Warring Societies of Pre-colonial Southeast Asiaaccorded Hadhrami sayyids shippers a remission of duties, on account
of their ‘superior sanctity’”.^75 But whatever the case might have been it
is clear that both the Arabs and indigenous traders took advantage of
the economic opportunities arising from Dutch decline. Previously
nonexistent alliances not only between Arabs and indigenous rulers, but
also between native rulers themselves, came to be forged. In Kwandang
(north Sulawesi), where the Company had a fort, a functionary
suspiciously observed that the subjects of the Toli-toli raja who lived
there “were never raided by the Maguindanao even if they ventured
into fishing.”^76 He attributed this phenomenon to the connections of
Maguindanao and Sulu with the raja of Toli-toli.
It seems that Islam’s prominence in the late eighteenth century was
more than incidental. A more conspicuous Islamic network emerged
in which Maguindanao became ensconced. Meanwhile, resistance
to Company authority – from the Straits of Malacca to Maluku – was
overwhelmingly led by Muslim figures who – if not explicitly then at
least hinting – viewed political and economic competition through
the lens of religion. On a more positive note, Islam likely provided the
common ground for the geographically dispersed, culturally diverse and
essentially unrelated individuals and polities to interact. But even so, the
Maguindanao chiefs’ political and military ambitions did not always
necessarily assume a religious undertone.
Familializing TiesIf Islam seems to have shaped Maguindanao’s long-distance contacts,
then kinship has played an important part in its relations with adjacent
regions. Although the existing historical literature on Maguindanao
points to kinship as one of the keys in understanding its state-formation,
it fails to investigate the relationship between kinship and raiding – an
activity that was central to the emerging state. This section investigates
how the notion of kinship may have complemented, even superseded
Maguindanao’s raiding activities in its neighboring Sangir archipelago.
Vice-Admiral of the Navy, Netherlands Indies, Menado, 5 October 1875.- Clarence-Smith, “The Rise and Fall of Hadhrami Shipping in the Indian Ocean, c.
1750 – c. 1940”, 232. - ANRI, Ternate inv. 55, Copy of the Secret Letter of J. Schoe to the onderkoopman
and Resident of Menado, Willem Fredrik Mersz., Kaidipan, 3 October 1784.