Kota Raja Mahdi, Selangor

Here I am at Kota Raja Mahdi, Klang, with the gate facing the Klang River. (7 July, 2016)


Kota Raja Mahdi (GPS: 3.0452, 101.44494) is a fort in Klang, Selangor. It was built by Raja Mahdi (also spelled Raja Mahadi, or by his full name, Raja Mahdi Ibni Almarhum Raja Sulaiman), a territorial chieftain in 19th century Selangor. Kota Raja Mahdi was built in 1866 and became a site of two civil warfares. The first Selangor Civil War, also called the Klang War, was started in 1867 by Raja Mahdi himself, in an attempt to oust his rival Raja Abdullah bin Raja Jaafar, and take control of the lucrative tin trade that has been developed upriver in Kuala Lumpur. Let me give you a little background on this.

Raja Mahdi was the grandchildren of Sultan Muhammad Shah. Raja Mahdi's father, Raja Sulaiman, had incurred debt from a failed tin mining venture. This perhaps had earn his father Sultan Muhammad Shah's displeasure, and Raja Sulaiman was disinherited. This also meant Raja Sulaiman lost his position as the administrator of Klang, which went to Raja Abdullah. Raja Abdullah became the administrator of the Klang River, and land on both sides of the river. He leased the collection of taxes in Klang two two Straits Settelement traders, William Henry Macleod and Tan Kim Cheng, who went about collecting taxes, eventually coming to demand taxes from Raja Mahdi, who was upset because he felt he should be exempted from such taxes.

Raja Mahdi refused to pay the tax. Meanwhile another incident in around 1866 further antagonised Raja Mahdi with Raja Abdullah.¹ Raja Abdullah was a Bugis Malay while Raja Mahdi received support ferom Sumatran Malays of the Batu Bara community. In that incident, a Bugis Malay guard sent by Raja Abdullah to guard Bukit Nanas had killed a villager from the Batu Bara community, but Raja Abdullah refused to punish the guard for the murder. The Batu Bara community leader, Mohamed Akib, brought the matter to Raja Mahdi, who decided to oust Raja Abdullah. He attacked and laid siege to the riverside fort, and a fight that killed Mohamad Akib. (Mohd Akib's grave can still be seen on the grounds of Kota Raja Mahdi today.)

Raja Abdullah was defeated in the fighting, and he retreated to Malacca, where he passed away of natural courses, before the civil war was over. Raja Mahdi then took control of the fort which now bore his name. He fortified then fort with cannons from Kuala Selangor to boost its defence. Meanwhile, Raja Abdullah's son, Raja Ismail, continued where his late father left off. He tried a few times to attack Raja Mahdi's position, but was unsuccessful.

In 1867, a prince from Kedah by the name of Tunku Dhiauddin Zainal Rashid, but better known as Tengku Kudin, married into the Selangor royal family, and became entangled in the civil war. He was given the task to be an arbitrator in the war, and he set out to seek peace, but Raja Mahdi rejected his efforts. This brought Tengku Kudin to side with Raja Ismail, and in March 1870, a joint effort between Raja Ismail and Tengku Kudin was launched to attack Raja Mahdi. Raja Mahdi was the loser this time, and he retreated to Kuala Selangor.

Meanwhile, the British was becoming increasingly concerned over the instability to the rich tin-mining areas of Selangor, brought on by the civil war as well as the clan warfare between the two Chinese gangs, the Hai Sans and the Ghee Hins. On top of that, ships passing through the Straits of Malacca were frequently raided by pirates traced to Raja Mahdi's stronghold in Kuala Selangor. Thus in 1871, the British attacked and captured Kuala Selangor from Raja Mahdi, and handed the fort over to Tengku Kudin.

Despite the loss of Kuala Selangor, Raja Mahdi was gaining the support from various Malay chiefs. Even Syed Mashhor, who served Tengku Kudin, had switched sides to support Raja Mahdi. In November 1873, another big fight broke out to capture Kuala Selangor. It had Tengku Kudin and Yap Ah Loy on one side, and Raja Mahdi on the other. Raja Mahdi was defeated in this fight, forcing him to flee, first to Johor and then to Singapore, where he died in 1882.

Kota Raja Mahdi was gazetted as a heritage site under the Antiquities Act 1976 on 9 October, 1980. Today it shares the same compound as the Klang Municipal Council complex. Sections of the fort is still standing, and is visible within the grounds of the council building.


Kota Raja Mahdi, with the Klang Municipal Council complex in the background. (7 July, 2016)


A bunker at Kota Raja Mahdi. I am not sure whether it is part of Kota Raja Mahdi.. (7 July, 2016)

360° View of Kota Raja Mahdi on Google Maps Street View

View of Kota Raja Mahdi from the road.

Kota Raja Mahdi is on the map of Klang

References

1. Klang War on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klang_War

List of Forts in Selangor and Forts in Malaysia

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About this website

Thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye. My hobby is to research information about places, and share the information with people on this website. I started this website on 5 January 2003, and since then, have written about over 20,000 places, mostly in Malaysia and Singapore.

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. While I try my best to provide you information that is as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors. Also, as I might not be able to update some information on time, some of these pages may contain outdated information.