Warring Societies of Pre-Colonial Southeast Asia_ Local Cultures of Conflict Within a Regional Context

Kinship, Islam, and Raiding in Maguindanao, c. 1760–1780

pax neerlandica in Sangir preconditioned the shift of marriage allianc-
es.^97 For instance, while in the late seventeenth century, the Sangirese
chiefdom of Tabukan still saw one of its foremost princesses married
to the Maguindanao sultan,^98 by mid-eighteenth century Tabukan’s no-
tables married with those of Siau, the Company’s main ally in Sangir.^99
The late eighteenth century Maguindanao’s attempts to expand political
influence in Sangir through its proxy (Salawo) could therefore be un-
derstood as a resumption of inter-elite interactions cut short during the
intervening years of the Company.^100
But the rejection of Salawo’s marriage proposal to Princess Nanding
did not preclude, and may even have incited Maguindanao’s use of
other forms of expansionary tactics, namely raiding. In the destructive
Malurang-Maguindanao raid of Siau in 1765 to revenge Salawo’s death,
Princess Nanding herself and her betrothed Pahawuateng, the Prince
of Tabukan, were among those captured and taken to Maguindanao.^101
Aboard ten large vessels, the raiding party burned three major settle-
ments, stole Siau’s precious cannon and captured no less than fifty
people.^102
The Sangirese chiefs hurriedly deputized one of their own, the raja
of Manganitu named Daniel Katiandaho, to negotiate and ransom the

97. These Sangirese chiefdoms were Siau, Tagulandang, Kandhar (or Kendahe),
    Taruna, Manganitu and Tabukan. The last four are all found in the island of Sangir
    Besar (Groot Sangir).


98. Saleeby, Studies in Moro History, Law and Religion: 38.


99. Shinzo Hayase, Domingo M. Non, & Alex J. Ulaen (comp.), Silsilas/Tarsilas
    (Genealogies) and Historical Narratives in Sarangani Bay and Davao Gulf Regions,
    South Mindanao, Philippines, and Sangihe-Talaud Islands, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
    (Kyoto: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 1999): 157–59.


100. Maguindanao connections with the polities south of Mindanao including those
     found in Sangir and Sulawesi are known in the historical records to have existed as
     early as the sixteenth century. See for instance, J. N. Wiersma, “Geschiedenissen
     van Ratahan en Passan van de vroegste tijden tot op den tegenwoordigen tijd,
     volgens de geheime overleveringen der ouden van dagen”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-,
     Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 18 (1871): 213.


101. Also known as “Daniel Paparang.” See Hayase, Non and Ulaen (comp.), Silsilas/
     Tarsilas (Genealogies) and Historical Narratives, 182.


102. The raid likely saw the participation of the ambitious Maguindanao noble
     Datu Topang with his own kinsmen from Sulu and Maguindanao alongside the
     Malurang peoples. NA VOC inv. 1.04.02, no. 8135, Letter of the Governor of
     Maluku to Batavia, 15.