Ilmu Ketatanegaraan Melayu Abad ke-19: Kajian Terhadap Karya Raja Ali Haji

Raja Ali Haji (1808-1873) is a renown Malay scholar who illuminated the Sultanate of Riau-Lingga. His works on Malay literature and Malay historiography such as Gurindam Dua Belas, Bustan al-Katibin and Tuhfat al-Nafis are already studied, published and received wide reputation. His work on political science or science of governance, however, still received very little attention even among scholars of the Malay world. This study finds that his work entitled Thamarat al-Muhimmah can be considered a great work on Malay political science known as ”ilmu ketatanegaraan Melayu”. Hence, this paper attempts to highlight Raja Ali Haji’s contribution in a genré known as nasihat al-muluk or mirror for princes/rulers. As an advisor to the Sultan, and he himself was a prince, he wrote this treatise as a handbook not only for rulers, but also for all public servants. This treatise discussed major principles and concepts of Islamic political science: on Islamic creed, on knowledge; on the appointment of the king and his disposition; on receiving gifts and bribes; on the place of the ulama’ and scholars in the government; on justice; the close relation between religion and state; the correlation between religious law, rational law and customary law; the obligations of public servants; the obligations of the king and rulers; the importance of maintaining and safeguarding the soul, body, dignity; on the necessity of eschewing from abominable qualities that may jeopardise the country and the nation. All these crucial matters are explained in succint and concise manner so that they are easy to be comprehended and practiced by the reader. Nevertheless, this work symbolises the influence of Islamic epistemic framework on the worldview of a Malay scholar at that specific age before the widespread of Western-secular epistemic framework. The fact that it is grounded on other great works by great scholars of the past, with relevant and crucial contextualisation, this treatise can be considered as the epitome of Malay political science which was formed on the basis of Islamic intellectual tradition.