Ex-Prez Suharto, and Indonesia's mixed (confused and confusing) legacy.

As soon as Indonesia's former President Suharto was taken ill again and hospitalised at the start of 2008, his legacy of political autocracy yet economic ascendency was again debated intensely, not just in the press but also on the streets; with people rioting against him or on the other hand literally hands raised in prayer for his recovery outside the hospital.

Other culprits that Indonesia's oh-so-free media and populace were banging have been (temporarily) forgotten in the frenzy of Suhartoism; be it America, the CIA, Australia or lately the bewildered Malaysians, who all in all, have in sober reality always been Indonesia's best friend in need.

Since Indonesia's economic turmoil and then political upheaval from 1997-98, it was politically incorrect to publicly praise Suharto's positive side for his country. But there's always been an undercurrent of nostalgia of the Suharto days when the bulk of the population could expect a stable income, an established way of handling the notorious corruption, and political forseance compared to after. Now some Indonesians have openly voiced their praise just as there are screams from reps of the alleged 100s of thousands of victims' who curse the same man.

What a confusing and embarassing situation for a nation that could be so great if only there were a more rational collective direction.

Oh, and just in case other peoples or nations feel glee and throw shame on Indonesia's less-than-proud circumstances - don't be so smug. The Europeans and Americans, the Chinese, the Indians and others all have their own shameful histories too. Some decidedly worse than the Indonesians'. We'll come to that when the time is right.

Malaysia’s National Water Festival 2007: Labuan International Sea Challenge

Great competitions make up the highlights of the annual Labuan International Sea Challenge (LISC), which is part of Malaysia’s month long National Water Festival 2007. The merriment is characterised by water-based activities during the month-long celebrations which take place nationwide.

The Cross-Channel Swimming Challenge, Rolex IGFA International Game-Fishing Tournament, Round-Island Kayak Challenge and Labuan International Extreme Kayak Challenge were the ever popular and thrilling races, held at Labuan, the Federal Territory off-shore banking island along Sabah state’s southwest coast.

The LISC has drawn tremendous of local and international teams and individuals besides spectators from all over the world in conjunction with the country’s 50 Years of Nationhood and Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

The Cross-Channel Swimming Challenge is a popular event which requires participants to swim 5.4km from Labuan to the island of Pulau Papan and back. Contestants vie to break speed records in the domestic and open categories.

The highly prestigious Rolex IGFA International Game-Fishing Tournament features the only long-range deep-sea fishing competition and is considered as the region’s most challenging angling sport. It is part of the global Rolex IGFA Offshore Championship. ‘Fishingline’ was the last year’s winning team that caught a whopping 205kg of catch.

The Labuan International Extreme Kayak Challenge is the longest and toughest kayak race in the region, racing over a distance of 84km across the Brunei Bay. Individual and double categories are offered for the passionate and courageous ones to thrash it out with the sea.

Various shows, concerts and side activities were also organised such as a Shore Fishing Tournament, Battle of the Bands and the ‘Juara Cilik Labuan FM’ singing competition.

Known as Labuan the Pearl of Borneo, this territory is officially nicknamed ‘Pearl of Borneo’ during a formal launch in conjunction with the LISC and to commemorate Malaysia’s happy 50^th Anniversary of Nationhood.

So Domes and Minarets make Mosques...?

Al'salam. Terima kasih kongsi berita Troy ni. Terharu dan sukacita mendengar perkembangan sdr. Muslim di 'kampung' kita di US sana. Saya sendiri meninggalkan RPI 1989 berbekal dua degree dalam subjek yang belum ada orang Malaysia lain ambik situ sejak tu, setahu saya.

The article mentions that the new mosque in Troy will be expensive to build, and it'll have "a dome and two minarets". As an Architect who has studied Islamic Architecture on an RPI exchange program to Istanbul, I can assure you that nowhere in the holy Qur'an or Hadith is there any requirement that a mosque must have a dome and minaret, much less two or more.

Recorded history from the Sahabah shows that our Prophet's first mosque in Madinah was a plain building that was only partially roofed, let alone domed! It was the faith and love of the early Muslims that made it an important structure - fully utilized regardless of the design.

Likewise, original mosques in our Malay World were the timber multi-tiered square pyramidal roof forms that still exist in charming old kampung mosques such as in Kelantan, Pahang and Melaka (above). These were simpler and more suitable for our climate. NO domes needed. We have been Arabized into building expensive domes that have to be cleaned after the tropical rains have deposited their inevitable soot, not to mention the leaks.

