SINGAPORE is celebrating its bicentennial. Isn’t that remarkable? A young nation that attained First World status without fanfare. But compared with Malaysia and Indonesia, Singapore lacked a certain history.
Or so we thought. Singapore’s history was etched in Sejarah Melayu. The nation embraced certain parts of its history and began a serious claim of the Malay world, in particular Malay manuscripts, by working with the British Library, among others, in this area.
In 2014, I attended and presented a paper on Malay ancient kingdoms at an international seminar at the Nalanda Srivijaya Centre, ISEAS, Singapore.
The centre’s goal was to be a platform to develop “Nalanda”, a concept of building for contemporary Asia, and an appreciation of Asian achievements and mutual learning, exemplified by the cosmopolitan Buddhist centre of learning in Nalanda, as well as the “Sriwijaya” of Southeast Asia as a place of mediation and linkages among great civilisations.
I began to see how Singapore positions itself as a nation serious about its representation of its history.
A few years later, Singapore collaborated with the British Library on the digitisation of ancient Malay manuscripts.
As a result, the exhibition, “Tales of the Malay World”, was held at the National Library Board, Singapore, last year. I checked out the exhibition. As I was entering, tears started falling as I heard the beautiful rendering of the syair.
The exhibition was well curated to showcase how the Malay language had been serving as the lingua franca of the Malay archipelago for centuries.
Singapore draws upon its history and honours, among others, Munsyi Abdullah and our own Leftenan Adnan Saidi to commemorate its bicentennial.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: “The Singapore bicentennial this year marks the 200th anniversary of Sir Stamford Raffles’ arrival in Singapore, a key milestone in our rich and storied history.
“But our story did not start in 1819. It began in 1299. For over 700 years, we have been open to a diverse flow of people and ideas, and connected to wider geopolitical currents, all of which shaped our evolution.
“Our history is a rich and expansive one — the journey of an island that has never been constrained by its shores, but has always been made from more. Each of us is in some way connected to and intertwined with others in this history. This year could be time for us to explore how past has formed us, discover what this means for our future, and find our way for the future to come.”
I suppose for Singapore, it makes sense to whitewash the fact that it was part of the Johor sultanate for almost 300 years prior to Raffles’ meddling.
Or that it was previously under the fiefdom of Laksamana Hang Tuah and a vessel of Melaka for more than 100 years.
We need to honour the giants of our past — Tan Sri P. Ramlee, Pak Sako, Dol Said, Cik Siti Wan Kembang, Tengku Mariam and Hang Tuah — _before others claim our heroes, queens and warriors.
I must stress that we are not a 62-year-old nation. We have a history as old as Sg Batu and Lembah Bujang in Kedah. The ancient kingdoms of Kadaram, Gangga Nagara, Gellangui, Pattani and Langkasuka, Tumasek, Inderapura and Sekebun Bunga. Even the sea kingdom of Dika.
We need to claim our rich history. 1,000 years would be a good place to start.
NINOT AZIZ
Kuala Lumpur