The Wajorese merchants’ community in Makassar

The Makassar Malays: Adaptation and Identity, c. 1660-1790

“…A Wajorese manuscript records an agreement between the leader of Makassar's Wajorese, the matoa, and the two Kapitans (Chinese and Malay) in February 1698, in which Ince Cukka is described as the Kapitan Melayu. 57 But Makassar's VOC archives for 29 May 1705 note that prominent Malays reported the death of their Kapitan Abdul Nazul, and requested that a new Kapitan be appointed from their midst, suggesting Ince Cukka. Their petition was passed to Batavia for approval.…”

“…The position of Kapitan Melayu had its privileges and obligations, as did those of the other community headmen. 67 Ince Cukka had received the right to collect fees for registering property, and one of his successors as Kapitan, Abdul Kadir (see below) complained in 1768 that a proposal to remove this right to levy fees on house sales would further reduce his 'sober income' . The percentage on the sale of the simple bamboo dwellings in Kampung Melayu did not amount to much, and money was needed, he said, to repair the mosque.…”

“…The Wajorese matoa, in a similar role, benefited from considerable advantages in trade. 69 If responsibility sometimes weighed heavily on the Kapitan, apparently being subject to his authority could also be onerous. In 1769 Ince Mursidin, requesting permission to retire after twenty years' service as lieutenant of the Malays, petitioned the VOC to free him and his family from the authority of the Kapitan Melayu, and to take him under direct Company rule.…”

“…In the mideighteenth century, for example, the Wajorese matoa was continually struggling to prevent his followers from drifting out of Makassar's Kampung Wajo' into other kampung, such as Bandang, Buton, and Melayu. 71 The Malays' main competitor in communal boundary disputes seems to have been the Muslim Chinese community. No doubt there were other on-going processes of blending and crystallisation (witness, for example, the gradual disappearance of Mardijkers and Moors, or the tug-of-war over the Wajorese), but perhaps because both Chinese and Malay communities were living under direct Company protection, their tensions are the best documented.…”

“…A tendency towards family continuity in holding high community office could also be observed among Makassar's Wajorese matoa. 93 This financial pre-eminence of Ince Ali Asdullah's family brought with it attendant obligations. Around 1756 (A.H. 1117) he and his brother Abdul Kadir built a new mosque for the community, close to the old one which had been built by 'Datuk Punggawa' in the late sixteenth century, soon after the agreement between the Malays and the ruler Karaeng Tunapilangga.…”