History of Johor • Primer for Foodies

The history of a country or place is usually told in its buildings, monuments, durable artefacts, documents, legends, stories of its key personalities, etc. In this article, I try to tell the history of Johor with food as the protagonist in the Johor story. I believe that the stories behind dishes add flavour to its taste and our enjoyment.

Prehistoric Times

In the beginning, the sea coasts of Johor and its rivers were the foraging, fishing and hunting grounds of Orang Laut / Sea People / Sea Gypsy / Sea Nomad communities.

Today, Orang Laut communities still fish the seas and rivers of Johor and sell their catch at fish markets.

Some Orang Laut found employment as chefs at Chinese seafood restaurants, cooking Chinese style dishes.

Indian Influence

Indian traders arrived in the Malacca Strait in the Malay peninsular and archipelago in the first century. They helped expand small communities of indigenous peoples, organising them to facilitate collection and trading of spices, exotic wood, gold, silver, iron, etc.

These settlements later grew into kingdoms and empires, one of the largest of which was the Srivijaya empire of south Sumatra (controlling both the Malacca and Sunda Straits). Other examples include Langkasuka kingdom in today's north peninsular Malaysia and south Thailand.

Johor was at the periphery of the Srivijaya empire which was based in Palembang.

In the 14th century, a kingdom of Singapura founded by a Srivijayan prince emerged and controlled the island of Singapore (just south of Johor) for about 100 years. Singapura prospered as a trading kingdom before it was destroyed by either the Majapahit empire from Java or Ayutthaya empire from Siam.

Arrival of Islam and the Malacca Sultanate

The last king of Singapura fled to Malacca where he founded the kingdom of Malacca in around 1403. The king converted to Islam and proclaimed himself Sultan Iskandar of the Malacca Sultanate.

Trade flourished with traders from Arabia, India and China. Peace and prosperity ensued for the Malacca Sultanate as a vassal of the Ming dynasty of China. Following the death of Admiral Cheng Ho and pressure from northern invaders, the Ming dynasty lost interest in maritime influence and affairs.

For the next centuries, the Malacca Strait became a highly contested crucible of war.

Europeans Arrive

Malacca was a powerful empire controlling much of the Malay peninsula, the Riaus and parts of Sumatra before it was conquered by the Portuguese in 1511.

The last sultan of Malacca, Mahmud Shah fled south away from the Portuguese.

In 1528, Sultan Madmud's son Alauddin Riayat Shah founded the Johor Sultanate based at Johor Lama, up the Johor River. This was the beginning of the Johor Sultanate.

Since its inception, the Johor Sultanate was at war with Portuguese Malacca, followed by the Aceh Sultanate in north Sumatra and the Jambi Sultanate in south Sumatra for dominance over the Malacca Strait (the vital sea route between Arabia, India, and China).

Wars since 1528 against Portuguese Malacca, and the Aceh and Jambi Sultanates forced the Johoreans to constantly move their capital / base for two centuries. The Johoreans were resilient against all odds.

From Johor Lama in 1528, they moved to Sayong Pinang (1530 - 1536) near Kota Tinggi, then back to Johor Lama (1536 - 1564). Next to Bukit Seluyut (1564 - 1570) at Johor River, back to Johor Lama (1570 - 1587).

In 1587, the Portuguese launched an attack on Johor Lama and razed it to the ground. The Johor sultan fled Johor Lama (Kota Batu) and re-established his new capital at Batu Sawar further north, up the Johor River where he remained until 1618.

Johor Lama was rebuilt. Big ships would transfer goods to smaller boats to bring them up river to Batu Sawar (and vice versa). But, the Portuguese revisited Johor Lama in 1604, making sure to destroy it once and for all, never to recover.

The Johoreans crossed the sea to Lingga island (1618 - 1625), then kept moving around the Riaus (1625 - 1640) until returning to Batu Sawar (1640 - 1675).

In 1641, the Johor Sultanate got their final revenge - driving the Portuguese out of Malacca for good in alliance with the Dutch.

After Batu Sawar, Johor Sultanate moved again between Pahang and the Riaus (1675 - 1688), then Kota Tinggi (1688 - 1700), Pancur / Panchor near Muar (1700 - 1708 / 1715 - 1720), the Riau islands (1708-1715), and Bintan island in 1722 (near today's Tanjung Pinang town).

