Forget about Mat Sabu, did you know Tuah and Jebat were Chinese pirates?

Written by YL Chong, Malaysia Chronicle

When I read Malay literature on the Malacca Sultanate period in primary school days, I had always come across stories about Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, the more famous among several other “Malay” warriors with the surname “Hang”.

“Malay” in inverted commas was because we at tender age of 10 to 11 never doubted that these two legendary heroes were the pride of the Malay sultanate. Serving the then Sultan Mansur Shah as obedient servents of royalty. How could we forget the “duel” between the two sworn “brothers” Tuah and Jebat.

Five years into secondary 3, we once again encountered the two Malay heroes through a literature books, and nobody (including the “ignorant” teachers I guess!) corrected our young minds about our misconceived belief the two were indeed Malay heroes. We had been indoctrinated so much to think thus, and our history lessons never did mention about Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat with details that we remain indoctrinated till we left school these two were indeed Malaya heroes and deserved constant mention in officialdom.

Of course I remained ignorant about historical facts about these heroes until some three decades later. I was “introduced” to a teacher who had been educated in the Chinese vernacular school, and early into our “socio-political” discussions at the kedai Mamak he one day asked me a question: “Chong,what race did you think the famous duo Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat were from?”

Out of the blue came what I believed at first was a juvenile question; I nevertheless answered the quiz thus: “Malay-lah, what else, koboi!”

Wow! Tuah and Jebat were Chinese pirates

“Koboi” is the nickname I gave to him because I was of this habit of gifting someone I liked a nick; he called me “sifu”, and we had hilarious exchanges in both English and Bahasa and Mandarin. I believe this “sifu” was given as he felt my English standard surpassed him after he knew I was a journalist my whole working career and that I dabbled in short story and poetry writing as well.

But Koboi was the “sifu” in Chinese history and Chinese literature.

“Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat were Chinese “pirates” from China who accompanied Admiral Cheng Ho (Cheng He) in one of the latter’s trips to Malacca!”

I believe I must have stunned by his “revelation” about the two 15th century heroes’ ethnic origins.

After a brief pause when he must have seen my jaw dropped, Koboi continued: “The Malaysian school teachers mostly remain ignorant of this fact, and popular literature continued to perpetuate this myth.”

I bet some or most of my readers did not know of this historical fact!

Now many readers must be wondering how this narration till now had anything to do with Mohamad or Mat Sabu, right?

Where is the proof Sabu was factually wrong

Well, because for the past one week there had been lots of attacks on the PAS deputy leader on his comment about the Bukit Kepong incident. I reproduce here some relevant paragraphs that appeared in the NST of Sept 3, 2011, page 3 headed “Mat Sabu remarks an insult, say ex-soldiers”: A clip of the (Mat Sabu’s) statement, posted on social networking websites, including YouTube, shows Mohamad clearly saying: “Dekat nak Merdeka nanti, siarlah cerita Bukit Kepong. Bulit Kepong itu polis itu British. Yang Serang Bukit Keponglah pejuang kemerdekaan. Ketuanya, Mat Indra (Muhammad Indera).”

(“Nearing Merdeka, the Bukit Kepong clip will be aired. In Bulit Kepong, the police were Britishpolicemen. Those who attacked Bukit Kepong were the true freedom fighters. Their leader was Muhammad Indera.”)

Mat Sabu reportedly stated this at a ceramah I Tasik Gelugor, Penang, on Aug 21. And of course he had many detractors from the UMNO camp; surprisingly, even DAP MP Karpal Singh had urged Mat Sabu to retract the statement. I read a good and well enunciated piece by Centre of Policy Initiatives (CPI) director Dr Lim Teck Ghee who had questioned Prof. Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim’s comments well quoted by the mainstream press criticizing the PAS leader’s statement, but I won’t dwell on this because it would be “digressing” too much from the subject focus -- my appealing for of the need for revisiting History.

The NST report’s last two paragraphs read:

Suparman Taib, 56, who lost his left leg below the knee in a booby trap while conducting a sweep in the jungles of Kelian Intan in Kroh, Perak in April 1981, said he and his comrades were deeply troubled over Mat Sabu’s statement.

“History cannot be altered. Many lives were lost and we feel it is only right for Mat Sabu to make a public apology,” said the former soldier from the 22 Royal Malay Regiment based in Sungai Petani.

There is no need for Mat Sabu to tender any apology to anyone at this juncture. Can any historian prove that Mat Sabu was “factually incorrect” on his narration of the Bukit Kepong?

Can anyone challenge my friend Koboi’s version of some myths of socalled popular History p[ertaining to the Malacca sultanate and the socalled “Malay” warriors?

Beheaded

And one interesting anecdote I must recall based on Koboi’s narrative before I stop.

Another popular myth was that after a failed mission to bring bring a princess for the Sultan Mansur Shah, Hang Tuah disappeared into thin air.

“No, this is not true. Hang Tuah and his comrades had actually become pirates on the high seas.

“On the order of the Ming dynasty emperor then, Cheng Ho captured Hang Tuah and escorted him back to China where he was beheaded.”

So a revisit of the Bukit Kepong incident and based on historical facts, will it be fair to return a final verdict if Mat Sabu was indeed “guilty of an offence” – against royalty, claim some detractors! Or Khoo Kay Kim and his fellow historian-academics should do more research and serve ignorant Malaysians better by dismissing more myths in our perceived knowledge of Malaysian History instead of allowing politicians and some half-past six newspapers continue the deception?

Malaysia Chronicle