The offer of Pulau Pinang

Abstract

The acknowledgement of Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah as Raja of Kedah on the death of Sultan Muhammed Jiwa in 17781 was neither marked by incident nor marred by dispute. The relatively unique stability that prevailed was in a large measure due to the arrangements formulated by Sultan Muhammed Jiwa for a peaceful succession. To a great extent, the characteristic struggle for power that usually became fully operative on the death of a Raja had, in this instance, been anteceded in the rebellion of 1770-1, when an attempt by rebellion was made to challenge Sultan Muhammed's appointment of Tunku Abdullah as Yang di-Pertuan Muda and Tunku Diya'u'd-din as Raja Muda. The outbreak of the rebellion, although taking Sultan Muhammed more by shock than by expectation, had served to bring into the open, the potential participants in the power struggle that would have been otherwise manifested on his death; its utter collapse and the flight of the royal rebels had therefore seen the elimination of all likely opposition to Tunku Abdullah and Tunku Diya'u'd-din from the scene.