Tok Janggut

Haji Mohd Hassan bin Munas (1853 – 25 June 1915) was a Malay warrior in Kelantan, Malaysia during the Kelantan rebellion. He was nicknamed Tok Janggut ('old man with a beard' in Malay) because of his long beard which almost reached his chest.

Born in Kampung Saring, Jeram, Kelantan in 1850, Tok Janggut received his early education in Mecca and was a master of silat, a Malaysian martial art. His father was Panglima Munas, who served as a commander in the Kelantan palace.

After the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Britain took over the administration of Kelantan from Siam, and immediately made significant changes in its administration system, triggering a rebellion.

The local government of Jeram, Pasir Puteh, and Kelantan was taken over by British administrators. British officer Encik Latif took over the administration of Kelantan from the local leader, Engku Jeram. Latif was viewed as an outsider by the Kelantan locals, both for his subservience to the British colonial administration and for the fact that, although Malay, he was not from Kelantan, which has a culture and dialect distinct from other Malay areas of Southeast Asia. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence suggests that Latif perhaps considered himself above the largely rural Kelantanese and was notably stern in his tax collection duties.

The deposed local administrator, Engku Besar Jeram, called upon Tok Janggut, Haji Said, Che Sahak Merbol and Penghulu Adam to discuss the tense situation in Kelantan. At the meeting, a pact was signed by the participants which prohibited any one of them to co-operate with the British. Their independence fight gained support from most Kelantan residents, whose refusal to pay taxes meant the revenue of the district dropped by half in one year.

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