Salasilah atau Tarekh Kerja-An Kedah (1911):Naskhah Melayu Kedah Yang Terpinggir (Salasilah atau Tarekh Kerja-An Kedah (1911): The Marginalised Kedah Malay Text)

Abstract

This essay discusses the Kedah Malay text known as Salasilah atau Tarekh Kerja-an Kedah which was written by Wan Yahya Wan Mahamad Taib and printed in 1911, the issue of its discountinued printing and the texts’s contributions to Kedah historiography. Although outshined by the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa and the AtTarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah (1928), this text reflects the critical view of its author, who was a senior state official, on contemporary developments in Kedah at a time when the state was hemmed by both Siam and the Britain. The research’s qualitative method is based on the perusal of primary sources located at the National Archives of Malaysia Kedah/Perlis branch, Kedah Public Library and Universiti Sains Malaysia Library. The research outcomes show that despite its criticisms of the ruler, the Salasilah atau Tarekh Ker-jaan Kedah is an important contemporary source of Kedah history which attempts to augment the position of the elite to ensure the sustainability of the Kedah monarchy in the 20th century.