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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 April 2013
Studies on leadership in Southeast Asia's early modern era have tended to centre necessarily on men, and in particular, on O.W. Wolters' concept of ‘men of prowess’. The concept of female leadership is still little researched. This case study of Sultanah Safiatuddin Syah of Aceh (1641–75) provides some insights into female leadership in the Malay-Muslim island world of Southeast Asia. Contrary to the received view that successful leadership tended to be male (men of prowess), this article demonstrates that female leadership and the justification for the position of the ruler relied less on notions of sacral and charismatic power based on male prowess, but instead shifted to Muslim notions of piety and the just ruler.
1 Wolters, O.W., History, culture and region in Southeast Asian perspectives, rev. ed. (Ithaca, NY and Singapore: Cornell South East Asia Program and ISEAS, 1999), pp. 18–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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3 This project identifies both historical and mythical princesses in the Malay world. See, for example, 101 puteri dunia Melayu: Sejarah dan legenda [101 princesses in the Malay world: History and legends], ed. Yahaya, Nisriwani and Noor, Syed Zulflida (Kuala Lumpur: Jabatan Muzium dan Antikuiti, 2003)Google Scholar.
4 See al-Fatani, Ahmad Fathy, Pengantar Sejarah Patani [An introduction to the history of Patani] (Alor Setar: Pustaka Darussalam, 1994)Google Scholar and Bradley, Francis, ‘Moral order in a time of damnation: The Hikayat Patani in historical context’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 40, 2 (2009): 267–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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6 Anthony Reid has argued that the reduced skill and authority of the rulers who succeeded Iskandar Muda and the growing power of the Dutch led to the decline of royal power. Reid, Anthony, ‘Trade and the problem of royal power in Aceh — three stages: c.1500–1700’, in Pre-colonial state systems in Southeast Asia: The Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Bali-Lombok, South Celebes, ed. Reid, Anthony and Castles, Lance, Monographs of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, no. 6 (Kuala Lumpur: Percetakan Mas, 1975), p. 52Google Scholar. Merle Ricklefs claimed that Aceh entered a long period of internal disunity and ceased to be significant outside Northern Sumatra. From 1641–99, royal authority was restricted to Aceh itself and the Sultanate became a weak symbolic institution. Ricklefs, Merle C., A history of modern Indonesia since c1300, 2nd ed. (Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1993), p. 36CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also, Said, Mohammad, Aceh sepanjang abad [Aceh through the centuries], vol. 1 (Medan: Pengarang Sendiri, 1961), p. 377Google Scholar; Pamenan, Ilyas Sutan, Rentjong Aceh di tangan wanita [The Acehnese rencong in women's hands], (Jakarta: DJ Waringin, 1959), pp. 35–6Google Scholar; Andaya, Leonard, Kingdom of Johore 1641–1678 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 56Google Scholar.
7 T. Braddell wrote that in 1641 twelve orangkaya seized the reins of power and placed the widow of the late king on the throne, without giving her the power to interfere in the management of state affairs. Braddell, T., ‘On the history of Acheen’, Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, 4 (1850): 19Google Scholar. W. Marsden noted that the nobles, finding their power less restrained than when ruled by kings, supported these ‘pageants’ whom they governed as they thought fit. The queens were mere ceremonial rulers with no power to appoint or remove any of the orangkaya. Marsden, W., History of Sumatra, intro. by Bastin, John, 3rd ed. (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1986), pp. 447, 454Google Scholar.
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11 Hadi, Amirul, Islam and state in Sumatra: A study of seventeenth century Aceh (Leiden: Brill, 2004), p. 81CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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13 Mulaika Hijjas, ‘The woman raja: Female rule in seventeenth century Aceh’ (M.A. thesis, University of Oxford, 2001), p. 89.
14 Andaya, Leonard, ‘A very good-natured but awe-inspiring government: The reign of a successful queen in seventeenth-century Aceh’, in Hof en Handel: Aziatische vorsten en de VOC 1620–1720, ed. Locher-Scholten, Elsbeth and Rierbergen, Peter (Leiden: KITLV, 2004), p. 81Google Scholar.
