ofthe SAME TREE

association with the Malayu and instead undertake activities on their own
account. European contemporary accounts suggest that there was a direct
correlation between upheaval in Malayu kingdoms and an increase in Orang
Laut “piracy,” or activities occurring outside the purview of a Malay patron. 72
After the Johor regicide in 1699, the Dutch noted a great increase in piratical
activities in Johor waters. 73
The great extent of piracy, whether under the auspices of a Malayu lord
or an Orang Laut batin, led to the decision by the British and the Dutch after
1824 to cooperate in stamping out this practice. Toward this end a number
of treaties and subsequent notes of modifications of provisions were made
between the Dutch government and the sultan of Riau-Lingga. The Dutch
told the sultan in the mid-nineteenth century that for eradication of piracy to
occur he had to increase the amount of money given to the sea people. 74 Of
particular interest to the Europeans was the question of jurisdiction over the
numerous islands that dotted the area. In addition to the desire to fix permanent
international boundaries, they hoped to be able to hold specific Orang
Laut groups responsible for piratical activities committed in their traditional
areas of exploitation. The Malayu rulers had never before known nor needed
to know the islands that were under their control because they left such affairs
in the hands of the Orang Laut chieftains. In the Malayu versions of the treaties,
a few main islands are mentioned by name and the remainder simply
referred to as “negeri-negeri takluknya,” or the “subject areas.” 75 Even after the
British and the Dutch formally split the kingdom of Johor in 1824, the ruler
now based in the islands and known as the Sultan Riau-Lingga continued to
exercise great influence “in the detached part of his kingdom, such as Johor,
Pahang and other places on the Malay Peninsula.” 76 It mattered not that the
Europeans had created two separate divisions; the Orang Laut continued to
see the sultan of Riau-Lingga as their true lord. This was an ancient relationship
that persisted despite the political vicissitudes of the Malayu kingdoms
in the Straits of Melaka.
The Orang Laut in the History of Sriwijaya and Its Heirs
The limited sources for the Sriwijaya/Malayu period provide too little information
to describe the links between the Orang Laut and the rulers except
in general terms. It is believed that during the heyday of Sriwijaya from the
seventh to the eleventh centuries, the Orang Laut were responsible for guarding
the shipping lanes and encouraging traders to frequent Sriwijaya’s ports.
The details and nature of the relationship are never explicitly stated and can
only be surmised from arrangements in a later period. In nineteenth-century
Johor, for example, it was said that “the sea peoples possessed the seas and
The Orang Laut and the Malayu 191