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The Makassar War

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Abstract

On the morning of 24 November 1666 the Company expedition to Makassar and the Eastern Quarters set sail under the command of Admiral Cornelis Janszoon Speelman. The fleet consisted of the admiralship Tertholen, and twenty other vessels carrying some 1,870 people, among whom were 818 Dutch sailors, 578 Dutch soldiers, and 395 native troops. The principal native soldiers were from Ambon under Captain Joncker and the Bugis under Arung Palakka and Arung Belo Tosa’dĕng (Stapel 1922:97–9).1

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References

  1. In the Dutch sources the Arung Belo Tosadéng is referred to as de radja van Soping, the king of Soppeng. He was actually a son of the Datu Soppeng La Ténribali Matinroe ri Datunna who was living in exile in Sanrangang.

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  2. Among the Makassar people the Bajau are known as Turijene or water people. They appeared to have served the Goa court as rowers, seafighters, and envoys, in the same way that the Orang Laut (lit., the seapeople) in the western half of the Indonesian archipelago seemed to have served the Malay kingdoms. See Speelman 1926: unpag. and Andaya 1975: 50-1 passim.

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  3. A mas was a small gold coin. There were a number of different types of rijksdaalders circulating in this period. This particular coprijksdaalder may refer to a head (cop) struck on one or both sides of the coin.

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  4. Contrary to popular belief, the Datu Luwu who went to Butung was not Daeng Massuro Matinroe ri Tompotikka, but his half-brother by the daughter of Karaeng Sumanna, Daeng Mattuju (Ligtvoet 1878:49).

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  5. The excitement of the time is captured in a Bugis lontara’s depiction of the arrival of Arung Palakka at Pattiro and his welcome by the multitudes who instantly recognized his upé (Undang-Undang 1914:119). It was this upé which overcame all barriers and made the people follow Arung Palakka and believe in his destiny. The manner of Arung Palakka’s return and his remarkable achievements established a cultural-historical pattern which came to characterize later events in South Sulawesi. The Makassar refugees after 1667 and 1669 left with similar hopes of returning with an ally powerful enough to free their homeland. Although they were unsuccessful, the precedent had been established by Arung Palakka. Arung Sengkang La Madukéllengs story almost directly parallels that of Arung ’Palakka, and he, too, is considered to be an unusual figure in South Sulawesi history. A more recent figure with the same pattern is that of Kahar Muzakkar. See L. Y. Andaya 1977.

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  6. This may have been the Daeng Mattoana mentioned by Speelman as Arung Palakka’s maternal uncle who accompanied Arung Palakka into exile (Notitie 1670: 709r). -

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  7. A shortened version of this account can also be found in Stapel 1922:129-130 and in Macleod 1900:1275-7.

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  8. According to Bugis sources, after the main rebellion had been suppressed Makassar, Wajo, and Bone troops intercepted Arung Palakka and his followers at Palétte on the Bay of Bone. Several of Arung Palakka’s followers were killed, but Arung Palakka and most of his men succeeded in escaping by boat to Butung (L-1:27; L-3:300; L-4: unpag., section 23).

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  9. According to contemporary Dutch sources, Arung Cibalu was with Speelman at this time.

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  10. The core area or lalébata,literally, within the walls, refers to the main settlement of the kingdom where the ruler resided.

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  11. Although L-1 says the Treaty of Pappolong, the previous statements indicate that the Treaty of Attappang was meant. This is also confirmed in L-3:307 and L-4: unpag., section 23, where only the Treaty of Attappang is mentioned.

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  12. It was a common practice in Bugis and Makassar society for a ruler to reward or punish a whole family, even up to third cousins, for a particular deed of one individual in the family. For example, after Bone’s unsuccessful revolt against Goa in 1660, forty members up to third cousins belonging to the family of Tobala, who had been placed as regent in Bone by Goa’s leaders in 1643, were said to have been put to death (L-1:27).

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  13. Pre-Islamic holy men and women who are considered to contain within themselves both the female and male elements. They were especially revered as being intermediaries between the spirit world and the community. In the past they received royal patronage and were keepers of the regalia. For a discussion on the bissu, see B. F. Matthes 1872.

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  14. These Bugis accounts are corroborated in the Dutch sources where thirty Dutch soldiers and two cannons were brought by Captain Poleman to join Arung Palakka. However, Poleman arrived at Kassi, not Lamatti. See Stapel 1922: 133.

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  15. The four districts in present-day Sinjai include Bulo-Bulo, Lamatti, Balannipa, and Raja.

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  16. Macleod (1922:1285) only mentions the first alternative, but Stapel’s account (1922: 156) of the suggestions offered by Arung Appanang is more accurate.

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  17. The Bugis sources say that the Arung Belo was among the three Soppeng princes leading the northern Bugis attack, and yet the Dutch sources say that he was with Arung Palakka in Makassar at this time.

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  18. The mention of indebtedness is perhaps a reference to the time he was in the caves of Maruala and was helped by Tanete to escape from Makassar pursuers (L-3:295).

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  19. A lesung is a hollowed-out log where the rice is pounded, hence what Karaeng Karunrung threatened Tanete was a pounding such as that given to a lesung.

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  20. This refers to a Bugis-Makassar practice of taking the head of an enemy and dancing with it in the aru upon offering it to one’s lord.

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  21. A rial or rial-of-eight was a Spanish silver coin imported into Asia by the Dutch and the English. Its value depended partly on the weight and fineness of the individual coin, and partly on supply and demand. It normally was worth about 21/2 Dutch guilders.

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© 1981 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Andaya, L.Y. (1981). The Makassar War. In: The Heritage of Arung Palakka. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, vol 91. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3347-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3347-2_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-3349-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-3347-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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