A little bit of Selangor history

A little bit of Selangor history
21 May, 2008

My grandmother, Tengku Badariah, who married her cousin, Raja Sir Tun Uda, was one of the 44 children of Sultan Ala’eddin Suleiman Shah and was the elder sister of Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, the Sixth Sultan of Selangor and Second Agong.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Selangor now has a new state government after more than fifty years of Merdeka but the new State Assemblymen and women, plus the Members of Parliament and EXCO Members from Pakatan Rakyat, appear a bit ignorant of Selangor’s history. It can be expected (and forgiven) if the man-on-the-street (or woman, as the case may be) does not know much about Selangor history. But those in government would be expected to know at least the skimpy details of the state's history.

First of all, Selangor territory used to include Negeri Sembilan and part of Perak extending to Kampar and Tapah. Due to the ‘war’ between Selangor and Perak (over the rich tin fields in that area), the British decided to redraw the Perak-Selangor boundary. To make it easy for everyone and to avoid future territorial disputes, the Bernam River was adopted as the new state boundary, thus ‘shrinking’ Selangor a wee bit.

Negeri Sembilan was ‘annexed’ after the Chinese massacred all the Malays, including Raja Busu and his entire family, in Lukut in 1834. Later on, Kuala Lumpur and Perang Besar were also annexed. Kuala Lumpur is the Federal Capital of Malaysia while Perang Besar was renamed Putrajaya and is now Malaysia’s administrative capital.

Selangor used to be under the protection of the Sultan of Perak until 1766 when Sultan Mahmud Shah, the 16th Sultan of Perak, installed Raja Lumu as Sultan Salehuddin Shah, the First Sultan of Selangor. Raja Lumu was the son of Daeng Chelak, the Second Yamtuan Muda of Riau. Daeng Chelak, in turn, was the son of Upu Tenribong Daeng Rilaka, the Raja of Riau, who was in turn the son of Upu Lamadusalat.

Sultan Ibrahim Shah succeeded his father, Raja Lumu, as the Second Sultan of Selangor in 1778. Sultan Ibrahim Shah had 23 children from his four wives but it was Sultan Muhamad Shah from his third wife (Che Halijah Maharaja Lela Hussain) who succeeded him as the Third Sultan of Selangor.

Sultan Muhamad Shah had twelve children. However, the Fourth Sultan of Selangor was his nephew, Sultan Abdul Samad, son of Raja Abdullah (Tengku Panglima Besar), who was the younger half-brother of Sultan Muhamad Shah from Sultan Ibrahim Shah’s fourth wife.

Sultan Abdul Samad had seven children, none who succeeded him as Sultan. The Fifth Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Ala’eddin Suleiman Shah, was his grandson from his eldest son, Raja Muda Musa. Raja Muda Musa died on 7 July 1884 while Sultan Ala’eddin Suleiman Shah ascended the throne on 1 August 1898.

Sultan Ala’eddin Suleiman Shah, the Sixth Sultan of Selangor, had ten wives and 44 children (my grandmother, Tengku Badariah, who married her cousin Raja Sir Tun Uda, was one of the 44 children and was the elder sister of Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah). Due to British intervention, Sultan Abdul Samad’s eldest son from his first wife, Tengku Musa’eddin, was not allowed to ascend the throne. Instead, Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah became the Seventh Sultan of Selangor in 1938 but was removed by the Japanese in 1942.

Tengku Musa’eddin ruled from 1942 to 1945 as Sultan Ghiathuddin Riayat Shah after which Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah was given back the throne when the Japanese surrendered in 1945. Tengku Musa’eddin was then sent into exile in the Cocos Islands but was allowed to come home ten years later where he died in Kelang in 1955 without leaving any heirs.

Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah became the Second Agong in 1960 and died that same year after which his son, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, became the Eighth Sultan of Selangor. Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, the present Sultan of Selangor, is the Ninth Sultan of Selangor.

Over the last 40 years, Selangor has had 14 Chief Ministers (Menteri Besar), seven appointed and seven elected.

The seven appointed Chief Ministers are:

1. Dato’ Hamzah Bin Abdullah (1948-1949)
2. Raja Sir Tun Uda Al-Haj Bin Raja Mohamad (1949-1953 and 1954-1955)
3. Dato’ Othman Bin Mohamad (1953-1954)
4. Tun Dr Abdul Aziz Bin Hj Abdul Majid (1955-1956)
5. Tuan Muhammad Ismail Bin Abdul Latiff (1956-1958)
6. Tan Sri Abdul Jamil Bin Abdul Rais (1958-1959)
7. Dato Abu Bakar Bin Baginda (1959-1964)

The seven elected Chief Ministers are:

1. Dato’ Seri Hj Harun Bin Idris (1964-1976)
2. Dato Haji Hormat Bin Rafei (1976-1982)
3. Tan Sri Dato Hj Ahmad Razali Bin Haji Mohd Ali (1982-1986)
4. Tan Sri Dato Haji Muhammad Bin Haji Mohamad Taib (1986-1997)
5. Dato Seri (Dr) Haji Abu Hassan Bin Haji Omar (1997-2000)
6. Dato Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Bin Toyo (2000-2008)
7. Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (2008- )