The Earliest Malay Letters from Brunei
Author: Annabel Teh Gallop
Annabel Teh Gallop. 2025. The Earliest Malay Letters from Brunei. pp. 5-31.
In: Gin, O.K., & Mohd Daud, K. (Eds.). (2025). The Literature of Brunei: History, Culture, and Challenges (1st ed.). Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032616667
Reference from Light Letters Collection: Surat Yang Dipertuan Muda Sultan Muhammad Tajuddin Brunei kepada Francis Light (MS 40320/11, f.114)
Abstract:
This essay showcases five Malay letters penned from Brunei before the arrival of James Brooke in neighbouring Sarawak in 1839. The featured missives include the well-known 1599 letter from the Sultan of Brunei to the Spanish Governor of Manila; a mid-seventeenth-century letter from the Pengiran Bendahara Seri Permaisuara to the English East India Company factory in Jambi; a 1793 letter from Sultan Muhammad Tajuddin to Francis Light in Penang; and two letters, one of 1812, and another, 1823 of Sultan Muhammad Kanzul Alam. Taken together with other letters of Sultan Muhammad Kanzul Alam, and of his son Pengiran Muda Muhammad Alam published by Gallop in 1995, the said letters constitute all hitherto known surviving Malay letters from Brunei prior to the establishment of White Rajah rule of Sarawak (1841–1946). The letters were written in the Jawi script, and the overall content appear to focus on trading relations and commercial transactions. Besides economic issues, even more importantly, diplomatic priorities seemed to be a major preoccupation.