If our Troy brothers forego the non-essential dome and minarets, they can save money for possibly more useful expenditure, like education and da'wah. Wallahu'alam.

Nonetheless, I certainly pray for our Troy brothers' success with their mosque.
-nadge-

--- In xrpi@yahoogroups.com, Iznan Husainy H wrote:
>> Aslm ww,

> > http://asbah30.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/my-beloved-masjid-al-hidaya/

> > /izne

Tulisan Jawi, Bahasa Melayu/B.Malaysia, sikap orang Melayu dan 'salah Kerajaan'.
[Penulisan ini merujuk-balas e-mail di bawahnya]

Salam.

Padaku, kau selalu asyik negatif lah Yoq. Kerajaan saja tak boleh nak dipersalahkan untuk segalanya. Lihat kesalahan pada kita sendiri.

1. Kerajaan takda pun haramkan tulisan Jawi. Malahan aku ingat lagi masa kita di sek. rendah dulu ada siri belajar tulisan Jawi setiap hari di RTM. Aku ikut dan la ni fasih baca & tulis Jawi. Tapi lama-lama lenyap sebab didapati tak ramai orang Melayu lain minat. Begitu juga Utusan Melayu (keluaran Jawi) dulu. Bini aku hairan aku selalu beli dan suruh anak-anak baca. Tapinya tak cukup ramai org Melayu beli sampaikan ia terpaksa bungkus.

Orang Melayu sendirilah yang tak daulatkan Jawi, bukan salah Kerajaan aja. Sekarang akhabr Jawi sekali seminggu aja, itupun org Melayu tak ambil pudul. Tau, di Indonesia akhbar Jawi satu pun dah takda, langsung pupus. Kau mau kritik Pemerintah Indonesia karenanya?

2. Bahasa Melayu tetap rasmi, tapi salahnya orang Melayu sendiri yang tak agungkannya. Banyak Melayu 'intelektual' dan berpendidikan ala-Barat guna B. Inggeris dlm bualan harian dan tulisan e-mel. Lihat aja e-mel2 group kita... Jadi, nak salahkan siapa? Aku contohnya tetap sebut "Bahasa Melayu" bila merujuk bahasa ni.

Mungkin orang tak tau, tapi aku sering cakap Melayu dgn Bukan-Melayu. Mereka akhirnya ikut sama jawab dlm Bahasa Melayu. Sedangkan aku bukan orang Melayu, dan jelas aku mengakui pada sesiapa yang tanya - aku bukan Melayu lagi. Aku bangsa sendiri. Tapi aku memilih untuk menyebelahi orang Melayu krn saudara se-Islam, dan ada kebaloian dalam ciri-ciri tamadun Melayu yang aku fikir layak dipertahankan, bukan kerana Bangsa.

Kita yang kena tolong naikkan antara kita sendiri. Itu sebab contohnya bila aku dulu ternampak makalah tentang kau dalam majalah, aku hebahkan pada yahoogroup kita, dan aku sanjung kemunculan kau dalam majalah tu serta pencapaian kau. Itu satu contoh kecil dari banyak lagi yang aku sokong orang kita. Dalam diriku tiada hasad dengki, kerana aku bukan Melayu lagi.

Pokoknya, kita kena hebatkan dan daulatkan jatidiri kita. Secara sendirinya, orang akan hormat dan ikut siapa yang kuat. Hakikatnya itu yang berlaku dengan Orang Putih. Mau tak mau, kita terpaksa 'ikut' depa sebab depa kuat. Kita ambil iktibar...

Tak yah salahkan pihak lain atau Kerajaan aja.

Make our own destiny! Tentukan sendiri hala tujuan - jangan harapkan Kerajaan.
-nadge-

----- Original Message -----
From: mohd yahya ysp3737my@yahoo.com Date: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 11:23 am
Subject: [mc7983] SEMBANG MERDEKA 2 - Cikgu Saad Tg.Karang
To: dpims , dpimpusat , mc mcoba , kiolek mc , yspgroup , PIBGSEMASHUR SEMASHUR , pibg skue , sahri sahri mailto:sahri@yahoogroups.com

Assalamualaikum wbkt,

Ahad baru ni 26 ogos 2007 saya sempat balik kampung di Tg Karang. Lepas solat Isya berbual dengan Cikgu Saad, dia dah pencen lama. Sembang pasal famili adik beradik dan macam-macam. Saya tertarik untuk kongsi cerita pasal pengalaman dia sebagai Cikgu dan sekolah.

