Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Je a n - C l a u d e C a r o n , L a u re n t L a m o i n e
et Natividad Planas
C o l l e c t i o n H i s t o i r e s c r o i s é e s
EntrEtracEs mémoriEllEs
Et marquEs corporEllEs
rEgards sur l’EnnEmi
dE l’antiquité à nos jours
Illustration de couverture :
I. Courtin, Cusset, lithographie extraite de l’Ancien Bourbonnais
par Achille Allier, 1838.
BCIU de Clermont-Ferrand, cliché UBP.
C o l l e c t i o n H i s t o i r e s c r o i s é e s
Entretraces mémorielles
et marques corporelles
Regards sur l’ennemi
de l’Antiquité à nos jours
2 0 1 4
Presses universitaires Blaise Pascal
Les Auteurs
DEUXIÈME
PARTIE
14
Martin Müller
Abstract – This article addresses the relationship between the British nineteenth century discourses
that described and defined certain maritime Southeast Asian societies as inveterately piratical and 201
the different strategies that were adopted to punish and in some cases even to eradicate these socie-
ties. It focuses on how a set of historical, politico-legal and anthropological discourses transformed
the term piracy from referring to an individual crime to constitute a cultural essence, epitomizing
an entire community, nation, or race. This piratical character then became embodied in a set of
rhetorical and pictorial stereotypes through which groups were characterized and assessed. Fur-
thermore, the concept of piracy provided an interpretive matrix, according to which the different
types of piracy prevalent in the region could be categorized, condemned, and combated according
to such criteria as race, level of civilization, and aspects of culture.
Résumé – Cet article interroge le discours produit au sein de l’empire britannique au xixe siècle
décrivant certaines sociétés maritimes du sud-est asiatique comme de véritables nids de pirates,
ainsi que les dispositifs mis en place pour réprimer celles-ci voire les éradiquer, dans certains cas.
L’auteur montre que ce discours, se fondant sur des productions de type historique, politico-juri-
dique et anthropologique, fit du terme piraterie, se référant à un crime individuel, une essence
culturelle, désignant une communauté nationale dans son entier ou un groupe ethnique. La
dimension piratique fut dès lors intégrée dans toute une série de stéréotypes picturaux caractéri-
sant les groupes sociaux. Le concept de piraterie finit par constituer une matrice selon laquelle les
différentes modalités de celle-ci, à l’œuvre dans la région, pouvaient être classées, condamnées et
combattues grâce un classement se fondant sur des critères raciaux, tenant compte de prétendus
niveaux de civilisation et d’aspects culturels.
* In the following I have maintained the anthropological and geographical terminology in the original texts and
only tried to standardize the spellings of terms such as they appeared most often then. The first time these terms
occur in the text I have inserted the present terminology in brackets.
Martin Müller
I
n an article on “The repression of piracy in the Indian Archipelago”1, published
in Colburn’s United Service Magazine in 1849, it was stated as a commonly
accepted fact that: “The buccaneers of the Archipelago are well known to form
distinct communities, some of them inhabiting whole islands, others possessing the
dominion of provinces, others dwelling in small coast districts, or secure retreats
on the banks of rivers. They belong to various distinct tribes, all more or less power-
ful, but among which the Illanuns hold the first place”2. Although the author,
by evoking the term “buccaneers”, alluded to the piracy in seventeenth century
West Indies, it was evident that the focus was more on the differences than on the
resemblances3. The pirates in the Indian Archipelago4 distinguished themselves
from their earlier West Indian counterparts by being composed of whole commu-
nities instead of looser joined groups of individuals. These communities consisted
of what was then seen as distinct tribes, nations, or even races, and these allegedly
incarnated this so-called piratical spirit as an essential part of their culture. The
purpose of this paper is to examine the discursive processes through which piracy
went from being a crime committed by individuals to become an epitomic cultural
trait, characterizing entire ethnicities, and then to delineate some of the political
implications of this discursive process.
202
1. In terms of geographical extension, the Indian Archipelago consisted of the insular part of what is nowadays
known as Southeast Asia. As a spatial concept it constituted the main approach to this area and its inhabitants
in the British discourses throughout the period dealt with here; it has to be remembered, though, that on the
contemporary mental map it occupied a quite different space. Geographical names are never neutral, and the
term ‘Indian Archipelago’ contributed essentially to the ways in which the countries, civilizations, and cultures
inhabiting this region were conceptualised.
2. Colburn’s United Service Magazine, 1849, vol. 3, p. 574.
3. See also e.g. Sir James Brooke’s “Memorandum on the Suppression of Piracy and the Extension of Commerce
in the Eastern Archipelago”, in The Sessional Papers, Printed by Order of the House of Lords, vol. XV, Accounts and
Papers, 1851, p. 32 (hand pagination); and Horace St. John, The Indian Archipelago: Its History and Present State,
London, 1853, 2 vols., vol. 2, p. 116.
