Notes on Malay History

8/9/2019 Notes on Malay History

1/24

Notes

o

Malay History,

I.

Introductory

About a dozen ye ars ago a co m l~ ari so n of th e details of

RIalay histo ry as given in th e SBjarah MBlayn

'

(or "Ma lay

Annals ) with the informat ion conta ined in the Notes on th e

M alay Archipelago an d M alacca (extrac ted and t r a n s l~ te drom

various old C hinese sources by M r. W.

P.

Groeneveldt) and

with t he section in t he C omm entar ies of Alboquerque relat ing

to th e history of Malacca led me to th e conclusion th at th e

usua l chronology, wh ich clated th e fall of Singapore and th e

found ation of M alncca in the y ear 1252 9 D or thereabouts ,

wa s hopelessly unten able. Th e evidence sveilable seemed to

make i t pret ty clear t l lat these events m us t be pu t somew hat

more than a century la ter , probably sornewhere about the

year 1377 AD. in fact .

A

sho r t paper embodying th i s con-

clusion an d som e of th e argu me nts . leading to i t w as read by

m e before th e X I th Or ienta l Congress a t Pa r i s in

1897

and

sub seq nen tly appearecl in the lsrinted trans actio ns of th at con -

gress.

T he arg um ents , in out l ine, weye these.

Firs t , th e receiv-

ed chronology gave absurdly long reigns to th e Nalac ca Raja s:

for ins tan ce four gene rations of th em ,

fram

Sul t an Muhammad

Sh ah to S ul tan Alaudclin Sh ah inclusive, are ma de to cover a

space of 201 y ea rs ; which is extremely improbable and nex t

door to impossible. Similarly th e l ife cf t h e g rea t B6ndahara

Pa du ka Raja , a leading m inister of s ta te in &Ialacca in t he

15 th .

c en tu ry a nd o n e of t h e ~ s ~ o s ttriking figures in the

SBjari%hMBli~yu,wonlcl (if we acc el ~ th e ordin ary chrono logy)

cover about 130 y e u s , during more than 100 of w hich he m us t

have held th e o& ce of BBncli~hara Th is is manifestly absurd.

Secondly, the Chinese.records, which in some cases are con-

temp orary w ith t h e events the y relate, give a l ist of the names

Sour. Straits Branch R . A

Soc.

No 3 199


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14 XOTES O

MA L A Y

HISTORY.

of th e la ter Malacca Rajas . These names (with the dates

at tached to them) make i t c lear th at their reigns fel l w ithin

the 1 5t h. cent nry and clid no t extend to th e abnormal lengths

t h a t t h e o rd in ar y c h r o ~ ~ o l o g yakes 0~16. Thirdly, there is .n o

inent ion of l fa lacc a anywhere , in a ny author i ty th at has

hith erto come to l ight, prior to th e early years of th e 15 th

century.

( I ) Th is negative evidence, fo rw ha t i t is wo rth, sup -

l ~ o r t s h e view tha t Malacca was no t founded (or a t an y ra t e

dicl not rise to t h e position of an im po rtan t comm ercial em por-

ium) much before th e beginning of th at century. On th e ot he r

hand we find mention of th e S ta te of Pase i (better P as ) in

Sum atra a t an earlier date. An abstract of i ts histo ry is

inserted in t h e SBjarah Mglayu s s a sor t of episode just before

th e account of th e fall of Singap ore. According to this ac co un t,

with which th e H ik ay at Raja-raja Pas ei in th e main agrees,

th e first Muh am ma dan ruler of Pas ei was a person who on his

conversion to Isl arr ~ took th e nam e of Malik-al-Salih. H i s

successor nras his son Malik-al.Dzahir . Now the last named

was reigning and w as already a fair ly old ma n wh en h e w as

visi ted by th e ce lebra ted Arab glohe- trot ter Ihn R atn tah in

1345 o r 1346 A . D. The in fe rence i s t ha t M ub au ~r ~a da n i s in

became th e established religion in Pnse i somew here abou t th e

year

13

A .D . T he Co mi nen tarie s of Blboqnerclne record a

native tradition t ha t Iskan dar S ha h , one of th e early Raja s of

Malacca, w as converted from Hindu ism to Islam on th e occa-

sion of his

m arr iag e wi th a claiughter of a R aja of Pa se i.

W hether h a t be so or no t , th e genera l t rend-of t rad it ion goes

to sho w' th at P asei was regaxded a s being an -older sta te th an

R ~a la cc a. A11 th is evideuce combined negativ es th e ordinarily

received view th a t 91+laccd 6ec am e 'i\iIuhernmadan in th e reign

-

of a R aja w hose accession according to th e comm only accepted

chronology took place in 1276 A.D. or thereab outs. Fo urt hly ,

the Hik aya t Raja -raja Pasei, which however is a work of un-

certain an d probably rat he r lat e d ate, speaks of

a

Javanese

espedition of c onq uest successfully directed again st Pa sei ,

Jam bi and Palembang, and shor t ly af terwards speaks of th e

1)

possible exception,

which

I hat1 not a t

that

t i m e

seen, i s

d e a l t

wit11

i n

t h e

p ~ e s e n t ap er. It does not

aft'rct

t h e a r g u m e n t .

Jour.

Straits ranch


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NOTES

ON

M A L A Y EIISTORY. 4

conq uest by th e Jav an ese of th e do min ions of t h e Ra ja of

TJlong Tan ah. Th is lat ter cou ntry is of course th e so uth ern

ext remi ty of th e Malay Pen insnla , known s ince the 1 6thc entu ry

as Johors, and the clominions of i ts Raja included a number of

is land groups, such as th e Riau-Lingga Archipelago, the N a-

tuna s , Anambas , e tc . , which are duly enumerated in th e Hlkay at

Raja- ra ja Pase i. Now we know f rom G roeneveldt s Chinese

sources t ha t Pa l embang was t aken by the Javanese in t he year

137 7 A.D. Th e inference is th at th e conquest of Ulo ng

Tan ah an d i ts insular possessions (which mus t have included th e

island of Singapore) took place sho rtly afte r 1 37 7 A.D. Th e

foun dation of RiIa]acca m us t the n be p u t at som e interm ediate

date be tween 1377 and 14 A.D.

;

an d th e establisl lme nt of

Mnham madanism in tha t Sta te cannot have taken place very

m an y years before the close of th e 14 th. centu ry. W hen f i rs t

visited by C hinese envo ys in th e first clecacle of th e 1 5t h . cen-

tu ry , i t was a ~4uh am mac lan t a te .

11

Allusions to Malays

in the

Pararaton.

propose here to draw at tent ion to a few addi t ional d ata

which confirm th e conclnsions already sta ted an d t l l ro ~v l i tt le

m ore l ight on a very obscu re period of Malay history. At th e

t ime of reading my paper had not had access to th e Javanese

histor ical work styled t > e Pa rar ato n ( i.e. Book of Kings) ,

wh ich has been edited and transldted (w ith th e addition of

copious and valuable notes) by the la te m nch lamented

Dr.

J. L . A. 13randes, a mo st em ine nt a uth ority on th e history of

the Ea ste rn Archipelago. Th is appeared in 189 6 in Dee1

X L I X

of th e Verhandel iugen van het Bataviaasch Genoo tschap van

Kun sten en W etenschapp en. I t i s a woYk of uncer ta in rla te

and authorship: but is probably in par t based on more or less

contempo rary records of th e eve nts i t relates , an d is cer tainly

older than 1600 A.D. I t i s of no great leng th ; bn t i t is one of

th e few professedly his tor ical works in this par t of th e world

th at can really lay claim to some historical value. (Most

Javanese and Mala) histories are a blend throughout of

fac t and myth

;

bnt in the Parara ton only the beginning

bears the stamp of being merely legendary). It contains

A SOC NO 53 I9 9


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I4 NOT S ON M JJBTT JITSTORV.

a large nu m be r of da te s ancl covers t h e periocl 12 22 -1 48 1

A.D. ( in th e original 1144 -1403 Caka). Th is period includes

th e t ime w hen the g rea t Jav anese S ka te of Majapah i t

was founded and f lourished

;

and the Parara ton g ives Inany

interes t ing detai ls abo ut th e h is tory of Ja va dur ing th is epoch.