1. Cikgu Saad cakap dulu zaman British orang Melayu boleh belajar tulisan Jawi dengan baik malah orang British, Orang Cina & India pun turut belajar dan pandai tulisan Jawi. British tak mansuhkan pun tulisan Jawi tapi bila kita sendiri perintah kita mansuhkan tulisan Jawi. Kita undur kebelakang.

2.Dengan penuh teliti saya mendengar luahan dia yang dengan penuh semangat keMelayuan walupun dia jawa. Dulu kita ada bahasa Melayu sekarang kita sendiri dah tak ada bahasa, yang ada bahasa Malaysia. Mana ada bahasa Malaysia, orang putih tu kat Amerika, Australia, England pun dia guna bahasa Inggeris manaada bahasa Amerika, manada bahasa Australia... kita ni dah jauh terpesong daripada perjuangan..kita kebelakang kata cikgu saad.

3. Banyak lagi luahanya, pasal bangunan sekolah, pasal biaya sekolah, pasal cikgu, pasal kurikulum dan pasal Menteri. Bualan bersama beberapa rakan arwah bapak saya hingga larut malam sekitar jam 11.45 malam sejak daripada lepas solat isyak. Kami beransur dengan bersalam antara satu sama lain.

4. Banyak erti dan pengalaman saya peroleh daripada orang lama.

Yahya Sahri
- MCOBA 2290 (batch 7983)
- SU Kehormat DPIM Selangor
- AJK PIBG SEMASHUR
- MD YSP>
- 012-2839957

Nadge reporting from Sumatera 2006

[This post was a record of e-mails in mc7983 from 10-15 Oct 2006]

Subject: Nadge reporting from Indonesia Re: Fuel for sale
> Sun. 15 Oct 2006
--- In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mc7983, Nik Ahmad Fikri Nik Ismail wrote:>> Nadge, Did you try to email me something. I received your email with a file that couldn't be opened. Pok Nik. Melaka.

Nope Pok Nik, it was just my earlier message that may have morphed into attachment form. Anyway I hope you all had a good sahur together! I succumbed to all the smoke and tears of my journey through Sumatra. Just got back. I had trudged alone three days around propinsi Riau (kota Pekanbaru & daerah Siak) where I witnessed first hand the local farmers' fires and the smoke that's also 'exported' to Semenanjung... The locals (both authorities and people) don't seem to care even if they're in the midst of all their own suffering! So how can they even care about what happens across the border in Malaysia? On TVRI Riau channel, the Pemda (Pemerintah Daerah) rep of daerah Bengkalis, when asked "Bagaimana harus kita tangani masaelah ini, Bapak?", Bapak gave completely meaningless comments absolving the Pemda of all responsibility. What can we expect, when even the Menteri Perhutanan, Bapak MS Ka'ban, live on SCTV on 10th October could finally only say, "...kita harus meningkatkan kesedaran..."! Even the handsome newscaster Bayu was visibly exasperated with his Minister, "Gimana ini? Kita Indonesia malu dengan Malaysia ini Pak Ka'ban, kesedaran apa lagi? Di mana 'enforcement' kita??"... Really, I love Indonesia as my fellow Rumpun Melayu-Muslim country, but things can get quite frustrating here.

Then I was in Lampung province in the southern tip of Sumatra, where it's been in "kemarau" for months. The sawah padi are yellow and dead... And the local government doesn't seem to be willing, or able, to improve the infrastructure and livelihoods that in Malaysia people take for granted from the Malaysian 'gomen'. Malaysian kampung roads are like highways compared to the dismal quality of Sumatran trunk roads. Just about every local person I meet laments the korupsi that results in bad living standards... Yet Indonesia is RICH! I was there indeed because of business in all the fabulous natural wealth it has. And many Indonesians I meet say that if their country were administered at least as well as Malaysia is, they would be among the richest nations on earth. For example, Indonesia has four times more oil & gas than Malaysia does, but Petronas is four times wealthier than Indonesia's Pertamina! And yet if you look at it politically, Malaysia's non-serumpun ethnic percentile mix is three times potentially more volatile than Indonesia's (referring to the 2003 ISEAS comparative study on volatility of political factors).

Many times after coming back from places like these, masyaAllah you really feel so grateful to be Malaysian. Anyway, forgive my rambling. Aku tetap cinta padamu Indonesia.

Ya Allah, teguhkan iman kami umat Malaysia & Indonesia, berikan kekuatan untuk kami mengatasi segala macam kelemahan & cabaran, eratkan persaudaraan & permuafakatan kami dan sudahi umat Islam Malaysia & Indonesia dengan kemenangan dunia & akhirat.