4. After having abandoned their occupation of the Dutch East Indies in 1816, the British only maintained small
territorial possessions in this area, with Singapore (1819) as the most important one. Yet they were eager to extend
their commercial interests in both the Dutch administered and native governed parts of this region; it offered an
unexploited market for British export goods, and it provided many products that could be easily sold in China
(e.g. Eric Taglicazzo, “A Necklace of Fins: Marine Goods Trading in Southeast Asia, 1780-1860”, International
Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2004, p. 23-48). It was in this context that the combating of piracy in
the Indian Archipelago became so important to the British authorities; not because European shipping was in
imminent danger, but rather due to the fact that it curbed the native shipping to and from especially Singapore
(John L. Anderson, “Piracy in the Eastern Seas, 1750-1850: Some Economic Perspectives”, in David J. Starkey,
E. S. van Eyck van Helsinga and J. A. de Moor (dirs.), Pirates and Privateers. New Perspectives on the War on
Trade in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Exeter, 1997, p. 87-105). More general studies can be found in
e.g. Gerald S. Graham, Great Britain in the Indian Ocean. A Study of Maritime Enterprise, 1810-1850, Oxford,
1967, p. 329-401, Nicholas Tarling, Imperial Britain in Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur, 1975, and Colin M.
Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, 1826-67. Indian Presidency to Crown Colony, London, 1972.
Embodying Piracy, Textualizing the Piratical Body: Defining, Combating, and Punishing Southeast Asian “Piratical Communities” […]
further though; to the judicial and political realms, an economic dimension had
to be added. Both in terms of real effect and contemporary perceptions, the acts
associated with the term piracy implied, in the words of John L. Anderson, that:
“Whatever the precise legal status of the predatory activity, it imposed costs upon
the economy in terms of reduced trade and hence reduced specialization, exchange
and productivity, while fear and uncertainty would have restricted capital accu-
mulation. In some cases fear even lead to the abandonment of land and the depo-
pulation of coastal and island areas. These effects must have been a handicap to
economic development in the region”11.
Another central aspect of the British approach to the presence and suppression
of Southeast Asian piracy was that it “focussed not on the opportunistic activities
of individuals or small independent groups, which constituted piracy by any defi-
nition, but on the systematic and large scale predation that was an intrinsic part
of organized indigenous communities, tolerated or supported by their chiefs or
sultans”12. In the eyes of the British it was a region characterized by the omnipre-
sence of what J. L. Anderson terms parasitic and intrinsic piracy13, both of which
seemed so deeply rooted that they constituted an essential part of the cultural
makeup of the region. The burgeoning discipline of ethnology played a pivotal
role in the discursive and epistemic processes of transforming the term piracy from
204
referring to a criminal act committed on the high seas by a group of individuals to,
instead, allude to some essential trait or character inherent in an entire community,
nation, or race.
This discursive process of alienating and criminalizing whole communities
through the ascription of allegedly innate qualities, pertaining to either a given
race or to a particular stage of civilization, formed an integrate part of the common
colonial rhetoric. The criminalization of Southeast Asian riverine and coastal
communities, through the imposition of the stigmatizing label of piracy, thus
resembled the almost contemporary discursive construing of specific thug castes
11. John L. Anderson, “Piracy and World History: An Economic Perspective on Maritime Predation”, p. 93,
in C. R. Pennell (dir.), Bandits at Sea. A Pirates Reader, New York, 2001, p. 82-106. James F. Warren, however,
took a different view and perceived this piratical activity as both the result- and a harbinger of modernity and glo-
balization in this region (see e.g. J. F. Warren, “A Tale of Two Centuries: The Globalization of Maritime Raiding
and Piracy in Southeast Asia at the end of the Eighteenth and Twentieth Centuries”, Singapore, Asia Research
Institute (ARI) Working Paper Series, no. 2, 2003, p. 3).
12. J. L. Anderson, “Piracy and World History […]”, op. cit., p. 92. A similar assessment can be found in J. F.
Warren, “Savagism and Civilization: The Iranun Globalization and the Literature of Joseph Conrad”, Journal of
the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 74, no. 1, 2001, p. 43-69; and in J. F. Warren, “A Tale of
Two Centuries […]”, op. cit., p. 7.
13. J. L. Anderson, “Piracy in the Eastern Seas […]”, op. cit., p. 87-89. Parasitic piracy is defined as “a function
of trade”, whereas intrinsic piracy constitutes an integral part of the functioning of the state. The third type of piracy
in Anderson’s system is episodic piracy—which can be “expressed as an inverse function of trade or more generally
of employment opportunities for labour, capital and enterprise in sea-going activities.” See J. N. F. M. à Campo,
“Discourse without Discussion […]”, op. cit., p. 210-212 for an analytic implementation of these concepts.
Embodying Piracy, Textualizing the Piratical Body: Defining, Combating, and Punishing Southeast Asian “Piratical Communities” […]
on the Indian subcontinent14. The crucial point in both instances is, however, not
that the bestowed designations were mere constructs of a purely fictional charac-
ter, or that they rested on purely contingent assessments. They did, as Bayly and
Tarling stress, reflect an acute state of unrest and politico-social upheaval, resul-
ting in more or less endemic violence15. Neither were they entailed by any logical
necessity, though. Instead they represented one particular approach among many
possible ones: a specific set of conceptual lenses, applied from an always posited,
interest charged, and biased angle that only allowed a prefigured and selective frag-
ment of the totality to be perceived.
In the following I propose here to take these British representations of piracy
and pirates in the Southeast Asian realm at their face value; from this point of
departure I intend to examine:
- The discursive procedures through which the traditionally individual crime
of piracy was transformed into a collective delinquency associated with particular
ethnic groupings or races.