I t s a l lusions to M alay h is tory ar e unfor tunately

'

(as is

natural) mu ch sca ntie r . will give the m here brief ly.

T he f irst one occu rs i n th e ac co unt of th e reign of Cri

KB rtanagara, t h e la st k ing of Tumap61, wh o reigned

'

(according

to the Pa rara t on) f rom Caka 1194 to 1197 (1272-1275 A.D.)

( 6

Th is k ing , we are to la , se nt h is t roo ps agains t Malayu."

T he im me diate resnlt of this un wise expedition, wh ich left

TumapEl nlm ost ciefenceless ( there were very few men left a t

Tun~apBl,m ost of th em having been se nt to l Ialayu") , wa s th e

fall nf his lringclom in th e s am e y ear t t h e h:nds of a n o th e r

Java nese Ra ja , one Ja y a Katorlg, of Da ha. Th e expedit ion

aga inst Ma layu ancl th e fall of Tnlnap61 occnrred in th e sa m e

yenr , 1197 Caka," i . e . 12 75 A.D. Assuming th is da te to

be

correct, th e expedition m us t have been on a considerable scale.

and n ot a mere raid , for the t roops , we are to ld , did not re turn

t i l l many years la ter , apparent ly in

1293

A

D . They brought

baclr with th em , a s par t of their booty , i t may be presumed,

tw o M alay pr incesses : one of the se, by nam e D ar a PBtak was,

su b seq n en t ly marri ed to R ad en W i~ a y a , he f i r s t king

of

Maja-

pah i t , who bore th e roya l s ty le of Vr i KP r tarajas a; the o ther ,

callecl D ar a Jingg a, became th e wife of a

high

chief and the

mother of th e pr ince T uh an Ja na ka , s ty led Cr i M armadew a,

with the t i t le of R at u r ing M alnyn , and nfter tvnrds also styled

.\ji Mantrolot.

There is no th ing to show ns which Malay s ta te in par t icu -

lap was th e victim of this onslau ght. B u t a s from th e close

of th e 7th cen tury at least ( y d perha ps earlier) a.nc1 for

m any centur ies la ter th e term M alayu was especially ap-

plied to th e homeland of th e M alays, i. e. Central Sumatra

nor th-w est of Pale m ban g, i t is probable that th e Javanese ex-

pedition wa s clirected agains t this region. I n an y c ase som e

Jour

Straits Branc


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NOT S O N MALAY HISTORY 143

part of Su m atra is a lmost certa inly intended. During the

interva l between th e despatch and th e re turn of this expedi-

tion stirring events had occurred in Java. M ajapahit had been

founded and th e wellkno\vn invaBion of th e isl .and b y . th e

forces of Kublai K ha n, th e Mongol E m per or of China (called

i n t h e P a r a r a t o n Ra t u T a t a r

)

had taken place. I t isdescrib-

ed in

th e Par ara to n , but i t s de ta il s do not concern u s

here.

ought perhaps to add that while it seems to follow from

the account in th e Para raton tha t King KBrtanagara was kil led

by his enemies of Da ha at th e time wh en TumapEl fell, the

facts ?re really otherw ise. W e know from an inscription dated

Caka 1872 '

1350

A.D. , reproduced with transliteration,

translation and co mm entary by Professoi. Kern in the B ijdrag-

en tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenltuncle ven Nederlandsch-

Indie (Dee1

LVIII),

that he clid not actnally die till the year

Cak a 121 4' (1292 A.D .), sho rtly before the arrival of t he

ifongo1 expedit ion ' (which reached Ja va in 129 3

A.D.).

This

seem s to th row som e doubt on th e correctness of t he cli~te on

which th e expedition is supposed to have been despatched to

Malayn.

But the point is not really very material.

T he next mention in th e P ara rato n of Malay coun tries

occurs in or afte r th e accoun t of th e reign of a certain queen

of NIajapahit st yl ed , (from he r place of residence) B hr en g

Kah nripan , w hose re ign began in 1331 A.D. I n th e year 1346

A.D. th e celebrated Gajah NIada, whose nam e is familiar to

th e readers of X al ay chronicles (which wrongly introduce

h i m into their somew hat legendary accounts of the 15th .

century

)

hecame

p tili aazc~ngk~cbl~7inzi,

ha t i s to say pr ime

min ister, of M ajapabit. On a certain unda ted occasion

'

(bu t

certa inly after 1334 and presumably a fter 1346

A.D.)

we are

to ld tha t Ge jah N'acla, the apatih a man gkub hnm i made a

now th at he would eat no pnl 6pa (wh atever th at may be)

until Nu san tara shall have been subdued., until Gu run , Seran,

Tafijung Pur a , H ar u, Paha ng, Dompo, Bali,

Sunda,

Palem-

bang an d Turna sik sha ll have been subdued ; t h k will e at

pnlnfin, said he.

..

R. A

Soc., No.

53

'1909.


6/24

1 4

4

NOTES ON MALAY HISTORY

f

the se nam es , N nsa nta ra i s be lieved to denote th e

Archipelago genera l ly , G urn n i s Goram , Seran i s Ceram , both

in the Moluccas , Do m po is a s ta t e in the is land of Sum baw a,

Bal i i s the i s land ' ly ing immedia te ly to the eas t.of J av a , S und a

is th e weste rn end of Ja v a i tsel f , and P alemb ang is of course th e

wel l-known place of th a t na m e in south-ea s tern Sum at ra .

H aru , which i s of ten ment ioned in th e Sgjarah MBlayu, w as a

s t a t e on th e eas t coas t of Sum at ra , Ta i ij ung Pu ra i s ev iden tly

Borneo or som e par t icular spot in Borneo, where a p lace

bear ing th a t na m e did in fac t exis t.

I

ollow her e the identifica-

t ions given by Brandes) . Th e nam es th a t part icular ly in teres t

us a re Pahang and Tum as ik : the former requires no co mm ent ,

th e la t te r i s cer ta in ly Singapore . I n th e SBjarah MBlayu th e

bld &m e of S inga pore is given as

,

-L

w h ic h t h e M n b g s

nowadays pronounce TBmasak. I t i s evident, however , th a t

t he re has been

a

break in th e t radi t ion here : t h e y o u g h t t o

call th e place TBmasek, as i t i s pr inted in th e Romanised 1898)

edi t ion of th e SBjarah M d ag n , fo r t h at would be the, proper

Malay equivalent for th e Javan ese form Tum asik , and we shal l

mee t w ith th e lat ter form again in ziqother Javanese wo rkd in h e

sam e connect ion. Brand es derives th e nam e f rom tcisek sea ,

and imagines an identification with Samnclra

'

(near Pasei) but

refer s to th e possibi li ty of Singapore being meant . Th e En cy -

clopaedie van Ne ded and sch -Ind ie (s . v. Tochten , vol. IV ,

pp.

383-4 , following Pro fesso r K er n, correctly identifies i t with

Singapore.

Evide nt ly , (and th i s i s imp or tant as .confi rming the amend-

ed chronology of th e Pen insula ), Singapore w as sti l l in exist-

e nc e a s a s t a t e i ~ n s u b d n e d b y M a j ap a h it a t t h e t im e w h e n

Gajah Mada made h i s vow, some ,yhere abou t t he yea r 1346

A.D. probably.

I t could n ot therefore hav e been f inally de-

st royed by th e force s of Rilajapahit in

1252

B.D . ( in which yea r ,

i t ma y be reli larkecl, N Iajapahit had n ot yet been found ed).

