimah, grandson of Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah II, the first king who founded the Old Johor Sultanate in 1530. Alexander Hamilton, an English sailor who visited Johor Lama in 1695, wrote about the monarch's homosexuality.

=Government=

During the reign of Sultan Mahmud, administrative affairs were conducted by the Bendahara. The central government was located at Kota Tinggi and a royal palace was constructed at Johor Lama, a town watched over by the Temenggong.

Sultan Mahmud Shah II was associated with tyranny and caused domestic unrest. In 1697, the Emperor of the Maharaja Tun Habib Abdul Majid died and was called "Marhum Padang Saujana".

In Tahfatu'l Nafis Raja Ali Haji Riau, there is a story slot describing the temperament of Sultan Mahmud of Johor who was killed in the event of Sultan Mangkat Dijulang. Subtle Raja Ali Haji described the personal peculiarity of the sultan because he had a jealous kind of jealousy so that the sultan could not be with any of his wives from the human kind.

He was eventually reputed to have inherited homosexual tendencies such as those of the people of Lut. Sultan Mahmud was a descendant of the Melaka King who escaped after Melaka fell into the hands of the Portuguese in 1511. During his childhood, he was placed on the throne by his stepmother and the government was governed by the King of Tun Abdul Jamil and his family. When he grew older and took over the government, the central government moved from Riau to Johor Lama. It was there that he ruled with tyranny.

Alexander Hamilton, an English sailor who visited Johor Lama in 1695 wrote about the peculiarity of the Sultan's behaviour. He was fierce and bizarre. This behaviour was also confirmed by the Dutch delegate to Johor in 1699 which reported the sultan was too young and difficult to control. The Sultan spent time with shameless pleasures and killed people at will. His lust was more partial towards beautiful men. Hamilton in his book, 'A New Account of The East Indies' - Edinburgh 1727, recounted the following story:

"He is a great slander and takes many rich people or the sons of nobles, forcing them into his palace for such abusive service. One Moorish trader, the loader on my boat had a handsome boy, One day the king saw and needed him to be his catamite. He threatened his father that if he did not send him voluntarily, the Sultan would get him forcibly. The poor man took his son on the ship, then asked for protection from me which I promised him."

It was reported that many handsome men became victims of Sultan Mahmud's lasciviousness. The culmination of tyranny was to kill her great-granddaughter Megat Seri Rama. His wife, Dang Anum, who loaded the ladder, craves jackfruit in the royal garden. When he learned of the incident, the king was tyrant or his folly had split Dang Anum's stomach to see whether the child in the womb was craving the king's jackal.

=Death=

Megat Seri Rama (titled Laksamana Bentan) who returned from the battlefield at Linggi on the orders of the sultan was rumored to be the tragic death of his beloved wife. Bendahara Paduka Raja Tun Abdul Jalil with other royal officials agreed to abolish the king. According to the Malay custom, a king can be brought down from the throne when proven to be crazy or apostate. They agreed in a meeting that was held closed to kill the king-modded-dijulang.html Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Dijulang.

However, there was a ruler called the People of the Seri Bija Wangsa from the tribe of the Orang Laut (Sea People) against the plot because they did not want to disobey the king. In order to make the plan and closing the secret of the important mission, the Seri Bija Wangsa was killed by a supporter. This magnifier is the priority of the Orang Laut people (Riau / Lingga people) who had been the assistant admiral in the Johor-Bugis war in Linggi. The people of the Sea were very angry and grasping their deaths. While Megat Seri Rama took a heavy duty to disobey and when it was time for the sultan to be thrown into the mosque for Friday prayers, Megat Seri Rama killed the crazy Sultan and then the tragedy was known as 'Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Dijulang'. Supposedly before he died, he was able to curse his killer and banned 7 of the descendants of Megat Seri Rama from tracking the old Johor.

On Friday, August 1699, Sultan Mahmud Shah II died at age 24, believed to be stabbed by Megat Seri Rama. Finally, he is best known as " 'Marhum Mangkat Di Julang' " or " 'Marhum Kota Tinggi' ". He was buried in Kota Tinggi[http: //artmelayu.blogspot.com/2008/01/makam-tomb-of-sultan-mahmud-mangkat.html].

According to people in the southern state, there is still a descendant of Megat Seri Rama who will be dizzy and vomiting when visiting the sultan's murder area. Sultan Mahmud was buried in Kota Tinggi in 1699 and with his death, the jury of the Johor rulers broke out from the descendants of the King of Malacca dynasty.

=Descent=

A sultan's sultan who was called the Raja Kecil claimed that he was the son of Sultan Mahmud Shah II who in his childhood was rushed by his eldest son to the Pagar Ruyung. The eldest daughter was married to Sultan Mahmud II and then got this Small King. Due to the shadows of the palace because of the odd behavior of the sultan, the magnifier rescues his grandson (the Small King). Then King Kechil used the title Sultan Abdul Jalil Rahmat Shah and ruled Johor between 1718-1722.

=References=


 * R.O. Winstedt, A History of Johore, The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (MBRAS), 1992, ISBN 9839961462.
 * Sultan Mahmud Shah II, Malay Wikipedia

=See also=
 * Singapore gay history

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.