Hang Tuah is Chinese?

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ang Tuah the epitome patriot. Is he a Malay? If he is not, does it matter? History has always fascinated me. All these questions we have at the back of our heads are catalysts to dilemmas and the urge to comprehend the current state of affairs. Through history, we have what we have today. Everything that we face now is the consequence of what had transpired in the past. Who are we Malaysians? We could have been Indonesia Raya if Tun Razak had lost the country to Sukarno during the 'Konfrantasi'. Worse still, we could have been nothing other than a jungle full of monkeys had the Mongoloids not travelled southward from Yunan to the Malase-Polynesian archipelago, the "Nusantara".

Tun Dr Mahathir, in his defence against the validity of Bumiputra status, argued in his "Malay Dilemma" that the Malays are regarded as the first ethnic group that established an effective majority government in the Malay Peninsula, or if I may, the Nusantara at large. Who are these Malays? The sultanate that originated from regional pirates of Palembang, Majapahit, Srivijaya and Langkasuka? But who the hell cares? Even the Kings and Queens of England came from the barbaric lines of William the Conqueror - if not the Norman tyrant, King Arthur himself, in my opinion, is no where different from the barbarians of Celtic and Vikings. The fact is, something happened in the past,.. history!, that led us inherit this country we now enjoy, Malaysia.

The early effective government I was referring to is the Malaccan sultanate. It was an economic success. They traded with China, India, Arabs and later, Europeans. This was a formula that worked back then... and who would have thought that it works today? i.e. Singapore is an entreport, just like what Malacca was - a parasite of the fundamental commodity barter and trading (although they like to regard it as a "paradise" rather than "parasite") - its wealth is derived from the economic activities of others who transit. My God, did Lee Kuan Yew read some sort of chronicles written by Parameswara? Anyway, Malacca was a huge success with only one common language that all traders communicate in,.. yes,.. it was,.. the Lingua Franca, the Malay Language. But today, we argue amongst ourselves whether we should glorify English or Malay.

Malacca was visited by the Chinese (mostly from the Hui and Ma Heng stock who are predominantly Muslim, I was told) led by an Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho). Cheng Ho, a respectable General, sent across South China Sea to be the life-time protector of a beauty, Hang Li Po - A perfect example of an early diplomatic resolution to address cultural differences and economic based disputes. This is not uncommon. The Malaccan sultanate often married the princesses of nearby kingdoms to ensure survival of its government. But marrying Princess Hang Li Po of China is a different story. China is a super power today - correction - China has always been a super power since back then. The strength of Emperor Qin that united the vast land of the orientals must be stronger, if not on par, with the likes of Genghis Khan, Constantinople, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great and Salah Al'Din.

This was a strategic decision - although nowhere in the records can we establish who initiated it. Sultan Mansur Shah had plenty queens and concubines from the neighbouring kingdoms (including Tun Teja of Pahang and Puteri Gunung Ledang of Majapahit) but something extraordinary had to be established to secure an international standard entreport such as Malacca from being conquered by the hungry super powers - namely China, the Maharajas of Hindus continent, the Siamese Sovereign and Arab Caliphates. The Europeans were not a threat at that time as they were busy figuring out a way to penetrate the Ottoman stronghold over the Silk Road.

A Malay ruler was united with a Chinese princess and it only makes sense to conclude that such union constitutes a diplomatic solution given that Hang Li Po was probably not a Muslim like her contemporaries who were Hindus from Majapahit. A political acrobat turned into a socio-evolution. Fantastic. If I were to tell my parents that I want to marry Lim Goh Tong's great grand daughter or a beauty from the Sugar King family, I would have been slaughtered in the name of religion or more prejudicial, in the name of race! I am pretty sure that the 'rakyat' of Malacca followed the example of their Sultan - if not, we wouldn't have the Babas and Nyonyas.

The point I am trying to make is this: We cannot survive alone in this universe. We need synergies. We need strategic alliances. We need to break away from the taboos of culture and religion (but I am not saying that we should denounce our religion). Biologically, if a black and white mouse mate, the possibilities of qualities are magical. You can have a black baby, white baby, grey baby, black and white stripped baby, marbled greyish baby, white with black mark on the forehead baby,... and who knows,... a blue baby. Imagine the impact it can have economically, sociologically and most importantly the self-actualisation of mankind as a whole.

