Political Organisation in Negri Sembilan

Abstract

The federation of luha’ called “Negri Sembilan” has undergone many vicissitudes in the course of its history. Klang, the seniorluha’ of the original Suku Jang Empat, from which present-day Negri Sembilan originated, is nowadays a district of Selangor¹; and Segamat, Naning, and Djelai, in the 16th century component luha’ of Negri Sembilan, are now parts of Djohor, Malaka, and Pahang respectively. Not only do the luha’ vary in the different periods of Negri Sembilan history, but there is also the fact that we can hardly find two writers on the subject who agree with each other as to which districts make up Negri Sembilan as a whole. Winstedt and Nathan preface their own enumeration with the lists drawn up by Newbold, Lister, Wilkinson, and Parr & Mackray². The lack of agreement is quite considerable, but all the authors have one thing in common: they have all carefully listed nine luha’, no more, no less. In doing so they have, I am afraid, been rather too prone to take the literal meaning of the name “Negri Sembilan”, the “Nine States”, at its face value and to make the facts fit the name. Actually at the installation of the Jangdipertuan in 1898 there were present representatives of the following districts: Sungai Udjong, Djelebu, Djohol, Rembau, Tampin, Muar, Teratji, Djempol, Gunung Pasir, Inas, Gementjeh, and Linggi³ making twelve in all; if we include the Ruler’s own district, Sri Menanti*, the result is a federation of Thirteen.

The erratum of this chapter is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8198-0_24