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Koleksi Tamadun Pahang
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| Abstract : |
| Mr. R. J. Wilkinson, in his "History of the Peninsular Malays"¹, and Sir Richard Winstedt, in his "History of Malaya"², are at one in rejecting the account given in the Malay Annals of the Kings of 14th century Singapore on the ground that the version is unreliable. Later, however, Sir Richard Winstedt, in the introduction to his edition of the Annals known as Raffles collection No. 18 (in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society, London)³, appears to modify his rejection of, at least, part of this account given in that MS. The publication of the whole of Raffles MS. No. 18⁴ which, there is good reason to believe, is one of the earliest, if not the earliest and the most authentic version of the Annals yet discovered, provides a favourable opportunity for examining the chronology of the 14th century Singapore kings set forth therein, and assessing what value, if any, it possesses.
In the present paper, when the Malay Annals are mentioned, the Raffles No. 18 text is meant. In the preliminary examination the material which I use is, with one exception, taken entirely from the Annals: the only outside material utilized is the date, taken from the "History of the Ming Dynasty",⁵ of the death of the first king of Malacca (who was the last ruler of Singapore). According to the Chinese record that king died between 1412 A.D. and 1414 A.D., (say 1413 A.D.). Having thus arrived at a chronology for the kings of Singapore, I compare that chronology with material derived from other sources, and then I reach conclusions.
Version of the Malay Annals
The Malay Annals give us the following information. Sri Tri Buana, a prince from Palembang, of the fabled Bukit Si-Guntang royal stock from which the kings of Malacca later claimed descent, was the founder of the Settlement of Temasek, or Singapore. (The name Tri Buana did not occur only in the list of Singa- |
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