Hairun

Sultan Hairun Jamilu (Jawi: سلطان حيور جميلو‎; c. 1522 – 28 February 1570) was the 6th Muslim ruler of Ternate in Maluku, reigning from 1535 to 1570. During his long reign, he had a shifting relation to the Portuguese who had a stronghold in Ternate and tried to dominate the spice trade in the region. This ended with his assassination at the hands of a Portuguese soldier in 1570.

Contents

• Early life
• Deposal and reinstatement
• Ternatan-Portuguese military advances
• War over Ambon and assassination
• Family
• See also
• References

Early life

Portuguese seafarers from Melaka had appeared in the waters of eastern Indonesia since 1512. The trade in spices and forest products made it vital for the early colonizers to secure bases in the Maluku Islands (Moluccas) and control the enormously lucrative commerce. A fort was built on Ternate in 1522–1523 with the approval of the local Sultan, who hoped for military assistance to expand his own power. At the time Ternate was the most powerful of the four sultanates of North Maluku, the other being Tidore, Bacan and Jailolo. However, the Portuguese captains soon began to dominate the royal court while the garrison evoked general discontent though their behaviour. An incident in 1535, where Ternatans attacked a Christianized village in Halmahera in defiance of the Portuguese, led to the deposing of the young Sultan Tabariji. The Europeans now picked up a twelve-years old half-brother of Tabariji called Hairun Jamilu, and raised him to the throne. The self-willed actions of the Portuguese captain increased the fear and resentment among the people. ^[1]

Hairun was the son of a former Sultan, Bayan Sirrullah (d. 1521) by a Javanese lady. ^[2] He had a uterine sister who was married into the Tidore royal family and became the mother of a sultan. ^[3] Hairun's mother was a practitioner of pre-Islamic rites and did not live at the royal court. When the Portuguese soldiers came to pick up Hairun for enthronement, she violently resisted them, realizing that her son would only become a Portuguese puppet. In the ensuing tumult she died by falling from a window. Nevertheless, Hairun was installed in the end and accepted European tutelage. ^[4] However, another half-brother of Hairun, Dayal, had been deposed some years previously and fled to the rival Sultanate Tidore, based on an island in the vicinity. There he was supported by his maternal uncle, Sultan Mir, who refused to surrender Dayal. An anti-Portuguese alliance was forged between Tidore, Bacan, Jailolo and dissatisfied Ternatans. In retaliation, a Portuguese army invaded Tidore in 1536, and Dayal was mortally wounded during the fighting. ^[5]

Deposal and reinstatement

Hairun himself was initially forced to live in the Portuguese fort, but was allowed to live among his own people after a few years. At the beginning of his reign he was seen as an unpromising figure, and the grandees of the kingdom rather wanted Tabariji to return as their Sultan. ^[6] He seemed to have an interest in Christianity, though he did not actually ask for baptism. Upon his release, however, he began to strengthen his own networks by visiting villages in the islands of Ternate, Makian and Moti. He also obtained the daughter of Sultan Mir of Tidore as consort. The Portuguese authorities found a more promising candidate to promote Christianization in his deposed predecessor Tabariji, who lived in exile in Goa and actually converted to Christianity under the name Dom Manuel. It was decided to dethrone and exile Hairun and recall Tabariji in 1544. However, Tabariji died en route in Melaka, bequeathing his kingdom to the King of Portugal. ^[7] In the meanwhile, Tabariji's mother Nyaicili Boki Raja was made regent over the temporarily kingless Ternate. ^[8]

Hairun, who had already been shipped away to his exile, actually visited Goa where he was received with great honour. The Goan authorities reinstalled him as Ternatan ruler and he returned in 1546. There he had the opportunity to see the well-known Jesuit Francis Xavier who undertook extensive missionary work in Maluku and other parts of Asia. In fact Christianity made significant inroads in Halmahera, Menado, Siau Island, etc. ^[9] The relations between Xavier and Hairun, who spoke Portuguese and dressed in European fashion, were cordial and friendly. Xavier thought that the Sultan had little regard for the Prophet and hoped for his conversion. ^[10] This was however vain hope, and the attitude of Hairun turned increasingly Islamic and resentful of Christianity as time went by.