Mo s t n nfor t~u la t e ly he re i s a t t h i s po in t ol l acuna in th e

text of th e Pa rar ato n an d nothing wha tever is told us of th e

im po rta nt eve nts wll ich took place in pursuance ' of Gajah

Jour. Straits

Branch


7/24

NOT S

O N

[:LLbY I-IISTORY.

45

M:~da ' sdecla~:eclpolicy of conqu est , except th at in 1357 X.D.

he picked a qu:trrel with th e Sun dane se wh ich ended in a

b lo od y b a tt le ~ v l ~ e r e i nhe y were defeated and s laug htered , and

tha t i n t he '~a cn e ea r an expedi ti on from ? Ia j a l~a h i t conque red

Do mp o. Th ere up on , cve are tolcl , Ga jah

Mads

again

rnade use of

pnlnpn.

Are we enti t led to infer that the whole of th i s grea t

m i n -

ister's pro gra m me of aggressive imperialism ha d been carried

out a t tha t d a te ? Alas, no for we know f rom Chinese sources

that Palell lbang was not conquered t i l l 1377 A.D., nine yea rs

af te r Gajah M ada 's de a th ' (which the Pa rara to n pu ts in Cska,

1290, i . e.

1368

A.D.). It would seem th a t h e was not ' par-

t icular in adhering to th e very ls t te r of h is

v o w ( a s s l ~ r n i u ~t

to he correc tly repor ted) but was content to

ut

nl?

.ivith an

instalmenf of his ambit ious plan. Un fortun ately the P ar ar a-

ton th u s leaves us in th e dark as to the precise clnte w hen

Singapore mas taken and destroyed ; l>ut i t lnnkes i t ~ l ~ i nh a t

th e event m us t have ha1,pened in the 14 th and no t , as th e old

chronology h as i t ,

ia

the 13 th century . have a l ready men-

t ioned th e fact th at the Hik avat Reje-mjn. Pasei 11nts the

conq uest of th e dom inions of th e king of Ujong Tan nh

sho rtly after th at of Palem bang . H ut i t does not specifically

m entio n Sin gap ore , though it s list of the isluncls conq uered

on this occasion includes Tinlbalan, Siantan

'

(in th e originel,

S ia tan) , JBmaja , Bnngu ran , SBrasan, Snbi , Polau I laut , Tiom-

an , P u la u Tinggi, PBmanggilan, K arim ata, BBlitong, Ban gka,

Lingga, Riau, Bintan and Bulang.

111 he vidence o the ~agarakr i ta~ama.

Pro bab ly we shal l never know th e exact da te of th e fal l

of Singapore.

B u t th e evidence

available

may a t any t ime he

st re n g th en ed by solme acciclental (1iscovel.y of a l.>i the rto

n n -

I


8/24

46

NOTES ON

MA L A Y

I I ISTORY.

our of th e then reigning sovereign of M ajapah it .

T he l iing in

ques tion was H ay am W urnk , known by th e roya l s ty le of k ing

'Rajasanaga ra and a l so ns Sang H ya ng WBkasing Sukha , no t

to m ention al l h is o th er t i t les . Th is mona rch , who

w as a

son of the queen already m entioned, appears to have ascended

th e th r o n e a t t h e age of 1 6 in t h e y ea r 1 3 5 0 A.D., h is mother

(who t il l the n had .acted a s regent) having hamled over th e

go ve rn m en t t o 11im i11 t h a t ye ar ancl he reign ed till his cleath i n

th e year 13 89 A D I t was dur ing h is re ign t ha t th e power of

l l a j ap ah i t real ly culminated ancl i ts pol it ical expansion reach -

ed i ts widest ex tent .

T he l )oem, w r i t ten in th e Java nese language of th at period ,

is a11 impo r tan t h is to rica l docum ent . Th e un ique ~ n e n n s c ~ i p t

conta ining i t w as discovered b y th e la teDr . Brancles among th e

books of t h e last Balinese ruler of Lombolr, wh en th a t is land

w as taken under th e i ~ n ~ n e d i ~ t eontrol of th e D utc h colonial

Dr. Rrandes publ ished i t in Deel L I V of the

Verhandelingen van he t Batav iaasch Genoo tschap van K an s te a

en W etenschappen iu 1902 . Unfor tuna te ly

h e

only gave the poem

in theor ig inal Bal inesescr ip t , w ithout t ransl i teration , t ranslat ion

notes or cornrnentary , a c i rcumstance which leaves i t

a

sehled

.book except to an extremely l imited num ber of specialis ts or

i t i sg iven to few (evenam ongs t D ~z tch cho lars ) to unders tand

14 th . cen tu ry Javanese and read the Balinese charac te r read i ly .

U n d e r t h e cir cu m sta nc es o n e m u s t be t h a n k f ~ ~ lha t Pro fesso r

Ke rn h as g iven som e information on th e subject for the bene-

f it of th e general reader , wh o is not a X ami scholar . I n th e

Ind ische G ids for 19 03

I,

pp

341-360 ) he gave a gen eral ac -

count of t h e con tents of t h e poem, with par t icu lar reference to

some of i ts geographical da ta , an d in Deel L V I I I (1905) ancl

Deel L X I (1905) of th e Bijdragen to t de Taal- , L an d- en Vol-

kenkunde van Neder landsch-Indie he returned to the sub jec t

and dea lt mo re particnlarly with so m e of th e genealogical ancl

chronological details contain ed in th e poem. Colonel G .

E

Ge rini furth er dealt with som e of th e geographical dat a of th e

N garakgt g i i~na,specially those connected with Siam and

th e M alay

Pen insula , in paper pnblished in th e Journ al of

th e Roya l As ia t ic Soc ie ty ( Ju ly 1905) , to which I wrote a

Jour Straits Branch


9/24

N O T E S

O N

MALAY FIJ.STORY. 47

r e ~ l y ontest ing his claim of an ancient Siam ese occupst ion

of th e whole Penin sula

(J.

R. A S. , J a n u a r y 1906). I n t h e

Enoyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indie (s . v. To chte n, vol. IV

p.

354

the geographical data relat ing to th e Archipelago and

th e Pe nin su la are again exalninecl and som e identifications

suggested.

Th ere i s s t il l scope for a few more rema rks on these

m a t t e r s

:

the subjec t is one of local intere st to th e readers of

th i s Journa l , an d som e of th e ident i f ica t io~is h a t have been

sug ges ted require to be arnended. Th e Niiyaral i6t~igarnamen-

t ions a considerable nu m ber of places in th e Ea st er n Archipel-

ago and the Malay Peninsula as being subject to the empire of

i\l lajapahit. Beginning in Ca nto 3 wit11 Sumatra, it specifies

J z m b i ,

Palembsng, 'I'Ega, D h; r r r n~ .~ ra ya ,candis, Icanwas,

Manangkebo , S iyak RBkan , Ih m p a r , Pa ne , Kam ge , Ha ru ,

Mandah i li ug , Turn ihang , P~ t r l a l r, B a t h , .Lw as , Samndra ,

L rtinur i, Ba t an , Lam pnng and Barus . Th ese and some

o t l ~ e r si e i n t h e l and of Xa layu , says t h e poem, as abs t r ac t-

ed by Professor Kern. It then proceecls to deal with the

depe nden cies on th e is la ~ ld f Tafijungna::ara, which i~

clear ly

the same as the 1 s-fijung Purapf t he Pa ra ra ton and

is

certainly

Bo rneo , as th e nam es of the several places on i t snff iciently

prove.

They

are : Ka pua s , Ka t ingnn , Sam pi t , K uta L ingga ,

Ku ta W er ingin , Sam bas , Lawai , ICadangdangan, Land,&,S a m &

dan g, Tir5112, Sed u, B uru ne ng ' (pr ob ab ly for BB rnna i-Bru nei),

ICalasaludung, Solo t, Pasir, Baritu, Sawak u, Tab alun g, Tuii-

jungkute, Malano, and the capi tal town Tal i jungpuri .

