Sultan Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah I (1802 – 1838) was the thirty-first
sultan of Aceh in northern
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
. He reigned from 1823 to 1838.
Accession and consolidation of Aceh
The old sultan
Alauddin Jauhar ul-Alam Syah had led a turbulent reign and was not recognized in all Aceh at his death in December 1823. He did not even control the capital
Kutaraja. At his demise he left six children, two by the principal queen Puteri Siharibulan and four with other wives. His testament pointed out a six-years old son by the main wive called Abdul Muhammad. However, this was not accepted by Panglima Polem who headed the XXII Mukims, one of the three regions (''sagi'') of Aceh.
Instead a 22-year-old son from a co-wife, Tengku Da'ud (also known as Tengku Darid or Sultan Buyung), was appointed, supported by his grandmother Merah di Awan. His throne name was Sultan Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah. His full brother
Tuanku Ibrahim was appointed Raja Muda (junior king); he would be the main force at the Acehnese court up to 1870. A new civil war threatened to tear Aceh apart since Puteri Siharibulan refused to accept the decision. She made an appeal to the
British in
Penang and asked for intervention. However, at this time the British had no interest in the politics of Aceh. Puteri Siharibulan and Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah were eventually reconciled via the mediation of the Raja Muda. The new sultan gradually gained acceptance from the ''panglima sagi'' (regional headmen), the ''orang kayas'' (grandees) and the ''uleëbalangs'' (chiefs).
London Treaty
The British reluctance to intervene was related to the
London Treaty of 17 March 1824 between the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
. Britain, concerned with the power balance in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, did not want a weak Netherlands and agreed to demarcate the spheres of interest in the
East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...
. The
Melaka Straits would form the border between the spheres, meaning that there would be no
British possessions on Sumatra, and no treaties with local states there. On the other hand, the British rights to
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
and
Melaka were stated. The Dutch diplomats promised to build up regular relations with Aceh to ensure security for sailors and merchants without abrogating its independence. The Acehnese authorities were not consulted on the matter but the treaty helped prolonging the independence of Aceh up to the 1870s.
Conflicts and incidents
The following years were marked by a number of violent incidents, as a result of the Dutch expansion on Sumatra which broke the influence on the coasts that Aceh had gained during the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
. In 1829 the Dutch tried to take control over
Barus from the Acehnese but were stopped. The attempt was repeated in 1834, again without success. After the first Dutch advance an Acehnese force assaulted and invested the Dutch fort in
Tapanuli. In 1830 the Dutch Resident on the west coast, MacGillavry, concluded a contract with the raja of Trumon which had hitherto been under the
Aceh Sultanate but was now acknowledged as autonomous. Three years later the Dutch decided that the
Singkil River would be considered the frontier between Aceh and the Dutch sphere on the west coast. Acehnese war-bands were involved in the
Padri War where a staunchly
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
Minangkabau faction (the Padris) fought the Dutch in
West Sumatra. In 1831 Aierbangis and
Natal were besieged by the Padris on the land side, and by the Acehnese from the sea. The attack was just barely beaten off.
A new crisis arose in 1836 when the Dutch
schooner ''Dolfijn'' was captured by the Acehnese. The authorities in
Batavia dispatched two envoys, Ritter and Van Loon, to Kutaraja in 1837. Their findings there indicated that the ship had been burnt and that the money and equipment on board had been appropriated by Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah, although the sultan alleged something else.
End of the reign
Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah was not described as a very energetic ruler. He was sickly, smoked opium, and followed the guidance of his trustees. His reign nevertheless saw a lively economic activity. A large part of the world's pepper was produced in the sultanate and British, French and American merchants brought rich cargoes from the Acehnese ports. The Dutch did not fetch much advantage of the opportunities, either because the spirit of enterprise was lacking or since the Dutch did not have attractive barter goods at hand.
[Veth (1873), p. 97-8.] The sultan died in 1838 and left a son who was still a child, Raja Sulaiman. The child was nominally enthroned as
Alauddin Sulaiman Ali Iskandar Syah. However, the Raja Muda, Tuanku Ibrahim gained power as acting sultan and would hold the reins for the next 32 years.
References
Literature
* Djajadiningrat, Raden Hoesein (1911) 'Critische overzicht van de in Maleische werken vervatte gegevens over de geschiedenis van het soeltanaat van Atjeh', ''Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'' 65, pp. 135-265.
* ''Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië'' (1917), Vol. 1. 's Gravenhage & Leiden: M. Nijhoff & Brill.
* Langen, K.F.H. van (1888), ''De inrichting van het Atjehsche staatsbestuur onder het sultanaat''. 's Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff
* Lee Kam Hing (1995) ''The Sultanate of Aceh: Relations with the British, 1760-1824''. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
* Veth, P.J. (1873) ''Atchin en zijne betrekkingen tot Nederland''. Leiden: G. Kolff.
{{s-end
Sultans of Aceh
1802 births
1838 deaths