Ternatan-Portuguese military advances

In spite of Hairun's increasing disillusionment with the white foreigners, he cooperated with them against external enemies. One of the four Malukan kingdoms, Jailolo on Halmahera, was led by the strongly Muslim Katarabumi who attacked newly converted Christian villages with great furor. In 1550-1551 Portuguese-Ternatan forces besieged the almost impenetrable royal seat, well defended with artillery, and took it after thee months. Jailolo's power was broken, Katarabumi was deprived of his rank as Sultan, and his son Kaicili Gujarati became a Sangaji (sub-ruler) under Ternate. These events greatly strengthened Hairun's position in Maluku. ^[11]

The main long-standing rival of Ternate was, however, Tidore. The two kingdoms coexisted in an ambivalent way, as Ternate rulers regularly married Sultans' daughters from Tidore in spite of numerous petty wars between the two. A rift appeared between Hairun and the Portuguese in 1557 since the latter confiscated the clove harvest from Makian and imprisoned the Sultan for security reasons. The enraged Ternatan chiefs now allied with the Sultan of Tidore and attacked the positions of the Portuguese, who could barely hold their own. Eventually they found reason to release Hairun and arrived to an agreement. He and his son Baab signed a letter of vassalage which is the oldest preserved letter with seals in Indonesia. ^[12] The Tidorese ruler Kaicili Gava, however, had used the crisis to take over certain territories in Maluku which had previously been Ternatan dependencies. In a twist of events, Portuguese and Ternatan forces encircled Tolo in Halmahera and defeated the Tidorese in 1560. Gava was forced to submit, but was soon murdered by the Ternate ruler on a state visit. ^[13]

War over Ambon and assassination

According to a later account, Hairun "was indeed a wise ruler, a brave warrior, extraordinarily correct in the exercise of law and justice, but most of all greatly devoted to his religion, and a strong defender of the Islamic faith." ^[14] His championship of Islam made him encourage attacks against Christian settlements that took a high toll in human lives. In the 1560s he sent war fleets, with participation from his son Baab, to help up the Muslim positions in Ambon where Catholic missionaries had been successful. The Muslims of Hitu in northern Ambon were supported both by Hairun and Javanese troops from Japara and were successful for a while. ^[15] The Portuguese had to leave Ambon to its fate for several years, though they eventually came back to build a new stronghold in 1569. Since the Sultan dominated the waterways he could stop the vital deliveries of foodstuff from Moro in Halmahera to the Portuguese settlement in Ternate, to the great embarrassment of the garrison. ^[16]

Hairun's growing opposition to the Portuguese eventually cost him his life. His dwindling reputation among the Europeans can be seen in contemporary letters which denounced him as a debauched, tyrannical oath-breaker. A reconciliation between Hairun and the Portuguese captain Diogo Lopes de Mesquita was arranged in 1570, but it ended on a bad note. ^[17] Some days later, on 28 February, the Sultan was urgently summoned by Mesquita to appear in the Portuguese castle to discuss an important issue. When Hairun arrived, he was only allowed inside without his bodyguards. When he was about to depart from the meeting, Mesquita's nephew Martim Afonso Pimentel approached him near the gate and stabbed him with his poignard, exclaiming "Though the galleons have withdrawn to India, there are still Portuguese around here!". The Sultan fell down dying while professing his sincerity vis-à-vis the Portuguese. ^[18]

The assassination quickly proved to be a huge blunder for the Portuguese. A general uproar followed, led by his capable son Babullah (Kaicili Baab) who was now hailed as the new Sultan. The Portuguese fort was besieged and the garrison forced to capitulate in 1575, inaugurating the golden age of Ternate's power. ^[19]

Family

Hairun had numerous wives and co-wives, such as:

• A daughter of Sultan Mir of Tidore
• A woman from Bacan, in later chronicles called Boki Tanjung
• A woman from Gamkonara
• Woman from the soa Marsoali

His known children were:

• Babullah of Ternate, who succeeded his father
• Kaicili Tolu
• Kaicili Sugi
• Kaicili Kipati
• Kaicili Sadekin
• Kaicili Mandar Syah
• A daughter, married Dom João, Christian ruler of Bacan
• A daughter, married Kaicili Gava, Sultan of Tidore

