Robert Nicholl

Notes on Some Controversial Issues in Brunei History

In: Archipel. Volume 19, 1980. pp. 25-42.

ringkasan
Robert Nicholl (Honorary Curator, Museum Brunei) melihat dari segi tertentu adanya hal-hal yang belum jelas tentang tahuntahun per- tama Kesultanan Brunei yaitu : letak kedua kota pada abad XVI dan tahun waktu Sultan memeiuk agama Islam
(mungkin tahun 1514-1515).

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Nicholl Robert. Notes on Some Controversial Issues in Brunei History. In: Archipel. Volume 19, 1980. pp. 25-42.
doi : 10.3406/arch.1980.1524
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/arch_0044-8613_1980_num_19_1_1524

25

NOTES-DOCUMENTS

NOTES ON IN
SOME
BRUNEI
CONTROVERSIAL
HISTORY
ISSUES
by Robert NICHOLL
1. The Location of P'o-ni
According to Pelliot (') the first recorded reference to P'o-ni is that
in K6 p. 5 r of the Man Shu, written by Fan Ch'o about A. D. 860
and translated by Dr. G. H. Luce as Cornell Data Paper 44, December
1961, p. 60. Down to the sixteenth century the name appears in Chinese
texts in two forms : P'o-ni (a) and Fo-ni, both with minor homophonic
variations. Louis-Charles Damais pointed out (*) that the first character
in P'o-ni frequently expresses the sound bu in foreign words. Reference
to Stanislas Julien (3) shows that both the P'o character (4) and the Fo
character (5) can be used to express the bu sound in Buddha. Chau Ju-kua
in his Chu-fan-chi (6) uses the Fo character in this sense in his chapter
on P'o-ni, as also does Wang Ta-yuan in his Tao-i-chih-lio (*) when
describing P'o-ni. It would thus apprar that whether the P'o character
or the Fo character were used, the sound expressed could be Bu-ni,
which is as close an approximation as is possible in the Chinese language
to the original Burnt.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
.
7.

Deux Itinraires, B.E.F.E.O. 4 (1904) p. 277/287.

Etudes Sino-Indonsiennes I, B.E.F.E.O. Vol. 50 Pt. 1 (Dec. 1972) p. 26.
Mthode pour Dchiffrer et Transcrire les Noms Sanskrits, Paris, 1861.
Ibid., p. 172, No. 1415.
Ibid., p. 103, No. 293.
Trs. Hirth & Rockhill, Taipeh, 1967, p. 157.
Trs. Rockhill, T'oung Pao, Vol. 16 (1915), p. 265.

26
A further interesting identification is afforded by the Japanese
language. Lon de Rosny notes : Elsewhere I have indentif ied the name
Po-ni, in Japanese Borneri or probably Borneu, with that of Borneo,,
otherwise called Wen-lai in Chinese (in Japanese Bun-rai). The difference
between the two names is hardly perceptible in Japanese hirakana script,.
and is easily explained by the almost similar writing of ri and u. (8).
He is referring to his work Les Peuples de l'Archipel Indien Connus de?
Anciens Gographes Chinois et Japonais ('), where he gives the actual script t
Chinese : P*o-ni (b) = Japanese : Bornerei. There is, I think, an error in
this Japanese transcription, which comes from the resemblance of the
hirakana letters ri and u in such a way that it should read Borneu. Sei
Wada sums up : However that may be, there is evidence that Brunei
itself was a known name in the T'ang epoch. In the contemporary
writer Fan Cho's Man-shu it appears as P'o-ni (6) which was obviously
another spelling of P'o-ni (c) or Fo-ni found later in the T*ai~ping-huanyii-chi and the Chu-fan~chiht and also as P'o-ni (d) in the Wen-hsient'ung-k'ao and the Sung-shih. All these were phonetic transcriptions of
Brni, which changed later to Brunei^ and which, thus transformed,
applied to the whole island of Borneo (10).
Further identification is afforded by the Ming Shih, Book 325 ("),
which records that up to A.D. 1408 P'o-ni was tributary to the Majapahit Empire. The Nagarakertagama (l2) lists all the Majapahit tributaries
in Borneo in A.D. 1365. Of all the names given it is difficult to see
how P'o-ni can be identified with any other than Buruneng.
Another and curious argument for the identification of Brunei with
P'o-ni might be adduced from Chau Ju-kua (13) who is quoted by the
Sung Shih, Book 489 (M). The city (P'o-ni) contains over ten thousand
inhabitants. Under its control there are fourteen chou, i.e. districts (or
cities). Here one seems to hear faint echoes of the Brunei epic poem
8. Les Peuples Orientaux Connus des Anciens Chinois, Paris, 1886, p. 126.
9. Published in Mmoires de L'Athne Orientale, Tome I, Paris, 1871, p. 65, note 1.
10. the
TheResearch
Philippine
Department
Islands asofKnown
the Toyo
to Bunko,
the Chinese
No. Before
4 (1929),
the Ming
p. 128.
Period, Memoirs of
11. Groeneveldt W.P., Historical Notes on Indonesia & Malaya Compiled from Chinese
Sources, p. 112. This is a small edition published in Jakarta in 1960 of the
original Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca Compiled from' Chinese Sources,
which was published in the Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van
Kunsten en Wetenschappen, Vol. 39, Batavia, 1880.
12. Pigeaud Th, Java in the Fourteenth Century, the Hague, 1960, Vol. 3 p. 16.
13. Op.cit. p. 155.
14. Groeneveldt, op.cit., p. 108.

