A museum in Ipoh, the state capital of Perak, will be converted into an archaeological museum in anticipation of the inscription of Lenggong Valley as a World Heritage Site. Malaysia had previously proposed the Lenggong Valley, where a large amount of prehistoric sites have been found, for World Heritage listing last year. It is not known if and when a World Heritage listing will be granted.

There is already an archaeological museum at Lenggong, but it is a little out of the way (slightly over an hour from Ipoh). I am a little uneasy over the government official’s description of the museum as a “tourism product”, though.

Darul Ridzuan Museum to be upgraded into Perak Archaeological Museum
Bernama, 31 January 2012

The Perak government has allocated RM100,000 to upgrade Muzium Darul Ridzuan here into the Perak Archaeological Museum in preparation for the Lenggong Valley to be declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.

State Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Hamidah Osman said the allocation was for improving the infrastructure at the museum, including providing more display racks for the archaeological artefacts and upgrading the lighting.

“This project is expected to start in February and the state government has obtained the cooperation of Universiti Sains Malaysia which agreed to hand over the archaeological items found in the Lenggong Valley for free to be exhibited at the museum,” she told reporters, here, yesterday.

Full story here.

In an interview with the New Straits Times, Professor Khoo Kay Kim explains the reasons why he thinks figures such as Hang Tuah and Hang Li Po identified in the Malay Annals were probably mythical.

Prof Khoo Kay Kim, New Straits Times 20120129

Don’t ignore real heroes of history
New Straits Times, 29 April 2012

Question: The Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals), which is the primary record of history during the Malacca Sultanate, did mention Hang Tuah. How accurate is it in recording history?
Answer: The Sejarah Melayu is not precise historiography.

It is a historical document if you want to know how people used to think in those days. But we cannot confirm how much of it is fact, and how much of it is pure fable. It does not record dates, and has characters that we cannot confirm existed.

For example, it does not tell us when Malacca was first founded or when a ruler ascended the throne or passed away. We have no knowledge when Hang Jebat died. History cannot be like that. It has to be very precise.

On the other hand, Ming records from China are very precise. They recorded the names of the first ruler, second ruler of Malacca, along with the dates of their reign. These facts were recorded at that particular time, and not some time after the incident.

We know from these records that in 1414, Megat Iskandar Shah came to China to report the death of his father, Parameswara. China had close ties and protected Malacca at the time. It is recorded that their first envoy to Malacca left in 1403 and arrived there in 1404.

Ming Dynasty records are the best documents on history.

Question: In Ming records, was Hang Li Po ever mentioned?
Answer: Hang Li Po was not mentioned in the Ming records. Sejarah Melayu is not considered historiography. It is a literary text. Hang Tuah was never mentioned in the Ming records.

Question: What does Hang — as in Hang Tuah or Hang Li Po — signify? Is it an honorary title?
Answer: This still can’t be concluded from our current body of knowledge.

…

Question: If Hang Tuah did not exist, then why is there a tomb that supposedly holds his body in Malacca? Malacca state recognises this as Hang Tuah’s tomb.
Answer: How come there is a tomb when he did not come back from the mountain (Gunung Ledang)? How come they accept part of the story and not accept the other part?

Question: Malacca State Museums Department director Datuk Khamis Abas said Hang Tuah was a legendary Malay warrior and this was proven in the research. What do you have to say about this?
Answer: He used the word “legendary”, right?

Full story here.

The Portuguese were one of the first European powers to enter Southeast Asia. In conjunction with a conference on Siamese relations with the west held in Ayutthaya this week, this story showcases the influence of the Portuguese in Southeast Asia.

Replica of Flor de la Mar in Malacca

Ships from the West
The Nation, 20 January 2012

The Portuguese – the first Europeans to hunt for treasure in Southeast Asia – got off to a poor start, spending two years in the early 1500s violently establishing a foothold in the Malay state of Malacca. Lesson learned, they were more diplomatic in Pegu, Sumatra and Siam.

Just how peaceful their history was in old Thailand will be examined in a conference in Ayutthaya next week on the 500th anniversary of Siamese relations with the West.

Over two days, dozens of scholars will describe what happened half a millennium ago when the hulking, bearded strangers (think of the frightening farang “guardian” statues at Wat Po) first appeared on these shores.

“Malacca was where East met West, and the Portuguese came to take over the maritime trade,” historian Charnvit Kasetsiri told reporters during a recent preliminary tour in Malacca, once known as “the Emporium of the East”.

Full story here.

Besides the “startling” news about the origins of the human race, another stir over the history of Malaysia was raised last week when eminent Malaysian historian Professor Khoo Kay Khim declared that some of the characters and stories in Malaysia’s national historical narrative were probably mythical or did not actually exist. Among those figures was the warrior Hang Tuah and the Chinese princess Hang Li Po.

