The Mandailings in Peninsular Malaysia

"Vanquish The Mandailings"
(Selangor War 1867-1873)

The Mandailings became such a dangerous threat to the political stability and economic life of Selangor during the Selangor War that they earned the condemnation of Sultan Abdus-Samad, who issued a decree declaring the Mandailing a menace and ordered their extermination leading to the sacking of the Mandailing from Selangor.

"We (Sultan Abdus-Samad) have granted our son Tengku Kudin this letter under our seal, and he has undertaken to vanquish the Mandilings and their allies. Now, therefore, the above (chiefs of Selangor) will obey our son who is also appointed leader of all foreigners, and whosoever does not obey his orders will be treated as a rebel according to the law. All Chinese and Malay engaged in commerce in the interior shall assist Tengku Kudin and his adherents with gunpowder and weapons. No Towkay shall assist the Mandiling people and if by Allah's grace the disturbances are settled, the possessions of the Mandilings shall be divided among such of the aforesaid as assist Tengku Kudin."

When one after another of his forts in Ulu Klang fell to the invading 'Pahang-Malay', Hakka Chinese (another faction) and Kedah forces, Raja Asal and his Mandailing clansmen and women, fled Selangor in 1873 and "was never heard of again". Raja Asal and his compatriots fled to Perak. In Pahang and Selangor, the Mandailing had fought the proxies of the British, in Perak, they changed sides and became the storm troopers and bounty hunters of the British. The Mandailings played a pivotal role in the pacification of Perak following the assassination of J.W.W. Birch, the first British Resident to Perak in 1875.

Raja Asal together with Syed Mashur, was described by Swettenham as "great disturbers of the peace" and their departure from Selangor was celebrated by the victors. "Thus at last Salangore seems to be in a fair way to obtain peaceful future" was Swettenham's conclusion at their removal.
The Resident of Selangor, J.G. Davidson, a staunch supporter of Tengku Kudin reported that if not for Raja Asal, the Klang War "would have been easily put down" and "that the Mandaling men were the strongest party in opposing… (the) Viceroy (Tengku Kudin)." In Davidson's estimation Raja Asal was a "powerful" and a "dangerous" man who ought to be arrested on sight.

In later years, Pasqual tried to get the real story about the civil war from Sutan Puasa, but "Old and infirm when I first made his acquaintance, the old warrior peaceably settled down in Ampang Street as a tin merchant, buying the tin produced by the Chinese miners."

"He was somewhat reticent by nature and never talked about his exploits nor the hidden 'gharone' of tin ingots which were buried away during the 'prang Mahdi', of which he owned several but could not locate their whereabouts..." In his old age, Sutan Puasa settled in Kampung Rawa (Jalan Melayu today) before moving to a Mandailing settlement in Chow Kit Road. He died in 1909.

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