27
Sha'cr Awang Semaun (l5), which relates that the state of Brunei was
founded by fourteen brothers. Fourteen, not being a multiple of four,
is an unusual legendary number.
Finally one might add the camphor link. Chau ju-Kua says (") :
Nau-tzi (Camphor) comes from P'o-ni, called according some Fo-ni,
it also comes from the country of Pin-su. Pin-su was Fansur in north
ernSumatra and was P'o-ni 's rival in producing the highest grade
-of camphor, but here Chau Ju-kua puts P'o-ni first. Odoardo Barbosa
in A.D. 1515 wrote that the camphor of Bornei was worth its weight
in silver (l7). Fitch at the end of the century went further and said :
Camphora is a precious thing amongst the Indians, and is sold dearer
than gold
. but the best cometh from Borneo (18). Even
<iown to modern times Bornean camphor, which was exported through
Brunei, held its supremacy. Eda E. Green wrote in 1919 : Camphor
is one of the most valuable exports. That from Borneo is known as
hard camphor, and is bought by the Chinese for as much as fifty
times the price of ordinary camphor (19).
If then it be accepted that P'o-ni and Burni are identical, the
question of its location remains to be solved. The distances given by
Yiieh Shih in his T'ai-ping-huan-yu-chi () by Chau Ju-kua in his ChuJan-chi p1) and by Ma Tuan-lin in his Wen-hsien-t'ung'k'ao f22) leave
little room for doubt that it was somewhere on the north west coast of
Borneo. But where in this region is to be found any toponym approxi
mating to Burni save in Brunei Bay. If then it be granted that the town
or city of Burni lay somewhere in the vicinity of Brunei Bay, then its
location becomes simple.
Two Chinese sources contain topographical details, which should
-determine the question. Wang Ta-yiian in his Tao-i-chih-lio written in
A.D. 1 349 describes the position of P'o-ni. The mass of the Lung shan
is to the right, the land stretches out in a fine plateau. Its high level
fields are a source of profit to it. In the summer months it is rather

15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.

Brown D.E., Structure & History of a Bornean Malay Sultanate, Brunei, 1970, p. 135*
Opxit. p. 193.
Ramusio, Venetia, 1550, Vol. 1, p. 320A.
Early Travellers in India 1583-1609, Hakluyt Society, 1921, p. 46.
Borneo, London, 1919, p. 7.
Sei Wada opxit. p. 129.
Opxit. p. 155.
Trs. Saint Denys p. 567.

28

cool, while in the winter it is rather warm p). Lung shan means
Dragon Mountain, and Mount Kinabalu, at 4,020 metres the highest
in the archipelago, has always been associated with dragons (24J. From
the Tao-i-chih-lio, therefore, be concluded that P'o-ni was a port backed
by a high mountain range which stretched off to the Kinabalu massif.
The Ming Shift, Book 325 p5), provides further topographical details r
Formerly the late King (of P'o-ni) had made a representation to theeffect that, having got his title by favour of the Emperor, and his
country being altogether subject to the Imperial Government, he begged
that the mountain range at the back of his kingdom might be made a
guard to his country. The new King preferred the same request, and
so it was called The Mountain of Lasting Tranquility Preserving the Country.
The Emperor wrote an inscription for a stone, which he ordered Change
Gh'ien and his party to erect on top of it. The mountain was, there
forein the nature of a international boundary.
Using these topographical criteria, and referring to the sketch map,,
the site of the present capital must be ruled out, for apart from a few
low hills to the north east, the country is flat. Kota Batu, the site of
the former Royal Palace, has been urged because of the ancient arti
facts found there (**), but behind it is a low range of hills and beyond
the sea. Limbang has been proposed because of a hoard of Hindu ob
jects
found there (27). It indeed has behind it a precipitate hill, but this
is wholly isolated and could never have served as a boundary.
A glance at the sketch map shows that only on the east side of
Brunei Bay is to be found a great mountain wall, and this is quite
formidable, rising steeply to 1,300 metres. Here close to the mountains
is the broad and deep mouth of the Lawas river, and here to this day
at Kuala Lawas is still the largest community of ethnic Bruneis outside
23. Trs. Rockhill, T'oung Poo, Vol. 16 (1915), p. 264.
24. For some of the innumerable dragon legends about Kinabalu, see Ling Roth H.,
Natives of Sarawak & British North Borneo, London, 1896 & Singapore, 1968,
Vol. 1, p. 304-305; also Amin Sweeney, Silsilah Raja-raja Berunai, in the
Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Henceforth referred to
as J.M.B.R.A.S.), Vol. 41, Pt. 2 (1968), p. 52 sq.
25. Groeneveldt op.cit, p. 113.
26. Tom & Barbara Harrison, Kota Batu, in the Sarawak Museum Journal, Vol. 7
(Dec. 1956), p. 283; and also Tom Harrison, Brunei's Two (or More)
Capitals, in the Brunei Museum Journal, vol. 3, No. 4 (1976), p. 77 sq.
27. Tom Harrison, Gold & Indian Influence in West Borneo, J.M.B.R.A.S.
Vol. 22 Pt. 4 (1949) p. 33 and the same author The Golden Hoard of
Limbang, Brunei Museum Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1. (1969), p. 57.

