Most people judge the 'glory' of
an Empire by its conquests. Melaka was certainly an
imperial power and had its share of conquests. It dominated
almost the whole of the peninsula and the eastern coast
of Sumatra. But not all of these 'conquests' were done
by warships bristling with cannon and filled with men
armed to the teeth with krises, spears and swords, led
by heroic laksamanas. Some lands were acquired by marriage.
Some kingdoms actually begged to be vassal states -
for protection against bigger enemies. Some were prizes
from successful wars with the two exisitng regional
powers - Siam and Majapahit. Melaka's fleet was not
very large - just large enough to have full control
of the Straits and small enough not to antagonise its
much bigger, more established Siamese and Majapahit
neighbours. In terms of trade, it was certainly the
centre of commerce in Southeast Asia - the largest marketplace
in the world for goods from India and the West, China
and the Spice islands.
But Melaka's greatest glory was not
in its miltary prowess or its prosperity and riches
- it was in the flowering of Malay culture, literature
and society. It was a remarkably cosmpolitan society
- Malays, Muslim Indians, Hindus, Chinese, Javanese,
Turks, Arabs, Burmese, Siamese, all flocked to share
in its peace, stability and prosperity. The stories
(some myth, some historical) of the Sejarah Melayu,
Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Tun Teja, have lasted 500 years
of persecution and suppression by foreign powers and
colonial rule. It was the first and most memorable civilisation
to have emerged from the peninsula - and none have equalled
it since - and the first truly national identity, in
the modern sense of the word, the peninsula had. The
spirit of Melaka still exerts its influence today.
How did this great empire come into
being? ... About 1400 A.D., the Hindu ruler Parameswara,
of the then insignificant island of Singapore known
in history as Temasek, ran away with a handful of followers
after constant attacks on Singapore by raiders from
Majapahit. From the Seletar river, Parameswara fled
to Muar and later moved further north and founded the
kingdom of Malacca in about the year 1402 AD. He became
a Muslim when he married a Princesss of Pasai and took
the fashionable Persian title "Shah", calling
himself Iskandar Shah. Records of Admiral Cheng Ho's
visit to Melaka in 1409 indicate that Parameswara was
then still ruler of Malacca, and there are references
to the ruler and the people of Malacca as being already
Muslims.
At the beginning of the 15th century,
Malacca was just an insignificant fishing village inhabited
by a handful of Malay inhabitants from Singapore or
Temasek, from Muar, Sungei Ujong and by a number of
Orang Laut or sea-gypsies. During that early period
of its existence, its rulers were in constant fear of
Thai attacks, and yearly sent forth tahils of gold to
the King of Thailand. Parameswara carried out reforms
that made Malacca the centre of trade in this part of
the world. Traders from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Celebes,
from the Moluccas, Burma, Siam, Cambodia, India, Arabia
and China traded in the port. He laid laid the foundation
of the Malay court procedures, that were to be adopted
by succeeding Malay royalties all over peninsula in
centuries to come. Among these were the royal regalia
of the Nobat, and the custom of having ceremonial white
and yellow umbrellas for royalty. He also started the
system of administration based on a hierarchy of court
officials. These chief officials were the Bendahara
(e quivalent to the post of prime minister), Temenggong,
Laksamana (Admiral), Shahbandar (Harbour master), Panglima
Perang Darat, Bentara Dalam and Bentara Luar. Each official
had specific responsibilities in the administration.
With this stream lining of administration, trade and
commerce rapidly developed in Malacca.
Chinese chronicles mention that in
1414, the son of the first ruler of Malacca came to
China to inform the Chinese Emperor that his father
had died. A "symbolic" grave of Iskandar Shah
is at present worshipped as a "Keramat" or
shrine, near Fort Canning in Singapore. I refer to this
grave as a "symbolic" because it is generally
accepted that he died in Malacca and was buried at Tanjung
Tuan, near Port Dickson. His was then made the second
ruler of Malacca by the Chinese Emperor. His name is
believed to have been Megat Iskandar Shah, or Sultan
Megat Iskandar Shah, and he ruled Malacca from 1414
to 1424.
The third ruler of Malacca is known
among the Malays as Raja Tengah or Radin Tengah. He
took the title Seri Maharaja but, according to the Sejarah
Melayu, he then embraced Islam and took the title Muhammad
Shah. Other scholars believe this could also have been
due to him marrying a Tamil Muslim wife. On his death,
he was succeeded by the son of a Princecess of Rokan,
Raja Ibrahim. By this time, there could have been some
tension in Melaka between the growing Tamil Muslim community
and the traditional Hindu Malays, for Raja Ibrahim does
not seem to have embraced the new religion but instead
adopted the title Sri Parameswara Dewa Shah. He ruled
for less than seventeen months - in 1445, he was stabbed
to death. He had an elder half-brother, by a Tamil Muslim
mother, called Raja Kasim. He assumed the throne, taking
the name Sultan Mudzafar Shah - signalling a new golden
era for the Melaka Sultanate.
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 1447, 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.
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