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The Malay Annals exists in many varied forms. For the
sake of convenience the one I shall be referring to
throughout this book is the one translated by Leyden and
published 10 years after his death in 1821 just as
Singapore was starting out on its journey.
The islands today to the south of Singapore form part of
the modern Indonesia but way back when they were just
islands whose loyalty was to whoever was the strongest
regional power. On the island of Bintan, now a
playground for Singaporeans looking for beaches and palm
trees, Sing Nila Utama got bored of his little domain.
All he did was go hunting and one day he was out chasing
a deer. He speared the critter but it kept on running.
Again and again Sang speared the deer until finally it
fell and died on a mountain. By this time Sang must have
been pretty damned tired so he took the opportunity to
rest. His attention was caught by white sands shimmering
in the distance; he must have had good eye sight, and
enquired of his aides where it belonged. He was informed
that they belonged to the ‘extensive’ lands of Tamasak
so Sang, who may have been lousy at Geography but a
quick decision maker, set out at once.
He can’t have been much good at weather forecasts either
because on the short journey a storm blew up causing the
vessels to leak and they had to throw most of their
baggage overboard. They reached the island and Sang and
his men ‘went to amuse themselves’ near the mouth of the
river. We have no idea whether it was to the east or the
west of the river but all we can imagine is that either
in Raffles Square or the Padang these medieval
maritimers frolicked a while. While playing they spied a
beautiful red animal with a black head and white breast,
slightly larger than a goat though quicker. Seeing the
damp sailors the animal took to its heels. Sang was
intrigued and enquired what kind of animal it was. He
was told that according to the olden times a lion was
‘described in the same manner as (the goat) appeared.’
In the Sanskrit based language of the day a lion was
known as a singha which explains why a popular beer in
Thailand has a lion as its logo. Oh and Singapore is so
named. Anyway so impressed was Sang by the animal that
he sent a messenger to tell his mother in law he wasn’t
going to return to Bintan and if she loved him to send
some horses and elephants. Which she did. Sang changed
his name to Sri Tri Buana, changed Tamasak to Singapore
and reigned a long time. ‘The country of Singhapura is
of great extent, and frequented by merchants innumerable
from every quarter, and its ports are very populous.’
Raffles would have been aware of this and would have
appreciated the opportunity of recreating history while
at the same time furthering the cause of British trade
in the east.
It wasn’t all plain sailing though. One time Singapore
was attacked by hundreds of swordfish known as todak.
They jumped on shore and killed many people on the
beach, striking at the breast, separating the head,
piercing the waist. Eventually people were too scared of
going down to the sea front for fear of being impaled by
these fish. The ruler got on an elephant and went to
have a look and was amazed at the dead that littered the
beach. He ordered a rampart to be built using his men’s
legs which delighted the todak even more as they
would leap out of the water and take their pick from the
legs that lined up waiting for them. One smart young lad
said this is crazy why not build a rampart of wood. The
ruler heard this and thought, hey, not a bad idea. So a
rampart of wood was duly constructed and the todak
leapt at them and got stuck, their swords getting stuck
in the wood leaving them suspended swinging up and down.
The people soon tired of fish three times a day. In
honour of the young lad a poem was written.
The todak swings up to rend the raja’s garment,
The todak is not worsted of itself,
It is from a child’s understanding
That it is worsted in the war
If there is one thing a ruler hates its people who are
smarter and more popular than they are and this ruler
was no exception. He had the boy killed.
Being invaded by the swordfish was the beginning of the
end of Singapore Mark 1. The next raja managed to upset
his prime minister and all thanks to the jealous ladies
in his court. The prime minister had a drop dead
gorgeous daughter who the raja naturally fancied and
desired. The rest of his wives, offended at the
potential of this new beauty put out the word that she
was too free with her favours. Humiliated the raja
impaled her. The prime minister too was upset and
wondered why the raja did not simply kill his daughter
and have done with it. Bitterly he sent off a letter to
the Majapahit Empire in east Java saying that if they
fancied taking Singapore then now would be a good time
for it was divided. Majapahit was interested and sent
over 200,000 men to take the island.
During the ensuing battle the raja, little suspecting
his main man of treason, had him release supplies of
rice to feed the battle weary troops. The prime minister
though had other ideas and he opened the gates of the
fortress. The Javanese swooped on the city running amok.
The raja ran north, we’ll meet him again in Melaka,
while the prime minister was turned to stone and rice
ceased to be planted. The Javanese just went home again.
And Singapore slips from the historical radar for a
while. It was still there and people still sailed past
it on their journeys between India and China but no one
really paid it much mind. People no doubt still lived
there, perhaps a few fishermen, maybe some pirates but
whoever did stay there they haven’t left anything for
us. Peter Floris, a trader we’ll hear more of in
Pattani, mentions sailing past in 1613 but he
does little more than mention how some chaps already
afloat acted as guides just south of present day Keppel.
In 1703 Alexander Hamilton called in on his old friend
the Sultan of Johor and in passing the Sultan offered
him the island. Hamilton turned down the offer saying
‘it could be of no use to a private person though a
proper place for a company to settle a colony on, lying
at the centre of trade…’ Prophetic words… |
