King of Borneo
Many references in Southeast Asian history refer to the “King of Borneo”, but who was he?
Prior to the arrival of James Brooke, one of the White Sultans of Sarawak in 1840, there was no group of people called “Malays”. The people were arranged by others according to their place of origin. Thus, Urang Java were Javaenese, Urang Surabaya were people from Surabaya, and Urang Sambas were people from Sambas. The term “Malay” would not come about until Brooke introduced it from possibly Singapore in the 1840’s to mean anyone of the Islamic faith.
There were small groups of loosely organized of riverine communities in the Brunei area. They were connected by boat captains called Nakoda, who visited each group. They provided transportation from one place to another and traded in jungle produce.
Although there must have been traders from the Levant, it is thought there were Indian Muslims who visited these locations. The Indian Muslims would trade goods from Arabia for camphor and then trade the camphor back to the Arabs located in Malaya or Sumatra. The camphor ended up in first in Persia and Basra, and later in Baghdad and Cairo.
The earliest known reference to Borneo camphor in Persia was in a book written in the mid 800’s by Ibn Kyordadbeh a converted scholar who wrote in Jibal, Northwest Iran. Al-Ya’qubi, another Persian, wrote in Khorasan, a region of northeast Iran also in the 800’s.The earliest known Indian Muslims traders would have been from Kerala also in the 800.
Awang Alak Betatar was the head of a family who lived at the confluence of the Brunei River and the South China Sea. He was thought to have come from Meningkabau, Sumatra, an area noted for sending out groups of people to settle other places because of the matrilineal society where land passed from the mother to daughter. He became a leader of groups of small of chiefs who came and settled from elsewhere.
The Islamic traders must have exerted enough influence upon Awang Alak Betar through to convert him to Islam. The trade must have been substantial and this caused many other local chiefs to also convert.
What were the locals and the Arabs trading with the Indian Muslims? The arabs wanted camphor, gaharu, resins, beeswax and honey. What they brought were cloth, glassware, beads, dates, perfumes and antimony.
From the influence of Arab traders, he converted to Islam and took the name of Sultan Muhammed Shah. From the Arab form of government, he distributed titles to other heads of families. He married a Muslim princess, said to be either from Johor, Melaka or Sumatra.
Ong Sum Ping came from China and organised the Chinese into a group at a trading post. As the leader of the Chinese and a trading post, he became known as the” King of Borneo”. His fame as the “King of Borneo” spread as people traded with him.
Although he was named as “King of Borneo”, he did not have a kingdom as such but only managed a trading post which probably blossomed into a huge concern.I daresay he was probably only referred to jokingly as the King of Borneo, but later westerners, who didn’t know any better, gave him the formal designation of royalty.
Ong Sum Ping married into the Muslim Brunei Royal family, probably because Muslim traders preferred to deal with fellow Muslims. He took the title of Pengirian Maharajah Lela and used the title as his Islamic name but kept the name of Ong Sum Peng among his Chinese followers as well as the title of “King of Borneo” which became his trade name. Ong Sum Ping supported the royal family perhaps in order to protect the small Chinese settlement and to keep the trade going.
Ong Sum Ping aka Pengirian Maharajah Lela aka King of Borneo visited China and was given a hearty welcome. He met the emperor but died and was buried in Nanking. His son returned to the Chinese settlement in Brunei and took over the title of “King of Borneo”.
Santubong
Santubong had become an area where ships arrived and took on water on their way to China. The area, unlike Brunei, was easy to access for the stiff bamboo sails used at that time. They had also traded with the natives and probably collected antimony brought in from the interior. Antimony was used as a dye and eye makeup by Arab women back in the Levant.
The ancient lineage of Santubong, then called Mora Ponek, began in ~925 when there was dispute over the ruler of the Indian state of Tanjungpura. Hyang Gi was sent to rule Santubong. From here, 16 people would rule until the destruction of the kingdom by Brunei forces in 1512.
One account states that neither the Sultans of Santubong or Brunei or Ong Sum Ping went to China. It was the King of Boni a small entity whose ruler was named Abdul Majid Hassan who went to China. Boni was located on the northwestern coast of Kalimatan where several rivers came together. He is credited with becoming the second Sultan of Brunei.
The King of Borneo could have referred to Ong Sum Ping, who traded frequently with the white traders. Another possibility is Abdul Majid Hassan, who was assumed to be the Second Sultan of Brunei. Both of these historic names could have been used by white traders to acknowledge a man who ran a trading post and they called him “King of Borneo”
The above information was compiled Tom McLaughlin from various sources for BorneoHistory.net