T h e poet next proceeds ( in th e second s t ro ph e of Canto

14) to enum erate a l i s t of p laces, which l ike tho se in th e two

preceding l i s t s , thoug h not in s t r ic t geographica l o r d e ~ , ave

evident ly been grouped together because th ey belong to one

de finite region . Th is region, to w11icl1 no ge neral nam e app ears

to be attachecl, is th e i\ 'lalay Peninsu la. Th e four l ines in which

they occur appear to m e to read as follo\~rs n th e pr inted text :-

i kang sakahawan P ehan g p ramuka t aug H ujun g Medin i

re LBngliasuka len ri S ai m wa ng i KalantEn i Tringgano

N a ~ o r a k a M u w a r D u n g u n r i T nm asilr r i S an g H y a n g

R A SOC. NO 3 1909


10/24

48 NOT S ON MBL P IlISTORY

can no t claim to Be a Kaw i scholar ancl i t is qu ite l~ o ss i-

ble th at in m y at teml?ted t ransl iteration I m ay have diviclecl

som e of th e Jav an ese wo rds wrongly th e original ru n s .most of

the m toge ther wi thou t a break. B n t I am only concerned

w i th th e proper names which. the passage conta ins , and as

in th e interp reta t ion of som e of t l~ e se ven ture to. dif fer f rom

p r e v i o ~ r s c o r n m e n t a t o ~ s ,t was necessary to quote . th e whole

passage. T.he poet then goes o n to detai l the dependencies

lying to t h e east -w ard of J av a, beginning with B ali and inclurl-

ing a num ber o f 'places in th e Lesser Snn da Is lz incls , th e Mo-

iuccas and Celehes ancl even a s far as New G uin ea ; , in fact ,

covering pra 'cticall ;. t he whole Archipelago except th e P h i l i p

pines. I t is no t necessary for m y purpose to enum,erate t l ~ e s e

places here . ' B u t t h e vvllole list gives a ve ry good sum mal.)- oE

th e Archipelago a s known to th e Javanes e in th e 14th century

of

opr era; and tho agh in

a

good

m i n y

cases theclai ln ofsnprem cy

m a y h av e been of n s om e w h at s h a d o ~ ~ ~ yiincl, yet the list is

evidence of the l~redorninaatjbsition held h y the ltingclom

of

Majapah i t a t this period.

To re turn now

to

th e place-nnmes p o r e gar ticulayly corr-

nected with the 343,lay Peninsula : Pahang, Kalanten , Tr ing-

gnno, KEllang' (noweclays less a ccu rately wr itten K laug ) and

K6da

( i ,

o I


11/24

River , ' r~nc lha t i s no doub t t he r eason why the two a r s s epa r -

at ely meationecl. T he Eu cy cl op id ie conjectarally iclentifies

LBngltasulta wit11 Selaug or, which is ce rti~ illly m istak e. Sa i

is one of t l ~ e ata ni s ta te s and l ies to the nor th -wes t of KG-

I i~ nta u . At th i s poin t

i n y

reading cliffe~sro111 Pr of ess or K er n' s.

H e r e ad s t h e w o rd s SaB ,in~rtrn /ogether as one proper nam e,

which he t rnnsl iterates Semong. B ut I kno w of no suc h

place-name an d take vrzoang to be a part ic le , as in the p i~ ss i ~g e

in Crtnto 13 which rends Sn?ln~drct nzrc17~q Lci11r7~1 1SL~CUL

I , L I I Z ~ I L ~ Z ~I L Z L : ~ , ~ Z { /

H L C I Z L S .Where t he t ex t I I ~ L S allparent1

y

N:~co r , P ro fes so r Kern wr it es Wagor. Pe rhap s N a ~ o r

was a ulis11l.int.

If

i t is r ight I c10 not kn ow w ha t it st an ds

for. Nagor h as been identif ier? by the En cy clo ye die w ith

Ligor ancl

11t~ve o alternative explanation to snggest . B u t

there

is

~

d i t f i c ~ ~ l ~ y

er t .

:

f o r

place citlled

L)har rn , ' l~ l%gar i

mentioned in Canto

15

of th e p o el n h a s a l so ( b y C ol. ~ e r i n i )

been identified with Ligor. nloreove r Ligor was a t this l~eriocl

certainly tr ibutary to Siarn nd could not w ith an y show of

reason be claimed by Majapr t l~ i t .

T h e next. two names , which take to be Pa ka and M n~val . ,

are read as onc expression

I

Pi ~k am nm ar by Professor Icern .

T h e E n c y c l o p a J i e s u gg es ts t l ~ a they rep rcsc nt 118kan M ua r,

th a t is to sa y a m ar t in th e tlistrict oE Munr o r oil th e R'luar

ri\.er. I incline to thin k tllat tliey stancl for two dis tinct places,

~ i z .a ; kIt1ar, ~ \ l I ~ ic h1011~forms par t of Jobo re, ( i .e . the mouth

of th e iNuar river, no t i ts upper cou rse) nncl 13) a r iver on the

East coast lying between IC6rnam,zn ancl Dungun in the state

of TrFtngganu. New bo ld ' (vo l. ii , p.

60

of his well known work

on the Pen insula B ri t ish Set t lem ents i,n th e Str ai ts of Malac-

ca ) spel ls i t P a k a a; Skinner in his .Geogm phy of the Malay

Per~insnla 11 . 29) cel ls i t P ak a ; my friend I\'lr. W. W. Skeat

informs lne tha t the Socie ty 's mal I spel ls i t Pake . Th e ident i -

fication is conjectui-al , of course, i ~ n d pn t i t forwa rd w ith

some clif6dence. B u t i t seems on the whole rather more prob-

ab le t han t he p 6 k ~ a in t.e rp re ta ti on .

The

next name, Dun-

~ L L L ~vllich is i~lso ~ r i \ ' e r -na lne , h i~susL been illcidelltally

accou nted for and requires no furthei. explaniztion. Tum asik,

R . A.

Suc

No 53 ~gog


12/24

1

5 0

NOT S O

MA L A Y

HISTORY.

identi fied i n th is connexion with t h e Is land

of Singapore by

Professor K er n , Colonel Ger in i ancl t h e En cyclo psdie ,

inily

safelj l be said to be determined beyond all doubt or question :

an nclclitional piece of evidence regarding it

will

be mentionecl

la ter . JGre m ay, as th e En cy clo yz die suggests, be JBring in

t h e P a t a n i s t at e s.

B u t i t might equally well s tand for G un -

ong JBrai

;

only th is d is t r ic t is a lreacly refer red to by the m en -

tion of L 6ng kasn ka.

Kaiijapiuiran has received 11 satisfactory explanation as

ye t. Clea rly, if i t is a Rialay place-n am e an d not altogeth er

cor rup t , th e expression m us t be a co ml~ onndone, no t a single

word.

Th e r e r em a in s o n ly Sang ( H y an g ) H u ju n g .

Th i s i s r a th e r

an in t e re s t in g n ame . Pro fesso r Kern wr i tes i t Sang R ya n g

H u c l j u n , b ~ i th e o rigina l d i st in c tly h as a g ~ t t n r a l a s a l a s

th e finai of t h e last

word. T he Encyclo~~aecl ieonjectural ly

identif ies i t w ith Ujong Salang, i .e. J u n k Ceylon.

F o r t h i s

the re is no shado w of evidence or probability.

W e m u s t l ook

for i t e lsewhere.

lay n o s t r ess a t a ll on the f ac t of t he nam e

oc ct ~r r in g etween those of l urnasil i and Kglang th Z N iig ar -

al


13/24

NOTES O 349LAP HISTORY. 151

th a t might be. B u t there ex i s ts n o river of th a t nam e : t h e

nam e i s no t a r ive r-name a t all b u t t h e n a m e

of

a smal l

s t re tch of coast - l ine, and though there is an imp ortan t cape

the re i t ha s no river alongside of i t . One pop ular etymology

is reported by M r.