- How the attributed piratical character was inscribed into both the societal
and the physical bodies of these people, and how the subsequent decoding of the
characteristics thus embodied provided the practical proof of their piratical essence
or nature.
- The ways in which the criminalization of these communities, through the appli- 205
cation of the pirate denomination, sanctioned the use of draconic measures against
these communities and which was inflicted on both their social and physical bodies.
14. In discussing the means necessary to quench piracy in the Indian Archipelago, the anonymous author of an
article in The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (1847-1863, 13 vols.) entitled “Malay Amoks and
Piracies. What can we do to abolish them?”, pleaded for the arrival of “a naval Sleeman”, referring to leader in
the identification and eradication of the thugs (vol. 3, 1849, p. 465). See also Clare Anderson, Legible Bodies.
Race, Criminality and Colonialism in South Asia, Oxford, 2004, p. 1-14, and John Marriott, The Other Empire.
Metropolis, India and Progress in the Colonial Imagination, Manchester, 2003, p. 148-159.
15. See e.g. C. A. Bayly, Empire & Information. Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, 1780-
1870, Cambridge, 1996, p. 173, and N. Tarling, Piracy and Politics in the Malay World […], op. cit., p. 4.
Martin Müller
a thing natural enough with a people who live as much on the sea as
the land. […] In a region like the Malay and Philippine Archipelagos,
abounding in narrow seas, rivers, creeks, coves, and mangrove swamps,
and often inhabited by rude and lawless tribes of fishermen, piracy must
have existed as long as there was anything to plunder. It has so existed in
every part of the world similarly circumstanced; as, for example, in the
Grecian Archipelago at various times, and in northern Europe, including
our own islands, and the countries from which our forefathers sprang,
in the middle ages.16
16. John Crawfurd, A Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands & Adjacent Countries, London, 1856, p. 353;
my italics.
17. See also Louis Alexis Chamerovzow, Borneo Facts Versus Borneo Fallacies. An Inquiry into the Alleged Piracies
of the Dyaks of Sarebas and Sakarran, London, 1851, p. 6, and Henry Keppel, A Visit to the Indian Archipelago,
in H.M. Ship Mæander. With Portions of the Private Journal of Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., London, 1853, 2 vols.,
vol. 1, p. 286-289.
18. See Peter Pels and Oscar Salemink, “Introduction: Five Theses on Ethnography as Colonial Practice”, His-
tory and Anthropology, vol. 8, nos. 1-4, 1994, p. 1-34, especially p. 11-12.
19. J. N. F. M. à Campo, “Discourse without Discussion […]”, op. cit., p. 203.
Embodying Piracy, Textualizing the Piratical Body: Defining, Combating, and Punishing Southeast Asian “Piratical Communities” […]
The Illanun
On the appearance and behaviour of the Illanun chiefs, James Brooke remarked
in his diary:
The Datus, or chiefs, are incorrigible; for they are pirates by descent, rob-
bers by pride as well as taste, and they look upon the occupation as
the honourable hereditary pursuit. They are indifferent to blood, fond
of plunder, but fondest of slaves: they despise trade, though its profits be
greater; and, as I have said, they look upon this as their ‘calling’, and the
noblest occupation of chiefs and free men. Their swords they shew with
boasts, as having belonged to their ancestors who were pirates, renow-
ned and terrible in their day; and they always speak of their ancestral
20. See Gareth Knapman, “Liberal Dreams: Materialism and Evolutionary Civil Society in the Projection of
Nation in Southeast Asia”, Asian Ethnicity, vol. 7, no. 1, 2006, p. 19-36.
21. J. N. F. M. à Campo, “Discourse without Discussion […]”, op. cit., p. 207-208.
22. These will not be analysed specifically in this article, given that they most often were described in conjunc-
tion with the Illanuns, and hence they possessed little discursive impact, despite their undeniable real power and
influence.
Martin Müller
heir-loom as decayed from its pristine vigour, but still deem the wielding
of it as the highest of earthly existences.23
This reflected the general view held by both Brooke and his British as well
as Spanish contemporaries on the Illanuns24, the most formidable adversary to
the European enterprise in the region. Inhabiting parts of Mindanao, in southern
Philippines, the Spanish expansion, coming from the northern parts of the Philip-
pines, had here encountered a stout resistance by the Muslim inhabitants, amongst
whom the Illanuns proved to be the most implacable. Extending the familiar
terminology from the reconquista, these people were generally termed moros, or
moors25. These references and their implicit associations to Holy War and a clash
of religions remained ingrained in the rhetoric used to characterize the Illanuns
and their customs. Not only was this “distinct race”26 characterized by its deeply
rooted piratical inclinations; their martial spirit was invariably coupled with a reli-
gious fervour and a chivalrous pride turned into outright fanaticism27. The analo-
gies to the holy warriors of the medieval period were in particular striking in the
representations of the arms and equipment of the Illanun. Describing the Illanun
as he appeared on the fighting deck of their impressive prahus, a generic name
for all seagoing vessels in the region, Sir Edward Belcher emphasized how “they
208
dress themselves in scarlet, and are equipped very much in the style of the armour
furnished for the stage property of our theatres, varying from steel plate to ring
chain or mail shirt. Their personal arms are generally the kris and the spear, but
they also have a huge sword, well known as the ‘Lanoon sword’, which has a handle
sufficiently large to be wielded by two hands”28. A quite remarkable interest was
shown in this kampilan, their two handed broad sword, and its eerie adornments
of tufts of human hair and a ring attached for each slain enemy29; like the scimitar
23. Extract from Brooke’s journal brought in H. Keppel, The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido for the Sup-
pression of Piracy: With Extracts from the Journal of James Brooke, Esq. Of Sarawak, London, 1846, 2 vols., vol. 1,
p. 196-197.