Mohon disahut dengan "Amien"! Bangkitlah Nusantara!! -nadge-

Subject: Re: [mc7983] For Sale
I hope this is not being sent to be fuel for more forest fires in Kalimantan? I'm still in Riau and the air is absolutely choking with smoke. There was coverage on Indonesia's SCTV and TVRI today, and as usual there are top people here blaming Malaysians but without proof, on Malaysian plantation companies and investors in Sumatra and log buyers and people selling cheap fuel to poor farmers to burn land for clearing in Kalimantan. Hmmm...

I'll be back in our alhamdulillah much-less-messy tanahair for our Sahur on 14th. -nadge-

------ Original Message -----
From: Shamshul Baharin
Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 4:08 amSubject: Re: [mc7983] For Sale

Can you supply item 2 in drums? Delivery to Balik Papan in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Give price and specs please?

>> Ahmad Nizam Azim wrote:
>> 2. Industrial 'legal' diesel.> I can supply anywhere in Malaysia at a price of what you are getting or a bit less.> 10,000 to 21,000 liters per load.>> Lastly........14th ni sahur on ka? at Paya Serai?>> thank you.>>

----- Original Message -----
From: Nadge
Date: Monday, October 9, 2006 8:39 pmSubject: Riau RE: [mc7983] For Sale

Salam dari Seberang! Aku di Pekanbaru, Riau, Sumatera. Jerebu sini lagi hebat. Depa panggil 'kabut'. Tapi depa macam tak kesah aja. Kalau di tempat sendiri dah tak ambik pudul, apa lagi depa nak kesah kalau kita di Malaysia kalut. Bila aku sebut pasal masalah asap ni, depa gelak- gelak! Macamana umat Rumpun Melayu nak maju camni?

Esok aku pi ke Kabupaten Siak yang terkenal di zaman Kesultanan Melaka, tambah 3 jam naik 4WD dari Pekanbaru, nak tengok sendiri berapa banyak lagi hutan & ladang terbakar.

Anyway, batch kita pernah buka puasa, ingat tak di Century Paradise Club dulu. Masa tu aku baru kahwin. Mat Yoq uruskan tak silap.>

-indiana nadge in the land of smoke-

Car manufacturing, Proton; lesson & link with the Ma'juj

[This posting was my response to friends' emails complaining about their local cars, and which was well received]

Meor & Hisham,

The Japanese, when we study both history and the Sunnah, are the other part of the Ya'juj & Ma'juj (or Yakjuj & Makjuj, in English Gog & Magog). They are the Ma'juj together with their ancient cousins the Mongols, the Northern Chinese and even south to the Thais. These Mongoloid Ma'juj, like their Euro-Aryan Ya'juj counterparts (see how the names' first sounds each rhyme), can be very aggressive, warlike and colonialistic - jangan lupa kekejaman Jepun masa Perang Dunia Kedua. Yet also very scientifically curious and persevering, and this aspect we must emulate.

But God does not condemn the Ya'juj & Ma'juj outright because they also have the potential to be wonderful Muslims, like Genghis Khan's descendants who became the great Muslim Shahs and Sultans of the Persian and northern Indian regions (the Ilkhanids, the Mughals). Similar to the imperialist Europeans, those who become Muslims then turn into strong benefactors of Islam.

Note that the Southern Chinese whom we have in Malaysia are genetically different from the Ma'juj Northern Chinese; southerners are less aggressive or imperialistic; (note how few Southern Chinese have ever been ruthless Emperors). That's why we can live fairly well with our local Chinese. The few who are belligerent and conquerant-like are actually northern, Ma'juj.

By extension, there's your answer to Japanese cars. Some 30-40 years ago, the Japanese endured cheap flimsy cars as they aggressively built up their experience and quality to where they are now. But we Malays only cepat kutuk dan nak cepat kaya - we want instant gratification without going through the learning curve. Give ourselves a chance:- Mercedes, GM or Toyota have been around for, like a century. We need support to catch up. If we are unhappy, complain directly to Proton and the relevant authorities who can help. Not dengki mencaci mencela to all and sunder that is the Malay habit. Macam tu sampai bila tak maju.

Let's grow up. -nadge-

Lost City Believed Found in Malay Peninsula; Tie-in with Ancient Tsunami History

To: MCOBA-MALAYSIA
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 6:36 AM
Subject: Tie-in with tsunamic history RE: Lost City Believed Found in Malay Peninsula

Terima kasih for mentioning me, Sdr Rosli. [Rosli's message underneath]

It's okay, Raimy is also a friend of mine whom I knew thru my Heritage Asia mag, and he had given me a personal briefing on this exciting find.

