Hussein Shah of Johor

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Sultan Hussein Shah was the seventeenth Sultan of Johor. He ruled Johor from 1819 to 1835. In the dispute regarding the succession to the throne of Johor following his father's death, Hussein Shah allowed a British settlement in Singapore to wrest the throne from his brother, Tengku Abdul Rahman, with the help of the British.

1 Singapore and the British
2 Death
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Singapore and the British

In 1818, Sir Stamford Raffles was appointed as the governor of Bencoolen on western Sumatra. However, he was convinced that the British needed to establish a new base in Southeast Asia in order to compete with the Dutch. Though many in the British East India Company opposed such idea, Raffles managed to convince Lord Hastings of the Company, then Governor General of British India, to side with him. With the governor general's consent, he and his expedition set out to search for a new base.^[1]

Raffles' expedition arrived in Singapore on January 29, 1819. He discovered a small Malay settlement at the mouth of Singapore River headed by a Temenggung (governor) of Johor. Though the island was nominally ruled by the sultanate, the political situation there was extremely murky. The current sultan, Tengku Abdul Rahman, was under the influence of the Dutch and the Bugis. Hence, he would never agree to a British base in Singapore.

However, Tengku Abdul Rahman was ruler only because his older brother, Tengku Hussein or Tengku Long, had been away in Penang getting married when their father died in 1812. According to Malay tradition, a person has to be by the dying sultan's side in order to be considered as the new ruler. Predictably, the older brother was not happy with the development. Furthermore, the Temenggung preferred Tengku Hussein (Hussein Shah upon accession to the throne) to the younger brother.

Upon learning of these Johor political tensions, Raffles made a deal with Hussein Shah. Their agreement stated that the British would acknowledge Hussein Shah as the legitimate ruler of Johor, and thus Tengku Hussein and the Temenggung would receive a yearly stipend from the British. In return, Tengku Hussein would allow Raffles to establish a trading post in Singapore. This treaty was ratified on February 6, 1819.^[2]^[3]

With the Temenggung's help, Raffles managed to smuggle Hussein Shah, then living in exile on one of the Riau Islands, back into Singapore.

The Dutch were extremely displeased with Raffles' action. Tensions between the Dutch and British over Singapore persisted until 1824, when they signed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty. Under the terms of that treaty, the Dutch officially withdrew their opposition to the British presence in Singapore.^[4] The treaty also divided the Sultanate of Johor into modern Johor and the new Sultanate of Riau.

In the newly-formed Johor, although Hussein Shah was the sultan, it was the Temenggung who wielded real authority. The Bugis, on the other hand, controlled Riau under the auspices of the Dutch.