Abu Bakar of Johor

Abu Bakar (3 February 1833 – 4 June 1895) was the founder of modern Johor. He succeeded his father as Temenggong of Johor in 1862, took the title Maharaja in 1868 and was proclaimed Sultan in 1886, ruling in all for 32 years. He built Johor's administration, judiciary, military and infrastructure on Western models, developed its gambier and pepper economy with Chinese entrepreneurs, and kept Johor the only Malay state of its time without a British Resident. ^{1 2}

He was born Wan Abu Bakar at the Istana Temenggong, Teluk Belanga, Singapore, the eldest son of Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim and a patrilineal descendant of Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah IV, the first Bendahara-dynasty sultan of Johor. Tutored at home in Islam and Malay customary law, he was then educated at the Teluk Blanga Malay school, a mission school, where he acquired fluent English and English manners. From 1851 his father delegated negotiation and administrative work to him, and British officers praised his diplomacy. ^{1 3}

His father died on 31 January 1862 and Abu Bakar succeeded him as Temenggong within three days. He expanded the Kangchu river-plantation system, managed the rivalry of the deposed Sultan Ali Iskandar's line, moved his capital to Tanjung Puteri — renamed Johor Bahru in 1866 — revised Johor's Islamic code in 1863, and set up a European-model administration with an advisory council. In England in 1866 he was already styled Maharaja; after genealogical enquiries confirmed his house's descent and effective rule, he was proclaimed Maharaja of Johor on 30 June 1868. As Maharaja he defeated the Jementah rising of 1879, absorbed Muar, and in 1884–1885 negotiated in London terms that kept British control to foreign affairs, with no Resident imposed. ¹

In London in late 1885 Queen Victoria, his personal friend, consented to his recognition as Sultan; a treaty followed on 11 December 1885 and he was proclaimed Sultan on 13 February 1886, with his son Ibrahim as successor. He founded state orders, a postal and judicial system and the Johor Military Forces, developed Johor Bahru through contractors such as Wong Ah Fook, and on 14 April 1895 promulgated the Johor State Constitution, the first Malay state constitution, intended to preserve Johor's independence. He was the first Malay ruler to travel to Europe, visiting England repeatedly from 1866, and Victoria sent her own physician to attend him in his last illness. The English infobox names Sultan Ali Iskandar Shah as his predecessor in the sultanate; the article's text instead records that he became sovereign on his father's death, and this page follows the text. ^{1 4}

No article text names his school of law or discusses his personal affiliation. The English infobox gives his religion as Sunni Islam and the Malay infobox, which follows the English article, repeats it — one source family, an infobox alone; the Arabic and Indonesian articles carry no religion datum and Wikidata none at all. Under the museum's headship line, crown headship supported only by a single infobox family is recorded as unknown, flagged for the founder; the evidence is set out in the record's faith note. ^{1 3 5}

He died of pneumonia at Bailey's Hotel, South Kensington, London, on 4 June 1895, and was buried on 7 September 1895 at the Mahmoodiah Royal Mausoleum in Johor Bahru. The Arabic article's categories file his death under nephritis; the English text is followed here. ^{1 2}

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
• No Urdu Wikipedia article exists for him; the Urdu version of this page is written from the English, Malay, Arabic and Indonesian articles and the Wikidata item cited above.
• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.