Following the decline of Aceh and Jambi Sultanates, prosperity returned to the Johor Sultanate. At its height following the defeat of its long time rivals, the Johor Sultanate controlled the southern Malay peninsula, Singapore island, the Riau islands, and eastern Sumatra.

Then, the next major turn in the history of Johor came in 1811.

The trigger was the death of Sultan Madmud Shah III which led to a succession dispute as he did not name a successor. Sultan Madmud Shah III's eldest son Hussein Shah was away in Pahang during his father's death, so his younger half-brother Abdul Rahman took the opportunity to quickly ascent the throne with support from the Dutch.

The Role of Singapore

The history of Johor cannot be separate from the story of Singapore.

In 1819, Stamford Raffles in his search for a base for the British East India Company landed on Singapore island. Raffles was received by Temenggong Abdul Rahman (of the Johor Sultanate). Within a week, Raffles brought Hussein Shah (from exile on Penyegat island off Tanjung Pinang town on Bintan island) to Singapore, and signed the Singapore Treaty with Hussein Shah as Sultan of Johore, thus allowing the British to operate a trading post at the Singapore River.

The Singapore Treaty banquet

The audacity of Raffles, of course, infuriated the Dutch.

To resolve the matter, the Dutch and British signed the Anglo‑Dutch Treaty in London in 1824 which carved up the territory of the Johor Sultanate into Singapore and south Malay peninsula (today's Johor) to come under the British, while the Riau-Lingga islands to go under Dutch rule.

The British took the mainland and Singapore, while the Dutch took the islands of Johor Sultanate (without consulting the latter).

Modern Johor

In 1855, the Johor Treaty between the British in Singapore and Sultan Ali (son of Sultan Hussein) of Johor transferred control of the mainland Johor to Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim, except for Muar (which remained under Sultan Ali until his death in 1877).

Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim developed Bandar Tanjung Puteri (today's Johor Bahru) as the new capital.

Temenggong Ibrahim encouraged Chinese settlers from Singapore and the Riaus to clear land and start pepper and gambier plantations under the Surat Sungai or Kangchu system. At that time, juice from boiled gambier leaves was essential for leather tanning and cloth dyeing.

Under the Kangchu system, Chinese headmen were appointed by Surat Sungai under fixed tenure and tax terms, and granted permission to develop pepper and gambier plantations. The plantation headmen and workers were mostly Teochew Chinese.

Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim was succeeded by his son, Maharajah Abu Bakar in 1862. Maharajah Abu Bakar ascended the throne as Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor in 1885 with the support of Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

Sultan Abu Bakar was a forward looking moderniser, hence is known as the Father of Modern Johor.

Sultan Abu Baker continued many of the key policies of his father Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim including the Kangchu system which brought prosperity to Johor. Johor rose to become the world's largest gambier producer.

To build the new capital, Sultan Abu Bakar engaged the services of Cantonese builders and craftsmen.

Laksa Johor is unique to Johor. When Sultan Abu Bakar visited Italy, he was introduced to spaghetti. When the Sultan returned to Johor Bahru, he instructed the palace chef to make laksa with Italian pasta, thus creating Laksa Johor.

The Teochew people who ran and work the pepper and gambier plantations brought Teochew dishes such as kway teow noodle soup, kway teow kia, Teochew style braised duck, etc.

The Cantonese brought wanton noodles, dim sum, etc., to Johor Bahru.

The Hainanese ran coffee shops like Hai Yuen, Hua Mui, Wei Sheng Yuan, etc.

Sultan Abu Bakar passed on in 1895 and was succeeded by his son Sultan Ibrahim (reign 1895 - 1959).

Johor became part of the Unfederated Malay States, coming under British colonial authority in 1914.

Demand for gambier had declined since the turn of the 20th century, following the advent of synthetic dyes (in Europe). Coupled with British wariness of Kangchu (river headmen) involvement in Chinese secret societies, the colonial authority banned the Kangchu system in 1917.

The Japanese invaded Malaya during the Second World War, and occupied Johor from 1942 to 1945.

After the war ended in 1945, Johore joined the Malayan Union in 1946, then the Federation of Malaya in 1948. The Federation of Malaya was granted independence from British rule in 1957.

Sultan Ismail of Johore ruled from 1959 to 1981.

In 1963, Sultan Ismail oversaw Johore (as part of the Federation of Malaya) joining Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia under the Malaysia Agreement.

Johor remains a hereditary sultanate within Malaysia’s constitutional monarchy.