Raimy is a wonderful guy, very proactive and I'm proud to know him and to know that there is a Malay like him, even though I myself am not ethnically Malay :-) (In fact, Raimy is also mixed blood...)

I was also interviewed by The Star, and I gave my opinion as outlined below:

There are of course skeptics who say among other arguments against this find, that "How and why should any ancient city in the Malay Peninsula be found far inland? They should be along the coasts like all other traditional settlements including Melaka."

I think I can help give a better historic background on this.

The Malay Archipelago has always been geologically active - the recent end-2004 tsunami being a painful case in point. We know that in 1883, Krakatau in the Sunda strait exploded and sent worse tsunamis then.

But what's less known is that in the 6th century AD an even more powerful volcanic explosion in the same Sunda strait was so terrible that it is believed to be the mother of all disasters, which sank and severed the land connection between Java and Sumatra, creating separate islands.

At that time there were several maritime cultures around Southeast Asia, the nearest being the Pasemah culture in southern Sumatra and Tarumanagara in western Java. The resulting volcanic quakes and tsunamis pretty much wiped out many of these cultures. In their place, new kingdoms such as Srivijaya emerged and encompassed the Malay Peninsular by the 7th-8th centuries and others beyond. [There are also old Chinese records regarding these events.]

The memory of catastrophic destruction by those 6th century tsunamis and worse the sinking of land into the sea was so great that for many centuries the trauma persisted and, with port exceptions, people felt safer to build major cities much further inland. Thus it was so with 8th century Borobudur and Prambanan in central Java and later, Angkor Wat, all of which are in hinterland jungle areas.

In contrast, the great Melaka port was founded later in the 14th century when the memory of the seaborne disasters were dimmed.

Thus it would be no surprise to find a city like Kota Gelanggi which long predates Melaka being built far inland, safer from the tsunamic ravages of the sea.

Another factor for Kota Gelanggi’s inland site is that it would be on the legendary Jalan Penarik where travelers and their perahu would go up the Muar River to Kota Gelanggi and then pull their boats a short distance to reach the Pahang River and reach the other side of the Malay Peninsula.

There is even a legend that Sungai Pahang once emptied into the Straits of Malacca, not as it currently does into the Bunguran Sea (now known as South China Sea).

All the above would explain why an important inland city like Kota Gelanggi could exist in the Muar River's hinterlands of Johor.
-nadge-

At 03:50 AM 2/5/05 +0800, Rosli Mohd. Ali wrote:
Faisal,
I had met this Raimy Che-Ross, a Johor born. In fact he came to present us this paper, after doing so with the Museum and Antiquities Department, seeking opinion and support, assistance, even funding for expanding the matter pursued.

Too bad our friend, A. Najib Ariffin (Nadge), could not attend the presentation when it was held together with the Past Presidents of Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM) and the current Heritage Sub-Committee Members, last year in2004.

Raimy has been doing Ph.D at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia, where the current Department of Museum and Antiquities director-general Datuk Adi Taha did his. Raimy's research is wholly based on old manuscripts that he had collected and/or read.

All I can disclose for now is that the location he pinpointed is aligned towards two main waterways connecting east and west of the Malay Peninsula, that was believed to be the inland routel - and is currently also, a place of high surveillance for some other reasons that he could not disclose, until such finding is certain.

Real or not, only time will tell.
Rosli Ali
Class of 69
(The class that St Bul rejects.)

----Original Message Follows----
From: faizal.aziz
To: mckk-comnet@yahoogroups.com ; mcoba7680@yahoogroups.com ; MCOB_UK-Eire@yahoogroups.com ; sejarah-melayu@yahoogroups.com ; Hulaimi
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 11:43 PM
Subject: [MCOB_UK-Eire] Lost City Believed Found in Malay Peninsula

Guys
Is this for real?
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-02/03/article04.shtml
Lost City Believed Found in Malay Peninsula

CAIRO, February 3 (IslamOnline.net) - A 1,000-year-old lost city, possibly older than Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Borobudur in Indonesia, is believed to have been located in the dense jungles of Johor, Malaysia, a discovery that may set to transform the historical landscape of the Asian region, according to a leading daily Thursday, February 3.

The discovery of what is thought to be the site of Kota Gelanggi or Perbendaharaan Permata (Treasury of Jewels) by an independent Malaysian researcher has prompted museum officials to plan an expedition to confirm the finding, The Star online said.