24. See J. F. Warren, “Savagism and Civilization […]”, op. cit., especially p. 54-56.
25. See, for instance, Vicente Barrantes, Guerras piráticas de Filipinas, contra mindanaos y joloanos, Madrid, 1878,
Emilio BernÁldez, Reseña histórica de la guerra al sur de Filipinas, sostenida por las armas españolas contra las piratas
de aquel archipélago, desde las conquista hasta nuestros días, Madrid, 1857, José García del Canto, Historia del
Archipelago y Sultania de Joló, y noticia de la expedicion española que á las ordenes del marques de la Solana, acaba
de destruir a los piratas joloanos, Habana, 1851, and José Montero y Vidal, Historia de la piratería malayo-
mahometana en Mindanao, Joló y Borneo, Madrid, 1888, 2 vols.
26. Edward Belcher, Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, During the Years 1843-46; Employed Surveying
the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, London, 1848, 2 vols., vol. 1, p. 263.
27. See e.g. E. BernÁldez, Reseña histórica de la guerra al sur de Filipinas […], op. cit., p. 39.
28. E. Belcher, Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang […], op. cit., vol. 1, p. 265-266.
29. See e.g. H. Keppel, The Expedition to Borneo […], op. cit., vol. 1, p. 198, and A Visit to the Indian Archi-
pelago […], op. cit., vol. 1, p. 62, as well as E. Belcher, Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang […], op. cit.,
vol. 1, p. 199.
Embodying Piracy, Textualizing the Piratical Body: Defining, Combating, and Punishing Southeast Asian “Piratical Communities” […]
In general they were presented as a shabby, itinerant people who hardly ever
set their foot on land, but instead they lingered on as “maritime nomads”35. Due
to this characteristic they were also frequently called ‘orang laut’, or sea people.
Crawfurd affirmed that “they had been stigmatized for their piracy as long ago
as the time of John [João] de Barros, whose work was composed in the sixteenth
century”, and even though he confessed that “of the character they exhibit in their
predatory excursions, I am not competent to judge”, it was still so widely repu-
ted that he deemed it “sufficiently bad”36. Quoting de Barros, Crawfurd affirmed
30. On the receptions of the Illanuns in European discourses, whether Spanish, Dutch, or English, see J. F.
Warren, “Savagism and Civilization […]”, op. cit.
31. H. St. John, The Indian Archipelago […], op. cit., vol. 2, p. 160.
32. Ibid., p. 170.
33. P. M. Smith, “Omar Ali’s Extra Thumb: Brunei (Borneo) in the Historical Text”, Rethinking History, vol. 7,
no. 1, 2003, p. 29.
34. Ibid., p. 31.
35. J. Crawfurd, A Descriptive Dictionary […], op. cit., p. 314-315.
36. J. Crawfurd, Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochin
China; Exhibiting a View of the Actual State of Those Kingdoms, London, 1828, p. 53.
Embodying Piracy, Textualizing the Piratical Body: Defining, Combating, and Punishing Southeast Asian “Piratical Communities” […]
that their “habitual occupation was ‘fishing and robbing’”37. This shabby mode of
piracy was invariably paired with the stage of civilization on which these people
were posited in the British discourses. The author of the articles on “Piracy and
Slave Trade in the Indian Archipelago” had thus intimated that the Orang Laut
and the more sedentary Malays (Orang Malayu) belonged to the same race; they
were only distinguished by the fact that the latter had “attained a higher degree of
civilization”38. Crawfurd went even further and claimed that: “[…] one can hardly,
indeed, help conjecturing that even the more advanced Malay States of the Penin-
sula, Sumatra, and Borneo, of whose history we have no record, may have sprung
from the same people, seduced by circumstances favourable to social advancement
to abandon their roving habits and precarious mode of existence for a fixed life”39.
211
Whereas Crawfurd in the 1820s tended to describe the Orang Laut as, if not
noble then at least rather harmless primitives40, these had by the 1850s become
a sad lot whose depredatory character was indelibly imprinted upon their very
bodies. This was nowhere captured more vividly than in Thompson’s description.
Dwelling upon their allegedly stereotypical facial features, Thompson saw “a face
[…], the most ugly and disagreeable that I have witnessed; in which the symptoms
of no stray virtue could be detected, but utterly forbidding and typical of fero-
city and degeneracy”. This was seamlessly followed by the following inference: “I
could not fancy such people to be capable of a single act of commiseration to the
unhappy victims of their piracy, and one could only feel pity for those that are so
unfortunate as to come under their power”41.
abetted him in his enterprise (like H. Keppel and Rodney Mundy), as well as his
supporters at home like H. St John. Supporting the former were a group of poli-
tical Radicals, with Joseph Hume as the most outspoken, together with scholars
and clerics congregated around the ‘philanthropic’ Aborigines Protection Society
(1837) from which the Ethnological Society of London (1843) was an offspring.