See also

• List of rulers of Maluku
• Sultanate of Ternate
• Sultanate of Tidore
• Sultanate of Bacan
• Sultanate of Jailolo
• Governor of Maluku
• Spice trade

Related Research Articles

North Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with North Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi to the west, Maluku to the south, Southwest Papua to the west, and Palau and the Philippines to the north. The provincial capital is Sofifi on the largest island of Halmahera, while the largest city is the island city of Ternate. The population of North Maluku was 1,038,087 in the 2010 census, making it one of the least-populous provinces in Indonesia, but by the 2020 Census the population had risen to 1,282,937, and the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,328,594.

The Sultanate of Ternate, previously also known as the Kingdom of Gapi is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia besides the sultanates of Tidore, Jailolo, and Bacan.

The Sultanate of Bacan was a state in Maluku Islands, present-day Indonesia that arose with the expansion of the spice trade in late medieval times. It mainly consisted of the Bacan Islands but had periodical influence in Ceram and the Papuan Islands. It fell under the colonial influence of Portugal in the 16th century and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) after 1609. Bacan was one of the four kingdoms of Maluku together with Ternate, Tidore and Jailolo, but tended to be overshadowed by Ternate. After the independence of Indonesia in 1949, the governing functions of the sultan were gradually replaced by a modern administrative structure. However, the sultanate has been revived as a cultural entity in present times.

Tabariji or Tabarija was the Sultan of Ternate in Maluku, whose realm also included Makian and other east Indonesian islands. He reigned from 1533 to 1535, when he was deposed by the dominant Portuguese and exiled to India. He later became a convert to Catholicism under the name Dom Manuel.

Sultan Babullah, also known as Sultan Baabullah was the 7th Sultan and 24th ruler of the Sultanate of Ternate in Maluku who ruled between 1570 and 1583. He is known as the greatest Sultan in Ternatan and Moluccan history, who defeated the Portuguese occupants in Ternate and led the Sultanate to a golden peak at the end of the 16th century. Sultan Babullah was commonly known as the Ruler of 72 (Inhabited) Islands in eastern Indonesia, including most of the Maluku Islands, Sangihe and parts of Sulawesi, with influences as far as Solor, East Sumbawa, Mindanao, and the Papuan Islands. His reign inaugurated a period of free trade in the spices and forest products that gave Maluku a significant role in Asian commerce.

Bayan Sirrullah was the second Sultan of Ternate in Maluku. He is also known as Abu Lais or Kaicili Leliatu. He ruled from perhaps 1500 to 1521 and is important as the first east Indonesian ruler who made contact with the encroaching Portuguese.

Dayal also known as Hidayatullah was the fourth Sultan of Ternate in Maluku. He had a short and largely nominal reign between 1529 and 1533 before fleeing Ternate due to Portuguese pressure. He later tried to create an anti-Portuguese alliance among the kings in North Maluku, but was mortally wounded in battle against the Europeans.

Sultan Saidi Berkat was the eighth Sultan of Ternate in the Maluku Islands. His capital and seat of power was in the city of Ternate. He succeeded to the extensive east Indonesian realm built up by his father Sultan Babullah, reigning from 1583 to 1606. The Spanish, who colonized the Philippines and had interests in Maluku, repeatedly tried to subdue Ternate, but were unsuccessful in their early attempts. Saidi's reign coincides with the arrival of the Dutch in Maluku, which indirectly caused his deposal and exile through a Spanish invasion.

Sultan Mudafar Syah I, also spelt Muzaffar Syah, was the ninth Sultan of Ternate who ruled from 1606 to 1627. He reigned during an important transitional phase, when the Dutch East India Company gained ascendency in the Maluku Islands and began to regulate the commerce in spices. This was the beginning of the colonial subordination of Maluku that would accelerate during his successors.

Sultan Hamza was the tenth Sultan of Ternate in the Maluku Islands. He ruled from 1627 to 1648, during a time when the Dutch East India Company (VOC) increasingly dominated this part of maritime Southeast Asia, and the increasing power of the Makassar kingdom threatened the Ternatan possessions.