R TIGAON
[labuan]

[R
R KERAMAN
MOMPRACEM] *

LIMBANGXa

BRUNEI

BAY IN

PIGAFETTA's"
tFmE

f-

Bandar Seri Begawan, formerly Brunei Town, as it is today. (Cliche: Brunei Museum)

Illustration non autorise la diffusion

Pigafetta described how in July 1521 When the tide is high, women go in boats
through the settlement selling articles necessary to maintain life. Here they are,
still doing it today. (Clich: Brunei Museum).

31
the capital. Here is an excellent port for coastal vessels, with tides every
twelve hours f28) and a ready access to the open sea. This is an im-*
portant consideration, for along the coast outside the bay there is but
one tide daily, save at neaps, which severely limits access to other
harbours. Close by is Muara, still today the deep-water anchorage,
where the largest Chinese junks could anchor (29). There can be little
-doubt that P'o-ni lay at the mouth of the Lawas river. No doubt the
river has changed its mouth over the course of centuries, as have most
Bornean rivers, but somewhere in this region must lie the site of ancient
P'o-ni. When discovered it should prove an archaeological treasure
iiouse, for riparian mud is an excellent preservative. The Bruneis have
always been, and still are, water-dwellers, and people who live over
water tend to drop things through the floor. The mud on the site of
ancient P'o-ni will contain the artifacts of many centuries.
But what of the Yung Lo Emperor's stone ? Groeneveldt makes
the acrid comment : The inscription contains an eulogy on the dead
king and the ordinary extollation of China and its civilizing influence
over barbarians, of which we have had more than enough already. As
it has no allusions useful to our purpose, we may spare ourselves the
trouble of translating and our readers of wading through it (30). The
inscription in question has been translated in extenso by Mrs Carrie
Brown f31), and is in fact very beautiful, but its length suggests that
the stone must have been of considerable size. Where then was it
placed ? Not presumably on some high inaccessible peak, for it is to be
presumed that it was intended to- be read by passers-by. It would
most probably be placed on the crest of some highway. This would fix
its location without difficulty. Leading south east from the Lawas river
is a centuries-old trade route, which even today is the normal channel
of communication for people from the interior coming down to the
Bay (32). The traveller from the interior spends the last night of his
Journey on the crest of the track where it crosses the Ruan Sepakoi,
from where he can look down over the Bay. The traveller in the reverse
sense spends his first night on Ruan Sepakoi, which is a natural boun
dary between the bay people and those of the interior.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.

Cf. Brunei Marine Department circulars, in particular 1 1/131/71 (260) of 1.1.76.

Ma Huan, Tmg-yai Sheng-lan, cd. J.V.G. Mills, Cambridge, 1970, pp. 27-31.
Op.cit.t p. 113.
Brunei Museum Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2. (1974), p. 225-226.
It may be noted that the large river to the south west of the Lawas, the
Trusan, which would from the map appear to be the obvious trade route to
the interior, has an impossible bar at its entrance and is navigable only in
its lower courses.

