SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The text presented here is that of a Malay poem, hitherto known as the "Sja'ir Speelman", whose original title, it is suggested, was the "Sja'ir Perang Mengkasar". Evidence is adduced to show that the poem, which relates the story of the war between Macassar and the Dutch East India Company, in the years 1666 to 1669, was composed by a certain "Entji'Amin", the Sultan of Gowa's secretary, whose existence as a historical personage is confirmed by contemporary Dutch records. A point of interest about one of the only two mss. or the poem that appear to have survived is that it was probably copied by Cornelia Valentijn, the wife of the scholar Francois Valentijn. In the notes, some attempt has been made to compare the sja'ir's narrative of events with the facts as recorded in contemporary sources, Dutch, Macassarese and English. The comparison reveals that the author has given a substantially accurate account of the opening stages of the war, but has probably relied on second-hand evidence for his account of the latter part of the campaign.