Oldest Tombstone in Malaysia belongs to  a Chinese

By John Chow

Background: Hang Tuah is the most famous Malay warrior and is regarded as the best Malay warrior. In addition, he represents the ideal warrior that most Silat masters look up to as a pillar of virtue. During his life, he was the champion and protector of the Sultan of Malacca. He is perhaps Malaysia’s foremost folk hero and most school children in Malaysia would have learnt some episodes from his life. It was assumed by many that he was a Malay.

This is what I heard:-

The researchers hired by the Malaysian government found the oldest tomb stone (grave yard) in Kelantan in year 2000.  Evidence points to the fact that this tombstone belongs to a Chinese!

The tomb stone is at least 900 years old,  which makes it older than the so-called Batu Bersurat.

This old tombstone proves that the Chinese landed in Malaya much earlier than the Indonesian ‘Malays’ such as Parameswara who landed in Temasek (now called Singapore) around 1400AD,  and then travelled to where Malacca is now,  and claimed the land as his,  and thus,  founded the Sultanate of Malacca,  claiming he is a Malay.  In fact,  he, and many aristocratic families in Malaysia are of Indonesian descent,  and some of them have Chinese ancestry as well.  Thus, they are also foreigners, and not Malays, and certainly not Orang Asli (aboriginals).

It appears that the findings of the research were ‘suppressed’ because of political implications. It may be because of these findings that Hang Tuah was dropped from certain publications in recent years.

For background reading on the founding of the Sultanate of Malacca,  and the founding fathers of Malaya,  please refer to my other 2 articles:-

Parameswara and the founding of the Sultanate of Malacca     by John chow

Origins of Hang Tuah      by John Chow