Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 158
THE TERNATESE LANGUAGE
[p. 223]
IV
Installation of the Present Sultan of Ternate
In the year Alif of the Moslem era 1296, during the month of Sawal, on a Thursday
night, the seventeenth night of the moon, it was past six-thirty when a steamer of the
Dutch Indies Steamship Company sailed through the strait between Hiri and Babua and
cast anchor in the Government roadstead. At midnight the distinguished and respected
Mr. Owen Maurits de Munnick sent Lieutenant Abdul Halik to the house of the Prince
Captain-Laut Putra Ayanhar.
At that time the Malay clerks were not there. The clerk, Captain of the
Makassarese, 31 had been ordered to go to New Guinea on the warship, and the clerk
Lieutenant Babah had gone with the district officer to take some redemption money for
slaves to Sula, Taliabu, Tombuku, and Banggai. Since the clerks had not yet returned, the
Resident could not send them on his behalf. He therefore requested the Lieutenant of the
Makassarese Abdul Halik to inform, with regards and respect, the Prince Captain-Laut
that H.E. the Governor-General and the Indies Council at Batavia had made a choice and
decided that of the princes no other than the Prince Captain-Laut would become Sultan of
Ternate in the place of his father. That same night after Lieutenant Abdul Halik had left,
the Prince Captain-Laut sent for the Imam-Secretary Abdul Ajij and told him the news
which he had received from the Resident.
The next Friday, the Prince Captain-Laut told the Imam-Secretary to go to the
Resident to [p. 224] hear the latter’s orders and to ask for more details. After returning to
the palace, the Imam-Secretary said that the Resident had told him that he had sent
Lieutenant Abdul Halik along to tell the Prince that the Government had decided to make
him Sultan, but that there were no plans to do so immediately because the Resident wanted
both the installation and the presentation of the contract to occur on the same day. The
Resident had requested the Committee to come down the next Saturday to discuss the
matter. 32
The Prince Captain-Laut immediately sent for the Jogugu Major-Prang Bungah and
the Hukum Sangaji Makdum. The first begged to be excused, saying he could not go out
because of illness. The Hukum Sangaji came alone, and they agreed that the three of them
would go there the next morning at nine o’clock in accordance with the wishes of the
Resident.
31 [p. 223, n. 1] That these two positions were held by one person was mere accident. The two
titles are reported with real native accuracy, however.
32 [p. 224, n. 1] That is, a committee in charge of daily procedures pending the appointment of a
new Sultan.
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