15 Anthony Reid, ‘Female roles in pre-colonial Southeast Asia’: 641.
16 Takeshi Ito, ‘The world of the Adat Aceh: A historical study of the Sultanate of Aceh’ (Ph.D. diss., The Australian National University, Canberra, 1984), p. 120.
17 Bustan al-Salatin, ed. Salleh, Siti Hawa Haji (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1992), p. 44Google Scholar.
18 Dagh-register van Batavia, 1640–1682, vols. 1641–1642, ed. van der Chijs, J.A. et al. (The Hague: M. Nijhoff and Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1887–1928), p. 123Google Scholar.
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21 ‘Coninngh vande gantsche werrelt, die gelyck een Godt daerover is, glinsterende als the son op den middach, een Coningh, die zyn schynsel gelyck de volle maen geeft.’ Iskandar Thani's letter to Antonio van Diemen in van der Chijs et al., Dagh-register, 1640–41, pp. 6–7.
22 National Archives, The Hague (henceforth NA), VOC 1141, Letter from the Queen of Aceh to the Governor General in Batavia, 1642, f.146r.
23 NA, VOC 1141, Letter from Justus Schouten, Johan van Twist in Malacca, 1641, f.339v.
24 Since the jewels were fashioned in the Acehnese style as ordered by Iskandar Thani, it would have been difficult to sell them to other rulers.
25 Khan, Sher Banu A.L., ‘The Jewel Affair: The Sultanah, her Orangkaya and the Dutch foreign envoys’, in Mapping the Acehnese past, ed. Feener, Michael, Daly, Patrick and Reid, Anthony (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2011), pp. 141–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
26 NA, VOC 1143, Dagh-register van Pieter Sourij, 1642, ff.572r–576r.
27 NA, VOC 1143, Letter from Antonio Van Diemen, Governor General in Batavia, to Jacob Compostel, Resident in Aceh, 1642, f.225. The jewels brought by various envoys to fulfil this order amounted to a total of 29,500 taels (Schouten brought 6,834 taels, Pieter Sourij brought 15,000 taels and Vlamingh Oudshoorn brought another 8,500). The Queen accepted a total of 21,000 taels, and the Dutch were left with 8,500 taels (one emerald ring and five diamond rings).
28 Dagh-register van Pieter Sourij, 1642, ff.572r–572v. For more details see Khan, ‘The Jewel Affair’, pp. 148–9.
29 Amirul Hadi, Islam and state in Sumatra; Auni Luthfi, ‘The decline of the Islamic empire of Aceh’.
30 Takeshi Ito, ‘The world of the Adat Aceh’, p. 31; Ito quotes from Augustine de Beaulieu, ‘Memoirs of Admiral Beaulieu's voyage to East Indies (1619–1622) drawn up by himself’, trans. by M. Thevenot in John Harris's Voyages and Travels (1705), vol. 1, pp. 49–50, 102–3. This may seem a strange practice for a female ruler, but I would suggest that under the male rulers, the harem would be the private quarter whilst under a female ruler, the harem would no longer be in existence.
31 Ito, ‘The world of the Adat Aceh’, p. 32.
32 Ibid., pp. 32, 43. The weekly court audiences are mentioned right up until 1660, the last year for which the Dagh-registers (daily records) of the VOC's commissars are available.
33 Ibid., p. 44. See also Adat Aceh, transliterated by Ramli Harun and Tjut Rahmah (Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1985), p. 69.
34 See Hurgronje, The Acehnese, pp. 64–77.
35 Farrington, Anthony, ‘Negotiations at Aceh in 1684: An unpublished English document’, Indonesia and the Malay World, 27, 77 (1999): 25CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
36 Ibid., p. 25.
37 The Company officials attending court would faithfully report on who was present during these audiences and who was sick, especially when the Company's affairs were discussed on the audience days.
