The book provide us with genealogies of Malay, Buginese, Siak and Johor kings down to the founding of modern Singapore by Raffles. The book offers a realistic and accurate narrative of events and personalities of the Malay archipelago - in particular of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and West Kalimantan - from the late seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century.
Specifically, it detailed the fortunes of the Johor-Riau Empire during the 18th century vis-a-vis the various participants in the Malay Archipelago – Malay, Bugis, Minangkabau, Dutch and English. The events narrated are given exact dates.
Details about the expansionist deigns of the Dutch, another major player in the Malay Archipelago, are featured including Anglo-Dutch relations to the mid-nineteenth century.
The authorship of the Tuhfat is clear and undisputed: Raja Ali Haji Ibn Raja Ahmad (1809-1869). Raja Ali Haji himself wrote theological and didactic prose and poetry, A ‘linguistic’ study of Malay also stands to his credit. However, his most famous work, the Tuhfat-al-Nafis, is the first historical work in Malay which not only sets out its sources with previously unknown precision but also covers a world much larger than the one known form most Malay historical texts.
Tuhfat al-Nafis (The Precious Gift)