In deciding upon these questions a paramount importance was vested in
the physical and societal body of the Sea Dyaks, and in particular in their arms
and equipment. Assessing the ethnic position of the Sea Dyaks, both in terms of
degree of civilization and with regard to indigeneity, proved pivotal in determining
whether they were perilous pirates, or “merely” conducting a ravaging inter-tribal
warfare44. Brooke’s adversaries claimed that he and his allies employed the term
piracy in its “most extensive application, comprising piracy in its ordinary accep-
tation, intertribal and defensive war, headhunting expeditions, and retalitative
aggressions”45. Whereas often culpable in acts pertaining to the latter categories46,
the Sea Dyaks could, according to this argumentation, impossibly be guilty of
acts of “piracy in its ordinary acceptation”, simply because they were deemed too
primitive and did neither possess the adequate means nor the mentality to commit
such a crime. It was in this context that the overwhelming interest in the seawor-
thiness of their long but frail war canoes, the bankongs47, and in the puny potential
of their weapons, like the sumpitan (blowpipe)48, should be assessed49; combined 213
with a claim of their reputed superstitious dread of firearms, this allegedly made
them harmless to European shipping50. Even though deadly to enemies on the
same primitive level of civilization, this interpretation nonetheless produced an
image of the Dyaks as more picturesque than poignant warriors. This narrative of
the relatively feeble, primitive Sea Dyak was obviously contested by Brooke and
his supporters. They favoured a broader definition of piracy as “the enemies of
44. L. A. Chamerovzow, Borneo Facts Versus Borneo Fallacies […], op. cit., p. 19-21.
45. Ibid., p. 46 ; George Foggo, Adventures of Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., Rajah of Sarawak, “Sovereign De Facto of
Borneo Proper,” Late Governor of Labuan. […] Devastation of Farms, Huts, and Plantations, Under the Pretence of
Checking Piracy”, London, 1853; Joseph Hume, A Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Malmesbury, Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs, etc. etc. etc. Relative to the Proceedings of Sir James Brooke, K.C.B. etc. etc. etc. in Borneo,
London, 1853, Scrutator, Borneo Revelations: A Series of Letters on the Sereban and Sakarran Dyaks, and the Rajah
Brooke, Singapore, 1850, W. N., Borneo. Remarks on a Recent “Naval Execution”, London, 1850, and “The Borneo
Massacres”, The Colonial Intelligencer, or Aborigines’ Friend, vol. 3, 1850-1851, p. 261-266.
46. “Revolting as this practice [headhunting] may be […] it was certainly not one of which the Government
of this country ever contemplated the suppression by the destruction of those who were addicted to it.”, L. A.
Chamerovzow, Borneo Facts Versus Borneo Fallacies […], op. cit., p. 14.
47. Ibid., p. 55.
48. See e.g. H. Keppel, The Expedition to Borneo […], op. cit., vol. 2, p. 198, Rodney Mundy, Narrative of Events
in Borneo and Celebes, Down to the Occupation of Labuan: From the Journals of James Brooke, Esq. Together with a
Narrative of the Operations of H.M.S. Iris, London, 1848, 2 vols., vol. 2, p. 224-231, and Hugh Low, Sarawak; Its
Inhabitants and Productions, London, 1848, p. 211 et 328.
49. L. A. Chamerovzow, Borneo Facts Versus Borneo Fallacies […], op. cit., p. 13.
50. Ibid., p. 13, 16, and 58.
Martin Müller
214
Fig. 6 Sea Dyak Warrior. Fig. 7 Sea Dyak Warrior.
the human race, and […] every nation has the a right to attack and exterminate
them without any declaration of war”51, instead of defining the right to combat
piracy within a narrow national framework where the Royal Navy only had the
right to suppress proved instances of piracy committed against British shipping on
the high seas. In opposition to this, Joseph Hume claimed that “the distinction
between acts of piracy and the predatory attacks of intertribal warfare is a refine-
ment beyond comprehension of the said natives”52, and hence they could not be
considered guilty of the former.
By introducing the element of indigeneity into the discourse, the Sea Dyaks
appeared not merely primitive but also pristine. The categorical dissociation
between the Sea Dyaks and other native peoples of Borneo on the one hand, and
the Malays on the other, seemed especially to have been practiced when these were
sharing the same riverine spaces, and hence, to a certain extent, belonged to the
same societal entity of interwoven communities. Such an ethnological atomization
and essentialization served, on a seemingly scientific basis, to dissociate the Malays
as a distinct ethnicity53 from the native peoples of Borneo. The Malays could then
be presented as a group of exploitative adventurers and intruders who infested
the Bornean coast and river mouths and preyed upon the more primitive peoples.
All British texts thus represented the Sea Dyaks as a primitive, but moral, people
whose potential for civilization was superior to that of the Malays54. This moral 215
superiority could even be decoded directly from their physical bodies, in shape of
their superior prowess and agility when compared to the degenerate Malays55.
The great ethnic diversity in Southeast Asia thus permitted a discourse that
emphasized the vast variety of the different kinds of piratical activities, and it linked
these to the diversity of the piratical communities behind these. Hence, instead of
constituting a levelling and uniformizing discourse, the concept of piracy provided
an interpretive matrix where the specific mode of piracy could be analyzed and
graduated according to such parameters as race, level of civilization, and specific
cultural traits.
