November 29, 2005

The Malays of Tumasik- forgotten history

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sheilaX said:

1819 is the year most Singaporeans associate with the awakening of the proverbial sleeping dragon- a creature that was, by all accounts, totally alien to the natives who lived during Raffles' tenure. Before this almost mythic date, however, we are led to believe that Singapore has no past worth mentioning or even remembering....

A thick mist stands between present-day Singapore and her past. An ordinary Singaporean only has a hazy, unformed and certainly romanticized grasp of history, and this baggage must be cleared away if one wants to get to the bottom of things. Like it or not- politically correct or not- Singapore's humble beginnings is inextricably linked with the Malay kingdoms that flourished in the region since two thousand years ago.

Recommended by tinkertailor: "Long article, but worth reading especially if you're interested in Singapore's history before Raffles."

Link

Submitted by tinkertailor on November 29//10:13am and published by jseng, tinkertailor :: 2421 reads | trackback
Comments 6

kudos to tinkertailor. it was a good read

Posted by visceral on 29 November, 2005 - 4:02pm

thanx. i found it completely by accident (i was searching for something else on technorati). real lucky. it would have been a big waste if no one spotted it.

Posted by tinkertailor on 29 November, 2005 - 6:54pm

Yup it was a great read, and also a real good blog, by the way.

Non-muslims can't glean much from Islam nowadays without the extremists sullying it, glad there's an avenue from a moderate Muslim.

Posted by danb on 29 November, 2005 - 4:47pm

Uhm, actually, the blogger-in-question is not a Muslim, BTW.

Posted by TP* on 30 November, 2005 - 2:18pm

Well, as far as MOE and the local media is concerned, Spore history= the history of PAP. Nothing worth mentioning happened in Spore prior to the birth of LKY. Spore was transformed from a quiet fishing village to a first world country in 40 years.

Posted by Anonymous Coward* on 29 November, 2005 - 6:43pm

Glad to see the budding interest in Singapore's history.

If you look at the archaeological evidence that Professor John Miksic and his team at NUS have unearthed, Singapore's history goes back to the 14th century and perhaps even earlier. This position has been held by the Singapore History Museum, and will be reflected in a gallery at the new National Museum of Singapore when it opens. There are also some books published by the museum and the National Archives which reflect this fact.

You guys may also wish to check out a recent article on page 10 of Weekend TODAY (www.todayonline.com) which talks about Prof Miksic's latest findings about Singapore's history.

Posted by walter* on 29 November, 2005 - 7:32pm