ABSTRACT
One of the major distinguishing features of insular Southeast Asia during “the age of commerce” according to Anthony Reid is the generally high autonomy of women in kinship and family, commerce, diplomacy, and politics. Indeed, Reid postulated that the proliferation of women rulers contributed to the region’s age of commerce since female rulers were the best guarantee against tyranny and women made the state safe for commerce.2 The kingdom of Aceh Dar al-Salam was ruled by four female rulers in succession from 1641-1699. Besides Aceh, in Patani, another Malay Muslim polity, six queens ruled: Raja Ijau (1584-1616), Raja Biru (1616-1624), Raja Ungu (16241635), Raja Kuning (1635-1649), Raja Mas Kelantan (1670-1698), Raja Mas Chayam (1698-1702, 1716-1718).3 Several more instances of female rulers in the region were in Sukadana (1608-1622), Jambi (1630-1655) and Solor (1650-1670).4 Yet, we know less about these female rulers compared to their more powerful male counterparts such as Sultan Iskandar Muda of Aceh, Sultan Abulfatah Ageng of Banten, Sultan Agung of Java, or Sultan Babullah of Ternate. Studies on leadership in Southeast Asia’s early modern era tended to centre
on kingship – leadership which was necessarily male. According to O.W. Wolters, “men of prowess” endowed with an abnormal amount of personal and innate soul stuff enabled them to distinguish their performance from their kinsmen and others in their generation. This spiritual identity and leadership capacity were recognized by others and they would give him their allegiance so that they in turn would receive material and spiritual benefits.5 In his revised edition of History, Culture and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives, however, Wolters considered the roles and positions of women and questioned whether women too should be attributed with this “vastly energetic role of women of prowess” and wondered what would have been their relationship with men of prowess?6
