ofthe SAME TREE

iver to the coast, and finally by sea to Bintan. 99 Except for the flight to Pahang,
it was a retracing in the opposite direction of the very route taken by the Sri
Tri Buana/Permaisura in the founding of Melaka. The route was deliberately
chosen because it offered protection by the Orang Laut, who demonstrated
a fierce loyalty to their Malayu lord. But even in the stronghold of the Orang
Laut the fugitive ruler had to flee into the jungle to escape capture by the
Portuguese. In the Sejarah Melayu version of these events, one of the sultan’s
officials summons his son and tells him: “Go and collect all the people living
on the coast, and we will then go and fetch the Ruler,” and so he calls
“the coast tribesmen who thereupon assembled.” These “coast tribesmen,” or
Orang Laut, then bring Sultan Mahmud to Kampar. 100
According to the Sejarah Melayu, Sultan Mahmud dies in Kampar and
is succeeded by his son, who takes the title Sultan Alauddin Syah. He moves
from Kampar to Pahang, where he stays for a while, and then makes his permanent
residence at Pekan Tua in Johor. The Portuguese pursue the new ruler
at his new capital, where he is fiercely defended by the Orang Laut but is
forced to flee further upriver to Sayong. 101 For the remainder of the sixteenth
century the new kingdom of Johor ruled by the Melaka royal line maintains a
precarious existence as a result of periodic attacks by the Portuguese and the
Acehnese, the new power in the Straits of Melaka.
The decision of Sultan Alauddin and many of his successors to establish
their capital somewhere up the Johor River was a sensible one. The Orang
Laut patrolling the mouth of the river could give adequate warning of any
approaching enemy fleet, as well as assemble Orang Laut in the neighboring
islands to help defend the ruler. Equally important was that the river empties
into one of the busiest waterways in the region. Between the Hook of Barbukit
on the Johor mainland and the island of Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Putih)
were three channels through which ships could sail between the South China
Sea and the southern entrance of the Straits of Melaka. This was a particularly
dangerous stretch that claimed many ships even in the nineteenth century. 102
The task of the Orang Laut was to guide traders through these treacherous
straits and up the Johor River to the capital, and to attack those considered
Johor’s competitors or enemies. 103
The most crucial task of the Orang Laut remained the safety of the person
of the ruler. Both the Suma Oriental and the Sejarah Melayu describe
the Orang Laut in the role of transporting the ruler to safety or defending
the ruler against enemy attack. But there were also enemies within from
whom the ruler needed protection, and in times of serious internal disorder
the Orang Laut could prove decisive. In the seventeenth century there was a
serious rivalry between the Laksamana and the Bendahara families of Johor.
The office of Bendahara was traditionally the most important in the kingdom
The Orang Laut and the Malayu 197