Sejarah mengajar kita

I read an interesting interview over the weekend between Mingguan Malaysia and Prof Dr. Khoo Kay Kim about the sejarah Melayu and the existence on Hang Tuah. To me personally who lacks general knowledge and any other knowledge for that matter, when Malaysian history issues are discussed, the only person that come to mind is Dr. Khoo. To me he is a renown historian and he is an expert about Malaysian history.. errr... yelah kan.. dah berpuluh-puluh tahun hidup mengkaji sejarah kan.. kalau tak expert gak, tak tau lah nak kata.

I took history when I was in form 4 and form 5. We were given an option of taking either history or geography and I opted for history. For a simple reason – there’s only one book for history and a few books for geography. I am lazy, hence opted for history. Plus I just couldn’t get it into my head all the climates, location of places, pekerjaan penduduk (if only I could answer the people in the country work as clerk, engineer, doctor, driver among others.. senang kan?) etc etc. History is simpler, I think. It’s purely fact, with no alternate answer.

Years after I left school only I understood the importance of history. Because of history, we sold our fresh water to Singapore at dirt cheap price which is almost like giving them FOC and in return we pay them huge amount of money for ‘clean’ water from them. Because of history, we lost the battle over Pulau Batu Putih, a tiny little island but with huge significant strategically. Because of history, we have the races in Malaysia like it is now. And plenty more. It’s all because of history. In order to understand the reasons of those that happened, we need to understand the history behind it. And I only realised about it when I got to know Lis – who I think is very passionate about history, that she took South East Asian Study (or something like that) in university. Gilak! Tak pernah aku dengar orang nak study benda alah tu. And yet she did. That’s really passion. If it’s not about passion, I don’t think anyone would learn it. I am pretty damn sure that’s it’s all about reading and researching and comprehending what has been read. Bahan lelap mata untuk aku tu. And I believe that’s the kind of passion that historians have. History is really a story telling, if you can make it interesting enough and if you can keep your eyes open while reading and understanding and memorising the facts. I am not one of them who can do that. Since I took history because I have to, I didn’t excel in it. I spotted questions for my SPM and I am not all that luckylah kan. Ekekeke.. Tak sanggup aku nak baca and hafal every facts in the history book. Penuh brain cells aku and harus leh nyanyuk! Ekekekeke.. Tuuuu dia alasan orang pemalas, okeh!

Anyway, when I was in school, Sejarah Kesultanan Melayu Melaka still evolved around how Parameswara opened Melaka until the day Portuguese came and followed by Dutch. I can’t recall Hang Tuah’s character in the book. I am not even sure if it’s there. But I sure know about Hang Tuah lima bersaudara. And Hang Li Po. And kesetiaan Hang Tuah. If it’s not from book, or hearing it from others, it must be from P Ramlee’s movie. I used to wonder how the story came about. I wonder if there’s any proof of such story. I don’t think there’s much proof on Sejarah Melayu, unlike those of Greek history, or Dutch history or any European history. Nak kata tinggalan bangunan pun takde because they were wooden buildings and all were somehow burned down.. or probably dimakan anai-anai or reput over the years.. Photographic evidence apatah lagi. So the best would be written evidence, if any. But I wonder who would have kept preserved such evidence. Entah.

From the weekend’s paper, I understood that Prof. Khoo had came out with a statement that Hang Tuah doesn’t really exist and he is only a legendary figure because there’s no proof of his existence. I am pretttyyyy sure that there are many who would disagree with him. Interestingly, in the same paper, there’s a group that came out with a statement saying that they are the descendants from Hang Tuah and Tun Perak. Apparently, they claimed that Tun Perak was Hang Tuah’s father in law. Waaa... I am curious to know which daughter of Tun Perak managed to win the heart of Hang Tuah. According to them, there’s a manuscript or book or something that prove Hang Tuah’s existence and that material has been kept in secret by the descendents of Hang Tuah, and only a few lucky ones have been granted the privilege of reading it. Why eh? I am curious. Because of the statement made by Prof. Khoo, this group is willing to share the material. I personally can’t wait for it. It would be great, man!! Barulah real kewujudan orang yang kata ‘Takkan Melayu Hilang di Dunia’, kan? All these while, cuma kewujudan orang yang kata ‘Melayu Mudah Lupa’ je yang aku tau.. Ekekekek.. Interesting indeed.

Prof. Khoo also said in the interview that yes, people claimed that there’s Hang Tuah’s tomb in Melaka which is unnamed. But, there’s also claim that Hang Tuah never returned from Gunung Ledang. So which is which? He can’t be disappearing in Gunung Ledang yet there’s his tomb in Melaka. Betul gak kan? So the storyline has to be accurate since history is fact. There’s no alternative to a fact.

Besides Hang Tuah, Prof. Khoo touched the points where many Malaysians took for granted or don’t even bother of knowing. Many roads in KL are named after historical figures like Jalan Maharajalela, Jalan Raja Chulan to name a few. Maharajalela is a taken from Datuk Maharajalela who killed JWW Birch. But many don’t know that ‘Maharajalela’ is only his title. His real name is something else.. and... damn I have forgotten the name despite reading it over the weekend. Hish! And how many of us really know who is Raja Chulan? Interesting kan? Nasib I know Tuanku Abdul Rahman.. and Tunku Abdul Rahman.. errr which one is Jalan TAR eh? The first Agung or the first PM? Hahahahahah.. Mamposlah tu pun tak tau. He also mentioned that there are other figures that worth to be remembered like the first Malay doctor. Korang tau? His name is Dr. Latiff and I have forgotten his full name. Hampeh sangat!!

Errr tu baru sejarah Melayu and sejarah Malaysia. Sejarah Islam, how? Lagi haru.. I am pretty sure that I don’t know much about our Rasulullah SAW. Probably I know more about some people who can’t give me syafaat di akhirat nanti. Haru sangat kan? And yet I ‘claimed’ to love Rasulullah SAW. Sejarah perjuangan dia menegakkan Islam, sahabat-sahabat dia, those who fought the battle with him during zaman jahiliyah etc. I don’t know much about how Islam came to Spain and Turkey when it’s actually something interesting to learn. I actually have a lot of time to read about those facts if I want to. But I prefer to learn about angry birds now. Damn you angry birds! If only I can find ways to get addicted to read these histories kannnnnn...

So peeps.. how much do you know about any history?

Angah