Naning was an area adjacent to Malacca settled by the Minangkabau. After the mid 17th century, Naning was traditionally obliged to deliver a tenth of its produce to Dutch Malacca as tribute, but it was never enforced.
As time went on, people of Naning and other Minangkabau polities came under the control of the Johor Empire. As Johor began to lose influence, a situation developed in Naning where political leaders of small district began to assert individual authority.
The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 placed Malacca under English East India Company jurisdiction; Malacca became part of the Strait Settlement in 1826.
A new governor Robert Fullereton (1826-1828) assumed that Naning was part of Malacca and hence subject to its land laws and judicial system, with it penghulu and suku head to be salaried government tax collectors, and delivery was expected of the traditional tribute of produce.
Problems of face developed on both sides. Dol Said refused to give up his independence, and the English East India Company did not like being defied by a relatively minor Malay leader. Penghulu Dol Said, resisted and demanded the recognition of Naning’s autonomous status. The English East India Company’s response was a protracted war to impose its will.
In 1831, 120 English East India Company troops were sent to collect tax. The state had no roads and the British Indian troops became bogged down in guerilla warfare in jungle tracks and lanes between rice fields.
A second expedition ended Naning’s resistance after a three-month campaign in 1832, but the costly and humiliating war discouraged British expansion in Malaya for the next four decades.
During second expedition and with assistance from the Malays of Rembau, English East India Company force managed to capture Tabuh in mid-1832, thereby ending the conflict.
The Naning war had made Dol Said a hero and earned him a permanent place in the history of Malacca. He was given a pension every month until he passed away in 1849.
Naning War (1831-1833)
