Mahmud Shah
(d. 1528), sultan of Melaka. The sudden death of Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah (reigned 1477–1488) led to the installation of Mahmud Shah, his younger son and a nephew of the influential bendahara (prime minister) Tun Perak, who sought to perpetuate his dominance in the royal court by promoting the more pliant of the late sultan's sons.
Mahmud (reigned 1488–1511) was neither an able nor a forceful ruler. Philandering, obstinate, and impulsive, he left the affairs of state to Tun Perak and other ministers. Mahmud's ineptness notwithstanding, Melaka remained at the peak of its power, wealth, and prestige at the beginning of the sixteenth century, which attracted the covetous attention of the Portuguese.
In facing the Portuguese challenge, Melaka lacked strong leadership and mass support. Malay-Tamil rivalry resurfaced in court with the appointment of Tun Mutahir as bendahara in 1500, and intrigues and conspiracies led to his execution. The foreign mercantile community that dominated Melaka's trade and commerce—and hence its wealth—followed only its self-serving economic interests. The Melakan aristocracy shared in this wealth but little trickled down to the common people.
Despite a gallant defense by Mahmud and his son Ahmad, Melaka fell to the Portuguese in August 1511. Mahmud fled, initially to Muar, then to Pahang, and finally to Bintan in 1513. Between 1515 and 1524 he launched five campaigns to recapture Melaka but failed. He died in Kampar in 1528. His surviving sons, Muzaffar and Alauddin, established the Perak sultanate and the Johor-Riau empire, respectively.
Further Reading
Cortesao, Armando, ed. (1944) The "Suma Oriental" of Tome Pires. 2 vols. London: Hakluyt Society.
Meilink-Roelofsz, Marie Antoinette Petronella. (1962) Asian Trade and European Influence in the Indonesian Archipelago between 1500 and about 1630. The Hague, Netherlands: Nijhoff.
Muhammad Yusuf Hashim. (1992) The Malay Sultanate of Malacca: A Study of Various Aspects of Malacca in the 15th and 16th Centuries in Malaysian History. Trans. by D. J. Muzaffar Tate. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Sejarah Melayu or Malay Annals. (1983) Trans. by C. C. Brown. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Oxford University Press.
Wheatley, Paul. (1966) The Golden Khersonese: Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before A.D. 1500. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: University of Malaya Press.
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