REMBAU HISTORY, ETC. 15 
turies when might was the determining factor in the election 
of the Undang, the alternation of families was rigidly observed. 
Native tradition throws the direct responsibility for this inter- 
ference with the Rembau constitution on the Johor Raja. 
By refusing to allow his daughter to enter the household of a 
Johor prince, To’ Uban drew down upon his. family—the 
Waris Jakun—sentence of disqualification for the office of 
-Undang. Respect for the authority of Johor was sufficiently 
strong in Rembau to ensure compliance with this arbitrary 
order for at least forty years. To’ Sabut (or Suboh) the 8th 
Undang held office for some forty years and not until 1750 
A.D.,—when the Malay Sultan of Johor was merely a Bugis 
nominee,—did a Waris Jakun again hold the office of Undang 
in Rembau. 
The institutions, if any, whereby Johor sought to main- 
tain her control over the confederacy in its earlier years, are 
conjectural, and have left no trace in the constitution of 
Rembau. ‘Tradition tells of a resident ambassador appointed 
by Johor, with the title of Dato Ganti Maharaja,—an official 
with whom the chief of the Anak Malaka tribe in Rembau, 
who bears at the present day the same title, traces kinship; 
but no event is recorded displaying the exercise of this am- 
bassadorial authority. 
Only when the Dutch Company, in securing its purely 
commercial existence, came into contact with the Johor de- 
pendencies of Rembau, Naning, Sungei Ujong, and Klang, is 
historical evidence obtainable as to the methods of Johor con- 
trol over the confederacy. In 1646 A.D., shortly after the 
expulsion of the Portuguese from Malacca, the Dutch conclud- 
ed a friendly and commercial pact with the Rembau Chiefs, 
whose possession of the territory of Simpang Linggi, at the 
junction of the Rembau and Linggi Rivers, gave them control 
over the sole waterway for the export of tin from Jelebu and 
Sungei Ujong. This pact finds a parallel in the Dutch trea- 
ties of 1650, and 1655 A.D., with the Sultan of Perak, and 
was the first of several agreements culminating in the treaty 
of 1759 A.D., with Rembau and Klang. That treaty conclud- 
R.A. Soc., No. 5, ‘1910, 
The Dato 
Ganti a resi- 
dent ambassa- 
dor of Johor 
in Rembau. 
Historical evi- 
dence of cou- 
tro] in 17th 
century. 
