In this article, we discuss the function and position of penghulu in Java in the second decade of the nineteenth century. The object of this study is a manuscript from the British Library collection, coded Mss Eur D/742.1, ff. 155-166, that was issued by Thomas Stamford Raffles, the Lieutenant-Governor of Java, and Its Dependencies, on 11 February 1814. The manuscript actually regulates the general justice system. However, in this article, we will only discuss a number of rules that are directly related to the function and position of penghulu in the justice system. The paper will show that penghulu, in Raffles' regulation, was functioned as an expert to be presented to a court. He must expound about Islamic law or customary law related to cases that were being handled by the court. In fact, when it was first formed in the early days of the Demak Sultanate (1475-1554), the penghulu was a representative of the sultan and is held responsible for the implementation of the rules of Islam. Meanwhile, in the field of law, the penghulu was head of the court.

In this article, I discuss a letter from the first Raden Aria Adipati Prawiradireja (regent of Cianjur period 1813-1833) for Thomas Stamford Raffles. The letter, written on 11 Jumadilawal 1231 Hegira (April 9th, 1816), contain farewell speech to Raffles who have just finished his six-years service as Lieutenant-Governor Java and It's Dependencies. This letter is a British Library collection and it had been put in a ”bundle” coded Add Ms 45273. The letter interests me because it was written by used Latin script and in the Malay language. In fact, the local rulers in Java, in the second decade of the nineteenth century, usually used the Jawi script (on the Malay language) or the Java script (on the Javanese language) in the letter writing. The research result show that Raden Aria Adipati Prawiradireja was the first indigenous ruler who used the Roman script for writing of Malay language. But, the letter was not the first Malay manuscript that written by using the Latin script. It is because the Roman script has been used at least in the seventeenth century to translate the Bible.

In this article, I discuss a letter from three high-ranking officials of the Cirebon Sultanate to Thomas Stamford Raffles. The letter written on 25 Syaban 1226 AH (September 11, 1811 AD) is a collection of the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia and is coded ID-ANRI K66a, File 3584, Folio 683. Through the letter, they the letter, in essence, they asked for a position to Raffles. As the “old people” in the Cirebon Sultanate, they felt worthy and could occupy certain positions which they submitted themselves to Raffles. In this article, the letter firstly was studied by using the philology theory that contains the method of manuscript study (codicology) and the method of text study (textology). Furthermore, the manuscript content was dialogued to the historical fact in the Cirebon Sultanate, especially in the context of the British plan to occupy Java, so that we obtained a complete understanding of the context of writing the letter. The result shows that when the letter was written, the British had not fully controlled Java. The three high-ranking officials of the Cirebon Sultanate only took advantage of the situation because they knew that power in Java would soon transfer to the British hands. However, until the end of the British interregnum period in 1816, there is no evidence that the request was granted by Raffles.