38 Bustan us-Salatin, ed. Iskandar, T. (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1966), p. 32Google Scholar.
39 The Bustan reveals a plot hatched by Iskandar Thani's enemies to murder him by poisoning his food. The plot was foiled and the conspirators executed, Bustan, p. 46.
40 Beaulieu, Memoirs, p. 257.
41 NA, VOC 1155, Dagh-register van Vervolch van Atchin, 1645, f.460r.
42 A Malay measure of weight, varying roughly between 210–240 kg.
43 NA, VOC 1155, Dagh-register van Vervolch van Atchin, f.442V.
44 Truijtman mentioned that the usual gifts from the Shahbandars were brought ceremoniously to court for her Majesty's satisfaction as part of their duty in serving her. NA, VOC 1171. Dagh-register van Johan Truijtman, 1649, f.223V.
45 Iskandar Thani described himself as ‘the auspicious Sultan, the honoured and revered Paduka Seri Sultan Alauddin Mughayat Syah, Champion Sovereign, shadow of God on earth, the vicegerent of Allah, King of the whole world, who like God, is glittering like the sun at midday [my emphasis] whose attributes are like the full moon, is the king chosen by Allah [and] whose characteristics are like the Pleiades, who is king of kings, descendants of Alexander the Great.’ …'. See Iskandar Thani's letter to Antonio van Diemen in Chijs et al., Dagh-register, 1640–41, pp. 6–7.
46 Chijs et al., Dagh-register, 1640–41, p. 4. See also: NA, VOC 1131, Letter from Commissaris Paulus Croocq to the Governor General, 1639, f.1162.
47 See Teh-Gallop, Annabel, ‘Gold, silver and lapis lazuli: Royal letters from Aceh in the 17th century’, in Mapping the Acehnese past, ed. Feener et al. , p. 124Google Scholar.
48 Letter from Iskandar Thani to Diemen, Antonio van, in Dagh-register, ed. Chijs et al. (vol. 1640–41), pp. 6–7Google Scholar. An orginal Malay letter from Iskandar Thani to Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange (1584–1647), dating from 1639, displays similar titles and compliments. Leiden University Library, Cod.Or.4818.a.I.3. Quoted from Teh-Gallop, ‘Gold, silver and lapis lazuli’, p. 121.
49 This refers to the Arabic spelling or version of Safiatuddin which is Safiyat al-Din.
50 Elizabeth I and Empress Wu Zhe Tian also used providentialism as the most effective means of legitimating themselves as female monarchs. See Mclaren, Anne, ‘Elizabeth I as Deborah: Biblical typology, prophecy and political power’, in Gender, power and privilege in early modern Europe, ed. Munns, Jessica and Richards, Penny (London: Pearson Education, 2003), pp. 99, 105Google Scholar. Empress Wu Zhe Tian (r.683–708) of China argued that she be allowed to serve her country despite strict patriarchal custom on the grounds that she was the reincarnation of a previous female saint to whom the Buddha himself had promised spiritual rebirth. See Stearns, P.N., Gender in world history (London: Routledge, 2000), p. 36Google Scholar.
51 My translation from the original reproduced in Annabel Teh-Gallop, ‘Gold, silver and lapis lazuli: Royal letters from Aceh in the 17th century’ [henceforth ‘Royal letters from Aceh’], paper presented at the First International Conference on Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies, 24–26 Feb. 2007, Banda Aceh.
52 Teh-Gallop's translation in ‘Gold, silver and lapis lazuli’, p. 126.
53 Ibid., p. 111.
54 NA, VOC 1131, Letter from Iskandar Thani to Governor General Antonio van Diemen, 1640, f.1433.
55 See Teh-Gallop, ‘Royal letters from Aceh’, pp. 1–46; 14–17, which quotes the Sultana describing her role as the vicegerent of Allah.
