CONSERVING THE GLORY OF MELAKA'S MALAY SULTANATE

By Fadzli Ramli

MELAKA, Malaysia, Aug 4(Bernama) -- Melaka, which is a world heritage city and
set to be named a developed state in October, owns a heritage that dated back to
more than 600 years ago.

The rich history of Melaka Malay Sultanate is the pride of the state and the
Melaka State Museum Corporation (Perzim) was tasked in conserving this heritage.

For this, Perzim established the Melaka Malay Sultanate Museum and it was
officially opened by the then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1986.

Many could have thought that a wooden palace at the foot of St. Paul Hill in
Bandar Hilir here is a mere 'window dressing' for the historical square in this
heritage city including the Porto De Santiago, a remnant of the Portuguese
fortress A'Farmosa.

The structure is actually the Melaka Malay Sultanate Palace Museum.

PALACE CONSTRUCTED FROM HARD WOOD

Perzim general manager Khamis Abas said construction of the museum was completed
in 1984. It was built based on the annals of Malay History that depicted the
unique Malay palace architecture during the reign of Sultan Mansur Shah
(1456-1477) where the glory of ancient Melaka was at its peak.

"The three-storey museum was initially named the Cultural Museum before it was
changed to Melaka Malay Sultanate Palace Museum in 2005 in line with its role to
conserve the Melaka Malay Sultanate heritage," he told Bernama.

Khamis said the museum was built from hard wood while its roof was made from the
Belian wood. The whole structure was constructed without using nails, only
wooden pegs were utilised.

The museum's first floor houses the throne room, a main veranda used to welcome
guests, six other smaller veranda used as the waiting area before the subjects
were summoned to meet the Sultan, a hall for reception and another space meant
for holding of discussions.

The throne room has a diorama that depicts a scenario where the Malay chiefs met
the Sultan while each of the six veranda that surrounds the throne room depicts
the different scenarios then including the 'nobat' (royal assemble) complete
with its music.

BATTLE BETWEEN HANG TUAH AND HANG JEBAT

The most interesting diorama depicted was the battle between two great Malay
warriors of that time, Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, who fought each other due to
the differences in their loyalty to the Sultan.

The exact replica of the Sultan's bedroom is located in the second floor of the
museum. According to the legend, palace servants who entered the room without
the royal consent would be beheaded.

A 'treasure room' located on the third floor of the museum stores various
ancient weapons as well as items. The temperature in this room is maintained in
order to conserve the relics.

Not far from the museum's compound lies the Porto De Santiago, a remnant of
A'Farmosa as well as the archeological site of Hendrieta Louisia Bastion.

EKOR LOTONG CANNON

At the museum, visitors can view a number of ancient cannons including a small
artillery piece known as 'Ekor Lotong' that measures some 250cm.

The museum has three of these small cannons apart from more than 30 kris, 15
machetes and more than 20 spears. It also displays more than 20 sets of
traditional attire that depict Malaysia's multi-racial society.

Among the rather 'fascinating' items on display are the 10 'tanjak' (Malay head
dress) that could only be worn by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Malaysian King) and
the nine Malay rulers.

According to Khamis, it is an offence for commoners to wear any of these tanjak
similar to the way it is folded as a royal headdress. Among the design is
"Lipatan Dendam Tak Sudah" worn by the King, "Lipatan Ketam Budu" worn by Sultan
(Ruler) of Kelantan state and dan "Lipatan Singa Menoleh" worn by Sultan (Ruler)
of Johor state.

CERAMICS FROM CHINA

Among the other items also on display at the museum are more than 20 porcelain
pieces of which the bulk of it is China ceramics as well as more than 30 brass
wares including buckles, tepak sireh and cucuk sanggul.

There are also miniature replicas of 10 traditional palaces in Malaysia
including that of 'Istana Seri Menanti' (Negeri Sembilan) and 'Istana Kenangan'
(Perak) as well as Indonesian palaces like 'Istana Pagaruyung' (Batu Sangkar)
and 'Istana Sayap Pelalawan' (Riau).

A total of 55,052 tourists visited the museum between Jan 1 and July 19 this
year while the figures for the past years were 101,866 (2009), 95,134 (2008),
92,277 (2007) and 82,394 (2006).

The museum is opened daily from 9am until 5.30pm. Admission is RM2 each for
adults and RM0.50 (US$0.16) for children and school students.

Meanwhile, Melaka Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam said Thailand Deputy Prime
Minister Trairong Suwankiri who visited Melaka last July 27 was impressed with
the heritage conservation efforts carried out by the government.

"During a visit to the museum, he was attracted to the legend of Hang Tuah and
Hang Jebat apart from the glory of Melaka at that time where it was the
destination of many traders from the world over", Mohd Ali told reporters this
after accompanying Trairong on the tour of historical Melaka.
-- BERNAMA



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