If indeed the site is that of the lost city, it is set to transform the historical landscape of the region, the paper quoted as saying Raimy Che-Ross, who spent 12 years researching Malay manuscripts all over the world and conducting aerial searches of the area before locating the site.

The discovery of unusual formations from the air had led him to believe that the site could be the first capital of the Srivijaya Malay Empire dating back to 650AD, he said.

If the city is what we suspect it to be, then the 14th century Malacca Sultanate can no longer be considered as the start of modern Malaysian history.

Once verified, the honour will go to Johor, as one thousand years ago Malacca had not even been established, he told the paper.

Raimy had tried to enter the site in early 2003 but failed, managing to get only as far as to the formations which are believed to be trenches and embankments of the outer city, the paper said.

Expedition
Department of Museum and Antiquities Director-General Datuk Adi Taha said an archaeological expedition would be mounted this year to verify the location of the lost city, with Raimy’s assistance, said The Star. Funds for the expedition would be sought under the 9th Malaysia Plan.

Adi told the paper he and the Department were very enthusiastic about Raimy’s research findings and would work with him to verify the location of the lost city, which could be spread out over a few hundred square kilometres.

It was an old Malay manuscript once owned by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, in a London library that led Raimy to the existence of the lost city in Johor, the paper revealed.

According to Raimy, the presence of a lost city in the jungles at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula had been indicated in Malayan folklore for over four centuries.

Manuscripts, Tales
His findings on the lost city have been published in the latest issue of the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 2004. In his paper, he said the place was raided by the Indian-Chola conqueror Raja Rajendra Cholavarman I, of the South Indian Chola Dynasty in 1025 AD.

The ruins could be as old as Borobodur, and definitely pre-date the later Angkor Wat, Raimy told the Star, adding that aerial photographs taken over the site and tales from the Orang Asli aboriginal jungle dwellers had indicated the existence of structures.

“From the air I could see formations which looked like a set of double-walls, protecting the inner city. I have verified all the information by reviewing and reassessing old colonial records and travellers tales.”

Information on Kota Gelanggi appears in the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) a 16th century book which was edited and revised by Tun Seri Lanang, the Bendahara (equivalent to the Prime Minister of a sultanate) of the Royal Court of Johor in 1612 AD, the paper said.

The manuscript narrated an account of the devastating raids by Raja Rajendra Cholavarman I, who after destroying the city of Gangga Negara (now Beruas in lower Perak) turned his attention to Kota Gelanggi.

Raimy told the paper he did not expect to find in Kota Gelanggi structures similar to Angkor Wat, as the lost city in Johor was much older [and thus may be different from the Hindu and later Buddhist influence on Angkor Wat – Najib].

“We can expect to find simple granite and brick structures, walls, buildings and possibly undisturbed tombs. Based on the data I have collected and consultations with archaeologists over the years, it is believed that Kota Gelanggi in Johor, which some scholars believe to be what the Chinese called the kingdom of Lo-Yue [possibly short for ‘Melayu’], was also the first centre of trade for Srivijaya.”

It was possibly in Johor that the contemporary Malay civilisation was born. The Srivijaya site in nearby Palembang, Indonesia has artefacts which date back to roughly the same period.

There could be a wealth of information derived from this city. It is known that official Japanese records note that an Imperial Prince of Japan, Prince Takaoka (born 799AD), who became a monk renamed Shinnyo Hosshinno, met his death in Lo-Yue reportedly after being attacked by a tiger. Perhaps he was on his way here, en route to India.

This is understandable as Raimy said that while its main activity was a trading, Kota Gelanggi was also a centre of sacred learning. Hindu and Buddhist statues and figurines may exist but what he hopes to find are epigraphic inscriptions (writings on granite).

Origin of Hang Tuah, and the Malay psyche

At 10:51 PM 1/20/04 +0000, Sejarah-Melayu@yahoogroups.com wrote:
>Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 05:26:54 -0800 (PST)
>From: albudi
>Subject: Re: Hi (Hang Tuah dan rakan-rakan)
>
>Dear all,
>
>I am very much interested to know about Hang Tuah and the four other warriors; Jebat, Lekir, Lekiu and Kasturi. As being told by some 'historians' and several researchers that the five maybe from China, sent to Malacca by Emperor Yung Lo of Ming Dynasty.
>
>Hope to know more of this 'fact' and their descendency.
>
>Looking forward to your reply.
>
>Tks.
>

Salams & regards,

Incidentally I was analyzing this matter too. On the origins of the five Melaka warrior Hangs - Tuah, Jebat, Lekir, Lekiu and Kasturi; there has of course been a lot of speculation and controversy. But looking at the widest research work, literature, cultural-linguistic clues and relics available, it still seems highly unlikely that Hang Tuah was from China. There's some possiblity that maybe one or some of his other buddies could have been so, maybe Hang Lekiu, but even that is inconclusive.