32
Here, then, is the obvious site for the Emperor's stone. But today
there is no trace of it. Much has happened since A.D. 1409, when
the stone was set up. The original inhabitants,. Tagals, have been
Replaced by another race, Lun Dayehs (33), who have no folk knowl
edge of it. Yet there it must lie, somewhere near the path, covered
with jungle debris. Both the Emperor's stone and the site of P'o-ni
are likely to be left undisturbed for the foreseeable future, for today
the Lawas district is part of the State of Sarawak in Malaysia.
2. The Date of the Conversion of Brunei to Islam
Much speculation has been aroused as to when Brunei embraced
Islam. The Silah-Silah or Books of Succession (34) give the names of all
the Sultans commencing with Sultan Muhammad, who first introduced
the religion of Islam and followed the law of our Prophet Muhammad,
upon whom be peace (35), and continue down to the Sultan reigning at
the time the book was written. These Silah-Silah were the heirlooms of
noble families, and thus they possessed a political significance. From
the middle of the seventeenth century there are variations, depending
upon the allegiance of the family : from some certain Sultans are omit
tedas usurpers, in others there are additional names. But though the
Silah-Silah give the names of the Sultans, they give ho dates down to
the nineteenth century with one notable exception Malam Isnen 14
Rabi-ul-Akhir A.H. 1072 (36) which should work out at Sunday evening
the 6th December A.D. 1661, unfortunately there is a discrepancy in
the day of the week. This was the memorable occasion when Sultan
Muhammad Ali was strangled on the lawn in front of the Palace.
Another date can in fact be fixed from Spanish sources : the death of
Sultan Abdul Kahar in August 1578 (37); this, however has generally
been ignored. Sultan Muhammad Ali was by general consent the twelfth
33. Both races are known to Bruneis . as Muruts, a pejorative term applied to
people of the interior.
34. Three versions are available in print : (1) The Silesilah of the Rajas of Brunei,
by Sir Hugh Low, in Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,
Vol. 5 (1880), p. 1 sq. (2) Silsilak Raja-Raja Berunai, by Dr. Amin Sweeney,
in J.M.B.R.A.S., Vol. 49, Pt. 2. (Dec. 1968), p. 1 sq. This gives a critical
edition of the two Malay texts : (A) MS 25032 (in the School of Oriental &
African Studies, London University); (B) MS 123 (Malay) (Royal Asiatic
Society, London).
35. Sweeney, op. cit., p. 11.
36. Low, op.cit., p. 222.
37. Blair & Robertson, The Philippine Islands 1493-1803, Vol. 4, p. 197.

33
Sultan. Counting backwards from A.D. 1661, authorities have allocated
average regnal years to the twelve Sultans, and have arrived at widely
divergent dates for the Conversion of Sultan Muhammad, varying from
the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fifteenth century, with a general prefe
rence for the mid-fourteenth.
If internal evidence for the date of the Conversion is lacking, there
is sufficient external evidence to fix it within a twelvemonth.
On the 6th January 1514 Rui de Brito Patalim, Captain-General
of Malacca, wrote to Dom Afonso de Albuquerque in Goa : ITEM :
Afterwards there arrived three junks from Burney. The people of this
island are Luoes, and from that land was the Tomungo (Temonggong)
of this city (Malacca). Two of them belonged to the Luoe merchants
from there and one belonged to the said Tomungo. They brought mer
chandise
and sold it. All courtesy was shown them and they were well
treated. Of what they found, they laded the best they could. They
left fully satisfied. They are good people and clever merchants. From
our conversation and truthfullness they derived much pleasure, and
they clearly showed" that this pleased them. They sailed with the mon
soon from their country to trade in camphor and other articles. They
had been wont to trade with Malacca aforetime, but could not live
without this market, whence they take cloth of Cambaya and other
merchandise. All these people (from the junks) are related to the
Tomungo (38).
This was the first visit of Bruneis to Malacca after its capture by
the Portuguese, so that it was an occasion of some importance. The
Captain General would seem to have conversed with them at conside
rablelength, for he was obviously keen to reopen the Brunei-Malacca
trade. The interesting fact emerges that, though from Brunei, all these
people were related to the nobility of the Malacca Sultanate. The i
nformation
that they gave him may be presumed to be accurate.
On the same day, the 6th January 1514, the Captain-General
wrote to King Manoel I : There came from Burneo to this city (Mal
acca)
three junks, they brought seed pearls and provisions, in addition
to other foodstuffs. The King is a pagan, but the merchants are Moors.
Borneo is a great island, which lies between China and the Moluccas.
The people of that island call themselves Luoes, they are good men.
and our friends. When trading here they always seek cloth from Cam38. Documentao para a Historia das Misses do Padroado' Portugs do Oriente, Ed. Artur
Basilio da Sa & Prof. Antonio da Silva Rego, Lisba, 1954-1958, Vol. 1,
p. 46. Also Carias de Afonso de Albuquerque, Lisba, 1935, Vol. 3, p. 92.