51. This is an excerpt of the American jurist C. Kent’s definition from 1844 grounded in notions of natural law
which Brooke frequently quoted as legitimating a very activist politics against the alleged pirates. See e.g. British
Parliamentary Papers. Accounts & Papers: 1852-1853, vol. 5, p. 351.
52. Extract of a letter from J. Hume to Earl of Malmesbury, Dec. 12, 1852. British Parliamentary Papers. Accounts
& Papers: 1852-1853, vol. 5, p. 371.
53. On Borneo, Malayness, in reality, constituted a fluid and inclusive category. By professing the Muslim faith,
abiding by its fundamental tenets, and adopting the Malay language one automatically became Malay. See e.g.
Anthony Milner, The Malays, London, 2008, and Robert Pringle, Rajahs and Rebels: The Ibans of Sarawak under
Brooke Rule, 1841-1941, London, 1970.
54. L. A. Chamerovzow, Borneo Facts Versus Borneo Fallacies […], op. cit., p. 14.
55. H. Low, Sarawak […], op. cit., p. 177 and 180.
Martin Müller
were often traced back to their very origin as an ethnic entity in the region, the
decay theory of the Malay piracy remained highly influential too; according to this
hypothesis the Malay piracy infesting the region was primarily the result of the
mercantilist and monopolistic policies of the Dutch in an earlier wave of European
expansion61. If they originally had been led astray by blind European greed, then a
visionary European creed could bring them back on the track, once their eyes had
become open to the blessings of free trade and their minds receptive to the enligh-
tened reason behind it. What was needed, then, seemed to be a calculated mix
of brute and unrelenting force on the one hand62 and the lure of economic gain
on the other. Yet the precarious existence of a prosperous free trade could only be
maintained under the auspices of a continuous and vigilant British paramountcy63.
The inherent but unorganized piracies committed by the itinerant Orang laut
were attributed to their, in all meanings of their word, abject status. Margina-
lized from the rest of society and frowned upon by the Malays, being deprived
of almost all the ordinary means of existence, an opportunist preying composed
a natural source of income for these people; but the most influential cause rested
in the low stage of civilization in which they still lingered. Inscribing these into
the trope of stadial progress, the anonymous author of the article on “The Piracy
and Slave Trade in the Indian Archipelago”, in The Journal of the Indian Archipe-
lago and Eastern Asia, quoted how Mr. Angelbeck (Angelbeek) had advocated to 217
turn the Orang Laut away from piracy by engaging “them to choose occupations
productive of benefits to all”. Such occupations could be “the fishing of agar-agar
and tripang [Bêche-de-mer, or sea-slug], which the Orang laut for some time had
been forbidden to pursue”; combined with a strict vigilance this was deemed “the
only means by which the [piratical] propensity of the Orang Laut could be suppressed,
short of their total extirpation”64. ‘Progress or perish’ hence constituted the absolute
imperative within this discourse of extinction65. Such progress should be abetted by
the gradual integration into the flourishing market-economy and by attributing
them a position as producers of primary products or as skilled gatherers of these.
61. Despite insisting on tracing their piratical character back to their origin, Crawfurd also used the decay theory,
coined by Raffles (J. F. Warren, The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898. The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity
in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State, Singapore, 2007, p. 147), when it seemed discursively
opportune. E.g. J. Crawfurd, History of the Indian Archipelago, Edinburgh, 1820, 3 vols., vol. 3, p. 234-235.
62. Brooke’s suggestions in the enclosure in a letter to the Earl of Aberdeen, dated March 31, 1845 (in The Ses-
sional Papers, Printed by Order of the House of Lords, vol. XV, Accounts and Papers, 1851, p. 31-39, hand pagina-
tion). See also H. Keppel, A Visit to the Indian Archipelago […], op. cit., vol. 1, p. 289.
63. “Experience has shewn that the Malay chiefs of the Peninsula are quite willing to co-operate in the abolition
of piracy; but they require to be constantly pushed, directed, and encouraged”. H. Keppel, A Visit to the Indian
Archipelago […], op. cit., vol. 1, p. 293. Quoted from The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, vol. 3,
1849, p. 463-467.
64. The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, vol. 3, 1849, p. 635; my italics.
65. See Patrick Brantlinger, Dark Vanishings. Discourse on the Extinction of Primitive Races, 1800-1930, Ithaca,
2003, for an extended analysis of the ‘extinction discourse’.
