After had seen 'Little Nyonya', prompted me to trace my roots. Tracing from migration of Chinese following Princess Hang Li Po's marriage to Sultan Mansur Shah and a specific area called Bukit Cina that was given to 500 other Chinese that followed Princess Hang Li Po to Malacca, I stumbled upon interesting story related to this Malay-Hokkien (Peranakans) a legend and a man with supernatural powers, Hang Too Ah or Hang Tuah. And wtf is Hang Too Ah!?!?
Hang Tuah or Hang Too Ah? Probably Too Ah is not Hang Tuah's Chinese name as from my point of view, 'tuah' means 'big' in Hokkien dialect. He could have been a head or a leader where he was known as 'tuah' by his gang members as how the Chinese would address someone elder or older as 'tuah' for example 'tuah hiae' for older brother, 'tuah pek' for grandfather/uncle and 'tuah pek kong' for great grandfather. After all, Hang Tuah lived in the era of Sultan Mansur Shah at the same time of Princess Hang Li Po that brought along with her 500 other Chinese from Fukien (Hokkien) who speak Hokkien or it could be a 'longhat' on how certain Malays address someone as 'hang' like 'hang, nak pergi ke mana?' Among the Peranakans who speak mixed Malay-Hokkien following the inter-marriage Malay-Hokkien, Hang Tuah could be a title of an elder to them not necessarily his real name. However, this is only my hypothesis.
When I first discovered about, (rumors has it that) the Malay legendary warrior known to every single Malaysian who's been to school in Malaysia and studied 'Sejarah Malaysia' that Hang Tuah was a Chinese, I was not stunned, not speechless either compared to disgrace I once felt at a friend's house when I was introduced by my friend to her mother-in-law, "I am a Chinese who wants to be like them (native)", to that the mother-in-law replied, 'lunatic!' Stunned, speechless, I never stood up to defend myself against my friend's statement in spite of how truly bad I felt at that seconds looking on the sarcastic face of her mother-in-law. Never did I ever trying to change my race from a Chinese to any other despite of me being easily adapt and accommodate myself with other races, eating their food or speaking their dialects does not implying that I'm changing my originality.
Back to Hang Too Ah. However about the truth, I acknowledge it was a discovery sooner or later would be exposed. The sad thing is, the government of Malaysia felt the whole discovery was an epic fail that ripped apart the pride of mainly the Malays who's been glorifying Hang Tuah as their legendary Malay warrior, worse was the story of Hang Tuah was dismissed in a single line in school history text-books.
Well, I'm not a scholar qualify to elaborate the matter expertly, what I have were merely my thoughts from the source I have read and wonder why the history that was told to us many years was suddenly taken off from 'Sejarah Malaysia' just because the discovery has it, Hang is a Chinese surname!? that apparently, prompted the Government of Malaysia to set out a research and according to same sources, in June 1998, the government of Malaysia had hired a team of experts that it was verified by DNA tests. Such a claim can be found on the Internet and refer to a source, viz., The Federal Association of Archaeology and Research of Michigan, USA claiming Hang Tuah originality was a Chinese. Ironically, it was said, this is a spurious claim and the association referred to, in fact, does not exist. Source
After 500 years following the history of Malacca's glorious past, without the Tuah legend who are the Malays today? 500 years later according to the article SuaraAnum, the Malays felt 'tertipu' cheated and confused!?!?!??? "Selama ini orang-orang Melayu telah terkeliru atau mungkin tertipu dengan kedudukan Hang Tuah sebagai legenda pahlawan Melayu yang dibangga-banggakan. Hang Tuah sebenarnya telah diMelayukan untuk tujuan kemegahan semacam bentuk yang tercatat pada Robin Hood." (SuaraAnum.com) Speculating, they were misled into believing the lies, but by who?
When I was a student, I read in the history book the origin of the Malays that reside in Tanah Melayu or before the Tanah Melayu were from Funan southern part of China. If this is true, no different does it make whatever race Hang Tuah was. I don't think Hang Tuah faked himself when he quote the words, "Ta' Melayu Hilang Di-Dunia" which literally means "Ne'er shall the Malays vanish from the face of the earth" to cheat the Malays of his originality. The quote is today a famous rallying cry for Malay nationalism and among Malay supremacists. In Malaysia, this phrase is used from time to time by Malay nationalists and Malay supremacists as an implicit threat to the non-Malay population.