34
baya and from Quilis (Quilon on the Malabar coast) (39). Here then is
conclusive evidence of Muslim persons of position that in January 1514
the King of Burneo was a pagan. To circumvent this lapidary fact pre
sents
difficulties for the supporters of a fourteenth century Conversion.
In A. D. 1515 Tome Pires completed that marvelous encyclopedia
of South East Asian trade, the Suma Oriental. He had been Supervisor
of the Spice Trade in Malacca from 1512 to 1515, and in this capacity
he had been in a strong position to gather information from all over
the archipelago from the merchants with whom he came in contact.
Of Borneo he writes : Borneo is made up of many islands large and
small. They are almost all inhabited by heathen, only the chief one is
inhabited by Moors ; it is not very long since the King became a Moor.
They seem to be a trading people. The merchants are all men of me
dium
stature, not very sharp witted. They trade with Malacca every
year. It is a country with plenty of meat, fish, rice and sago. (There
follows a description of Brunei's trade) (40).
That Pires in 1515 should have thought of Borneo as a group of
islands is not surprising. The north west coast was first explored by
Simon de Breu in A.D. 1523 (4I), and even as late as A.D. 1529 the
Ribera map (42) shows it in isolation. However, there can be no mis
understanding
Pires statement
it is not very long since the
Xing became a Moor. The word became is significant ; there would
appear to have been no change of dynasty. Some time between January
1514 and December 1515 the last Maharaja must have embraced Islam
and assumed the style of Sultan Muhammad.
In A.D. 1520 Huang Sheng-ts'eng wrote in his Hsi-yang-chao-kunglien-lu : P'o-ni has four departments. The people worship Buddhist
images and observe the practices of that religion. The trade centre is
called (by the Chinese since 1408) Chang-ning-chen-kuo (*3). Huang
Sheng-ts'eng was obviously well informed about Brunei because of his
reference to Chang-ning-chen, which Mills (**) translates as Perpetual
Peace Mart, and which subsequently became, and is today, part of the
official name of the state : Brunei Darus Salam, Brunei the Abode of Peace.
39. Documentao, as above, Vol. 1, p. 46,
40. Trs. A. Corteso, Hakluyt Society, London, 1944, p. 123.
41. Discoveries of the New World, by Antonio Galvo, Hakluyt Society, Vol. 30
(1862) p. 152.
42. Monumenta Cartographica Vatkana, Vol. 1, Tavola 23.
43. Rockhill, op.cit., p. 264, note 1.
44. Mills, op.cit.3 p. 105.

35
It is interesting that so well-informed a man should have thought the
Brunei still to be Buddhists in A.D. 1520, when Pires makes it clear
that the conversion took place five years previously.
The whole question of the date of the Conversion has been bede
villed by Pelliot (45). It would be a rash man who would question the
dicta of a scholar of such stature, Sed etiam Homerus
The Ming
Shihy Book 325, gives the name of the ruler of P'o-ni in A.D. 1370 as
Ma-ho-mo-sa (46), though others give it as Ma-mo-sa. Groeneveldt
thought that the first version had been corrupted and should be recons
tituted as Seri Maharaja. Pelliot, however, rejected this, and said that
Ma-ho-mo-sa should be reconstituted as Mahmud Shah. What more tr
iumphant
vindication could there be of those who argue for a fourteenth
century Conversion, albeit it would leave the embarrassing task of ex
plaining
how the Royal Family came to be pagans in 1514. The pre
sent writer would suggest that Ma-ho-mo-sa could be reconstituted
much more simply as Maha Moksha (Great Eternity), which would be
a not inappropriate name for a Buddhist ruler.
.

However, .. the . religion - of. this . ruler is most reliably ascertained

from that of his grandson or nephew who visited the Yung Lo Emperor
at Nanking in A.D. 1408 (47). The name of this ruler is given with many
variations, the most common of which, according to Pelliot, is Ma-na-jokia-na-(nai), which he reconstitutes as Maharaja Gyana (nai). Groeneveldt
reconstitutes the name as Maharaja Kala, which Pelliot holds to violate
linguistic rules. The present writer would suggest that it must be a repre
sentation
of the common Brunei title Maharaja Kama (48). When in Nan
king in A.D. 1408 the Maharaja died, as the Ming Shih relates: In the
tenth month the King died at his residence ; the Emperor was very much
grieved, closed his court for three days and sent an officer to perform
sacrifices and to give silk for the funeral. The Heir Apparent and the
Imperial Princes also sent officers to perform sacrifices, and when the
coffin and other necessaries of the burial had been prepared by these
officers, they buried him on the Stone Hill outside the An-te gate,
where a tombstone was erected and a grave arranged as for a great
personage. They also erected a temple at the side of the grave, where
every spring and autumn an officer sacrificed a goat. The posthumous
name Kung-shun, Reverent and Dutiful, was given to him (49).
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.

Le Hoja & le Sayyid Hussein, T'oung Pao, Vol. 38 (1948), p. 265, note 347.
Groeneveldt, op.cit., p. 110.
Groeneveldt, op.cit., p. 111.
Sweeney, op,cit., p. 15.
Groeneveldt, op.cit., p. 112.

