Books written by British provided facts which seemed contrary to those found in our history books written by local historians. So your guess is as good as mine as to which version will be adopted in our schools.
Michael Chick poked at Prof. Khoo and our description of 'Tanah Melayu' and his main points are as follows:
"Michael Chick goes back to old Arabic maps to find that Tanah Melayu was actually called Barr Chin or Tanah China.
Who says that the Peninsular was ALWAYS called "Tanah Melayu"? This is a recent British Term!
Prior to "Tanah Melayu" being a British Tag in the 19th century, the peninsular was formerly known as Malacca in the 15th century. The newly-renamed book "Sejarah Melayu" (previously known as "Asal-Usul Raja-Raja") mentions every other place from India to China, including the tiny-speck-of-dirt called Temasik EXCEPT "Tanah Melayu". Why was Tanah Melayu NEVER MENTIONED in Sejarah Melayu? Simple!! Because that was not its name!!
Tanah Melayu was NEVER the name until the British came and colonized the Peninsular.
(please see map below)
Michael Chick poked at Prof. Khoo and our description of 'Tanah Melayu' and his main points are as follows:
"Michael Chick goes back to old Arabic maps to find that Tanah Melayu was actually called Barr Chin or Tanah China.
Who says that the Peninsular was ALWAYS called "Tanah Melayu"? This is a recent British Term!
Prior to "Tanah Melayu" being a British Tag in the 19th century, the peninsular was formerly known as Malacca in the 15th century. The newly-renamed book "Sejarah Melayu" (previously known as "Asal-Usul Raja-Raja") mentions every other place from India to China, including the tiny-speck-of-dirt called Temasik EXCEPT "Tanah Melayu". Why was Tanah Melayu NEVER MENTIONED in Sejarah Melayu? Simple!! Because that was not its name!!
Tanah Melayu was NEVER the name until the British came and colonized the Peninsular.
(please see map below)
Only in the 19th Century was The Peninsular known as "Tanah Melayu".
In the 15th Century, the Peninsular was known by no other name than "The Malacca Peninsular".
The Peninsular was known as "Barr Kra" in the 10th Century. Before that, the Peninsular was known as the "Golden Chersonese" since the 2nd Century. "Golden Chersonese is the ancient name to refer to the Malay Peninsula by Claudius Ptolemy or Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; c. 90 - c.. 168). Known in English as Ptolemy, he was a Greek-speaking geographer, astronomer, and astrologer. During Roman times, the Malay Peninsula developed an international reputation as a source of gold; hence the name was given."
By the way, "Barr" simply means "Land" in the Persian Language. And Barr Kra above, means " Land of Kra " (as in reference to the Isthmus of Kra ).
The earliest known Arabic Maps refer to the Peninsular as "Barr CHIN". Where Chin refers to CHINA ! Why did the Arabs call this Peninsular "Tanah China" instead of "Tanah Melayu"?
The oldest known Arab Maps called the Peninsular "Barr Chin"; which translates to "Tanah China ", or " Land of Chinese ". BTN can now implement this new found knowledge into their syllabus. You cannot deny that you don't know it now! Perhaps if you spoke Hokkien, dressed like a Hokkien, and practised Hokkien Customs, the Hokkiens might be gracious enough to accept you. Sounds absurd? Absolutely; and so does the other "Great Race-Changing Trick" practised by UMNO. And I quote Prof Dr Anthony Milner (ANU), "If it's so easy to join a race, it must be equally easy to 'un-join' that race ..."
Link
The earliest known Arabic Maps refer to the Peninsular as "Barr CHIN". Where Chin refers to CHINA ! Why did the Arabs call this Peninsular "Tanah China" instead of "Tanah Melayu"?
The oldest known Arab Maps called the Peninsular "Barr Chin"; which translates to "Tanah China ", or " Land of Chinese ". BTN can now implement this new found knowledge into their syllabus. You cannot deny that you don't know it now! Perhaps if you spoke Hokkien, dressed like a Hokkien, and practised Hokkien Customs, the Hokkiens might be gracious enough to accept you. Sounds absurd? Absolutely; and so does the other "Great Race-Changing Trick" practised by UMNO. And I quote Prof Dr Anthony Milner (ANU), "If it's so easy to join a race, it must be equally easy to 'un-join' that race ..."
the answer is simple...
ReplyDeleteall the Malay were united by MELAKA.
And they were called kesultanan melayu melaka. When Melaka falls. the melayu government was divided by their country, melaka, johor, kedah, terengganu..and so on..
British colonised this country individually and then united them. First as negeri2 selat..then persekutuan tanah melayu.
The fact they were not called tanah melayu doesn't erased the fact they were FOUNDED, DEVELOPED and GOVERNed by MELAYU.
That's why we should know our history.
Melaka is the place where traders from arabs met with traders from china. Perhaps that why they called it Tanah Cina. Same goes why the greek called melaka as Semenanjung emas. It's for what they are popular. Same goes with a country in indonesia. were called Baruas - because the trader from eqypt came there to find BARUS - kapur barus for the corpse.
