The Open Door: Early Modern Wajorese Statecraft and Diaspora

Abstract

The Open Door:Early Modern Wajorese Statecraft and Diaspora Hendrik E. Niemeijer Kathryn Anderson Wellen DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 2014. 217 pp. with index, ISBN 978-0875807126 This book deals with the people of the small Bugis kingdom of Wajoq in South Sulawesi. As a result of the Makassar War (1666–9), during which the Wajorese sided with the Makassarese kingdom of Gowa against the neighbouring Bugis kingdom of Boné under its pro-VOC ruler Arung Palakka (1634–96), the Wajorese were punished by Palakka. Many fled Wajoq and settled elsewhere in the archipelago. Perhaps the most important part of this book is Chapter 4, which deals with the participation of the diaspora Wajorese in maritime commerce. The Wajorese were very active in creating their own trading networks outside Dutch control at the time when the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was operating a sea-pass system. The ports used by the Wajorese included Pasir, Kutai, Pulau Laut on the east coast of Kalimantan; Kaili, Mandar, Soreang on the west coast of Sulawesi; and the pepper port of Banjarmasin, Makassar’s direct competitor. The Makassar Strait was a vital waterway connecting Sulu with Kalimantan and the Malay World. In the first quarter of the eighteenth century, the Wajorese gradually regained their strength, while their principal rival, Boné, declined. The rise of the Wajorese stimulated even more commercial activities within the larger Bugis trading networks. Like other Bugis and Makassarese groups, the Wajorese were active both inside and outside the VOC’s trading territory. They often avoided the Dutch sea-pass system, and thereby went around the VOC-imposed restrictions on the import of Indian textiles into the territory of VOC-contracted rulers. Wellen should give a clearer explanation here of what was ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’. Trading regulations, harbour tolls, and issuance of sea-passes were not something invented by the VOC. The Sultanate of Banten, for example, had done the same in the seventeenth century. Trade by foreign or local ships without sea-passes was considered illegal by the Bantenese authorities. Wajorese sea captains transporting cargo from Johore to Banjarmasin, however, were not breaching any Bantenese or VOC laws as both ports were independent of both Dutch and Bantenese jurisdiction. The export of cloves from Maluku, for instance, was illegal because it breached the contracts between the VOC and the Maluku sultans. Wellen is right to point out that the VOC’s de facto control over petty trade by country craft shipping was often weak. The Makassar Strait was much more difficult to patrol than, for instance, the Bangka Strait. Indeed, Wajorese textile sales in VOC-controlled South Sulawesi were so successful that the VOC frequently encountered difficulties selling their own selection of textiles at similar prices. The VOC acted as a wholesaler, but found [End Page 175] that their Indian-imported piece goods just piled up in Fort Rotterdam’s (Makassar) warehouses and were unsellable at the prices it fixed. The Wajorese (amongst others) avoided these expensive warehouses, and were often not at all interested in obtaining sea-passes in Makassar. Instead, they purchased their own selection of textiles elsewhere—frequently from the British—for much cheaper prices, and sold them in places, like Palu, where VOC control was weak or even absent. One of the strong points of the Wajoq trading network was their scrupulousness in upholding their own maritime laws. According to Wellen, this created an element of unity among the Wajorese diaspora trading communities. This law code was published by B. F. Matthes in Over de Wadjorezen met hun Handels-en Scheepswetboek (Makassar: P. van Hartrop, 1869). Wellen categorizes this law code as ‘extremely comprehensive’ and ‘very effective’, but in fact it is impossible to say just how effective these laws actually were because we lack the necessary sources regarding their implementation. It is a well-known fact in legal history that law codes may bear little relationship to day-to-day practices. It may be best to see the Wajorese law codes as an example of how the Bugis and Makassarese intended or attempted to regulate their business affairs in the larger Bugis and Makassarese maritime commercial world. Wellen rightly mentions the Makassar...