Surat Pemerintah Agung kepada Susuhunan Amangkurat II (m. 1677-1703), 20 April 1697

ROM: DAILY JOURNALS OF BATAVIA, 20 APRIL 1697 [BEGINNING WITH FOL. 285]

Letter written by Their Excellencies the Supreme Government of Asia to the Susuhunan at Kartasura (Adi) ningrat.

This has been written in a spirit of friendship by the Governor-General Willem van Outhoorn and the Councillors of Asia, residing in Batavia Castle, to Susuhunan Ratu Amangkurat Senapati Ingalaga [fol. 286] Abdulrahman Muhammad Zainulkubra, who at present holds his court at Kartasura (Adi)ningrat, to whom may God may grant the sagacity and wisdom to be able to rule over his all his good subjects in peace and justice, as well as a circumspect discretion and system of government which will give him the courage to expel all evil and iniquitous people, his enemies not just from his court but from his whole realm, thereby ridding himself of them for good and all, so that his reign may continue throughout his life in the desired law and order and also [in] that his children and his children’s children may succeed him after his death.

The letter which Susuhunan Ratu Amangkurat Senapati Ingalaga has written to the Governor-General and the Councillors of Asia [ and dispatched] with his envoys Pangeran Adipati Natakusuma, Angabehi Nitinagara and Arya Sura[wi]krama has been received with all the usual ceremony. It commences with a declaration of his devotion to the Company, because it was this same [Company] which took enormous pains to establish him in his royal court in a flourishing state and at peace. [Now] he still continues to reign over the realm of Java, as written in Your Majesty’s earlier epistles of the 6th of the month of December in the year 1684 as well as sundry other letters received here, and he acknowledges that, as a consequence of the aforesaid help and assistance shown him in his unfortunate predicament, he is eternally obliged, promising everything within his power, without exception, to recompense these benefactions and the said munificence. However, [he says] that he is not in a position to be able to accomplish all those matters which are as yet outstanding, [to do the which] His Majesty claims he has neither the counsel nor the opportunity [fol. 287].

Concerning the first point, to wit the plain unvarnished significance of the aforesaid various benefactions [he has] enjoyed from the Governor-General and the Councillors of Asia and the obligations hereby incurred but so far unfulfilled, the which is absolutely incontrovertible, as indeed it is [acknowledged] throughout the whole world, must be added that the execution of the same, [attained]not without great difficulty, was at great cost to the Company, and that since His Majesty was restored to his father’s throne, twenty years ago, he has never offered the slightest token of decent gratitude, even though he has not lacked the opportunity to do so. Indeed, in the intervening period in the year 1686, in contradiction to the custom even of all barbarian and heathen people who are ignorant of God, he had cut down and murdered the Company envoy Mr François Tak, whose person his role decreed to be sacrosanct and inviolable, even in the face of the weapons of a centuries-old enemy. He should have been free and protected from [all] danger and nuisance, [but was murdered] in a treacherous manner execrated throughout the whole world. The same fate befell the other delegated persons as well as those of lesser standing in his suite, either in front of or in the vicinity of Your Majesty’s court and in full view of all the worthies of the realm. At the very least, he turned a blind eye to [this outrage], [perpetrated] by the Balinese renegade the infamous Surapati, who with his train of scoundrels should long ago have been expelled not only from his court but also banned from the territory of his whole realm[if only because] at Cikalong, that same did seditiously help murder[fol. 288], in spite of a number of warnings given Your Majesty by the Governor-General and the Councillors of Asia to which he should have lent an attentive ear and taken to heart, as Your Majesty’s letter, which was handed over to Captain Sloot in Jepara in the month of December of the year 1691 and forwarded hither, sufficiently acknowledges, was likely to happen, should Surapati continue to reside in Kartasura [A]diningrat, that should one has been really disposed [to do so], it would have been easy to send Javanese and Hollanders to tackle him. However, it seems matters took a different course, and that he did nothing to restrain his murderous nature towards our envoy and his entourage, and that at a time at which the aforesaid envoy, Mr François Tak, dispatched by the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia to present himself to appear before Your Majesty to discuss various points raised in [Your Majesty’s] letter of the year 1684 handed over to the Governor-General of Councillors of Asia, by the envoys Arya Sindureja, Tumenggungs Inggawanga and Surawikrama, attended by Sutajuwa [probably Sutawijaya] and Nalajaya, as well as to talk over other affairs touching upon His Majesty’s interests and to confirm in more detail the contracts concluded earlier and his [other] promises, as well as to deliberate on Your Majesty’s letter of the tenth day of February in the year 1685, previously written and spoken about with the aforesaid envoy in the company of Senior Merchant De Hartogh [fol. 289]. Instead, he immediately launched into other matters to do with His Majesty’s concerns which had to do with the further confirmation of earlier concluded contracts and his promises, orally and directly to deliberate upon in Your Majesty’s letter of the 10th day of February in the year 1685 previously written about and discussed with the aforementioned envoy in the company of Senior Merchant De Hertogh [fol. 289] .