36
The Maharaja was, therefore, buried with full Buddhist rites. In
1958 his beautiful tomb was re-discovered along with the temple and
avenue of guardians. It has since been restored by the Chinese govern
ment. At the court of the Yung Lo Emperor Muslims were in high
favour, to mention but one, his boyhood companion the Grand Eunuch
Admiral Cheng Ho. It is inconceivable that the many Muslims in high
office at the time would have permitted the burial of a distinguished
member of their faith with pagan rites and annual sacrifices. Had the
Maharaja been a Muslim he would have been buried in some place
-of honour in the courtyard of the great mosque in Nanking. That he
was not leaves little doubt that he was a pagan. If Maharaja Kama (?)
was a pagan, then it is a fair presumption that his grandfather or
uncle, Maharaja Maha Moksha (?) was a pagan also.
There are in the environs of Bandar Seri Begawan a number of
Muslim tombs which pre-date 1514. Of special interest is that of the
P'anyiian Master P'u of Chiian-chow, who died in A.D. 1264 and may
very well have been a Muslim (50). There is the small tomb stone of
Sulaiman bin Abdulrahman dated A.D. 1418, which is of singular
beauty and which has "on the back an inscription in a species of Pali,
which may well be the pre-Islamic Brunei script (5I). A further tomb
elated A.D. 1434 was thought to be that of the third Muslim ruler,
Sultan Berkat, Sharif Ali, but a subsequent study showed that it was not.
The tombs of Muslim traders, merchants, seamen and envoys are
scattered all over South East Asia, but from them nothing can be
deduced of the religious complexion of the area. Damais drew attention
to the fact that there were many Muslim tombs in the vicinity, of the
palace of that most dedicated Hindu ruler, Hayam Wuruk, Emperor
of Majapahit (52). The ancient Hindu concept of the God-King lingered
long in South East Asia and the religion of the ruler was the religion
of the people, or to be more accurate, of the ruling classes. It is im
portant
to enter a caveat : when one speaks of the Conversion of Brunei
the reference is to the ethnic Bruneis, who ultimately became Muslims
to a man, but their Bornean subjects remained pagans as before; with
all the isolation of a small ruling class, they retained the new verities
for ithemselves.

50. Brunei
W. Franke
Museum
& Ch'en
Journal.T'ieh-fan,
Vol. 3, No.
A Ch
1 (1973)
inese Tomb
p. 91.Inscription of A.D. 1264
51. Pengiran Shariffuddin & Robert Nicholl, A Possible Example of Ancient
Brunei Script, Brunei Museum Journal. Vol. 3, No. 3 (1975), p. 116.
52. Epigraphie Musulmane dans le Sud-Est Asiatique, in B.E.F.E.O. Vol. 54
(1968), p. 573.

37
A final reference must be made to the fact that the Silah-Silah
relate how Sultan Muhammad went to Johore to receive the Nobat from
Sultan Bahteri (53). The Brunei Nobat are four instruments, which form
part of the regalia (54). They are characteristic features of Muslim courts
and possess considerable mystical significance. Nothing would have been
more natural for the newly converted Sultan Muhammad, than to seek
investiture of the Nobat from some other ruler of standing. Who ranked
higher than Sultan Mahmud Shah, last Sultan of Malacca and from
1512 to 1520 a refugee on the Johore river? For this very reason the
protagonists for a fourteenth century Conversion have dismissed this
passage, though found in many versions, as an interpolation or corruption
as there was no Sultan in Johore before A.D. 1512. Yet it accords per
fectly
with Sultan Muhammad's conversion in 1514-1515. It raises, howe
ver, the still unresolved question as to whether Bahteri was a hereditary
title of the Malacca Sultans, or a personal one of Sultan Mahmud Shah.
3. The Two Brooeis
In July 1521 the Victoria and the Trinidad, survivors of Magellan's
expedition, were at Muara, then as now the deep water anchorage in
Brunei Bay. From there a deputation consisting of Pigafetta, who as a
Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem was a person of distinc
tion,and six others went up-river to the city to pay their respects to
the Sultan. The city was built over the water, where the river broadens
out to form a great lagoon. Save for electricity cables, telephone wires,
water pipes and the ubiquitous television aerials, its appearance has
not changed in four hundred and fifty years. On land, however, the
aspect was very different, for then there were to be found only the
Mosque, a number of houses of the major nobility and down-river at
Kota Batu the Royal Palace, which stood in the grounds of the pre
sent Museum.
The deputation was lavishly entertained at the house of the Shahbandar, who was the minister in charge of merchants. The copious
potations of arak, a potent spirit distilled from rice, which seemed to
be a regular feature of Brunei life, would accord very ill with the mann
ers of people who had been Muslims for a century and a half, but
would be comprehensible in recent converts, to whom concessions had
to be made.
53. Sweeney, opxit., p. 52.
54. Pengiran Shariffuddin & Abd. Latif, The Royal Nobat of Brunei, in the
Brunei Museum Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1977), p. 7.

