The Malacca Sultanate and its heros

The establishment of the Malacca Sultanate by Iskandar Shah would prove to be alot more successful than his reign over Singapura.

The location of Malacca with its deep harbour enabled, Iskandar Shah to set up a trading port. Piracy was an issue so local Orang Laut were tasked with anti-piracy efforts. Within a few years (in 1405), a Chinese envoy from the Ming Court of Yongle Emperor arrived to set up diplomatic and trading relations between the two kingdoms. He was followed by the arrival of the great admiral Zheng He (or Cheng Ho).

There were 8 sultans of Malacca, a list importalised in this statue, in the Malacca Sultanate Museum.

Trade with Ming China was important for Malacca and she soon became a vassal of the Ming Court to court the latters protection from the larger and more immediate, Majapahit and Ayyuthaya threats.

More on the arrival by Cheng Ho in a seperate post.

The Malacca Sultans built beautiful palaces from which they lived and ruled the place. After Malacca was conquered by the Portugese, the state lost its sultans. Today a replica musuem stands in its place to recapture Malacca’s Sultanate past.

The ancient court of the Sultan was very much like the emperor’s courts in Imperial China, with the Sultan sitting on a yellow dias above everyone else.

He would entertain his guests and dignitaries in th main courtroom and them rest in another. Many nations in Asia (from Japan to Thailand) have yellow as their regal colour, the Malacca Sultanate was no different.

Some of the heroes of the Malacca Sultanate are immortalised still in modern Malaysian folklore and in the Sejarah Melayu. This diorama depicts the final scene of the battle between Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat.

Hang Tuah was a Laksamana (or Admiral) in the Malaccan Court. His capabilities and loyalty stoked jealousy and his rivals accused him of seducing the Sultan’s (then Sultan Mansur Shah) wife. This caused the Sultan to fly into a rage and sentence Hang Tuah to death. Hang Tuah was loyal until death, but his colleages were also loyal and they hid him in the jungles. Tuah’s childhood friend, Hang Jebat was livid and he went on a rampage in the sultan’s palace to take revenge.

No one ould overcome Hang Jebat except for Hang Tuah and the Sultan immediately begged Tuah to return. Hang Tuah accepted and returned to fight Hang Jebat, ironic since the only reason Jebat went on a killing spree was to avenge Hang Tuah. In their fight, Hang Jebat was noted to have said, “Raja adil raja disembah, raja zalim raja disanggah” (A fair king is a king to salute, a cruel king is a king to rebel against).

Hang Tuah is immortalised as a hero of the Malacca Sultanate for his fierce loyalty. He has ben immortalised as a national hero for a phrase he made, “Takkan Melayu Hilang di Dunia” (Never shall the Malays vanish from the earth). Hang Tuah also plays an important role in the Legend of Puteri Gunung Ledang.

Update (04 July 2014): Found this rather hilarious video by the guys at popteevee.

Another famous hero in Malaccan folklore is Tun Perak, the fifith Bendahara (or Prime Minister).

Source

Under Tun Perak, the Malaccan Sultanate conquered and colonialised greater Malaya and Riau islands (Pahang, Terengganu, Johor, Riau, Lingga, Bengkalis, Karimon, Rokan, Siak, Kampar, Jambi, Inderagiri and Aru). Like Hang Tuah, Tun Perak was a loyal person. Instead of taking revenege after his son was murdered by the Sultan’s son due to a misunderstanding, Tun Perak remained loyal to the sultan and merely requested that the prince be made sultan somewhere else.

How to get there