Not just the written and oral records, but also linguistically there is no reason to negate Hang Tuah as anything but local. Hang is a more common local name in that period in the Malay World than it is realized now. Even Hang Tuah's father is named as Hang Mahmud. Thus Hang is not automatically Chinese just because it sounds so - in fact Hang is not even a very common Chinese surname. The fanciful and supposedly Chinese "Hang Too Ah" barely has any meaning in the relevant Chinese dialect or record from Ming dynasty times.

In addition, Ming records hardly laud any supposed "Princess Hang Li Po sent to Melaka to marry the Sultan", such that history writers like J. Kennedy don't bother to mention this in their books. Either Hang Li Po's name was wrongly recorded or it was a different story that turned into her present legendary history. Emperor Yung-Lo, himself secretly a Muslim, had sent the Muslim Admiral Cheng Ho (Zheng-He in Pinyin), not "Hang Too Ah" as well.

For examples of other local 'Hang's; there is the history of Hang Nadim in Temasik/Singapura & Riau-Batam-Bintan (Indonesia), or Hang Jaka in nearby Muar-Batu Pahat and Hang Jaras later on in Selangor - none of whom are Chinese.

And just to throw it in, "hang" has been a common northern Malay dialect for "you" since time immemorial - note that Kedah-Langkasuka has an over 2000-year history. The Kedahans have their own oral tradition of how Hang Tuah got his name, but that's another long story!

At least two research sources that my team read identify Hang Tuah as from the local Orang Laut community. These were the native people who worked together with Parameswara's entourage to set up Melaka. The Orang Laut are listed as an Orang Asli group who are related to the Malays in language and customs and had embraced Islam. By the end of the 19th century the Orang Laut had pretty much altogether assimilated with the Malays.

A more important thing is the Malay attitude toward race, then as it is now. I give a personal example. My blood is Chinese, and in fact my grandmother arrived late in South-East Asia - in 1926. She was a distant niece of Prince Chuen and an extended member of the Han and Manchu Dynastic families - you can't get any more Chinese than that. But even when I also still have a Chinese name and I speak Chinese, celebrate Chinese New Year or whatever, I am regarded as Malay by the Malaysian government, by Malays and even Chinese themselves - because I am a Malaysian Muslim and I speak colloquial Malay. Whatever right or wrong, small or great that I do - it is now seen as a Malay's doing it.


On this, I give a saying "Melayu ada di jiwa, bukan di baka", roughly translating as "Malay is a state of mind, not a state of blood". In this sense it is irregardless and a moot point on Hang Tuah's origin. Meaning; even if he were a Chinese and had come off a ship from China and only then went on to serve the Melaka Sultanate as recorded, it don't matter no more, he has already been co-opted and embraced as a Malay.

-najib @ na-jee-

Well, this is it! My first blog. So much to do, much to share. The inhabitants of this planet need a lotta stuff, but first of all - More thinking, less dunking. More building, less banging. More vigilance, not violence. Il dio ci aiuta!Si comincia nel nome di Dio...

The Legend of Mu, and how the Malay people and Atlantis got their names

At 08:20 PM 3/22/01 , ak wrote: ...
"Melayu" is a word that existed long before the Europeans 'discovered' our wonderful little paradise... but its meaning in Javanese is not flattering either...

Nadge's feedback:
I'd suggest that it is neither flattering nor unflattering, but factual and there's an interesting web of info behind this meaning of "melayu". In fact, in the oral tradition of our ancestors I was told this long ago by my Javanese paternal relatives back in Yogyakarta (Jogjakarta, Indonesia), and I subscribe to this view.

Here's why - I will tell it to you as it was told to me – in Malay:

Dalam bahasa Jawa, malahan juga dalam banyak dialek lain di Nusantara (contohnya Bahasa Batak-Mendailing dll.) istilah "melayu" bermaksud "lari"! Umpamanya semasa kecil dulu, kita anak-anak yang hanya berbahasa Jawa lalu bermain kejar-kejar seringkali menjerit "melayu! melayu!" yang bermaksud "lari! lari!"!

