and his eldest son, Ahmad, took refuge in the hinterland, hoping that
the Portuguese invaders would, after plundering the town, return to
their colonial base in Goa, India - as was the custom in wars of the
time. Much to his dismay, the Portuguese not only stayed but also set
upon the tremendous task of building an impregnable fort overlooking
the town. This clearly stated their intention to remain permanently in
Melaka and their determination to resist any attempt by the defeated
Sultan to re-capture his capital. Six months after the capture of
Melaka, the stone fortress, 'A Famosa', was ready. The Portuguese were
permanently established as the supreme military, naval and trading
power on the Straits, in place of the old Melaka sultanate.
In the meantime, Sultan Mahmud and his son built stockades in the
hinterland of Melaka for carrying out raids on the Portuguese fortress
in Melaka. Overland raids were carried out from Pagoh, in Ulu Muar,
while sea raids were launched from the stockade in Bentayan at the
mouth of the Muar River. For over a period of time, intermittent raids
were carried out both by land and sea caused considerable hardship for
the Portuguese at Melaka. There were times when the Portuguese wanted
to give up the idea of staying on in Melaka and return to Goa. But
eventually, fresh reinforcements arrived and the Portuguese
counter-attacked, destroying the Malay strongholds of Pagoh and
Bentayan. Sultan Mahmud and his followers withdrew further inland
through Ulu Jempol to Pahang. After about a year in Pahang, Sultan
Mahmud and his family sailed to Bentan where he established a new
capital.
The defeat of the Royal House of Melaka aroused not only the loyal
Malay followers of the ex-Sultan Mahmud. There was still a
considerable number of Javanese and they detested the policy of the
Portuguese government to monopolise trade and spread Christianity
among the inhabitants. One revolt was organised by a Javanese named
Patih Kadir, but the Portuguese succeeded in crushing it. Later, a
strong force of Javanese soldiers under the leadership of Patih Yunus,
prince of the Muslim state of Demak, besieged Melaka. But the fortress
repelled all attacks and the invaders retreated with the arrival of
reinforcements from Goa.
Sultan Mahmud continued his attacks from Bentan, organising
hit-and-run raids on the fort in Melaka, blockading the port and
plundering Portuguese ships in the Straits. These raids and blockades
were, to a certain extent, quite effective. In 1524, for instance, the
price of commodities in Melaka was more than doubled. But the town
remained in Portuguese hands.
The fall of the Melaka Sultanate also had repercussions on the Malay
states on the Sumatran coast across the Straits of Melaka. The states
particularly affected were those which had been subject to Melaka,
such as Lingga, Siak, Indragiri and Aru, now the present state of
Deli. The princes of these states with their followers went to Sultan
Mahmud at Bentan with a view to helping him re-capture Melaka.
However, Raja Abdullah, a nephew of Sultan Mahmud, and the Raja of
Kampar went over to the Portuguese side and was made a Bendahara of
Melaka by them. Not long after, the Portuguese themselves turned on
the traitor and he was executed in a public market.
Seeing that the Malays under Sultan Mahmud were gathering forces in
Bentan, the Portuguese made several attempts to invade and destroy the
stronghold. But the Malays threw back the attacks and the Portuguese
suffered heavy losses. Finally in 1526, a larger force of Portuguese
ships under the command of Pedro Mascarenhaas was sent to Bentan, and
this time, the Portuguese managed to burn and plunder the towns of
Kopak and Kota Kara. Sultan Mahmud and his family fled across the
Straits to Kampar in Sumatra, where he died two years later.
After his death, his son, Raja Mudzafar, made his way up to Perak
where he founded the dynasty of Malay sultans who still reign there
today. In 1520, another son of Sultan Mahmud, Ala'uddin, made his
capital on the Johor River and became the first Sultan of Johor -
founding the Johor Empire.
In the meantime, attacks on the Portuguese in Melaka continued. The
two sons of Sultan Mahmud made periodical raids from Johor and Perak,
and they were helped by the Sultan of Pahang. There were also raids
from Siak and by a Javanese prince from Japara. But most of the raids
were disorganised attacks by small bands of Malays, and the Portuguese
maintained supremacy behind their impregnable 'A Famosa'. The Johor
rulers continued preying on Portuguese merchant vessels, and the
Portuguese retaliated by sending punitive expeditions.
At about the same time a new power was rising among the Malay states -
the Kingdom of Aceh, which had long been a strongly Muslim State. The
Achinese crossed the Straits of Melaka in great numbers to carry out
raids on their trading rival, Melaka. For the Achinese, the wars
against Melaka were also part of a policy of expansion into the Malay
Peninsula - they not only attacked Melaka but also raided Johor,
Pahang, Perak and Kedah. Ironically, it was this Achinese threat that
made the Portuguese and the Johor Malays frequently enjoy periods of
truce, and even to ally themselves and co-operate with one another
against a common enemy. This disunity among the Malay powers resulted
in a further prolonging of the supremacy of the Portuguese.
Johor entered into a ruinous war with the Sumatran state of Jambi in
1666, a war which ended in the destruction of the Johor capital at
Batu Sawar in 1673. Court intrigues, and disputes over succession to
the throne undermined the vitality of Johor. In the eighteenth
century, Johor became an easy prey to Bugis infiltration.
For long periods, the Portuguese in Melaka were on the defensive:
politically isolated, and numerically inferior to their enemies.
During their rule, Melaka became the most fought-over piece of
territory in Asia - bombarded, besieged, blockaded, attacked dozens of
times by almost every major power in the Archipelago.
But despite such strong handicaps, they successfully fought off every
Malay attack on Melaka. The Malay powers failed because they were
unable to form a united front against the Portuguese. Disunity rather
than unity was the feature of Malay politics in the sixteenth century,
and the presence of a common enemy was at that time not sufficient to
bring about some form of coalition. Malay states were even at times
briefly allied the infidel Portuguese in their wars against other
Malay states.
It was left to another European power to organise this coalition and
to finally overthrow Portuguese power in Melaka. .
River forts of Johor
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