Page 21 - Hikayat-Patani-The-Story-Of-Patani 1

12 HIKAYAT PATANI

firent monter a sa place une Princesse a qui ils donnerent le Titre de
Reine sans luy en donner l’autorite, ils firent choix des plus habiles
d’entre eux pour gouvemer en son nom & sans sa participation, car elle
n’entre point dans le secret des affaires, & elle se doit contenter des
respects & des hommages que chacun luy rend exterieurement comme a
sa Souveraine, ils ne luy laissent pas meme le liberte du choix de ses
premiers Officiers, mais ils ne luy refusent jamais rien de tout ce qui
peut contribuer a ses plaisirs, rien ne l’empeche de s’y abandonner tout
entiere & sans reserve, car s’il ne luy est pas permis de se marier, il ne
luy est pas aussi deffendu d’avoir des galants, elle en a autant qu’il luy
en plaist, & elle a meme dequoy leur faire des presens considerables; il y
a un fond qui est destine pour foumir a la depense de ses habits & a
l’entretien de sa maison: Elle demeure ordinnairement dans Patany qui
est la Ville Capitale de son Royaume; la fleur d’or qu’elle paye tous les
ans au Roy de Siam se presente toujours en son nom, & non point de la
part des Ministres qui ont le gouvemement du Royaume.48
(Patani is no more extensive than the other three [Johore, Jambi, and Kedah],
but it is much more famous, and best known by the history of its revolutions and
by the present state of its government. It is said that its people were weary of
obeying kings who maltreated them, and shook off their yoke. Having forced him
who was reigning to descend from the throne, they put in his place a princess, to
whom they gave the title of queen, without giving her any authority. They chose
from amongst themselves the most able to govern in her name without her
participation, so she did not enter at all into the secrets of affairs, and she had to
content herself with the respect and homage which everyone formally rendered her
as their sovereign. They did not allow her the freedom to choose her own high
officials, but they never refused her anything which could contribute to her pleasure.
Nothing prevented her from abandoning herself entirely and without reserve, as if
they did not allow her to marry, they also did not forbid her lovers, and she had
whomsoever pleased her, and she even had the means whereby to give considerable
presents. There was a fund which was intended to pay for the cost of her clothing
and the upkeep of her house. She lives ordinarily in Patani, which is the capital city
of her kingdom. The golden flower which is paid annually to the King of Siam is
always presented in her name, and never on behalf of the ministers who govern the
kingdom.)

Her amorous adventures aside, perhaps the most interesting feature
of this description is the claim that the ministers of Patani ran the state,
a suggestion all the more intriguing from the fact that our text begins
to treat Patani’s bendaharas, or prime ministers, as individuals important
in the state immediately upon the accession of the first queen, Raja Ijau,
in 1584.49 And it is possible that one bendahara, Datuk Cerak Kin,
virtually ruled Patani during the reign of Raja Kuning (1635—88?).50

48 Gervaise, 1690, pp. 316—17.
40 On this date, see Wyatt, 1967, p. 37.
60 See below, Chapter III, p. 56 and Chapter VI, section 27.