Whenever the violation of the universal right of a public envoy has not as it should have been inviolable, indeed has not been honoured, as it should have been, and as a consequence [of his felony] the traitor and dastardly murderer should have been prosecuted and punished as befitted his crime, and later, even after the lapse of so many years, the same should still answer for his deed but this has not happened. As was drawn to Your Majesty’s attention in the Company letter of 1 April of the year 1692, the infamous Angrangkusuma who, as the Susuhunan is not unaware, had connived at the aforesaid assassination of the envoy with the traitor Surapati and had it carried out, nevertheless a goodly time thereafter he was still in Kartasura Adiningrat and was even in attendance at Your Majesty’s court. This is the reason that in their letters, particularly those of the 12th of the month of July 1691 and 1st of April of the year 1692, to Susuhunan Amangkurat Senapati Ingalaga the Governor-General and the Councillors of Asia, so earnestly requested, indeed ordered is that which said Angrangkusuma had deserved.

Not only this, as the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia announced in their letter of 1 July 1687 to the Susuhunan Amangkurat Senapati Ingalaga in a letter from the same, which was intercepted and cited, written to the robber and Minangkabau rabble-rouser Yang Dipertuan, a transcript of which was given to Tumenggung Sura­wikrama, Ngabehi Nalajaya and Ngabehi [fol. 290] Aladalad to hand over to Your Majesty, did [you]request help and assistance against the Christians. Indeed, in the letter mentioned above allegedly written by Your Majesty to the aforementioned rebel and traitor Yang Dipertuan , which, when this [allegation] became known, in his letter of 13th December of that same year 1687 to Commander Sloot in Jepara, Susuhunan Amangkurat Senapati Ingalaga did not deign to touch upon, except to assure him that, if any sort of villainous undertakings should have been afoot, that this had been without His Majesty’s knowledge because he had been ignorant of the Javanese deliberations and [consequently] had not dealt with it in their gatherings.

Therefore, the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia have drawn the conclusion, and it is one from which they will not be budged, that Susuhunan Senapati Ingalaga will have no difficulty understanding, on account of the aforesaid errors and omissions of Susuhunan Senapati Ingalaga with regard to what has been said above, the censure of the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia in urging him to deal out a punishment to the two villains, the aforesaid Surapati and Angrangkusuma, to fit their crimes. Should it have happened that these aforementioned (crimes) were not committed with the complicity and foreknowledge of Your Majesty, it is as clear as day that Your Majesty’s rule over his subjects in Java has been wrested from his hands by his ministers and the notables at his court, at least those who are foremost among them, and that they have amputated him from all authority. If this interpretation is indeed correct [fol. 291], in this letter the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia cannot let the opportunity to slip to prophesy to Susuhunan Amangkurat Senapati Ingalaga that it will not be long before the said Surapati and his evil conspirators who reside in Kartasura Adiningrat shall conspire to depose the Susuhunan from his throne, and rob his lawful successor of it. The Governor-General and Councillors of Asia most sincerely hope that this will not eventuate and that His Majesty will take timely measures befitting stout-hearted ruler, buttressed by the good counsel of his well-intentioned ministers and his personal power, in which he is not lacking, and that he will be able to avert the aforesaid calamity.