38
From the Shahbandar's house to Kota Batu they travelled by
elephant, and were there received in audience by the Sultan. Pigafetta
thus describes him: That King is a Moor, and he is named Raia
Siripada, and aged about forty years. He was fat, and nobody rules
him except the ladies and daughters of the chief men (55). Raia Sir
ipada is not a personal name but the royal title Raja Seri Paduka, but
the indications are that this was Sultan Ahmad, the second Muslim ruler.
Pigafetta's discription of his visit to the city of Burne is interesting,
but of much greater interest is his reference to the other city that
lie did not visit : In that port (bay) is another city of heathen, larger
than that of the Moors (56), also built on salt water. Whereof every
day these two peoples fight in the same port. The heathen king is as
powerful as the Moorish king, 'but not so proud, and-he might easily
be converted to the faith of Jesus Christ (57).
On the 29th July as the Victoria and Trinidad rode at anchor at
Muara (*) they saw approaching a fleet of more than one hundred
praus (59) accompanied by a swarm of small craft. This caused a mo
mentary
panic on board both ships, but it was later explained to the
Spaniards that this fleet was on its way to. attack the pagan city, in
proof of which they were shown the heads of a number of its inhabitants.
The only other city known to be on the bay was P'o-ni, as has been
.suggested at the mouth of the . La was river. On their way to , this the
war praus would pass close to the vessels anchored at Muara, as appears
from the map.
The co-existence of two rival cities of approximately the same
size, one Muslim and the other pagan, which were in the Bay is
susceptible of only one explanation. When in A.D.' 1514- 1515 Sultan
55. Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's Voyage, d. R.A. Skelton, London, 1975, p. 107.
56. Pigafetta's estimate of the Burne that he visited as containing 25,000 hearths
(p. 106) cannot be accepted, for it would mean that the two cities combined
would have had 50,000 hearths or at least a quarter of a million souls. So large
a concentration of humanity would certainly have attracted the attention of
other writers, but it did not do so. Pigafetta had some knowlegde of Malay,
and his word list in Chapter 41 might be regarded as the first Malay dic
tionary.
It is possible that he mistook in this case the word ratus meaning
a hundred for ribu meaning a thousand. If so figures become acceptable.
57. Ibid., p. 108.
58. Skelton op. cit. p. 107.
59. Aprau is a canoe. The Bornean war praus were of formidable size, often seventy
feet long with two decks, and capable of carrying up to a hundred men. For
an illustration see Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo,
London, 18% ; Singapore, 1968, Vol. 2, p. 247.

39
Muhammad adopted Islam, he forsook the ancient Buddhist capital at
the mouth of the Lawas river and built a new all-Mslim capital oa
the present site, an action for which there are many precedents. Na
doubt there had previously been some settlement on the lagoon, just
as there had certainly been some earlier settlement on the site of the
new Palace at Kota Batu, as artifacts found there prove (6a). But from
Pigafetta's statement that the two cities were of approximately equal size,
it would appear that many, possibly supporters of the old religion,,
remained behind.
The civil war witnessed by Pigafetta presents a problem. The Bru
nei dominions at this time extended from Luzon in the north to Laoe
in the south west, for he says that the son of the King of Luzon had
commanded the Sultan's fleet that had sacked Laoe for rebellion against
Brunei (6I). In the south east Sulu had been tributary to Brunei ever
since the ruler of Brunei had seized the two great pearls of which he
was so proud (62). A civil war at the very heart of the Empire could
not long persist without the whole fabric falling to pieces. It must
therefore have commenced shortly before Pigafetta's arrival.
Any ruler who can carry through a religious revolution and still
retain his throne must be a strong and masterful man. Such a one
must Sultan Muhammad have been. He would obviously never have
sent his fleet to sack Laoe for rebellion, if he had had rebellion on his
doorstep in the old city. Hence it is reasonable to conclude that when
the fleet left for Laoe Sultan Muhammad was still alive, and there was
no rebellion. The fleet would have sailed with the North East Monsoon,.
October 1520 to March 1521. Having accomplished its task it would
return with the South Western Monsoon, April to September 1521, in
fact it arrived back at Muara on the 29th July 1521.
It can, therefore, be argued that Sultan Muhammad must have
died in the first half of 1521. He was succeeded as the Silah-Silah relate
by Sultan Ahmad, a relative of uncertain affinity. Whilst Pigafetta
stayed in the house of the Shahbandar he heard the discharge of can-

60. Tom Harrisson, Brunei's Two (or More) Capitals, Brunei Museum Journal,
Vol. 3, No. 4 (1976), p. 77 sq.
61. For the location of Laoe, see Professor Brock's article in the Sarawak Museum
Journal, Vol. 11 (1964), p. 652 ... all the evidence points to its location
in the Kapuas delta, probably along the Mendawak channel at its confluence
with either the Lawai or the Labai rivers.
62. Skelton, op.cit. p. 1 12 ; Sulu was still sending a tribute of pearls to Brunei
in 1578. Cf. Blair & Robertson, opxiu, Vol. 4, p. 178.