56 Teh-Gallop, ‘Gold, silver and lapis lazuli’, p. 127.
57 Annabel Teh-Gallop, ‘Malay seal inscriptions: A study in Islamic epigraphy from Southeast Asia’ (Ph.D. thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2002), p. 89.
58 Ibid., p. 112.
59 On the newly minted coins, the obverse side states her title ‘Paduka Sri Sultanah Taj al-Alam’ and the reverse side simply her name ‘Safiat al-Din Syah Berdaulat’ (Safiat al-Din Syah, the Sovereign). The high sounding title of ‘Berdaulat Zillullah fil Alam’ (Who rules as Allah's Shadow on Earth) was not adopted by her. The same format was used by her female successors. See also, Nicholas Rhodes, Goh Han Peng and V. Mihailovs, ‘The gold coinages of Samudra Pasai and Aceh Dar as-Salam’, manuscript, Singapore, 2007, pp. 58–60.
60 Teh-Gallop, ‘Gold, silver and lapis lazuli’, p. 126.
61 Chijs et al., Dagh-register, 1659, pp. 103–4.
62 Account by Jeronymo dos Reis, 24 Oct. 1688 in Achilles Meersman, OFM, The Franciscans in the Indonesian Archipelago, 1300–1775 (Lovain: Nauwelaerts, 1967), pp. 129–30, 133–4Google Scholar. Quoted from Witnesses to Sumatra: A travellers' anthology, ed. Reid, Anthony (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 52Google Scholar.
63 NA, VOC 1143, Dagh-register van Pieter Sourij, 1642, f.586r.
64 ‘The first Rijxraadt, the Lebe Kitta Calij, should be passed over for now, depending on his state of mind and health. In politics he is of little power since he is young and inexperienced and so we understand not highly esteemed’. NA, VOC1171, Dagh-register van Johan Truijtman, Aug.–Nov. 1649, f.207v–208r. Sultanah Safiatuddin appointed the father, the Kali, as the Maharajah Sri Maharajah.
65 Khan, Sher Banu A.L., ‘What happened to Syaf al-Rijal’, in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 168, 1 (2012): 100–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
66 Ito, ‘The world of the Adat Aceh’, p. 178.
67 Ibid., p. 172.
68 Ibid., p. 180.
69 NA, VOC 1143. Dagh-register van Pieter Willemszoon, 1642, f.503r–503v.
70 Sufi, Rusdi, ‘Sultanah Safiatuddin Syah’, in Wanita utama Nusantara dalam lintasan sejarah [Glimpses of prominent women in history], ed. Sofyan, Ismail and Alfian, Hassan Basry Ibrahim, (Jakarta: Jayakarta Agung Offset, 1994), pp. 47–9Google Scholar.
71 Amirul Hadi, Islam and state, p. 74.
72 William Dampier, Voyages and discoveries, vol. 2, p. 90.
73 Bustan, ed. Siti Hawa, p. 62.
74 Ibid., pp. 43–4.
75 NA, VOC 1143. Dagh-register van Pieter Willemszoon, 1642, f.508r.
76 Hurgronje, Snouck, ‘Een Mekkaansch Gezantschap naar Atjeh in 1683’, Bijdragen Taal-, land-en Volkenkunde, 1, 37 (1888): 553–4Google Scholar.
77 NA, VOC 1143. Dagh-register van Pieter Willemszoon, 1642, f.523r.
78 Ibid.
79 The Hollanders in the Sirrah of Al-Mutawakkil, R.B. Serjeant Collection, Edinburgh University Library, p. 124. I am indebted to Michael Laffan for this information.
80 NA, VOC 1171, Dagh-register van Johan Truijtman, 1649, f.205r.
81 Ibid., f.205v.
82 See Riddell, Peter, Islam and the Malay Indonesia world (Singapore: Horizon Books, 2001), pp. 110–21Google Scholar.
83 NA, VOC 1144, Dagh-register van Pieter Sourij, 1643, ff. 671v–672r.
84 Pieter Sourij reported that one week after the bitter debate at court, the Sultanah summoned Syaiful Rijal to court where he was given the highest honour. NA, VOC 1144, Dagh-register van Pieter Sourij, 1643, ff. 671v–672v.
