Dr Scott Abel contributed to Panel Two of Day One of this 2-day workshop.
Scott's paper explores: The inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula during the mid-nineteenth century endured a fractured geopolitical environment where both great and minor powers sought to reap the benefits of the regions' abundant natural resources and commercial chokepoint between the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. Such powers include both states and non-state actors who had no official recognition as legitimate authorities. Pahang, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, was in a particularly precarious position. The Bendahara needed to navigate the tensions between Siam, Johor, Riau-Lingga, and the Straits Settlements, along with domestic disturbances. Conflict manifested itself oftentimes through naval warfare and piracy between a variety of factions. The British government and East India Company sought local actors in Malaya to fight piracy but also undermined their abilities to do so by flooding the region with arms and depriving Pahang's authorities of rents or tax revenues from commerce. Pahang's suzerain status of Johor hamstrung their response even further because of complex court politics. The anti-slavery campaign waged by the Royal Navy further destabilized the local order. Political power shifted more inland toward resource extraction because of the more competitive shipping environment created by free trade. Even when the Pahang government cooperated with British naval forces to suppress piracy and fend off naval attacks from abroad, the complex geopolitical environment made establishing any meaningful peace at sea challenging.
You can download a copy of the slides for this talk here: https://media.podcasts.ox.ac.uk/sant/islamic_studies/2026-04-14-sant-cis-scott_abel-SLIDES.pdf