Martin Müller
Regarding the suppression of the alleged piracy committed by the Sea Dyaks
opinions were more divided. All concurred in the fact that the entire region would
benefit and prosper from the curbing of headhunting. Yet opinions differed regar-
ding the means that would best serve this end. The Radicals and, especially, the
members of the Christian and philanthropic Aborigines Protection Society favou-
red the cheapest solution for the British tax payer, viz. that of bringing the Gospel
to the natives through missionary activity. The supporters of the piracy interpreta-
tion did not, however, trust in the instructive powers of religion and its ability to
obviate the internecine state of violence in the region; in their mind much more
draconic means were required. Although they all emphasized the eroding influence
of the Malays, and in particular of the self-appointed so-called Arab sheriffs66, the
Sea Dyaks nonetheless bore the brunt of the casualties inflicted by the expeditions
carried out by Sir James Brooke in close collaboration with the Royal Navy. This
was particularly the case during the expeditions up the Saribas River in 1843, up
the Sekrang (Skrang) tributary in 1844, and not at least in the battle/massacre at
Beting Maru on July 31, 1849. The sanguinary, triumphalist tenor with which
the latter ‘severe lesson’, dealt to the ‘atrocious’ and ‘bloodthirsty’ pirates, was
lauded by the supporters of the piracy interpretation reveals, perhaps involunta-
rily, something about the nature of this warfare; especially the manner in which
218
the body of enemies was represented tells us a lot. Recounting the details of the
battle and its aftermath, where at least 500 and probably up to a 1000 or more Sea
Dyaks perished, whereas the British casualties were trifling, Captain Keppel thus
stated that:
Orders were given to shew mercy to any of the pirates who wished to give
themselves up; but mercy is not understood by these people, either in name
or in reality: and, indeed, the few wounds which were received by any of
our men were the penalty of their humane endeavours to save the pirates
from drowning. These latter, when they took to the water, invariably did
so in full fighting costume,—sword in one had and shield in another—
rendering any effort of humanity most perilous.They are indeed a desperate
race, and utterly reckless either of their enemies’ life or their own: nor do
they spare age or sex. Even in their confused and precipitate retreat, on
this night, they found time to perpetrate great atrocities.67
Against such inveterate enmity the embracing, soft power of Christianity offe-
red no comfort; indeed, humanity in itself was represented as utterly mistaken,
66. See e.g. J. Brooke’s “Memorandum on the Suppression of Piracy […]”, op. cit., p. 33 (hand pagination), and
H. Low, Sarawak […], op. cit., p. 123-126 and 191.
67. H. Keppel, A Visit to the Indian Archipelago […], op. cit., vol. 1, p. 159; my italics.
Embodying Piracy, Textualizing the Piratical Body: Defining, Combating, and Punishing Southeast Asian “Piratical Communities” […]
Conclusion
“With our increased knowledge… of the real character of the people with
whom we had to deal. Step by step our policy [of suppressing piracy] would be
surely advanced, and, with each step, our future progress would become easier;
piracy would dwindle from the crime of communities to the crime of individuals, and
gradually be extinguished”68.
The instrumental use of the notion of piracy was neither unproblematic nor
did it remain uncontested in its day. Given the spatial restrictions ingrained in the
concept, qua its essential association with the sea, its scope prima facie appeared to
be limited by the littoral; as such its political applicability would have been severely
demarcated unless it somehow could be extended to cover parts of the landmass
too. The question of who could be classified as pirates, as well as how these should 219
be treated, constituted further issues of heated discussion in the public realm.
Rather than being constrained to a narrow judicial discourse, these debates also
involved political, economic, and anthropological arguments. Hence piracy was
conceptualized and challenged in the fluid intersections between trade, politics,
ethnology, and jurisprudence.
Piracy thus proved to concern more than merely a question of policing unruly
seas; it furthermore provided a powerful master trope embedding the whole region
within a particular interpretive framework. As such it epitomized the British
approach to the indigenous societies in the region. The confined gaze, provided
by these conceptual lenses, prefigured this region as lingering in a state of society
deviant from the desired norm of progress and improvement: as aberrant rather
than as archaic. Furthermore, it prescribed the range of instruments that could be
employed by the supervising, or colonial, state in ‘normalizing’ the situation.
68. Contained in a letter from Sir James Brooke to Ld. Stanley dated Oct. 4, 1852. British Parliamentary Papers.
Accounts & Papers: 1852-1853, vol. 5, p. 355-366 (hand pagination); my italics.
Martin Müller
Fig. 9 A Moluccan
Kora Kora.
220
Fig. 11 An Illanum
War Prahu.
Embodying Piracy, Textualizing the Piratical Body: Defining, Combating, and Punishing Southeast Asian “Piratical Communities” […]
Article 12
1. António F. Cardim, Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus
suo adhuc madentibus sanguine (Rome, 1646).
Gregório Carvalhal († 1592) 180
2. António F. Cardim, Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus
suo adhuc madentibus sanguine (Rome, 1646).
João Baptista Machado († 1617) 181
3. António F. Cardim, Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus
suo adhuc madentibus sanguine (Rome, 1646).
Paul Mikki († 1597) 182
4. António F. Cardim, Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus
suo adhuc madentibus sanguine (Rome, 1646).
Nicolau Kean († 1633) 183
5. António F. Cardim, Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus
371
suo adhuc madentibus sanguine (Rome, 1646).
Francisco Pacheco († 1626) 184
6. António F. Cardim, Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus
suo adhuc madentibus sanguine (Rome, 1646).
