Notes on two Perak manuscripts
W. E. Maxwell, a British official serving in Perak, published this article in 1878 in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, describing two Malay-language manuscripts he had obtained from Perak’s royal and aristocratic circles. The article addresses the near-total absence of reliable written history for the Malay states, arguing that while these texts are riddled with legend and exaggeration, they constitute the only purely native written accounts of Perak’s rulers and possess genuine value when cross-referenced against European documentary sources.
Summary
Maxwell opens by surveying the state of Malay historiography as it stood in the late 1870s, noting that since Leyden’s optimistic assessment seventy years earlier, little progress had been made owing to the limited contact between Europeans and the native states of the Peninsula. The only significant acquisition he identifies is Colonel Low’s translation of the Hikayat Marong Mahawangsa (Kedah Annals). Against this backdrop of scarcity, Maxwell presents the two Perak manuscripts he has collected: a short genealogy of the Mohamedan kings of Perak, and a more substantial historical work entitled Misal Malayu (“An Example for Malays”), authored by Raja Cholan (later known as Murhom Pulo Juva).
The genealogy manuscript traces the Perak royal line from the Malacca sultans through to the late eighteenth century, covering twelve reigns. Maxwell notes significant discrepancies between this account and both the Sijara Malayu and local Perak tradition, particularly regarding the origin of the first Perak Sultan, Muzafar Shah. He interprets the Perak chronicler’s attempt to connect the Perak line directly to the Malacca royal house (rather than to the Johor Bendahara, as the Sijara Malayu records) as a deliberate effort to claim descent from Alexander the Great through the Malacca genealogical tradition. The manuscript records two Achinese invasions and two Bugis incursions, all resulting in Perak defeat, and mentions the Dutch factory at Tanjong Putus.
The Misal Malayu covers the reigns of Sultans Muzafar Shah, Mohamed Shah, and Iskandar of Perak, with particular emphasis on the latter, whom Maxwell identifies as the strongest Perak sovereign and the figure around whom a local “golden age” memory has crystallised. The work is notable for its detailed accounts of court ceremonies, palace festivities, and royal progresses, which Maxwell considers of greater ethnographic than historical interest. Its principal historical value lies in the detailed narrative of Dutch commercial relations with Perak, the circumstances of a 1765 treaty with the VOC, and the account of the 1770 Bugis invasion of Kedah, which Maxwell corroborates against European records. He concludes that the Misal Malayu was probably completed around 1778, during the reign of Sultan Ala-eddin Mansur Shah.
Key Findings
- The genealogy manuscript is a 72-page volume formerly belonging to the Raja Bendahara, preserved in an embroidered tetampan and yellow cloth wrapper; its first page is missing (p. 183).
- Maxwell assigns the accession of Sultan Muzafar Shah, the first Perak king, to approximately A.D. 1550, and calculates an average reign duration of about 19 years across the twelve sultans recorded (p. 185).
- Sultan Muzafar Shah died on Friday, 11 Zulkhaidah A.H. 1167 (A.D. 1756); the Misal Malayu records that during his illness a woman in the palace was executed on suspicion of witchcraft, after which his condition worsened (p. 188).
- The Dutch tin monopoly at Pangkalan Halban was priced at 32 dollars per bhara exclusive of a 2-dollar-per-bhara tax; all tin export was reserved to the Dutch, and their captain was rotated every three years (p. 187).
- A treaty was concluded on 17 October 1765 between the VOC and “Paduca Siry Sultan Mohamed Shah, King of Pera”; the Malay manuscript names the Dutch officials involved, though their names are barely recognisable in Malay rendering (p. 189).
- The 1770 Bugis invasion of Kedah was led by Raja Haji (Pangeran) with a fleet of approximately 120 prahus; he anchored below the Dutch fort at the Perak mouth, was received by Sultan Mahmud Shah at Pulo Besar Indra Mulia, and was so intimidated by the Perak military display that he abandoned any design against Perak (pp. 191–192).
Conclusion
Maxwell’s definitive takeaway is one of cautious vindication: despite the manuscripts’ “oriental exaggeration” and “tedious recapitulation,” and despite the “disappointingly scarce” historical data, they represent the only written accounts of the Perak Rajas on purely native authority, and the general accuracy of the Misal Malayu has been confirmed wherever comparison with European sources is possible. He expresses a wish to publish full translations with annotations drawn from local tradition, anticipating that such opportunities will diminish “as civilization extends and as the days of Malay rule recede further into the past.”
Context
- Maxwell was a British colonial administrator in Perak; he obtained the genealogy manuscript from the late Raja Osman, the last Perak Bendahara, and his framing throughout is that of an official cataloguing indigenous documents for a metropolitan learned society.
- The article reflects the broader colonial-era project of recovering and systematising “native” history as a complement to European administrative records, a practice that simultaneously valued and instrumentalised pre-colonial political traditions.