My response to Hu Long and those of his/her ilk

So, Raja Lumu did not conquer or illegally occupy Selangor. The Sultan of Perak gave Selangor independence and Raja Lumu was installed and crowned the Sultan according to proper adat istiadat.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Now that I have managed to get your attention (with Hu Long’s posting), let us get down to discussing the main issue. And the main issue here is not whether Hu Long is Chinese or someone masquerading as Chinese or whether Hu Long’s Facebook account is fake or real.

I was told that the palace is already aware of this posting and the police met today to discuss this matter and would probably try to determine who owns that Facebook account, real or fake, and take the necessary action. So let us leave it to the police to do what needs to be done.

What I wanted to draw your attention to is the many postings and comments (not just by Hu Long) that the Bugis were pirates who illegally took Selangor by force. This is a blatant lie and a distortion of history.

When we say history here we have to differentiate between western written history books and eastern written history books. As they say, the victors write history so the occupied are labelled according to how the victors see things. For example, the Indian Mutiny (mutiny being a negative word) can always be called the Indian fight for independence (a more positive label for the same event).

The English, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Spanish, etc., were colonialists. They invaded and occupied territories as far as the Americas, Asia, China, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and so on by force and brutally oppressed and subjugated the local population. They also kidnapped Africans and sold them as slaves, which was how Liverpool, Manchester, etc., prospered.

In 1511, the Portuguese occupied Melaka. After that the Dutch occupied Indonesia and the English and French went to India, Burma, Indochina, and many more countries.

In 1641, the Dutch took Melaka from the Portuguese and held it until the English took over in 1825.

The Dutch wanted Melaka because the Straits of Melaka was the main trade route between Hong Kong and India. The English brought opium to China and goods from China to India, such as tea and silk. Hence who controlled Melaka controlled the main English trade route.

The Dutch would plunder the English ships, the English would plunder the Spanish ships, the Spanish would plunder the French ships — and it went on and on, everyone would attack one another.

The Dutch made a deal with the Bugis. The Bugis would not disturb the Dutch in Melaka (meaning allow the Dutch to illegally occupy Melaka) and the Dutch would plunder the English ships that passed through the Straits of Melaka and would share 50:50 of what they got with the Bugis.

Later, the Bugis found out that the Dutch were not being honest. They plundered a few English ships and kept everything to themselves and did not share it with the Bugis. The Dutch had violated the agreement.

So the Bugis attacked Melaka and laid a siege on the Dutch. The Dutch were beginning to run out of food and water and Melaka would definitely fall if the Bugis were not defeated pretty soon.

So the Dutch asked the Minangkabaus for help and the Minangs attacked the Bugis from behind and sandwiched them between the Dutch.

Raja Haji, the Bugis leader whom the Dutch called Raja Api or the Fire Prince, was killed and the Bugis were defeated. So the Dutch continued to terrorise the Straits of Melaka without any resistance from the Bugis.

In 1745, while the Dutch still controlled Melaka, Raja Lumu, the son of Riau prince Daeng Chelak Daeng Rilaga, was summoned to Lumut, Perak, by the 13th Sultan of Perak, Sultan Muzaffar Shah III Ibni Almarhum Yang Dipertuan Muda Mansur Shah. At Lumut, the Sultan of Perak installed and crowned Raja Lumu as the Sultan of Selangor, a territory of Perak, and named him Sultan Salehuddin Shah.

So, Raja Lumu did not conquer or illegally occupy Selangor. The Sultan of Perak gave Selangor independence and Raja Lumu was installed and crowned the Sultan according to proper adat istiadat.

It was the Dutch, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese that plundered one another’s ships. They were all colonialists who occupied Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Borneo, etc., illegally and by military force. The Bugis were merely fighting against the occupiers just like the Chinese did in China, the Indochinese in Indochina, the Indians in India, the Filipinos in the Philippines, the Indonesians in Indonesia, the Burmese in Burma, and so on.

When it is the others they are called freedom fighters but you call the Bugis pirates. And the Bugis did not conquer Selangor. The 13th Sultan of Perak gave Selangor independence and installed and crowned a Bugis prince as its Sultan.

Now do you know your history? So correct that wrong perception that the Bugis were pirates and that the Sultan of Selangor is not legitimate or lawful.