D.

F. A Hervey in No. 13 of t h i s Jou rna l ,

P. 241.

B u t i t is as impossible as most popular e tymologies

usually are and is moreover lrlixed u p with an equally improb-

ab le exy lana tion of th e na m e of t h e st at e of RF?mbau.

I t i s

real ly n ot worth repeat ing here, for th e 14 th cen tury Jav ane se

nam e expla ins every th ing . Th e modern nam e Snngai Ujong i s

evidently a cor rupt ion ( through the 17th cen tury San-yan g

Hu jong ) of th e of Sang H ya ng Hu jung , wh ich means much

t h e s a m e a s our

Holyhead .

T h e reference is to th e pronlo ntory nsua,lly called Cape

Racl~aclo,ro111 th e Portug uese nam e, which th e M aleys now -

adays s ty le Tanjoug Tuan. I t i s a ce lebra ted k r ~ ~ z c ~ tr

s h r i n e a d h a s of course its local Iegeilcl. ( ) Nowadays

I

fancy i t is sul)gosed to be th e toinb of so m e orthodox

Mul~~ammac l snain t or wol.tby. B u t in fact i t is a n 0li1

anim istic holy glace going back to very ancien t t imes and

owing i ts or igin to

a

simple. n a tu r d l>henomenon. Th e reason

for t h e speci.il sa1.lctification of th e s po t is in cide ntally given by

Begbie ' ( Th e M alayan Peninsa la ," y. 432) ancl Newbold' O ~ J .

cit., vol. ii, 12.

38) . It

is merely th a t a t th is cape 1iw0 strong

ancl 01)posing currenlis m eet ancl cau se a clangerous edd y or race

in -which boa ts a r e l iab le t o be upset . H e y e i t has na tu r al ly

come abo ut th at , to use Newbolcl

s

phrase, th e Dn t ln Tanjong

T ilan , th e elcler of Ca pe R ac ha do , is a sa in t of no orclinary

celebrity among the: sea-faring class of aatives."

Th at exhaus t s the names connected wi th the Peninsula

contailled i n th e passacre I have e xtra cted from the N?i_vnrakre~i%-

L

gama. I gath er f rom Professor Kern 's abst ra ct th at the las t

two words imply th at besides the places specif ied there p e r e

several groups of is lands which th e poet ha s no t thou ght i t

1) Tlle legend ha s been pu t on record by'

M r .

1 .

?

A . Herv ey

in

M a n "

1904),

pp.

6 6

;

h u t a t Llle n io nle ut of w r i t i ~ ~ g

an ull

a b l e to r e fe r t o i t f o r t h e p u r p o se of s e e in g w l ~ e t l l e r t t l ~ r o ~ v sn y

ad d i t i o n a l l i g ht , o n t h e o r i g in of t h e n am e Snngai Cijong.

R .

A . Soc., No.

53

xgog


14/24

52

N O T E S O MALAY HISTORY

necessary to n:Lme.

Un fortunately the se old nam es tel l us very

l i t tle ibo ut tho condit ion of th e Pen insula a t the per iod when th e

N ii~a rak 1.5 tag arn a as wri ten. But the y tell

u s

something.

W e

need not fullow the loyal and co ~r rt l y rapaiicha

i l l

c l a i ~ i ~ i r ~ gha t

X aja pa hi t exercised a real suprem acy over al l these places;

P i ~ l e m b a n gwas not conqnerecl b y the Javanese unt i l a dozen

yea rs l ate r ancl yet it is incluilecl a~ n o n g s t he clel~enden cies of

M a j a l ~ a h i t n th e poem. I t is er lual ly improbable th a t su ch

out lying places as I i6 lan tan and Sai were genuinely s nbjec t to

Majapahi t . B u t th e l i s t of Pen insula r names sutices a t a n y

ra te to negative the view recently put forwarcl by M r. R. J.

Wilkinson in Pnp ers O II Malay Snbjec ts (His to ry , P a r t I,p.8)

th a t th e Malny colonis i~t ion f

the

Peninsu la da tes on ly f rom th e

year 1400

A.

D. E vide n tl y t he re w e re a l r e a dy in the ln idd l e o f the

1 4 t h

cen tury

a

num ber of se t t lem ents sca t tered a long th e

coas t - l ine , both on th e eas t and on th e wes t side of the P en ia -

sula.

It

i s noticeal jle th a t unl ike t h e names re la t ing to S uni-

a t r a

none of the Peninsular names given

n

tbe Nagsraliri : t%garna

have any re fe rence to th e in te r io r of th e cou nt ry : they a re

se t t lem ents on th e coas t or bare ly a few miles in land) . Som e

of these se t t l ements even th e ~ i o re the same narnes as they

70

a t th e presen t d ay and on e or two of the se names a re dist incb-

ly M alay . La ngk asu ka is no dou bt of Ind ian origin, Nag or (if

th at be the right readin g) is India n ~llodifiecl

by

Indo-Chinese . ,

pr on un cia tio n, KBlang K &clah and JBre may possibly be of M on -

K hm er origin, Sai is perha ps Siam ese, and most of th e oth ers

I

woulcl no t try to explain. B u t KBlantan seem s to be N alay an

in fo rm, and D ungun i s the M alay name for

n

common sen-

shore t ree (according to

Mr. H. N .

Ridley in N o.

30

of th is Jo ur-

nal ,

1111. 87 K 44) . Of

course S an g 'H y an g H u j ~ ~ n gs M alayan

also, but i t i s just th e so r t of na m e tha t mariners give to a not-

able

l l ~ n d u ~ a r knd b y

itself it would not be evidence of a c tu i~ l

h ln lay se t t l ement hu t lne re ly of Ma1a.y ~ ~ ~ ~ v i g a t i o nnd trade.

Taking

these na ,mes , hon ~ev er ,

s

whole,

I

th ink th ey support ;

the inferencethatbefo. re

1365

A.D. theMnlnps l~ ada l read y o lon-

isecl Lot11 c o i~ s ts f th e P eninsu la,. It i s a lso pre t ty c lear th a t

a t t hn t

d te

Singq~ot -e a s

still

in esis tence and t h a t M alacca

h i ~ d ot jret been founclecl

:

for a l i st t l l i ~ t num erates Kelang, S un -

J o \ ~ r .

Slraits

Bra nc h


15/24

N O T E S O N MALAY I ~ 1 S T O R Y . 54

gai Ujong , Singapore en d (prob ably) i\Iriar would hardly have

omitted M alacca, wh ich lies between the se l~ la ce s, f it hacl

existed a t th at t ime. Th is s tr ing of nam es therefore once

more confi rms t he am ended chronology th at have suggested.

W itho ut lay ing any part icu la l- s t ress on th e fac t . th ink

i t is worth while drawing a t ten tion to t h e consic lerable galls

Irft by

the Xsgarak r t igam a i l l its e ~ ~ u m e r a t i o u .

I'he

Ertcyclo-

~ s d i eoints out the omission of Senggora, ancl P at an i. I t is

equally noticeable th at th ere is a complete blank between

Ii6clall ancl Xe lang no t a single place on th e coa st of P er ak is

.mentioned. T he sam e is t ru e of th e coast- l ine intervening

be tween th e Pah ang r iver and Po in t Rnmgnia. It may be

snrmised th a t th e re were a t tha t ea r ly cle te no se t t lemen ts of

any note along those two strips of coast.

IV.

F u r t h e r D e t a il s f r o m t h e W u -P ei- Pi -S hu C h a r t s .

brief reference must be made to some additional allnost

co n t e ~ n p o r a r yeviclence wh ich serv es to confir111 th a t of th e

N5garaklE:iigama in some points and t o supplernel~t t in others .

For reasons \vh ic l~will prese ntly be obvious can no t pretend

to do justice to thi s indep ende nt sourc e, ancl regret th at I

can only use i t as a sort of a l~l~ encl ixo rvhat ha s ~ ~ l re t~ c l yeen

saicl, ins tea d of dealing with it as adeq uately as it deserves.

