Being a Malaysian, you seem to have a poor grasp of history.
Maybe the Malaysian government should do something about the
education system in Malaysia, make Malaysian history a compulsory
subject in schools. Having a more productive education system will
help the younger generation think better, thus not ending up like
somebody here (whose name I shall not reveal).
It's stated in the Britannica article that Abdul Rahman was not
the sultan de jure (lawful ruler). It's more like the younger
brother usurp the throne from his elder brother (which is the
rightful ruler), the British sought to make things right by
installing the rightful heir to the throne and in the
process purchasing an island.
In January
1819 Sir Thomas Stamford
Raffles of
the English East India Company, searching for a trading site,
forestalled by the Dutch at Riau, and finding the Carimon (Karimun)
Islands unsuitable, landed at Singapore. He found only a few
Chinese planters, some aborigines, and a few Malays and was told by
the hereditary chief, the temenggong
(direct ancestor of the sultans of
modern Johor), that the company could purchase land. The
temenggong, however, was a subordinate of his
cousin Abdul Rahman, sultan of
Riau-Johor, who was under Dutch surveillance. Furthermore, Abdul Rahman was a younger son and
not a sultan de jure. Raffles, disobeying
instructions not to offend the Dutch, withdrew his own recognition
of Abdul Rahman's suzerainty over Singapore and installed Abdul
Rahman's elder brother, Hussein (Husain), to validate the purchase
of land there on behalf of the company. The Dutch
protested. In London the court of directors, though it decided
Raffles had contravened instructions, took no
action.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-52640/Singapore
In 1818, Sir Stamford Raffles was appointed
as the governor of Bencoolen on western Sumatra. However, he was
convinced that the British needed to establish a new base in
Southeast Asia in order to
compete with the Dutch. Though many in the British
East India Company opposed such idea, Raffles
managed to convince Lord
Hastings of the Company, then Governor General of
British India, to side with
him. With the governor general's consent, he and his expedition set
out to search for a new base.[1]
Raffles' expedition arrived in Singapore on January
29, 1819. He discovered a small
Malay settlement at the mouth of Singapore River headed by a
Temenggung (governor) of Johor.
Though the island was nominally ruled by the sultanate, the
political situation there was extremely murky. The current
sultan, Tengku Abdul
Rahman, was under the influence
of the Dutch and the Bugis. Hence, he would never agree to a
British base in Singapore.
However, Tengku Abdul Rahman was ruler only because his
older brother, Tengku Hussein or Tengku Long, had been away in
Pahang getting married when their father died in 1812. According to
Malay tradition, a person has to be by the dying sultan's side in
order to be considered as the new ruler. Predictably, the older
brother was not happy with the development. Furthermore, the
Temenggung preferred Tengku Hussein (Hussein Shah upon accession to
the throne) to the younger brother.
Upon learning of these Johor political tensions, Raffles made a
deal with Hussein Shah. Their agreement stated that the British
would acknowledge Hussein Shah as the legitimate ruler of Johor,
and thus Tengku Hussein and the Temenggung would receive a yearly
stipend from the British. In return, Tengku Hussein would allow
Raffles to establish a trading post in Singapore. This treaty was
ratified on February 6, 1819.[2][3]
With the Temenggung's help, Raffles managed to smuggle Hussein
Shah, then living in exile on one of the Riau Islands, back into
Singapore.
The Dutch were extremely displeased with Raffles' action.
Tensions between the Dutch and British over Singapore persisted
until 1824, when they signed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty. Under the
terms of that treaty, the Dutch officially withdrew their
opposition to the British presence in Singapore.[4] The treaty also
divided the Sultanate of Johor into modern Johor and the new
Sultanate of Riau.
In the newly-formed Johor, although Hussein Shah was the sultan,
it was the Temenggung who wielded real authority. The Bugis, on the
other hand, controlled Riau under the auspices of the Dutch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_Shah_of_Johor
