Some Treasures at the Museum Nasional, Jakarta

One of best things I did during my visits to Jakarta was to visit the treasure-filled National Museum of Indonesia (Museum Nasional). Here, I will mention a few of these treasures that are somewhat related to Singapore.

The front view of the Museum Nasional in Jakarta.

The Gajah Sculpture

The main museum building is also known locally as the Gedung Gajah or elephant building. It is named so because of the elephant statue standing in front of the building. This bronze elephant is a gift from King Chulalongkorn of Thailand during his visit to Batavia in 1871. This elephant has a twin in Singapore, which sits right in front of Singapore's old Parliament House (currently called the Arts House). 

The elephant twins. Gifts from Chulalongkorn to (L) Batavia and (R) Singapore during his first trip overseas in 1871.

The Thai King Rama V, better known as Chulalongkorn, made a trip (the very first overseas trip by a Thai monarch) to Singapore and Batavia in 1871 from 9 March-15 April [1]. This pair of handsome elephant statues were gifts from Chulalongkorn to Batavia and Singapore, respectively, to commemorate the visits. 

Raffles' Bust

Bust of Stamford Raffles

In a room immediately to the left after the main entrance of the old wing, where some of the old colonial artefacts are placed, is a bronze bust statue of Sir Stamford Raffles. This bust is probably the 1929 copy commissioned by the Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen) for their 150th anniversary celebration [2]. This society and the collections that it amassed formed the basis of the National Museum of Indonesia. This bust is a copy of the famous Chantrey bust in the collection of the London Zoological Society. 

From 1811 till 1816, Raffles was the Lieutenant-Governor of Java. He was also deeply interested in the culture of Java. In 1813, he helped revive the society (then known as the Bataviaasch Genootschap der Konsten en Wetenschappen or the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences), and was made president of the society [3].   

Kota Kapur Inscription

On this stone is inscribed the oldest known dated writings in the Malay language. This stone inscription was found at Kota Kapur on Bangka island and is dated to 686 CE. During this time, the area was under the suzerainty of the Srivijaya empire. The Old Malay was inscribed in the Later Pallava script, and contains a curse against those who do evil and who are disloyal to the King. It also talks about the King's planned invasion of Bhumi to subject it to Srivijaya's rule [4]. Old Malay is the direct ancestor of Bahasa Indonesia (official language of Indonesia) and Bahasa Melayu (official/national language of Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore), which are essentially the same language. Well, to be exact, Bahasa Melayu is the national language and one of the official languages in Singapore. 

(L). The Kota Kapur Inscription. Dated 686 CE. (R) A closer look at the inscribed Pallava script.

Also of interest is another stone inscription near the Museum entrance, known as the Telagabatu Inscription, written also in the Old Malay language using the Later Pallava script. This inscription is also dated to the 7th century CE.

Regalia of the Riau-Lingga Sultanate

On the fourth level of the new wing (this level is only accessible by elevator, and seems to be missed by most visitors) is the Treasures and Ceramics gallery.

In this gallery are exhibited many artefacts which were the heirlooms of by-gone sultanates which were annexed by the Dutch when they were in power. One of these defunct sultanates that has their regalia housed here is the Riau-Lingga Sultanate. The Riau-Lingga Sultanate royal regalia on display [5] includes two jogan (ritual fans or State lances by different accounts), one silver and one gold. There are also two pedang (swords) on display.     

Items of the royal regalia of the Riau-Lingga Sultanate. (L) The silver Jogan and (R) the gold Jogan (picture taken from [5]). Written on the gold Jogan is the claimed lineage of the sultan, and how he has the legitimacy of rule over the Tanah Melayu ...etc... [6].

How are these items related to Singapore's history? In Feb. 1819, in order to have someone pliable to sign a 'Treaty of Friendship and Alliance' to set up a trading post in Singapore, Raffles effectively installed Tengku Hussein as the Sultan of Johor and Singapore. This was done when there was already a Sultan Abdul Rahman, who as the Sultan of Johor-Riau, was supposed to reign over Singapore as well. 

How did Raffles manage to pull it off? Well, things were not so straightforward. Since the previous Sultan, Mahmud died in 1812, different factions in the royal court supporting either Tengku Abdul Rahman or Tengku Hussein had been jockeying and trying to install their own candidate as sultan. Abdul Rahman, the younger half-brother of Hussein, won out with the support of the Dutch and the Bugis. Now, one of the list of things you need to check off if you want to be properly installed as a Sultan is to have the royal Regalia in your possession. Unfortunately for Abdul Rahman, the royal Regalia was under the custody of Engku Puteri Rajah Hamida, who was the main royal wife of Sultan Mahmud (Abdul Rahman and Hussein were sons of two minor commoner wives of Mahmud). She did not accept the legitimacy of Abdul Rahman's installation as sultan, and refused to hand over the Royal Regalia. And so the succession dispute dragged on for years. 

In early 1819, as it would not be possible to sign a treaty with Sultan Abdul Rahman who was under the thumb of the Dutch, rivals to the British commercial interests, Raffles and company seized this opportunity to their advantage to install their own puppet sultan whom they could then 'legally' sign a treaty with.  

Eventually, when all the dust had settled when the 'higher powers' in Europe thrashed out the 1824 Anglo-Dutch treaty, the erstwhile Riau-Johor Sultanate was partitioned into the Riau-Lingga and Johor-Singapore Sultanates, under the Dutch and British spheres of influence, respectively.  

The royal regalia was later taken forcibly away from Engku Puteri Rajah Hamida by the Dutch to give to Sultan Abdul Rahman. The Riau-Lingga sultanate was annexed by the Dutch in 1911, and the regalia eventually ended up in the museum's collection. 

It is not known exactly when these items on display were made and they could have been made post-1819 (the labels were not very specific about the ages of these artefacts). However it is probable and I would like to think that they were part of the regalia that was withheld by Engku Puteri Rajah Hamida in the dramatic days of 1810s and that I am looking at artefacts that had a role in the founding of modern Singapore. I suppose these artefacts could go even further back in time and originated from the Malacca sultanate. Pure speculations.

And if you have some time to spare after the museum trip, do drop by the nearby Museum Taman Prasasti to take a look at the tombs of Olivia Raffles and John Leyden. 

References
[1] Lim, Patricia Pui Hue, Through the eyes of the King : the travels of King Chulalongkorn to Malaya (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 2009).
[2] Bonny Tan, "Raffles' Bust" from Singapore Infopedia (National Library Board, Singapore, 2005). link
[3] John N. Miksic (Ed.), Icons of Art: The Collections of the National Museum of Indonesia (BAB Publishing, Jakarta, 2007) p. 47.
[4] ibid. pp. 102-103
[5] ibid. p. 143

[6] During my first visit to the museum in Oct. 2012, I could only take the pictures of the silver Jogan as the gold Jogan was out on loan. During my second visit in Oct. 2014, I finally got to see the gold Jogan. Unfortunately, this time round, no photography was allowed due to security reasons, presumably because of the recent burglary from the National Museum (see link here). In its place, I pinched a picture from [5].

Dates of visits: 7th Oct. 2012, & 12th Oct. 2014