Deconstructing the Narratives of Malacca Straits Pirates (17th–19th Century): Global Cultural Material Traces in Batubara, North Sumatra (Indonesia)

Widya Nayati

While Prof. John Norman Miksic’s pioneering work advanced our understanding of urbanism and formal port polities, the terrestrial reality of "pirate" communities remains an archaeological lacuna. This research focuses on Batubara, North Sumatra – a region notably "blank" in Tomé Pires’ Suma Oriental (c. 1515). I reconstruct this area as a sophisticated "shadow government" operating outside formal royal bureaucracies between the 15th and 19th centuries. Through analysing Istana Niat Lima Laras and its inland predecessors, I identify unique inland settlements characterized by high-status Malay timber architecture integrated with a dendritic type of river. This material duality reflects the global trade access Miksic identified at Kota Cina but repurposed by an autonomous maritime power. Moving beyond the stigma of transient criminality, I argue these communities managed sustainable sovereign territories within complex exchange networks. This study honors Prof. Miksic’s legacy by proving that "obstacles" to trade were actually organized societies that constructed enduring legacies of power in the Indo-Pacific landscape.