Sultan Mahmud Shah II

Sultan Mahmud Shah II (original name King Mahmud) was the 10th Sultan of Johor (reigned 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 king'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 presided over by the Temenggong.

Sultan Mahmud Shah II's rule was associated with tyranny which caused domestic unrest. In 1697, the Bendahara Seri Maharaja Tun Habib Abdul Majid died and he was bestowed the title of Marhum Padang Saujana (Deceased Marshal of the Field).

Sultan Mahmud was a descendant of the King of Malacca who escaped after the town fell into the hands of the Portuguese in 1511. During his childhood, he was placed on the throne by his stepmother and the Sultanate was governed by Paduka Raja (His Majesty) Tun Abdul Jamil and his family. When Sultan Mahmud grew older and took over the reins of government, the latter's central administration moved from Riau to Johor Lama. It was here that he became a despot.

=Personality traits=

In the literary work Tuhfat al-Nafis written by Raja Ali Haji of Riau, there is a story describing the temperament of Sultan Mahmud. Employing subtlety, Raja Ali Haji attributed the personality quirks of the Sultan to the fact that he was married to a peri (type of female jinn) who was so jealous that he could not have the opportunity to be with any human wife.

He was eventually reputed to have inherited homosexual tendencies such as those of the people of Lot.

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 characteristic was also confirmed by the Dutch delegate to Johor in 1699 which reported that the Sultan was too young and difficult to control. He would spend his time indulging in shameless pleasures and killing people at will. His lust was more partial towards beautiful men. Hamilton in his book A New Account of The East Indies published in Edinburgh in 1727, recounted the following tale:

"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 him and needed him to be his catamite. He threatened the boy's father that if he did not send him voluntarily, the Sultan would get him forcibly. The poor man took his son on the ship and then asked for protection from me which I promised him." It was reported that many handsome men became victims of Sultan Mahmud's lasciviousness.

=Murder of admiral's wife=

The culmination of his tyranny was to kill the wife of one of his courtiers, Megat Seri Rama. In 1699, pirates were storming the shores of southern Johor, from Mersing to Pulau Penyengat and Riau. Laksamana (Admiral) Megat Seri Rama, also known as Laksamana Bentan after his island of origin, Bintan, was ordered to stop the menace. He left behind his beloved wife, Dang Anum, who was pregnant at term, while he went to quell the pirate attacks.

His absence presented an opportunity for a former palace officer, who was jealous of Megat Seri Rama, to plot against him. Dang Anum craved a piece of jackfruit taken from the royal orchard that was on its way to be presented to the Sultan. The penghulu (head of a sub-district) who was delivering the fruit to the palace sympathised with Dang Anum. He stole a piece of jackfruit and gave it to her. The Sultan, who noticed that the fruit had been cut before he tasted it, was outraged at the penghulu's action. His thoughts were also poisoned by the jealous palace officer who said that Dang Anum's deed had obviously brought shame to the Sultan, leaving him to eat the rest of the fruit after her. The Sultan ordered the woman to the palace for punishment. Desperate for her life and the child she bore in her womb, Dang Anum told the Sultan that the fruit she ate was for her child. The Sultan asked for proof and the woman's abdomen was split asunder. According to legend, the child was seen with the piece of the jackfruit. The heinous murder was kept secret from all the palace inhabitants.

=Death=

Megat Seri Rama, who held the title of Laksamana Bentan (Admirable Admiral) returned from the battlefield at Linggi on the orders of the Sultan and was informed of the tragic death of his beloved wife. Bendahara Paduka Raja Tun Abdul Jalil with other royal officials agreed to abolish the Sultan. According to Malay custom, a king could be brought down from the throne when proven to be insane or apostate. They agreed in a meeting that was held in secret to kill the Sultan.

However, there was a chieftain called Orang kaya (wealthy person) Seri Bija Wangsa from the Orang Laut (Sea People) tribe who was against the plot because he did not want to rebel against the Sultan. In order to successfully execute the plan and maintain confidentiality of the important mission, Seri Bija Wangsa was killed by a supporter. This chieftain was a key figure from the Orang Laut of the Riau-Lingga Sultanate who had assisted the Admiral in the Johor-Bugis war in Linggi. The Orang Laut were furious and wanted to avenge his death. Megat Seri Rama assumed the onerous duty of administering the coup and when the Sultan adjourned to the mosque for Friday prayers, Megat Seri Rama killed the insane Sultan. The Sultan subsequently became known as Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Di Julang (Sultan Mahmud who died in his palanquin). Supposedly, before he perished, the Sultan was able to curse his murderer and banned 7 of the descendants of Megat Seri Rama from setting foot in Johor Lama.

On a Friday in August 1699, Sultan Mahmud Shah II died at age 24, believed to have been stabbed by Admiral Bentan/Megat Seri Rama. Posterity was destined to know him better as Marhum Mangkat Di Julang or Marhum Kota Tinggi.

According to people in the southern state, there exists a descendant of Megat Seri Rama who will develop a headache and vomit blood whenever he visits the site of the Sultan's murder. Sultan Mahmud was buried in Kota Tinggi in 1699 and with his demise, the lineage of the rulers of Johor became severed from the descendants of the dynasty of the King of Malacca.

=Descent=

A successful claimant to the throne who initially held the title of Raja Kecil (Small King) averred that he was the son of Sultan Mahmud Shah II. The latter, in his childhood, was evacuated by a nobleman to Pagar Ruyung. The daughter of the nobleman was married off to Sultan Mahmud and subsequently begot Raja Kecil. Owing to the upheavals in the palace due to the odd behavior of the Sultan, the nobleman rescued his grandson Raja Kecil from it. Raja Kecil assumed the title of Sultan Abdul Jalil Rahmat Shah and ruled Johor from 1718 to 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.