85 In the Islamic world, as in the Christian and other world traditions, differing views exist on the role of women in politics. See Meehan-Waters, Brenda, ‘Catherine the Great and the problem of female rule’, Russian Review, 34, 3 (1975): 306CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
86 Rusdi Sufi, ‘Sultanah Safiatuddin Syah’, in Wanita utama, p. 43.
87 Amirul Hadi, Islam and state, p. 83.
88 The Kanun Syarak Kerajaan Aceh [Aceh canonical laws] was written in 1853 by Tengku di Meulek, descendant of Aceh's Arab Jamal al-Din dynasty during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Mansur Syah. The Kanun Syarak Kerajaan Aceh is believed, however, to be based on an earlier kitab, Tazkirah tabakah, written in 1507 during the reign of Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah. See Usman, Abdullah Sani, Nilai sastera ketatanegaraan dan undang-undang dalam Kanun Syarak Kerajaan Aceh dan Bustanus Salatin [henceforth referred to as Kanun] (Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2005), p. 18Google Scholar.
89 Abdullah Sani, Kanun, p. 38.
90 Taj us-Salatin, ed. Hussain, Khalid (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1992), p. xivGoogle Scholar.
91 Al-Jauhari in his explication of the ten prerequisites to good leadership advised kings to spend less time with women because they lacked good deeds. He also stated that a king, by right, should be a male because a king is also an imam and a woman can never be an imam (ibid., p. 60).
92 Ibid., p. 60.
93 Al-Ghazali cited manliness, good horsemanship and skills in bearing arms as necessary qualities a ruler should possess. See Lambton, Ann K.S., State and government in medieval Islam: An introduction to the study of Islamic political theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press), p. 121CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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95 An examination of the structure and writing style of the Taj us-Salatin reveals that the text, perhaps consciously, copied the style and political writing tradition of the Islamic world.
96 Khalid, Taj us-Salatin, p. 59.
97 Ibid., p. 61.
98 Ibid.
99 Al-Ghazali, Nasihat al-Muluk: Nasihat kepada Raja-raja [Advice for kings], translit. by Harun, Jelani (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2006), p. xvii–xviiiGoogle Scholar.
100 Ibid., p. xxxix.
101 Bustan, ed. T. Iskandar, p. 73.
102 Amirul Hadi, Islam and state, p. 83.
103 de Graff, Nicolaus, Reisen van Nicolaus de Graaff gedaen naar alle gewesten des werelds, beginnende 1639 tot 1687, ed. Warnsinck, J.C.M. (‘s-Gravenhague: M. Nijhoff, 1930), p. 13Google Scholar. See also, Djajadiningrat, Raden Hosein, Kesultanan Aceh (Critisch Overzicht van de in Maleische werken vervatte gegevens over de geschiedenis van het Soeltanaat van Atjeh), trans. Hamid, Teuku (Departmen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan: Proyek Pengembangan Permuseuman, Daerah Istimewa Aceh, 1982–83), p. 56Google Scholar.
104 Djajadiningrat quoted Nicolaus de Graaff (1701, p. 9) as saying that it took three days for the queen's installation to take place; Djajadiningrat, Kesultanan Aceh, p. 188. However, Warnsinck's Reisen van Nicolaus de Graaff does not mention this.
105 Amirul Hadi, Islam and state, p. 85.
106 NA, VOC 1143, Dagh-register van Pieter Sourij, 1642. f.565v.
107 Here, I am paraphrasing Nicholas Karamzin, who wrote that Catherine the Great's greatest achievement ‘was to soften autocracy without emasculating it’; Pipes, Richard, Karamzin's memoir on ancient and modern Russia: A translation and analysis (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959), p. 130Google Scholar.