T he evidence in question is th at of t he Chinese ch art s appended

to Chinese work called themi l-yei- pi-sh n, by one Sh e, Yung-

t 'oo. This work , i t appears f rom two papers in Vol .

XX.,

pp.

209-226

and Vol. X X I . ,

pp. 30142

of the Jorrrnal of the China

Br anch of th e Royal Asia t ic S ocie ty, is a re la t ively m odern com-

pilation but embodies m u c h makerial talien straight out of con-

siderably older books. M r.

G. Phil l ips , th e auth or of the two

papers jus t re fe rred to , considers tha t t he ch ar ts appended to i t a re

older th an the comm encem ent of the f ifteenth cent ury. They

ar e a.lleged to be t h e cha r ts used b y the Chinese cap ta ins who

navigate:l

t he

vessels conveying the celebreted Chinese

envoy

C h h g K O ( co n l~ l~ o n l yalled S a ~ n - ~ ~ o )~ n d

i s

su i te to the var i -

ous s o u tl ~ e rn n'cl wester11 cou ntr ies which Ile visited. (T his

envoy,

I

Ill )' l )a~.ent[le t ic i~[1ybserve, is recorcie~l o have visit-


16/24

54 NOT S ON M A L A Y

HISTORY.

ed Malacca in

1409 A

D. T he l is t of m an y oth er places

wh ich h e visited in t h e cou rse of his official caree r is given

i n

an ext rac t f rom the His tory of th e Ming Dy nas ty by Mr .

W .

P.

Groe~levelclt n his valuable N ot es on th e M alay Archipel-

ago an d l ila lacca, reprinted in Bliscel la l~eous ape rs relat ing

to Indo-China, and th e Inclian Archipelago, 2nd Series , Vol.

I. p.

170.

H e went as far afie ld as Magadoxu in E a st Africa).

Mr . G. Phillips h as published facsimiles of the se c ha rts

in t h e form of a long continuous strig, divided for convenience

in to two pa r ts . Th e pa r t r e la t ing to t h e r eg ions to t he ea s t -

ward of Tenasserim appears in Vol. XXI. , of the

S.

China

Branch R .A .S . an d i s t h e one t ha t concerns us he re . It con-

taius a g reat de al of geographical information in a m uc h

dis tor ted shape . Th ere i s

no

approach to accuracy in i t s

plotting of the outline s of th e different coun tries se t down in

i t . Th us th e coas t of th e Malay Peninsula i s l aid down as a n

irregular l in e, following o ne a lm os t uniform direction fro111

right to lef t of the ch art , a l l t h e way between SBnggora a nd

Tenasser im . I n fact i t is plainly th e record of

R n

ac tua l

coasting voyage or voyages. Is la nd s are m arked in va;ioas

places along th e coast and both on these and on m any points

of the coast l ine itself sp pe ar Chinese characters . N an y of

these characters represent in t ranscr ipt ion the nat ive naines of

places. Oth ers appe ar to be Chinese clescn l~tivenames .

A

good m an y of th es e variou: place na m es have been identified

by Mr . Phil lips. B u t he a lq ea rs t o have omi t ted a cer ta in

llumber of others. H i s tran slite ratio n of th e Chinese cbara c-

hers follows a dialect which is evident ly not the on e in which

they were in tended to be read and does not tend to fac il it a te

identification. Pro bab ly to o a good deal of add ition al light

coulcl be throw n on the se na m es by som e o ne possessed of

local knowledge. therefore ven ture to invi te th e at tent ion

of Chinese scholars in th e S t ra i t s to these char t s and sugges t

that, th ey should bring the ir com bined local knowleclge and

Chinese scholarsh ip to bear upon them .

I n the meant ime M r . Phil lips ' l abours enable m e to quote

a cer tain num ber of glace nam es recorded in this cha rt . Pr o-

Jour traits

Branch


17/24

NOT S

ON .IALAT HISTORY.

55

ceeding from right to left and start ing zt Sgnggorag a

Srm-ku-nn., we pass four groups of unexplained Chinese

charac ters and t llen arr ive a t the I i6lantan r iver

En' &

I


18/24

156 NOTES O N MALAY EIISTORY.

-

to tlie l ef t ((port, so uth ) sicle

( 1

Tan-nacc-sezh

s marked on the

co ast just opy osite th e secon d of th e starbon1.d islands .

After

passing the shoal to port , th e course run s between Karim un

5 lp7

Keih-li-nwt,

hich it l ikewise leaves to i ,ort,

aria P ~ i l a ~ l

i sang l ~ ~ & Qi-s./iuy-s~ c,

eaving the latter

t o s ta rb o nrd. T h i s s ee m s to m e to c lin ch t h e ~ o m a k = T B h a -

sek

=

Tan-ma-seih = Singapore equation absolutely.

7

Of

coilrse th e ch art is n ot evidence th at Singapore was

s t il l an inhabi ted se tt lement a t the t ime wh n i t w as compiled.

.laps ~ n dha rts often contain names th at are merely. tcadition-

a1 : they a re

usually

compilat ions-, en~b odyin g he notes and

rec ord s of several ge ne rat ion s of trav ellers and navigato rs.

Besides, nam es often adh ere to sites long after they have ceased

to be inhabi ted . W e sha l l see in

a mom ent tha t th is i s prob-

ably the case in the present instance , for t he -ne xt th ing on

the ch ar t after Pnlau Pisang (and wrongly put quite close to

( 1 ) 'l 'l~e str trboard is lands, so f ar a s I can 1nal;e ont, are rr~arlced

gjgm t h e p o r t i J a n d s

( f ) a n d (g) l ie jus t oppos i te (be lo \v)

c).

The sl loal (11) '@@:

l ie s jus t to t i le fe l t ( \ve s t ) of (g) a n d a bit Eurtl ler, on t i le sou th- \v est

a p p a r e n t. l y , c on le s l i a r i ~ n u n .

Xr. l 'hil l ips con ject ura l ly identif ies (c), wl~ ic l the t r a - s~ i t e r a i t e s

Ch c ~ , i ~ - ~ ~ c t o , ~ l - s c r , ,i th S i n g a p o r e i s l a t ~ d but I t l l i111~t r e p r e e e ~ ~ t sollle

smal l i s land ly in g to th e son th of S ing apore ie la ~rd . I -' e rhaps, ,i t i s

t 'nliln . t 'anjsng : the ( lq,hineselallle 111ea11s Long \Vaist Island.

2 )CCf

P e l l io t , i r ~ u l l et in de I 'Ec o le 13ran1;;tise ' E ~ t r 8 1 n e r ient ,

19U4, Tonle I\ ., p. 345 a n d O e r i ~ ~ i ,. A . A l ~ l y 905 P a r t

III . ,

1 , ~ .

00.1.

rile

f i rs t n a n ~ e d ay e r i s

a

lo ng nil l e a r ~ ~ e di s se r t a t iou

in \\ h ic h a v ery l a rg e ui lm b er of p r o b l e ~ ~ ~ sf h is to ri c al ge o l~ r a p hy

r e l a t i ~ ~ go S o11 t .h - Ea n te r t~ s ia a r e e s l ~ a nz t i c e ly is cusse d .

It

teenrs

wit11 re tare ocr s to al l lllanrler of son rces, A sia tic aud Eul.oyean, and

s l ~o nl d e ie fLrrecl to by a l l \vho a re i~ l te res tec l ll theseq nes t ion s .

Jour .

Straits Branch


19/24

NOTES ON ;\4ALA'I HISTORY

157

i t ) i s an es tuary in th e coast line, on the f r~r t l l e r r ight geogmph-

i c d hanlr of which i s a mounta in 01- lleaclland m,zrkeil

S ~ c i - ~ h w ~ ~ - ~ b m i ,

resulnabl y Tao long SagBnting,

B a t u Pa ha t , a s Mr . Ph i ll ips suggest s.