Sculpture of Hang Tuah at the Malaysian National History Museum, wikicommons image

Because it is written as a genealogy, some caution must be exercised when attempting to read the annals like a historical text. After all, the first part of the Malay Annals reads like a fantasy, recounting the lineage of the kings from Alexander the Great, the magical appearance of three princes at a mountain outside Palembang (Indonesia), and how one of these princes eventually came to found a city in Temasek (present-day Singapore). Already we might read these events as a literary device to legitimising the rule of the sultans by ascribing them to divine or mystical origins. Stripped from its fantastic elements, it might note the historical events of how Malacca was founded by a prince from Palembang, who first set up a settlement in Singapore, before moving to Malacca (the common interpretation today).

The second section of the Malay Annals deals with the founding of the Malacca and the events until the fall of the sultanate to the Portuguese. Here we read about the exploits of Hang Tuah, the admiral who is the most famous of all the Malay warriors, and Hang Li Po, a princess of China who marries one of the sultans of Malacca. A well in the World Heritage Site in Malacca has been associated with Hang Li Po, while Hang Tuah has an important role in Malay consciousness because it was he who famously proclaimed that the “Malays would never be wiped off the face of the earth”. These stories have become very much a part of the narrative that is taught to schoolchildren in Malaysia today.

Because of the way the Malay Annals is written (as a genealogy to highlight the reign and achievements of kings), its publication history (even the earliest version seems to have been written after the fall of Malacca) and its many versions (some scholars suggest the variations reflect differences in where the story was told to localise the text), it is unwise to accept the Malay Annals as a straight historical account. Hence the stories of people like Hang Li Po and Hang Tuah must be evaluated as whether they were actual, factual personalities, or if they were used analogies for military encounters and political alliances. It should be noted that Hang Tuah is also the main character for another piece of Malay literature, the Hikayat Hang Tuah (The Tale of Hang Tuah), but again for the same reasons it is difficult to differentiate the legendary aspects from the factual – almost like Arthurian lore. Professor Khoo asserts that with the lack of evidence, such figures should be relegated as myth and have no place in the history books. See:

• BFM, 16 January 2012: Pendatang, Loyal Citizen Part 1: Early years of Chinese settlement (The radio interview that started it all)
• The Star, 16 January 2012: Prof Khoo: No record of the existance of Princess Hang Li Po; its a myth
• Free Malaysia Today, 16 January 2012: ‘Hang Li Po, Hang Tuah did not exist’
• The Star, 17 January 2012: History books to stick to facts
• The Star, 18 January 2012: Don: Even mythical objects found in history textbooks
• The Star, 19 January 2012: Prove me wrong, Khoo tells detractors

Of course, this revision/revalation/upturning of history does not go down well, with many expressing disagreement and confusion over the respected scholar’s comments. It should be noted that despite assertions to the opposite, none of the detractors have provided any proof of the existence of these figures:

• Malaysiakini, 18 January 2012: Suddenly what was history is now fiction
• Free Malaysia Today, 18 January 2012: ‘It’s okay if Hang Tuah did not exist’
• The Star, 19 January 2012: Shocked that Hang Tuah may be mythical
• Bernama, via The Star, 20 January 2012: Prominent archaeologist convinced Hang Tuah not a mythtoday.com/2012/01/21/another-expert-backs-khoo-on-li-po-and-tuah/”>Another expert backs Khoo on Li Po and Tu
  ah
• The Star, 22 January 2012: Is Hang Tuah fact or fiction?

Once again, the increasing ethnonationalism in Malaysia adds a political undertone in this story, much like last week’s story about the proto-Malays and the origins of the human race. The official history of Malaysia, as taught to schoolchildren, is seen to be heavily skewed towards the ethnic Malay population and under-represents the other minority groups. Professor Khoo, while a very respected scholarly figure in Malaysian society, is from the ethnic Chinese minority. Khoo has also said that the “main agenda for the [review] committee is to instil a sense of patriotism (among students)”. The education minister on the other hand, is thought to be a Malay supremacist, and part of his plans for the revision of the history syllabus is to make the subject compulsory at the high school level.

Site of Ancient Civilisation at Sungei Batu to Have Exhibition Centre
Bernama, 05 December 2011

Sungai Batu, the seat of a first century civilisation, will have an exhibition centre recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation( UNESCO).

In connection with this, Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim said UNESCO would be invited to give a new reevaluation on the civilisation.

He said, artifacts from Sungai Batu, in Lembah Bujang, Merbok which had undergone radiocarbon dating and confirmed as being from the first century or dated 101, had strengthened resolve to developed the area.

“This is a fact of archeological history that the first civilisation in the Bujang Valley is older than the Perak man found in Lenggong and is recognised by UNESCO as a world heritage.”

Full story here.