Tok Janggut : Malaysia’s Rebel Pendekar
Authors : Steve Hanafi / Pendekar Hussein
His Early life
Born 1853, Haji Mohamad Hassan Bin Munas or more famously known as Tok Janggut (Old Man with Long Beard in Bahasa) was the son of Panglima Munas and Che Mah. He was born and raised in Kampung Saring, a small village in Kelantan, East Malaysia. His father, Panglima Munas was a man well-known in the village for his Silat fighting skills, learning Silat from his father, Tok Samad who was a famous Silat master in the district and later on diving deeper into the arts with Panglima Puteh, one of the royal guards at the time. This lineage of Silat knowledge was later passed on to Tok Janggut and his brother, Mat Tahir.
Their father, Panglima Munas, was a widower after his wife died giving birth to Mat Tahir and was offered by Sultan Long Kundur to live in the palace with his two sons. Long Kundur loved the two boys and took care of them like his own son, Tengku Salleh (who grew up to be Sultan Muhammad IV of Kelantan) and the three boys grew up together. They received religious, Silat, and military training from the best teachers in Kelantan. At the age of 30, Tok Janggut went to Mecca to deepen his knowledge of Islamic studies.
His Rebellion
“If you never stand up for anything, be ready to die for nothing.”
In April 1915, the administration of Pasir Puteh, a district in Kelantan, fell into the hands of the British Empire. One of the officers, Mr. Latiff took over administration from the local leader Engku Jeram and enforced new tax systems that heavily burdened the locals. To make issues worse, the collection system was riddled with problems and very problematic. Tok Janggut went to Kota Bharu, the capital of Kelantan, to pay the tax, but due to the mess in the tax collection system he left without being able to register a payment. Frustrated, he went back empty-handed. On the 29th of April, Sergeant Che Wan was sent to arrest Tok Janggut for failing to pay the tax. After a short explanation of the problems regarding the collection system, he agreed to follow the Sergeant to make the payment, but requested not to be escorted by a group officers as if he was a common criminal. The Sergeant ignored his request which later escalated into a heated argument that ended up with Tok Janggut killing Sergeant Che Wan.
Following the event, Tok Janggut gathered around 2,000 warriors and invaded British held Pasir Puteh. Tok Janggut and his men massacred the British forces garrisoned there and declared Pasir Puteh free from British rule. Engku Besar Jeram was elected as King and Tok Janggut as the Prime Minister. But in an amazingly well-played counter, the escaping British officers later informed the Sultan that Tok Janggut and his warriors were rebelling and were marching towards the palace in a coup attempt, which immediately alarmed the Sultan. The British officers also succeeded in stopping one of Tok Janggut’s representatives sent to explain the real situation to the Sultan. After being briefed in detail by the British officers, the Sultan was so enraged that he ordered a bounty set on the heads of Tok Janggut, Engku Jeram, and Panglima Adam. On top of that, their belongings were to be confiscated and their homes burned to the ground.
Sultan Muhammad IV, influenced by the British officers, took the decision to ask for help in facing Tok Janggut. To answer the call of assistance, Governor Sir Arthur Henderson Young in Singapore sent a battleship with 150 men to Kelantan to aide the Sultan destroy the coup plotters. However, they failed to find Tok Janggut and his warriors. In the same month, 100 Sikh and Malay soldiers were sent to find Tok Janggut and failed.
Battle of Kampung Saring, June 1915
Tok Janggut with his famed beard, Sarong, and Parang held high
On June 25, 1915, Tok Janggut with approximately 2,500 of his warriors raided the Sikh Soldiers garrisoned in Pasir Puteh. The team, lead by Tok Janggut, later retreated to their fort in Kampung Saring, a small village in Pasir Puteh. British soldiers then attacked the fort with overwhelming firepower and forces that Tok Janggut and his men were not capable to match. This battle ended with the death of Tok Janggut, while Engku Besar and Haji Said fled to Reman, in Southern Thailand.
Warrior Leadership
Tok Janggut was feared not just for his fighting abilities, but his ability to gather men under his banner and unite them with a single vision. This scared the colonizers and made him a primary target for their forces to get rid of. Fearing that another rebellion would be started, the British soldiers strung up the body of Tok Janggut and paraded it around town to show the people what happens to those who defy Britain.
Leadership is never an easy game, and many times it can get you a bullet in the heart, sometimes physical and sometimes not. But the threat is very real nonetheless. From Tok Janggut’s experiences we can derive several leadership lessons that are as applicable to war as they are to our daily lives. Tok Janggut, being a native and a religious scholar, knew that the British system was oppressive and a burden to the people. He also knew that the ministers and royals were blinded by the bribes given by British forces at the time. Just because someone is in power, doesn’t mean that they are always in the right. Tok Janggut knew this and stood up for what he believed was right even though it cost him his life. Another important lesson from his life is to understand the importance of having your tribe to support you. One man cannot become an army by himself. But one man, with the right leadership skills, can create an army that can be lead towards a greater cause. The key to making it work is loyalty and vision. Tok Janggut had both. And managed to successfully bring together thousands of warriors to face the tyrant of the time without ever being betrayed by his men or betraying them in turn.
History’s Tribute
Tok Janggut is renowned as one of Malaysia’s most influential freedom fighters who fought against the British colonizers. His effort was immortalized by the government by naming streets and schools after him, such as Jalan Tok Janggut in Pasir Puteh, and Sekolah Menengah Tok Janggut (high school). There is also a mosque in Malacca named after him, Masjid Tok Janggut, and even a hotel Tok Janggut named after him in Riau, Indonesia. The most recent addition was Malaysia’s biggest action film of 2019, WIRA, where the main character is named Hassan Munas (played by Hairul Azreen) as a tribute to Tok Janggut’s real name, Mohamad Hassan Bin Panglima Munas.