Th e course af t e r leaving

Pn lau Pisang passes some half dozen unn am ed i s lands on

th e sta rboard s ide and then puts in a t an in le t or r iver-mouth

on the left geographical bank of which i s t he en t ry 'ag fia

which Mr. Phi l l ips t ranscr ibes J f z ~an - la -k bn ,adding tha t

th e Amoy pronuncia t ion of t he ch arac ters i s Moa-la-ka . There

i s n o sor t of doub t th a t M alacca i s in tended : t h e s a m e c h a r -

a c t e r s a r e u n ~ f o r m l yused in th e various ' Chinese sources

t rans la ted bv Groeneveldt . Prob ably i f the o the r names in

the cha r t were r ead wi th t l l e ~ rHolrkien sou nd s i t woulcl ~ n n k e

th e whole t hmg m ore i n t e ll i g~b le . On th e r igh t geograp l ii cd

banlr of th e sam e inlet is the e ntr y e hich Mr.

Phill ips bas not explained.

I inay add thpt th e sail ing clirections in sc~ ibecl on th e

ch ar t rec ti fy th e rough -draw ing of the c har t i t se lf .

T h e y r un

in t h e oppos i te c lirection to th a t which

I

ha ve been following,

anrl go from Samudra vi$ Malncca to China.

I

ex t r ac t t he

follocving from Mr. Ph illips ' version , of th em

:

Going from

Malacca for five watches the vessel sigli ts Sejin Ting and Batu

P ah at r iver , three w atches f rom which Pe& ng i s land i s reach-

ed, and in f ive watches more Carimon is reached, f ive watches

m o r e S.E.

by E.

brings the vessel off Long Waist is land

(S ing epo re? ) and in to t he L inga S t r a i ts , I ) t hr o ug h w h i c l ~ ~ . . f o r

five watches on a course

E.

by very l i t t le N he Wh i t e 'Rock ,

Peclra B ran ca , is reached." Th e course the n proceeds in five

no r watches N. E . by N. o th e eastrrlsrd of Pu lau Aor,

~ n c l

t li ence to P ul su Condor and so on l~as t;C a p e S t . J a m e s t o

China. I t i s plnin th at these sai l ing direct ions confirm the

identifications alreacly given. . . ~ .

. .

11

T h i ~ell11 i s 11ere improperlg t rar~sfer re~lr o m t h e

Linggn

S t r a ~ t so the Straits of Singapore.

.

.

. .

R

A

SOC.

NO 3

1909


20/24

158 ?TOTES ON

JIBL Y

RISTOIiY.

con t inu ing to follow th e coas t o f , he Pz n i~ l su la a s laic1

down in the cha r t , f ind nex t a f t e r th e in le t where Malacca i s

marked, a place called

Eh @

I a -~ U ZL-SC ZI ;lIiOh Mr.

Phil l ips identif ies a s Fish er 's is le t

(?)

. Th e Chinese nam e

a p p e a r s t o m e a n

Fa l s e F i v e I s l a n d s b u t t h e c h a ra ct e rs a r e

on the ma in land i ts el f. Remember ing th a t F ive I s l and s i s

an o ld Chinese nam e for Malacca , i t m ay be conjec tured th a t

' tl i is entr y refers to th e neighbonrhood of P o rt Dick son and

Cape Rachaclo. Ne xt, after coasting a considerable distan ce,

is reached

%Ed $$

Iirie??-h.?~a-se?hs i t app ears t o r e d

in M r. Phil l ips ' dialect : though be ha s no t t ransl i terated i t ) ,

jus t near which in the sea is marked

%&

n l i e ~ ~ - l l ~ f i -

ch/ielz, which M r. Ph illips identifies a s So nth Sh oals. T h e

names appear to be pnre ly Chinese descr ip t ions , ,got a t tempts

to , reproclnce geli'uine native nam es. T he second name appea rs

in t h e mid st of fo ur or five

sm all ~1 nna m q.i sland s lying off

Ke.h-lilq-k..,zg,

h e m on th of a n inlet in3rke:l

Kling rivet. shou ld like to read KBlang river

if

t h e

Chinese cha rnc ter s a,llow of such a p ronunc iat ion , a s to i ~ l ~ i c h

ques t ion

I

express no opinion. Ne xt , somewhat in land , i s

marked g lsk Keih-.?t~'-tn-siio.~~,nidenti6ed.

The n, bu t some dis tance fur ther , we pass a n island marked

f i f l I


21/24

NOTES ON M L Y HISTORY. 59

P h ~ g l m g s c u .which if these char t s a re

really over

500

years old) is,

I

suppose, th e f i rs t recorded m en-

t ion of Pn lan Pinang, comm only called Penang. On th e sam e

assumpt ion , t ha t t hey a re t he cha r t s used for Chkng H o s voy-

ages, th e above not iced men t ion of M alacca is also th e f i rs t on

record ;

for ap ar t f roin these cha rts Malacca is f i rs t descr ibed

in t he account wr i t t en by M a H ua n in 1416

A.D.,

t h i s Ma

H u a n be ing Chinese Muham madan wh o had acco lnpan ied

ChBng Wo as inte rp rete r on his travels. Chkng H o s first voy-

nge was under taken in

1405

A.D. ancl a,s i t m ay be assumed

tha t h i s sh ip -cap ta ins ~ l l a d e se of t he mo s t up- to -da te cha r t s

the y could obtain, th e men t ion of Malacca need not snrpl ise

us , for th a t tow n had then probably been in exis tence for 20

or 5 years . B u t of course we cannot be sur e th a t the char t s ,

even supposing them to be really old, have no t been som ewh at

modified and brought

up

to date s ince ChCng H o s t ime. M y

point i s th a t whatever may be the i r ac tual da te in the i r present

shape , they undoubtedly embody some very a ncient da ta , a s

th e case of Tan-ma-se ih su6c i en t ly proves. W he the r t he

en t ry refer ring to Pena ng goes back 500 years or not

I

leave

a s an open ques t ion, thoug h I see no reason why i t shoulcl

not th e i s land i s a very conspicuous objec t to mar iners navi-

gat ing along that coast .

Nex t af ter Pen ang i s land i s a wel l lmarked r iver-mouth in

th e coast l ine, let tetecl

Keih-tn-kiangh a t i s t o

s i ~ y h e IiBclsh river, ancl a l i t t le fur th er o n an island marked

8 @@ Lung-yn-kino-yindou btedly from i t s posit ion

represent ing the Langkawi i s lands though the Chinese

n a m e is m uc h clistortecl from t he original. Ne xt com es ail

is land bearing t h e f ive charac ters

n

3 i H which

Mr. Phi l l ips does not explain, and here we appear to be pret ty

well a t the l imi t of t h e Malay Pen insula proper , for th e nextblace


22/24

16 NOTES ON M A L A Y HISTORY

marlr ed on th e coas t li ne bea r s t l ie ch a r r c t e r s %, &@[]J

( a lso unexpla ined pe rhap s the y r ep re sen t Tak ua head land ,

i f t he re i s one? ) and the n , a f t e r pas sing tw o r ive r s an d seve ra l

unnamed i s lands , me reach Tenapser im, which l ies ou ts ide

my

present sphere of in te re s t .

V. P r e h i s t o r i c S p e c u l a t io n s a n d C o n je e lu r es .

Th e ev idence he re pu t t oge the r g ives, h ink , a n ou t l i ne

p ic tu re of wh a t t h e M a lay P en insu la w as in t h e s econd half of

tl ie 1 4 t h . c e n to r y, w l l ic l ~ b o ~ ~ g l le ry ske t ch y i s no t a l t oge the r

w i t h o u t i n t e r e s t t o u s m o d e r n s . Ono \vould l ike to peer

f u r t h e r b ac k i n t o t h e d i m p a s t

of

t h i s r eg ion and fo rm some

sor t of idea a s to w hen th e process of Malay co lonisa t ion begnu.