Furthermore that the excuses and pretexts of His Majesty that he has had neither the advice nor the opportunity to carry out the orders decreed by the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia in the land of Java, the which saddens him and overwhelms his heart with regret, might be assumed to be nothing but foolish and idle prattle, unworthy of a ruler of such great power with so much under his sway. Among the unfinished business referred to is the execution or the punishment of the aforesaid Surapati and Angrangkusuma, which as the Governor-General and the Councillors of Asia as mentioned above have ordered. Nobody could take seriously [any claim] that Your Majesty lacks either the power or the opportunity [to effectuate this], if indeed the will [to do so] is likewise present. Furthermore, there are yet some other matters which the Governor-General [fol. 292] and Councillors of Asia wish to raise, specifically and particularly those cited in Your Majesty’s most recent letter mentioned above, which could have been discussed and deliberated with the aforementioned envoys, and of which the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia have no knowledge. When asked by the commissioners expressly appointed from among the members of the assembly of the Councillors of Asia whether they had anything more to contribute other than what the Susuhunan had to say in his letter, the envoys said that they had nothing more to say, and carried no other orders. Therefore the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia can do nothing in this letter to alleviate the sadness and grief-stricken heart of the Susuhunan other to inform him that, with reference to the requests and solicitations which the Susuhunan expressed first to Commander Couper, and later in his letter to the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia of 6 December of the year 1684 received here in Batavia, [addressed to] the Governor-General and the Councillors of Asia, are resolved to move the force which is still posted on the hill at Jepara, the which our aforementioned ambassador François Tak was [qualified] to come to an agreement with Your Majesty, to Semarang as soon as our stronghold and the barracks there have been constructed and made ready to accommodate it. For its transportation, the Susuhunan might [fol. 293] be requested by the Company man in authority there, should they require any help, to take its subjects under his protection and keep them safe from any harm. Also that he take a small number of Company servants whom the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia shall continue to leave posted there a separate dwelling at the foot of the hill, on or near the seashore, under his protection. Should Your Majesty agree to this he will be discharged and freed of the necessity to repay and recompense what he has incurred to the Company under Article 14 of the contract of the year 1677, as [this assistance] will be taken in lieu of the debt. [This will be reckoned] from the month of November 1677 up to the day on which as said the abovementioned Company military post-holders, as said above, will move from the hill of Jepara to Semarang, compliance in this would cancel that very large sum to which His Majesty under the terms of Article 14 the contract of 25th February cited above, and restated in the compulsory decree of 19th and 20th of the month of October in the same year, signed by himself and his ministers, has bound himself.

However, in view of the complaints of the Susuhunan about the impoverished condition of his realm and his subjects, precipitated by a horde of enemies who seek their livelihood there every month and so attack and ruin it, out of the affection which they bear towards the Susuhunan, from the aforesaid month of November 1677 up to the month of November of the year 1682, except for the five years since Commander Cou­per has returned to Batavia from Kartasura Adiningrat [fol. 294], and he was entreated by the Susuhunan that he be relieved of the burden of the settlement of the Company on the hill of Jepara, even though the costs amount to the sum of only 112,000 Spanish reals or 20,000 Rix-dollars every month under Article 13 of the above-mentioned contract. Indeed under the content of neither that same contract nor the compulsory instrument was the Susuhunan in any way obliged to recompense the Company for any other item, than to which he further is obliged, according to promises made, for goods received but unpaid, and also deducting from the Spanish reals for which he has been recompensed by the Company for various journeys [undertaken], which would otherwise have been billed to his account, His Majesty is still indebted to the tune of 1,136,700 Spanish reals, the one and other of which is demanded of His Majesty, and can be seen in the enclosed further specified account.