Nah, gimana wujudnya nama bangsa "Melayu" yang membawa erti sama dengan maksud "lari"? Harus juga diingat bahawa hampir semua kumpulan etnis di kepulauan Asia Tenggara termasuk di Filipina juga mengaku diri mereka sebangsa "rumpun Melayu" walaupun dari segi komunitas lokal berbeda-beda ada Melayu Malaysia, Melayu Riau, Jakun, Minang, Bugis, Jawa, Dayak dll. - karena ada suatu lagenda yang dikongsi bersama tentang asal-usul mereka.

Menurut lagenda oral turun-temurun yang wujud di banyak tempat di Asia Tenggara & Pasifik dari Aceh hingga ke Hawaii, beribu tahun silam terdapat suatu benua kuno yang bernama “Mu”. Penduduknya mempunyai kehidupan bermasyarakat yang amat maju dan selesa dengan pelbagai ilmu hingga dikatakan boleh terbang!

Tapi lama-kelamaan setelah hidup dalam kemewahan, mereka menjadi leka, tidak bersyukur, jatuh akhlak moral dan bergaduh sesama sendiri, atau juga ada sebab yang lain... Tapi akhirnya, Tuhan (yang mereka panggil "Sang Kekal") amat murka dan melandakan gempa bumi dan letusan gunungan berapi yang maha dahsyat beserta hujan lebat toh malapetaka banjir besar-besaran terjadi. Segala-galanya tenggelam ke dalam laut.

Penduduknya ramai yang mati, hanya yang muda-muda yang kuat dan bisa lari ke tanah-tanah tinggi saja yang terselamat, atau menaiki perahu untuk lari ke tempat jauh. Semuanya terpisah bertempiaran ke berbagai haluan, lalu tersadai di puncak-puncak dataran tinggi yang membentuk kepulauan Nusantara di Asia Tenggara kini.

Semasa turun bala itu, anak-anak benua "Mu" itu menjerit "melayu! melayu" yang bermaksud "lari" dalam bahasa mereka. Dan olehkarena dahsyat dan sengsaranya kejadian itu terpaku di sanubari para anak Mu yang terselamat, maka mereka semua memanggil diri mereka rumpun "Orang Melayu", iaitu "Orang yang lari".

Kita yang tersadai di Asia Tenggara akhirnya dianugerah dengan Islam dan nama Tuhan Sang "Kekal" kini kita tahu sebagai Allah swt. Yang Maha Esa. Tentang saudara-saudara kuno kita yang lari melintas Lautan Teduh (nama Melayu untuk lautan yang aman, teduh atau passive yakni Pasifik / Pacific Ocean -Ed.), kita tidak tahu apa terjadi pada mereka, hingga kita katakan mereka hilang tenggelam ditelan dek "Lautan Telan" (= “atelan” = Atlantik).

Tapi hari ini kita tahu, mereka itu tiba di satu benua besar lain lalu terus hidup dan memakai nama tidak jauh dari kita iaitu Maya, dan Tuhan mereka masih kekal bernama "Kekalkan".

Saudara-saudara anak serumpun kita itu mempunyai lagenda yang sama seperti kita, iaitu bahawa mereka itu anak yang lari dari satu bencana benua lama, dan moyang mereka ditelan dan “telus” ke dalam laut. Dari lagenda lain, nama benua Mu yang hilang itu diingati dari "anak telan telus" sebagai "Atlantis"...

Check these facts: (1) Up to as late as 9,000 years ago much of today's Malay Archipelago was above water and basically was a land bridge to Australia. (2) This story ties in with the legend of the catastrophic "Great Flood(s)" mentioned in most religious texts and cultural traditions of the world. (3) The Mayans and many native Indians of the Americas today resemble Malays too, and a major god of the Mayans is Kuculcan (pronounced 'Kukul-kan')... still close sounding to Sang Kekal(kan) meaning “the Great One who is Permanent and Maintains Permanence” in Malay.

The Malay, the Maya and other related peoples are the Children of the Lost Continent of Mu, also known as Atlantis, which was located in the Southeast Asia Pacific region before the Flood.

This also explains why Southeast Asia's Malay civilization appears to be materially 'young' - no ancient cities, monuments, written texts etc. as it was all sunk and lost, while the young survivors who had to quickly “melayu” or run had to leave behind everything as they escaped to the new lands i.e. the once-were highlands of Mu that are now the islands of the Malay Archipelago.

But how come their Maya cousins of the Americas have great cities of stone pyramids and written glyph records? Ah! There's a most interesting reason for that, which ties in with an even older and sinister legend. But that's for me to tell at another time...

-nadge-
Anak of Mu / Atlantis