In the spirit of Dato' Sri Najib's 1Malaysia, this is the way forward, which is really the extension of Tun Mahathir's Wawasan 2020, Tun Abdullah's Hadari, Tun Hussein's Harmony, Tun Razak's Development agendas and Tunku Abdul Rahman's Independence manifesto. BN or PR, really, either way, we must not lose sight of the common purpose of being the citizen of this country - if not, like others who left previously, you might as well migrate to Australia or any other Western countries who seem, or perceived to have offered, the liberty that many of us desire - only to realise later that whilst they escaped from the racial prejudice of their homeland, they live to face the prejudice of their promised land.

Mansur Shah married Hang Li Po - that is the historical fact. Mansur Shah formed an alliance with the Chinese Emperor - that is the political fact. Hang Li Po embraced the Malay culture - that is the sociological fact. Mansur Shah secured Malacca as the superior entreport regionally as well as internationally - that is the economic fact. Malacca survived as a multiracial establishment - that is the humanity fact. Little that people realise, if you breach all these facts, the building blocks of survival, you will get a down fall. The Portuguese destroyed what history has built. They refused to assimilate culturally, sociologically and oppress their subjects to realise unshared economic wealth and regional political presence in the rich empire of spices. They went against humanity. So Malacca collapsed.

The multiracial society that we have today, in Malaysia, is a treasure that we do not realise. We often accuse and blame others for making us this way. The truth is, it is unavoidable - no doubt that the colonial masters could have managed the country differently like what they did in Hong Kong and Gibraltar, we could have ended up backwards like some of the African countries. Major successful economies are multicultural and multiracial. They are so diverse that the word "multiracial" and "multicultural" seem to be invalid when national pride and patriotism emerges. Surviving alone is difficult and has higher risks - it could only have succeeded if we have the courage and determination like the Japanese.

Do you think if the Malays were given the chance to develop their country with no coalition with their Chinese and Indian counterparts they could have succeeded? God knows. But one thing is for sure, in this whole wide world, as far as Asians are concerned, I can only give the Japanese such credit - Note that China and India are so huge that these countries actually are multiracial given the diverse culture along its borders with neighboring countries. The fact is, this hypothesis is impossible. History is history. What has happened has happened. Why stop the accusation at the British colonial era? Why not we trace it back all the way to the Malaccan sultanate? or to be scientific, why not blame the Mongoloids who travelled southward from Yunan in the vast land of China to this beloved Nusantara of ours? After all, the Malays, Chinese and Indians are, biologically, Mongoloid based, with a pinch of Negroid and Caucasian. We survived long enough to make a distinction that negated our common origins.

I admit, I am proud of being a Malay - but it is not wrong though. What is lacking in our community is 'Muhibbah', the sense of belonging to a country. The past should not be the source of accusations. The past should be the source of inspiration - the vision of how to proceed forward for a better life. A Malay can say that to be a Malaysian, you need to embrace the Malay culture. Question is: Is the Malay culture free of inter-cultural contamination? Is contamination or purity important? Who are we to say that the Lingua Franca used in the Malaccan sultanate era is pure Malay? Maybe Lingua Franca is the product of synergies from various languages? I am quite sure there is some truth in this - perhaps a lingual professor from University Malaya can verify. The fact I am trying to put across here is that: Nobody is right and nobody is wrong. We just have to find a common purpose to live alongside each other until the end of time - (I am not a preacher, but if the Muslims read and comprehend the Surah Al-Kafirun, they will realise that it is not about differences, it is about living together)

History shapes culture. The Malay history shaped the Malay culture. The Malays were never alone in this part of the world. They had always accepted visitors over the past centuries. These visitors no longer appear to be visitors. Hence they should not be called visitors. The so called visitors should not continue to alienate themselves from the rest - they should assimilate - they should embrace, whatever is within their ethical and cultural heritage and limits - only then we can truly be 1Malaysia.

Admiral Cheng Ho travelled all the way from the "All Under Heaven" land of united China to Ptolemy's Golden Chersonese (the Malay Peninsula) with the hope of starting a new life with a purpose of assimilating Hang Li Po into a foreign establishment. In my mind, after so many rumours, Cheng Ho may have brought with him five warriors who seem to have been assimilated rather well in the Malay culture and history: Hang Toh Ahh (Tuah), Hang Joo' Bhat (Jebat), Hang Lee Kew (Lekiu), Hang Lee Keh (Lekir) and the last one may have changed to a Malay name almost immediately to Hang Kasturi - demonstrating acceptance of the Malay culture. These five warriors were so skillful in their Kung Fu that the Sultan himself appointed them as the Panglimas of Malacca - a trust that a Malay gave to the Chinese. Of course this is just my imagination - of the five Panglimas being Chinese. But if it is true and no evidence exists to deny its possibility, it may be the single most controversial evidence that we have done it (ie. "1Malaysia") in the past. So the onus is on us to repeat history.




* kopihangtuah


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