40
non from the Palace (63). This could have been part of the accession
ceremony, which continues for a month and more. Of Sultan Ahmad
little is known. Pigafetta says that he was ruled by women, and never
left his palace save to hunt (M), which suggests extraordinary ineptitude in
a ruler who was locked in a life-and-death struggle with a rival. One
version of the Silah-Silah (6S) credits him with the construction of the
stone barrier across the river at Pulau Chermin just at its entrance, which
suggests that he was on the defensive. If such were the case, then the
combination of the death of Sultan Muhammad, the absence of the fleet
at Laoe and the accession of Sultan Ahmad, would provide the perfect
occasion for a rebellion of the Buddhists and their supporters in the old
city under the leadership of some member of the royal family who still
adhered to the old religion.
How long the rebellion lasted is unknown. It must certainly have
been over by 1524, for Antonio de Pina, who reported at length on
Brunei to Dom Jorge de Albuquerque that year, makes no mention of
it (M). The final triumph of Islam was due to Sharif Ali Balfakih from Taif
in Arabia, who married Sultan Ahmad's daughter and succeeded him
as Sultan Berkat (the Blessed), so bringing the line of the Prophet into
the Royal Family. According to the Silah-Silah (67) he enforced the laws
of the Prophet. This latter would seem odd in view of the achievements
of Sultan Muhammad, but becomes comprehensible if there had been a
Buddhist reaction in the reign of Sultan Ahmad.
All the versions of the Silah-Silah stress the fact that Sultan Berkat
came from Taif," so presumably the Sharia law was enforced with full
rigour. There can have been no more of the happy tippling of arak
that Pigafetta noted as a feature of Brunei life. It is his Arabian back'
ground that suggests that the Sultan whom Vasco Loureno met when
he visited Brunei in 1526 was Sultan Berkat : Vasco Loureno showed
him the piece goods that he had brought with him, and opened a tapestry
of Arras on which was portrayed the marriage of the King of England
with the aunt of the Emperor (Henry VIII & Katharine of Aragon).
The King was life size with royal robes, sceptre and crown, and the
other figures were standing round him. When the King (of Brunei)

3.
64.
65.
66.
67.

Op.cit., p. 107.
Ibid., p, 107.
Low, op. cit., p. 24.
Documentao etc., Vol. 1, p. 183.
Low, op. cit., p. 3.

41
saw this strange thing he asked what it was, and they explained to
him. But he suspected that they were deceiving him and that our people
(the Portuguese) were sorcerers, and that these were magic figures that
they wanted to introduce into his abode, so that they might slay him
at night and seize his kingdom. He was very frightened and ordered
that these things at once be taken away, and that our people should
leave the port, for he would have in his kingdom no other king but hims
elf, and that if we would remain there, he would punish us. Our people
were astonished. Afonso Pires and some Moors sought to remove this
suspicion from the King's mind, but they were unsuccessful and Afonso
Pires returned to Malacca, Vasco Loureno going with him (*8).
As the Bruneis had been Buddhists till ten years previously, ima
gery held no terrors for them, and some joined Pires in seeking to
assuage the Sultan. His reactions, however,, were those that might have
been expected from a Sharif from Taif, who was wholly unfamiliar
with imagery of any sort.
If Sultan Berkat were reigning in 1526, then the reign of Sultan
Ahmad must have been very brief. Likewise the Buddhist rebellion
must have been swiftly put down, for it is recorded only by Pigafetta.
Henceforth the Bruneis to a man were Muslims, though their Bornean
subjects continued to be pagans.

68. Diogo de Couto, Da Asia. Decada Quarta, Parla Primira, Lisboa, 1778, Vol. 4
Cap. 4, p. 270.

GLOSSARY
Chang-ning-chen-kuo

I-

|f?

Chou

Fo-ni
4
Lung-shan

Hid*
IT

**
1

Ma-he-mo-sa

l?-| >

Ma-na-jo-kia-na

Nau-zi

Pin-su

P'o-ni

a)

Bornerei

V[X
^

(Boruneri)

yQ

4-

*&f%

jL

b)

II

*r7