Sultan Mandar Syah was the 11th Sultan of Ternate who reigned from 1648 to 1675. Like his predecessors he was heavily dependent on the Dutch East India Company (VOC), and was forced to comply to Dutch demands to extirpate spice trees in his domains, ensuring Dutch monopoly of the profitable spice trade. During the Great Ambon War in the 1650s, Mandar Syah sided with the VOC but was nevertheless pushed to cede control over areas in Central Maluku. On the other hand, the Ternate-VOC alliance led to a large increase of Ternatan territory in the war with Makassar in 1667.

Sultan Al-Mansur was the second Sultan of Tidore in Maluku islands, who reigned from at least 1512 until 1526. Certain legends associate him with the beginnings of Tidore's rule over the Papuan Islands and western New Guinea. During his reign the first visits by Portuguese and Spanish seafarers took place, which led to grave political and economic consequences for the societies of eastern Indonesia. Trying to preserve his realm in the face of Western encroachment, he finally fell victim to Portuguese enmity.

Sultan Mir ; or Amiruddin Iskandar Dulkarna'in was the third Sultan of Tidore in Maluku Islands. He had a long and troubled reign from 1526 to the 1550s where he tried to counter the hegemonic ambitions of the Portuguese and their Ternate allies. The global rivalries between Spain and Portugal characterized the period, and the two Iberian powers indiscriminately involved the spice sultanates Tidore and Ternate in their power game.

Gava was a Sultan of Tidore in Maluku Islands who ruled briefly in the years up to 1560. His fairly obscure reign was characterized by an attempt to expand Tidore's territory in Halmahera which ended with his violent demise at the hands of his rival, the Sultan of Ternate.

Sultan Gapi Baguna, also known as Sirajul Arifin, was the sixth Sultan of Tidore in Maluku Islands. He reigned from 1560 to 1599, a time of major political realignments. Due to the great expansion of Tidore's rival Ternate, the previous Tidorese hostility towards the Portuguese was changed into a strategic policy of cooperation, while the Spanish establishment in the Philippines and the Iberian Union in 1581 brought him Spanish support.

Mole Majimun was the seventh Sultan of Tidore in Maluku Islands, who reigned from 1599 to 1627. He was also known as Sultan Jumaldin or Kaicili Mole. In his time the transition to the hegemony of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) began in eastern Indonesia, though Tidore held on to its traditional alliance with the Spanish Empire.

Sultan Saifuddin, also known as Golofino was the eleventh Sultan of Tidore in Maluku islands. Reigning from 1657 to 1687, he left Tidore's old alliance with the Spanish Empire and made treaties with the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which now became hegemonic in Maluku for the next century. Tidore was forced to extirpate the clove trees in its territory and thus ceased to be a spice Sultanate. In spite of this, Saifuddin and his successors were able to preserve a degree of independence due to the trade in products from the Papuan Islands and New Guinea.

The Sultanate of Jailolo was a premodern state in Maluku, modern Indonesia that emerged with the increasing trade in cloves in the Middle Ages. Also spelt Gilolo, it was one of the four kingdoms of Maluku together with Ternate, Tidore, and Bacan, having its center at a bay on the west side of Halmahera. Jailolo existed as an independent kingdom until 1551 and had separate rulers for periods after that date. A revivalist Raja Jailolo movement made for much social and political unrest in Maluku in the 19th century. In modern times the sultanate has been revived as a symbolic entity.

The Ternatean–Portuguese conflicts were a series of conflicts in the Spice Islands in eastern Indonesia between the Portuguese and their allies on one hand, and the Sultanate of Ternate and its allies, on the other. Hostilities broke out from time to time after the establishment of Portugal in Moluccas in 1522. The strongly Catholic and Muslim identities of the combatants gave the struggle elements of a war of religion, although this aspect was frequently blurred by cross-faith alliances. It was also an economic war since the Portuguese aim was to control export of the profitable trade in cloves. Portuguese-Ternatan rivalry later merged with attempts of expansion by the Spanish in the Philippines. The Portuguese were eventually defeated in 1605 by an alliance between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and Ternate, ending their active involvement in Moluccas affairs. However, they were soon replaced by the Spanish who maintained an Iberian presence in the region up to 1663.

References