This payment, if the means [to do so] which since that time the Susuhunan has not been lacking in the means to do so, should have been handed over in the appropriate manner and settled. [If this had been done] at this time His Majesty could be free of [this debt] or could discharge himself of it if within a smallish number of years were he would be pleased to deliver to the Company a goodly sum of Spanish reals, a thousand or so lasten of rice, as well as pepper and cotton thread. It would be more satisfactory to the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia if the rice were to be delivered to Batavia, rather than being carried on Company ships, because [fol. 295] these could be better employed on other trading routes, as the price pepper on the vine and pure pepper is around 4 and a half Rix-dollars per picul of 125 Dutch pounds, and the cotton thread on the order to His Majesty has always fetched a satisfactory sum. Payment in the aforesaid manner would be very acceptable to the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia, therefore the Susuhunan is amiable requested and advised to accede [to this proposal] as early as possible because, after the passage of so many years, at long last the Company look to some recompense for the huge costs it has incurred for the pre­servation of the Susuhunan’s realm and person. Apart from this, the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia would be greatly please if, on receipt of this [epistle], His Majesty will dispatch an order to Pangeran Kaputren in Surabaya, [commanding] that he will once again open up the roads from the highlands to the Company settlement on the plain, just as they were under the government of KyaiNgabehi Jangrana. Our captain and man-in-charge there has complained that the post-holders can obtain no proper means of sustenance either by water or by land. The division between the two aforementioned servants of Your Majesty might like as not lead to disturbances and dissension, which can only burden Your Majesty with extra troubles, in which he would do best not to become entangled any further. Therefore the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia think that Your Majesty would do well to relieve Pangeran Kaputren of his duty and to let it be taken over solely by Kyai Ngabehi Jangrana [fol. 296], as was previously the case [restoring the former situation], under which the inhabitants enjoyed prosperity.

And, as [as stated above] the Company post-holders stand on the point of moving from Jepara to Semarang, to carry out all their business from there, they will require more people than are now resident there, would the Susuhunan most graciously consent to issue orders that all the negeri and villages, and their inhabitants, including the negeri of Gamyla and the village of Sitirawa [modern Ambarawa], should once again be placed under Semarang and handed over to it, as it was anciently and formerly under its territory. This is so that the Company can require essential services from them, in settlement of and in compliance with the special decree of Your Majesty given to the Company on the 15th day of the month of January in the year 1678.

When this has been promptly complied with, it will be made clear to the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia that the written affirmations given so often by Your Majesty, that he shall never ever, to the end of time, forget the beneficence the Company has shown him and that he is willing to honour the contracts made with it, forever and indissolubly, as it should be and as Your Majesty has pledged himself to do.

The gift of ten koyang rice and two pairs of horses were indeed presented to [fol. 297] the Governor-General and Councillors of Asia in Batavia by the above-mentioned envoys of the Susuhunan but, according to oral report of the same, the fifty head of cattle remain in Jepara, the which will be accepted as if they had been received here. Consequently in reciprocation would His Majesty be pleased to receive the following:

12    ells red scarlet cloth

1      looking-glass, measuring 1 and a quarter ells, with a gilt frame

2      pairs of scales, fone for gold, one for silver

1      botidaer with gold flowers

2      [pieces] or Persian velvet

4    gobars Mataram

10                  tape gobars

6     cassa Bengale

6     adthays and

Half a pikul of cloves

All the above-mentioned as well as the letter handed over to the aforesaid envoys with a silver signet ring, set in an ivory clasp or some other shank, request by Raden Arya Sindureja on His Majesty’s behalf, around the edge engraved in Dutch (i.e. Latin) characters and in the centre in Javanese and Malay script Susuhunan Aman Kurat Senapati Ingalaga, which the Governor-General and the Councillors of Asia will afford Your Majesty pleasure. At the moment no Persian horse is available in the Company stable, the which Raden Arya Sindureja also requested, nor is it possible to purchase one from any resident here [fol. 298].

Written in Batavia Castle in the island of Java on 19 April 1697, under the Governor-General of the Netherlands India (signed) Willem van Outhoorn, sealed with the Company seal printed in red lacquer (below) On the order of the said Right Honourable Gentleman (signed) C[ornelis] van Swoll, secretary.