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This paper looks at an early nineteenth-century Malay letter from a land of exile,Ceylon (present Sri Lanka). The letter, written in Colombo, was dated 3 January1807 and is in Leiden University Library MS Cod.Or.2241-I 25 [Klt 21/no.526]. Itwas written by Siti Hapipa, the widow of the exiled Sultan Fakhruddin AbdulKhair al-Mansur Baginda Usman Batara Tangkana Gowa, the 26th king of theGowa Sultanate of South Sulawesi who reigned from 1753 until 1767. He wasbanished by the Dutch (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) to Ceylonin 1767 on a charge of conspiracy with the British to oppose the VOC tradingmonopoly in eastern Indonesia. Although many studies of Malay letters exist,letters from the lands of exile like such as the one discussed in this article havereceived less scholarly attention. Also remarkable is that this is one of the rareeighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries Malay letters written by a female. Settingthe scene with a historical sketch of the eighteenth and the early nineteenthcentury in colonial Ceylon and the Netherlands East Indies, this paper providesthe transliteration of Siti Hapipa?s letter in Roman script, through which Ithen analyse the socio-economic and political aspects of the family of SultanFakhruddin in their exile in Colombo. |