Mateus de Couros († 1632) 185
Article 14
1. Weapons
(Source : Edward Belcher, Narrative of the voyage
of H.M.S. Samarang, During the Years 1843-46;
Employed Surveying the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago,
London, 1848, 2 vols., vol. 1) 209
2. Warrior
(Source : Frank S. Marryat, Borneo and the Indian
Archipelago, London, 1848) 209
3. War Prahu
(Source : F. S. Marryat, Borneo […], op. cit.) 209
4. A chief
(Source : F. S. Marryat, Borneo […], op. cit.) 211
5. Weapons
(Source : E. Belcher, Narrative of the voyage
of H. M. S. Samarang […], op. cit.) 211
6-7. Sea Dyak Warriors
(Source : F. S. Marryat, Borneo […], op. cit.) 214
Table des illustrations
Article 15
1. Le Grelot (républicain satirique), 16 octobre 1881,
Alfred Le Petit, “UN CAUCHEMAR DE J. FERRY” 226
2. La Charge (boulangiste), 14 juillet 1888,
Alfred Le Petit, “SOUVENIR DU 14 JUILLET” 226
3. “Une” d’un numéro de La Bastille (antimaçonnique),
5 janvier 1907, Bruno, “NOS SOUHAITS
À ‘CES MONSIEURS’” 227
4. Le Grelot (satirique), 16 juin 1889, Pépin,
372
“UNE BELLE PENSÉE DE JULES FERRY” 228
5. Caricature de situation, deuxième semestre 1889 228
6. La Ménagerie républicaine, 1889, Blass, “L’AUTRUCHE” 229
7. La Ménagerie républicaine, 1889, Blass, “LE LIÈVRE” 229
8. La Ménagerie républicaine, 1889, Blass, “LE CASTOR” 229
9. “Une” du Don Quichotte (républicain),
21 décembre 1883, Charles Gilbert-Martin,
“(NOËL) L’ADORATION DES MAGES” 229
10. Le Grelot (satirique), 18 août 1889, Pépin,
“LA PASSION DE LA BOULANGE” 230
11. Carte postale, 1906, “COMBES TERRASSANT
LE DIABLE” 230
12. Cartes postales, Orens Denizard 231
13. Le Pilori (monarchiste), Blass,
“FERRYBOULANGISME” 232
14. É. Muller, 1903-1904, “MR COMBES” 232
15. Le Pèlerin (catholique antisémite), 27 juillet 1902,
Lemot, “LE COMBES DE L’ACTIVITÉ
DÉVORANTE POUR FAIRE LE MAL” 233
16. La Ménagerie républicaine, 1889, Barentin,
“LA SOURIS BLANCHE” 234
17. La Volonté nationale (journal d’arrondissement
nationaliste, Remiremont, Vosges), 21 août 1904, Henriot 234
18. Caricature émanant d’un publiciste radical 235
Table des illustrations
INTRODUCTION
1 Jean-Claude Caron, Laurent Lamoine, Natividad Planas 9
4 Laurent Lamoine
Le corps du rebelle Sacrovir, de l’ostentation
à l’immolation (21 apr. J.-C.) 43
6 Annliese Nef
La Lettre au trésorier de l’église de Palerme
ou de l’art de choisir ses ennemis 85
7 Jean-Claude Caron
Mémoires de guerre civile ou l’ennemi absolu.
Lyon, 1831 : un nouveau 1793 ? 95
8 Laurent Dornel
La fabrication de l’ennemi “héréditaire”
allemand (1815-1914) 107
10 Christophe Giudicelli
De l’utilité politique de l’ennemi. Les “Indiens de guerre”
et la construction des frontières de l’Amérique espagnole 131
Table des matières
11 Natividad Planas
La Judith musulmane. Action politique et commensurabilité
selon les captifs chrétiens d’Alger (xviie siècle) 149
12 Federico Palomo
Teatro de sangue, espelho de aço. António Francisco Cardim
et la représentation du martyre dans le monde portugais
de la première modernité 165
13 Sébastien Pivoteau
Les deux corps de l’ennemi. L’imbrication du biologique
et du social dans l’identification des auteurs de l’assassinat
commis au château de la Borie (Maurs, Cantal) en 1827 187
14 Martin Müller
Embodying Piracy, Textualizing the Piratical Body:
Defining, Combating, and Punishing Southeast Asian
“Piratical Communities” in British Discourse
and Practice, c. 1810-1860 201
15 Julien Bouchet
L’adversaire politique en images.
Usages du corps dans la France républicaine (1880-1914) 223
16 Valentina Marcella
376 Smuggling Intellectual Freedom under Physical Constraint:
The Enemy’s Body in Turkish Prison Cartoons 243
18 Luc Renaut
Signation chrétienne et marquage des captifs
dans le monde antique : pratiques et représentations 269
19 Maribel Fierro
Murder as Accident : The Deaths of the Abbasid
‘Abd Allah b. ‘Ali and the Sultan Ghiyath Al-Din of Delhi 285
20 Louise Mallart
Représentations et significations de la consommation
du corps de l’ennemi dans l’Occident médiéval 297
22 Jean-Pierre Cavaillé
Le corps de l’ennemi de Dieu et des hommes :
le supplice de Jules-César Vanini, condamné
au bûcher pour blasphème et athéisme (1619) 323
23 M’hamed Oualdi
Circoncire des Européens à Tunis. Significations
d’une étape de conversion et d’intégration
(début du xviiie-milieu du xixe siècle) 337
CONCLUSION
24 Jean-Claude Caron, Laurent Lamoine, Natividad Planas 353
BIBLIOGRAPHIE SÉLECTIVE 365
– Natividad Planas et José Javier Ruiz Ibanez (dir.), “Vivre avec l’ennemi”, Siècles,
no 26, 2008.
Presses res
Universitai
BLAISE PA
SCAL C o l l e c t i o n H i s t o i r e s c r o i s é e s
Laurent Lamoine est maître de conférences en histoire romaine à l’UBP. Ses travaux portent sur les élites
et les institutions locales en Gaule à l’époque de l’indépendance et à l’époque romaine.
9 782845 166783
ISBN 978-2-84516-678-3 / PRIX 25 €