Dear Gary, below is prof kkk's comment............
ReplyDelete--- On Tue, 4/12/11, khoo kay kim wrote:
From: khoo kay kim
Subject: Re: Fwd: Tanah China ! Historical proof
To: "SA Peter"
Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 11:07 AM
Dear Peter
Ask Mr. Chick why the Chinese did not use the term Chinese Peninsula but the Arabs did? Were the Arabs better informed than the Chinese about Bar Chin?
Prof. Khoo
(Garry: Let's have a debate/caucus. If I can have Prof KKK's and Peter's permission - which I have requested for - I shall have their email addresses posted here. Perhaps, we can invite Michael Chick's involvement.)
Very Interesting indeed...insinuating that the Malays have no land to call their own and the Malays' easy acceptance of other races to be part of them as then to make it easy to "un-join"...I see malice here.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all the Malay race which is just correctly termed as the Austronesian people as supported from evidence presented by HUGO (Human Genome Organization) through genetic studies of the Asian races. This group of people has been known by other names long before the term Melayu even existed.
This group of people were known as the Kunluns by Jianzhen (688-765) in his book (750) refering to a group of people who are black (dark brown) with wavy hair. Kunlun is also known as an area in the Tibet Mountains which is believed to be part of the Malaya Mountains (Himalaya. That is also why many Nepalese looks like Malays. The Malays or Kunluns, Austro-Polynesians , Austronesian peoples, Mongoloids, Malaiur (Sanskrit) or whatever the etymology this group of people are known as is a genetically distinct race as Caucasians or Negroid. Therefore, you can name this peninsular whatever you want, "Golden Chersonese", "Barr Chin", "Tanah Melayu" but that does not negate the fact that it is part of an area historically regarded as being inhabited by the original Austronesian people which is a genetically accepted fact. The Malays' generosity of accepting other people as one of its own (the Indian Muslims or Chinese Muslims, Malacca Portuguese, Siamese, Negritos, orang laut, Semais etc should not be seen as a tool to "un-join" by the good professor or anyone else for that matter. The Malays' acceptance of the other races to be part of them should be seen as positive as can be seen as their acceptance of the other races to be part of a new Malay world known as Malaysia which does not exist before the Western powers came to cause havoc in the Nusantara. Indonesia, Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand etc are part of this Ausronesian world known as Nusantara by the Malays.
So, please do not confuse the issue. Let us move on as Malaysians irrespective of race, religion or creed. Accept the fact that this peninsula, this tail end of Asia now in this era known as Malaysia (we do not know what its name will be in the future) is the land that we are born in, inhabited originally by a genetically defined race who has accepted other races as part of its journey in their annals of history. Be honest, accept the fact and be grateful. Otherwise, find another place to call home; even if you are a Malaysian Malay.
Daniel
Petaling Street is known as Chinatown and a place called "little India" do not make them part of China or India 100 years from now. It is still part of Malaysia. That is why your argument on Barr Chin or Golden Chersonese or whatever sucks.
ReplyDeleteTanah Melayu was not mentioned not because it did not exist but it existed by other names. The fact remains that it was inhabited originally by the Malay race for the past 40,000 years along with the Negritos and the Proto Malays like the orang seletar and a host of others.
In an archeological findings of two groups of Neolithic Man about 3,000 years old confirmed that there were were two subgroups of humans. One the showed the Mongoloid race (Malay) found in Perak and the other in Niah Caves the Austro-Melanosoid. They skeletons were 98% complete. Disappointingly, they were definitely not Chinese or Indians. They were buried with ceremonial beads, pottery and animal bones which means that they were had some kind of structured and organized culture. The oldest skeleton (90% complete) was of the Perak Man 11,000 years but was without any burial ceremonial evidence or other cultural evidence such as beads.
The 1.3 million year Paleolithic complex in Malaysia's Bukit Bunuh is one of the oldest geochronologically dated sites outside Africa. It was inhabited continuously for 40,000 years. That beats the Persians as far as I know where writing was first discovered and law written. Whether or not they were Malays or Negritos cannot be verified but I believe they were of the African stock as the subgroup of the human race has still not distinctly developed.
So I would say that Malay race as defined by their genetic makeup were the first race to call this place their home (archeological evidence so far) and they already had some kind of culture seriously practiced as evidenced from their burial ceremonies.
So, KoSong... sorry mate you are really kosong!!!
TrutHurts
GOLDEN CHERSONESE is another name of Malay Land...stupid! Balik Tong San laa...
ReplyDeleteMy father was born in KL in 1909, 102 years ago! Where do you expect me to go?
ReplyDelete"an area in the Tibet Mountains which is believed to be part of the Malaya Mountains (Himalaya. That is also why many Nepalese looks like Malays."
ReplyDeleteThis is creative deconstruction of "Himalaya" and is pure nonsense, of course. Himalaya is from Sanskrit (abode in the clouds), and does not refer to Malaya at all.
If you can be so blase with simple facts, how can we treat the rest of your post?