B u t ~n i for t una te ly he re i s very l i t t l e evic lence to he lp us . Mr

JVilkinson l iypothel ical ly gives Singapo re a very sh ort le as e of

l ife, ( f rom 136 0 P I t o 1377 A. D. h e s ug ge st s) . T h a t h o n ~ e r e r

is qui te impossible to l isve inacle th e impression th at i t d ii l

o n l' l a lny legend and t rac li tion, i t m us t ha ve las ted m uc h

longer and

I see no r ea son why i t should no t hav e f lonrisher l

dur ing th e reigns of f ive gen erat io ns of l i ings, a s th e SEjaral l

M8lay

n

asse r ts . T h a t mould give i t an exis tence of a l)out

~

c e n t u ry a s

a

i\'l lay se t t l em ent , sa p f rom abo ut

128

A

D.

t o

th e t im e of i t s des t ruc t ion ab ou t 133 7 A. D . As a a l a t te r of

f a c t t h e r e i s s o m e e v id e nc e t h a t a s e t t l e m e n t h a d e x i st e d ul ) o n

t h i s s p o t a t a n e v en e a rl ie r d a t e : b u t w e d o n o t k n o w t h a t i t

w as a M a lay o n e a n d i t ~ a ya v e - b e e n a M o n - K h m e r c o lo n y.

Crawfurd in h i s Desc r ip t ive Dic t iona ry of t he Ind ian I s l a nd ,

p 402,

r eco rds t h a t amo ng th e ru ins of t h e o ld S ingapore

(wh ich amoun ted to ve ry l i t tl e when we acqn ir ed th e p l ace in

8 9 A

D.)

w ere found so m e Ch inese coins t h e oldest of \vhicIi

),ore the name of an emperor n.110 died i n 967 A D. Unfo1,-

tmla t e ly he om i t s t o t el l u s w ha t t h e da t e s of t h e r ema in ing

coins lyere and O T inany different speciinens of Chinese coin-

age wer.e r e p f ~s en te i l n th e finr l, a l though th a t in forma. tion

wonlcl L ~ a re e en v e ry m ~ ~ c l lo t h e p o in t .

Of

course i t i s no t

s a f e t o a s s u m e t h a t t h e r e n 7 as a s e t t l e m e n t a t S in g ap o re a s

Jour ,

Stra i t s

Branch


23/24

NOT S O N MALAY HISTORY. 6

e k l y as the 10 th . cen tu ry s imp ly because

a

Chinese coin of that.

period hns ben found tliere.

B ut on the facts i t does seem

probable th at there was a t rading stat ion there considerably

before the middle of the 13th century.

Colonel.Gerini , in his ar t icle already referred to , has devot-

ed

a good deal of ingenious speculat ion and conjecture to the

question of th e ant iqu ity of Singapore in pre-Ma lay time s. But

fenr th at the conclus ions he ar r ives a t a re merely hyyothet i -

cal. T he y clepencl largely on s~ lgg es ted etym ologies of local

na m es wliicli do no t ca rry conviction.

If,

however, he is right

(as think he probably is) in his theory th at there was once

a n old M on -K hm er tmding station on th e islaucl of Singa pore,

i t is certain th a t i t n ~ i l s t have been abancloned some where

abo ut th e middle of t h e 13 th cen tury

if

not ear lier ). Fo r a t

th a t period th e Siamese became f inally the m astcr s of t l ie

whole N en am val ley and a generation or so la ter Ligor , as

well i s Tenasserirn and Tavoy, became tr ibutary to the Siamese

ltingclom whose capital was at S ~ tk h ot h ai . Colonel Ge rini

c la ims t ha t about 1280 8 D . t l ~ e iamese conquered no t mere -

ly Ligor bnt th e whole of the Malay Peninsula. One can

on ly say tha t

u

to th e present the re is no suff icient evidence

to suppor t such a, claim. f the y conquerecl it th en , w hy clicl

they le t i t go again a few generat ions la ter?

Although there seem s to be no sn fic ien t reason for believ-

ing t h ~ th e Siames e ever subdnecl the rvhole of th e Pe nin sul a,

th e re is evidence th a t a t th is period th ey cam e into conflict 117ith

the Malays . I n the His tory of the Yuan dynasty there i s an

en try stat ing th at in th e f i rst j7ear of the period Yuan-C heng

(i.e. 1295 a n e m b a : ~ ~as sent. by Siarn t o th e co urt of Ch ina,

on which occas ion as the S iamese had for a long t ime pas t

b ee n a t w a r w i t h t h e

fiRg a

(Malays), both peoples

snbrnittecl (i .e, to t he m ajesty of C4ina) and an Im pe rial ord er

was i ssued to the S iamese say ing : Do no hu r t to the Malays ,

SO

that yon may keep your promise ' .

This en try is quoted in

Bow ring 's Kingdom a nd People of Siarn, Vol. I , p . 7 1 nnd has

Gerini, Historical Retrospect of

Jnnkceylon Islanct,

in Joiirnal

of the Siam Society,

1905

p. 131.

R

4. SOC.

NO

3

I909

*I1


24/24

62 N O T E S O N

MBLAY

HISTORY.

beendiscussed by the l a te P rofessor Sch lege l in T 'o ~ u l g ao , Vol.

I X , No.

4 .

H e thinks that i t m ust refer to the & lalays of th e

Pen insula i t does not seem l ikely th at the Siamese could hav e

had prolonged l~osti l i t ieswi th Sum at ra a t th i s pe riod . I t l ~ i n l c

he i s r ight a s to tha t po in t and in te rp re t th e en t ry as record ing-

th e fac t tha t xvhen t h e Siamese , af ter asser t ing thei r sup rem acy

over Ligor, pressed fu rthe r sout11wn1-d into th e no rth er n pa rts

af th e Peninsu la , they cam e in to conf lict w i th th e M alays w ho

had a l ready a t th a t t ime colonisecl th e coun try . T hi s would

throw back the beginnings of regular Malay se t t lem en t in th e

Pen insnla well in to the m iddle of th e 13 th cen tury , if no t

ear l ier, and r see no reason wh y th at should not .be so . At

any ra te i t is qu i te ce rta in tha t Mr. Wilkinson 's 1400

A D,

is

much too la te . Malacca wa s not , in point of t ime , the f irs t

Malay s e t t lem ent on th e m ainland ; i t rose rapidly to a position

of preclominance w hich overshadowed i t s older neig l~b ou rs, ut

i t by no n ean s m ark s th e beginnings of i \l[alny im ~n ig ra tio n n -

to the Peninsula.

1

H e r e I m ust take leave of th is subject . I t may be con-

venient if 1 , s t a te briefly th e general conclusions wh ich t b e

evidence here adduced appears to me to establish. Th ey fire

as follows:-

I )

h at th e M alay colonisa t ion of the Peninsula ~ v a s lre,zdy

in p rogress in th e 1 3 th cen tu ry ;

2 ) tha t Siugapore , as a M alay sett l em ent, urns founded in t l lnt

ce ntu ry (or possibly even earlier

I

(3 ) t l lat Singapore w as st i l l in existence through out the f irst

60 01 70 years of th e 14t h. century

&nil

must have been

conquered and destroyed by t he Java nese of Najag all i t

s l lort ly after

1377

A D .

4 ) tha t Malacca IWLS no t foundeil t il l sonle sh or t t ime afte r

1377

A D .

5 ) t h a t t h e

reigning

family of fi'Islaccn did not 1,ecome

converted to M uham madanism unti l very near the end

of the 14 th centu ry

Pelliot; loc: cif p.

242

gives the same entry

s

I\

ell

s

nnni-

ber of others' (p . 324 et seq.)

m e nt i on i ng t h e M a l a ys .

I

have fol lo\ re(l

his version.

Jour. Straits

Branch

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Notes on Malay History

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