The History of Java, v. 1-2

by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

At this time the Susúnan discovered that one of the sons of Mangkúrat Mas, Tépa Sána, was carrying on an intrigue with the commandant of the fort at Kérta Súra, and caused him to be bow-stringed. Wíra Méja and Ráden Garendi, the two sons of Tépa Sána, with his other relations, joined Pangéran Wíra Meng'ala, and quitted Kérta Súra: they were well received by the Chinese.

The Chinese, besides laying siege to Semárang, had also by this time taken and destroyed Rémbang. Jawána and Demák were abandoned by the Dutch troops, and a want of provisions was felt through the country.

Affairs had come to this pass, when the Susúnan resolved to massacre the Dutch garrison at Kérta Súra. The Javans were collected under the fort, as by order from the Susúnan, in readiness to march against the Chinese, when one of them who had entered within the walls fired a shot. The cry of amók was given, and many lives were lost on both sides; but the plan did not succeed, and it was not till after he was reinforced by the Chinese that he could effect his object. On the renewal of the attack, the garrison was compelled to surrender. The commanding officer and some others were barbarously murdered in cold blood; the rest of the troops, with their wives and children, made prisoners, and distributed among the Javans: the greatest part of the men being circumcised and forced to adopt the Mahomedan religion.

The Dutch authorities, in endeavouring to account for this act, incline to an opinion that the Susúnan was (not without an appearance of probability) immediately impelled to it by many acts of oppression and injustice exercised against his subjects, by a total disregard of all his representations for redress, by an evident intention on the part of the Dutch to become masters of the whole island, and by the harsh and uncivil conduct of the Resident towards the first men of the court, which was the more obnoxious from his being the son of a Javan woman, and for that reason, and the illegitimacy of his birth, much despised by the natives.

When this intelligence reached Semárang, the Dutch began to open their eyes. The first step that was taken was to pass a decree, absolving the Pangéran of Madúra from his allegiance to the Susúnan. This decree was formally signed by the government of Semárang, and accepted by the Pangéran, who being married to a sister of the Susúnan, returned his wife back to her brother. No sooner had he declared himself the ally of the Dutch, than he ordered all the Chinese on the island of Madúra to be put to death, and embarking his forces immediately, took possession of Sidáyu, Tuban, Jípang, and Lamúng'an. At Grésik about four hundred Chinese were put to death.

The Chinese, in the meantime, finding themselves reinforced by the Javans, spread over the whole country without encountering opposition, and laid siege at the same time to nearly all the Company's settlements along the coast, from Tégál to Pasúruan.

After many feeble and unskilful attacks on the fort of Semárang, and the loss of many lives, the united forces of the Javans and Chinese were compelled to raise the siege.

A negociation was now brought about by means of the Pangéran of Madúra, who represented to the Dutch that the attack upon the fort, as well as the subsequent part taken by the Javans, was solely at the instigation of the minister, Náta Kasúma, and that the Susúnan himself was personally averse to these measures. The Susúnan, according to the Dutch accounts, regretted the precipitate steps he had taken, either as beginning to fear that the Dutch might again, as in former wars, obtain the ascendancy, and make him pay dear for his temerity; or, which appeared to him most likely, apprehending that the Chinese, who, though comparatively few and unused to arms, had hitherto taken the lead in every affair of consequence, and evinced their superiority to the Javans in ability and courage, should become too powerful, and might, in concert with some discontented chiefs, think fit to depose him. From one or other, or both of these motives, the Susúnan desired to renew his alliance with the Dutch.

The Dutch, on their part, considering the precarious state of the time and circumstances, found it advisable to enter into amicable relations, and accordingly concluded a peace, by which were ceded to them the island of Madúra, the sea-coast, and Surabáya, with all the districts to the eastward, as Balambáng'an, and Rembáng, Japára, and Semárang, with all their subordinate posts.

According to the Javan accounts, this treaty was concluded without the knowledge of the minister, Náta Kasúma, who with the Javan and Chinese forces still lay encamped not far from Semárang: and it was agreed upon by the Susúnan, at the request of the Dutch, that the Chinese should be kept in ignorance of what was passing, in order that they might be the more easily massacred by their supposed friends the Javans. Náta Kasúma, however, no sooner heard of the conditions on which the peace had been concluded, and of the intention to massacre the Chinese, than he took part with them, and revealed the whole plot. To preserve appearances, however, he made a sham attack on the Chinese, in which the sick alone were sacrificed. The rest moved off unmolested to the eastward, meditating vengeance against the Susúnan, by whom they had been thus deserted. Their principal force was now assembled in the districts of Páti and Jawána, where they were joined by many of the chiefs who had hitherto been attached to their cause. Here they proclaimed as Susúnan Ráden Mas Garéndi, son of Pangéran Tépa Sána, who had recently been put to death by the Susúnan, and grandson of Susúnan Mangkurat Mas, who had died at Ceylon. He assumed the title of Susúnan Mangkúrat Mas Prábu Kúning, but is usually distinguished by the name of Susúnan Kúning. This prince was about ten years of age, and therefore the transactions which ensued are to be attributed to his ministers, Mangunónang and Mérta Púra, and to the Chinese chiefs, Síngsih and Pánjang.