:: Hang Tuah the Lagend ::

A name that cannot be separated from the word Melaka is that of Hang Tuah. 

 

Considered by many as a legend and a man with supernatural powers, Hang Tuah made a name for himself as a popular warrior during the Melaka Sultanate era. Together with his four companions ?Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir and Hang Lekiu. The five of them had been in each other’s company since their childhood.

It was said that Hang Tuah’s parents, father Dang Mahmud and mother Dang Merdu Wati, migrated from Bentan to Melaka in search of a better life where they settled in Kampung Duyung. 

From his early days, Hang Tuah and his four friends embodied comradeship and stood by each other through thick and thin. They even dug a well at their village which came to be known as the Hang Tuah Well until today.

As they grew older, Hang Tuah and his buddies learnt the Malay art of self-defence (or silat) from a renowned guru named Adiputra in a cave somewhere in a remote part of Melaka. Their courage and mettle, coupled with their expertise in martial arts, all the five friends helped in keeping the peace in Melaka.

The turning point in Hang Tuah’s life came when he save the Bendahara (chief minister) from falling victim to a man who ran amok in town. When Sultan Mansor Shah (1456-1477) heard about Hang Tuah’s bravery, he was made the Laksamana (admiral) cum Syahbandar (harbour master). His friends were appointed the knights of Melaka.

Back in those days, accepting invitations and calling on foreign countries as far as China was the norm for the Sultan of Melaka and Hang Tuah was a constant aide to the Sultan on such visits. During the sojourn to Majapahit, Taming Sari, a famous Majapahit warrior, challenged Hang Tuah to a duel. 

After a fiery fight, Hang Tuah emerged as the winner and the Sultan of Majapahit bestowed Taming Sari’s kris, which is said to be the source of Hang Tuah’s magical powers, to Hang Tuah.

Apart from carrying the responsibilities as the Laksamana and the Syahbandar, Hang Tuah was always assigned to the task of being the Sultan’s ambassador in fostering closer ties with the Sultan’s allies including China, India, Siam and Turkey.

According to Hikayat Hang Tuah, in his blind loyalty to the Sultan, Hang Tuah sailed to Inderaputra (Pahang) to persuade the already engaged Tun Teja, the princess of Pahang to be the Sultan’s companion. Thinking that Hang Tuah himself would be marrying her, Tun Teja eloped with him to Melaka. However, it was only during the voyage home, that Hang Tuah revealed the truth.

(There are actually two separate accounts on the incident. Hikayat Hang Tuah stated that it was Hang Tuah who persuaded Tun Teja to elope but in Sejarah Melayu, or the Malay Annals, it was Hang Nadim.)

Hang Tuah’s popularity soon became the envy of a few noblemen and this led to one of them, Pateh Karma Wijaya, to fabricate a story that Hang Tuah was having an illicit affair with one of the palace’s lady-in-waiting. Without a fair trial, the Sultan sentenced Hang Tuah to death for the alleged offence. However, the Bendahara who know the truth, went against the Sultan’s orders and hid Hang Tuah in Ulu Melaka.

This became the turning point in the relationship between Hang Tuah and his best companion Hang Jebat. Believing that Hang Tuah was innocent, Hang Jebat avenged his death, first by killing Pateh Karma Wijaya. The Sultan was unable to do anything as none of his warriors dared to challenge the ferocious Hang Jebat.

 Only then did the Bendahara confided in the Sultan and told him that Hang Tuah was still alive. Ordered to be brought before him, the Sultan later instructed Hang Tuah to kill Hang Jebat, which he did after a long grueling fight. 

Another event which was widely written about Hang Tuah’s exploit was his journey to Gunung Ledang (Mount Ophir) at the Melaka-Johor border to ask for the hand of the beautiful Puteri Gunung Ledang for the Sultan. Having met the princess, Hang Tuah was taken aback when she stated the dowry or wedding gifts ?a golden bridge linking Melaka with the top of Gunung Ledang, seven trays each of mosquitoes and germs liver, seven jars of virgins?tears and a bowl of Raja Ahmad’s (the Sultan’s son) blood.

Hang Tuah was deeply disheartened when he heard this, as he knew that the Sultan will not be able to fulfill the conditions. Legend has it that Hang Tuah, who was overwhelmed by his disappointments, flung his kris into the river and vowed only to return to Melaka if it recurfaced, which he never did. It was also said that he then vanished into thin air.

However, it was not known how Hang Tuah died but his body was said to be have been buried in Tanjung Kling, where his tomb can still be seen until today. It was also said that the embittered Sultan was not even present at Hang Tuah’s burial.

:: The Melaka Empire ::

In 1456, Raja Kasim assumed the throne of Melaka after the murder of his half-brother Raja Ibrahim. This was a momentous turning point in Melaka history - a real palace revolution. The son of a Sumatran princess who took a Hinduised title was murdered and replaced by his Muslim half brother, the son of a Tamil common woman. His Tamil Muslim uncle Tun Ali Sri Nara diraja was made Bendahara after the Malay Bendahara Sriwa Raja poisoned himself - either in fear that he was no longer trusted by the ruler or in anguish at the growing power of the New Guard. Raja Kasim adopted the title Sultan and called hinself Muzaffar Shah.

