The Mausoleums of Kota Tinggi

In Kampung Makam (the original site of old Kota Tinggi) stands a beautiful mausoleum building (and an equally beautiful mosque next to it) housing the graves of the (in)famous 'Sultan Mahmud mangkat dijulang'* and other royals descended from the Melaka Sultanate ... err ... plus the Sultan's favourite pet kucing bertanduk (horned cat).

With the fall of Melaka to the Portuguese in 1511, Sultan Mahmud Shah fled the sultanate and established the first court of Johor in Pulau Bentan in the Riau archipelago. But with the Portuguese attack there in 1526 he fled to Sumatra and died two years later. His son Alauddin Riayat Shah found a new court on the upper reaches of the Johor River, fending off assaults by Portugal and the Sumatran sultanate of Aceh. The Johor court aligned itself with the Dutch who arrived at the end of the 16th century and was instrumental in the successful siege of Melaka by the Dutch in 1641. Johor became the supreme Malay kingdom during the 17th century but by the 1690s under the despotic rule of Sultan Mahmud Shah II, it declined, marking the end of the Melaka dynasty.

*Sultan Mahmud Shah II (1685 - 1699) was assassinated by his own Admiral, Megat Seri Rama (Laksamana Bentan) while being carried on the royal litter for Friday prayers.

Mausoleum of Sultan Mahmud mangkat dijulang (CNB 2013) 

The grave of Sultan Mahmud Shah II in the foreground 

The Fort and Admiral grave (sic)

Laksamana Bentan killed the Sultan to avenge the death of his wife Dang Anum. The Admiral was away fighting off pirates on the shores of southern Johor when Dang Anum was put to death for eating a piece of jack fruit from the Sultan's garden.

The graves of Laksamana Bentan and Dang Anum are located in Kampung Kelantan, by the bank of the Sungai Johor in Kota Tinggi. According to the marble information plaque, a fort may well have been in place here too.

The grave of Laksamana Bentan (CNB 2013)

The mausoleum of Laksamana Bentan & wife (CNB 2013)

Other than these two mausoleums that we visited this time, I had visited one other previously in 2006, that has a fascinating tale about the deceased. But we did not have the time visit the grave of the beautiful Cik Siti (erroneously aka Cik Siti 99, even Cik Siti Jalang!), whose 99 husbands were said to die on their wedding nights. Save the lucky 100th!

Another mausoleum that we missed too is that of Tun Habab (Chief Minister of Johor during the reigns of Sultan Ibrahim Shah and Sultan Mahmud Shah II; installed Sultan of Johor on the demise of the latter who had no heir). So much history, so little time ...