Remember the keris controversy generated by Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein, who has brandished the keris at the party’s annual assembly?
Hang Tuah or Hang Too Ah? Probably Too Ah is not Hang Tuah's Chinese name as from my point of view, 'tuah' means 'big' in Hokkien dialect. He could have been a head or a leader where he was known as 'tuah' by his gang members as how the Chinese would address someone elder or older as 'tuah' for example 'tuah hiae' for older brother, 'tuah pek' for grandfather/uncle and 'tuah pek kong' for great grandfather. After all, Hang Tuah lived in the era of Sultan Mansur Shah at the same time of Princess Hang Li Po that brought along with her 500 other Chinese from Fukien (Hokkien) who speak Hokkien or it could be a 'longhat' on how certain Malays address someone as 'hang' like 'hang, nak pergi ke mana?' Among the Peranakans who speak mixed Malay-Hokkien following the inter-marriage Malay-Hokkien, Hang Tuah could be a title of an elder to them not necessarily his real name. However, this is only my hypothesis.
When I first discovered about, (rumors has it that) the Malay legendary warrior known to every single Malaysian who's been to school in Malaysia and studied 'Sejarah Malaysia' that Hang Tuah was a Chinese, I was not stunned, not speechless either compared to disgrace I once felt at a friend's house when I was introduced by my friend to her mother-in-law, "I am a Chinese who wants to be like them (native)", to that the mother-in-law replied, 'lunatic!' Stunned, speechless, I never stood up to defend myself against my friend's statement in spite of how truly bad I felt at that seconds looking on the sarcastic face of her mother-in-law. Never did I ever trying to change my race from a Chinese to any other despite of me being easily adapt and accommodate myself with other races, eating their food or speaking their dialects does not implying that I'm changing my originality.
Back to Hang Too Ah. However about the truth, I acknowledge it was a discovery sooner or later would be exposed. The sad thing is, the government of Malaysia felt the whole discovery was an epic fail that ripped apart the pride of mainly the Malays who's been glorifying Hang Tuah as their legendary Malay warrior, worse was the story of Hang Tuah was dismissed in a single line in school history text-books.
Well, I'm not a scholar qualify to elaborate the matter expertly, what I have were merely my thoughts from the source I have read and wonder why the history that was told to us many years was suddenly taken off from 'Sejarah Malaysia' just because the discovery has it, Hang is a Chinese surname!? that apparently, prompted the Government of Malaysia to set out a research and according to same sources, in June 1998, the government of Malaysia had hired a team of experts that it was verified by DNA tests. Such a claim can be found on the Internet and refer to a source, viz., The Federal Association of Archaeology and Research of Michigan, USA claiming Hang Tuah originality was a Chinese. Ironically, it was said, this is a spurious claim and the association referred to, in fact, does not exist. Source
After 500 years following the history of Malacca's glorious past, without the Tuah legend who are the Malays today? 500 years later according to the article SuaraAnum, the Malays felt 'tertipu' cheated and confused!?!?!??? "Selama ini orang-orang Melayu telah terkeliru atau mungkin tertipu dengan kedudukan Hang Tuah sebagai legenda pahlawan Melayu yang dibangga-banggakan. Hang Tuah sebenarnya telah diMelayukan untuk tujuan kemegahan semacam bentuk yang tercatat pada Robin Hood." (SuaraAnum.com) Speculating, they were misled into believing the lies, but by who?
When I was a student, I read in the history book the origin of the Malays that reside in Tanah Melayu or before the Tanah Melayu were from Funan southern part of China. If this is true, no different does it make whatever race Hang Tuah was. I don't think Hang Tuah faked himself when he quote the words, "Ta' Melayu Hilang Di-Dunia" which literally means "Ne'er shall the Malays vanish from the face of the earth" to cheat the Malays of his originality. The quote is today a famous rallying cry for Malay nationalism and among Malay supremacists. In Malaysia, this phrase is used from time to time by Malay nationalists and Malay supremacists as an implicit threat to the non-Malay population.
Remember the keris controversy generated by Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein, who has brandished the keris at the party’s annual assembly?
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