The small city state was now to become Sultanate and Empire. Sultan Muzaffar Shah married the daughter of the dead Bendahara Sriwa Raja, Tun Kudu. This was a shrewd move, for Tun Kudu's brother was Tun Perak - a man deeply respected by the Sultan's Malay subjects and a man he knew had the charisma, ability and courage to build his Empire. To avoid unrest and civil war, Muzaffar attempted to oust his tamil Bendahara and replace him with Tun Perak. Tun Ali had a heavy price for resignation - he wanted the Sultan's wife, Tun Kudu, in marriage. Tun Kudu made the ultimate sacrifice, divorced the Sultan and her brother was free to shape Melaka history for the next 40 years and serve as Bendahara under four Sultans.

Melaka very quickly mounted a series of military campaigns that won her Manjong, Selangor and Batu Pahat. Kampar and Indragiri in Sumatra were soon to become loyal vassals as well. Melaka's expanding power rattled its much larger and more powerful Thai neighbours, who insisted Melaka belonged to its vassal Kedah. The Thais launched massive attacks against the Malay upsturbs - won overland from its vassal State Pahang in 1445 and another by Sea in 1456. Both attacks were beaten back. n 1459, Muzaffar's son, Raja Abdullah, succeeded his father and assumed the title of Sultan Mansur Shah. He wanted to settle the Thai problem once and for all and lau nched two attacked against the two Thai States of Kedah and Pahang. Kedah fell quickly and he sent an expedition of over 200 ships against Pahang. The Governor of Pahang, Maharaja Dewa Sura was captured and his daughter taken captive to Melaka to become Mansur Shah's concubine.

It was during Mansur Shah's reign that Hang Tuah, the ultimate Malay hero and symbol of honour, courage and loyalty was made Laksamana or Admiral. Other States quickly fell in battle or become vassals - Johor and Muar in the Peninsular, Jambi, Siak and (briefly) Pasai in Sumatra. Like its Sri Vijayan predecessor, Melaka now firmly ruled much of the two coasts, guarding the vital Straits. Mansur Shah's reign was the peak of Melaka's meteoric rise to Empire and became the golden age of Malay folklore and culture. It was recorded that by this time, Melaka alone, had 40,000 inhabitants, including almost all the known races in the world.

 In 1477, Mansur Shah died and his son Raja Hassan ( and a nephew of Tun Perak) became Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah. He mysteriously died in the prime of his life 11 years later, supposedly poisoned just as he was about to leave for pilgrimage to Mekah. We are now seeing a revival of the Tamil Muslim revolution - with the Temenggung Tun Mutahir, the son of the old former Bendahara Tun Ali, being the chief architect. Sultan Alauddin's elder son and the rightful heir Munawar Shah was passed over for his younger half brother, Mahmud, the son of the Temenggong's own sister. The grand old man of Melaka, Tun Perak, died in 1498, to be succeeded by his brother Tun Puteh. When he died shortly after, Tun Mutahir achieved the victory he desired and became Bendahara - the real power in Melaka. Melaka's State continued to flourish but the court was now thronged and dominated by Tamil merchants, ready to buy their way to royal favour. Thier monopoly in trade made them despised by other traders and the Malay chiefs and common people hated the arrogant and greedy "Jawi Pekan" strutting like rulers.

Then, on September 1st, 1509, a Portugese fleet under Admiral Diego Lopez De Sequeira sailed into Melaka harbour - the first European fleet to have ever dropped anchor into Malay waters. That moment was to become a dramatic crossroads in the history of the Malay Peninsular and, ultimately, the fate of all eastern Asia. 

 

:: THE MALAYS ::

The Malays are the race of people who inhabit the Malay Peninsula and portions of adjacent islands of Southeast Asia,including the east coast of Sumatra,the coast of Borneo and smaller islands that lie between this areas

Anthropologist trace the home of the Malay race to the Northwestern part of Yunnan,in China. These tribal proto-Malays, or Jakun were a seafaring people.They were once probably a people of coastal Borneo who expanded into Sumatra and The Malay Peninsula as a result of their trading and seafaring way of life. These sea-tribes,refered to by the Portuguese historian Godinho De Eredia as Orang Selat,played a major part in the making of the great Malay empires of Malacca and Johor. The present-day Malays of the Peninsula and coast of the Malay Archipelago are described anthropologically as deutro-Malays and are the descendants of tribal proto-Malays mixed with modern Indian, Thai, Arab and Chinese blood.

Malay culture itself has been strongly influenced by that of other peoples,including the Siamese,Javanese,Sumatran,and expecially Indians. The influence of Hindu India was historically very great,and the malay were largely Hinduized before they were converted to Islam in the 15th century. For nearly two thousand years,the unremitting traffic of traders between the Archipelago and India resulted in frequent inter-marriages along of the whole of the west coast of the peninsula,especially Tamils and Gujeratis. Some Hindu ritual survives in Malay culture,as in the second part of the marriages ceremony and in various ceremonies of state. Malays have also preserved some of their more ancient,animistic beliefs in spirits of the soil and jungle,often having recourse to medicine men or shamans(bomoh) for the treatment of ailments.

In the northern states of Perlis and Kedah,inter-marriages with Thais were commonplace. The east coast state of Kelantan still have traces of Javanese culture that date back to the era of the Majapahit Empire of the forteenth century. The Bugis from Indonesia's Celebes Islands colonised Selangor and fought for rulers in state along the length of the peninsula-from Kedah to Johor. The Minangkabaus from Sumatra had their own independent chiefdoms in what is today Negeri Sembilan. The mix of differents races to from what is the modern malay can be clearly seen in the lineage of,for example, Malacca royalty. Sultan Muhammad Shah married a Javanese,a Chinese and a Siamese-the Siamese wife bore two future Sultans of Pahang.It was this diversity of races,cultures and influences that has the given the modern Malay race the rich and unique historical heritage it has today.