Look to India and Japan for evidence of Hang Tuah, not just Europe, says NGO chairman

MELAKA: Efforts should be placed to extract historical facts about legendary Malay legend Hang Tuah from archives in Okinawa in Japan and Tamil Nadu, India says a local activist from the Portuguese community.

Save the Portuguese Action Committee chairman Martin Theseira said the facts about Hang Tuah were hidden in Japan and India.

“I believe there is no evidence of manuscripts on Hang Tuah in Europe and the state government should send researchers to uncover these historical artefacts that might be kept in archives in these two countries,” he said when asked to comment on the statement by Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh that the state government planned to bring back artefacts or manuscripts related to the history of the Malay Sultanate of Melaka, especially involving Hang Tuah, discovered abroad.

On July 28, Ab Rauf said that based on reports he received, these manuscripts were discovered by researchers or historians in 14 countries, including Vatican City, India, Japan and Turkiye.

He also said the artefacts and manuscripts would be one of the main attractions in conjunction with Visit Melaka Year 2024 (TMM 2024) to showcase the greatness of Melaka and Hang Tuah.

Theseira said there were also previous claims that such old manuscripts on Hang Tuah existed in Spain and Portugal but this had not been verified.

He said the state government should now focus on the letters allegedly sent by Hang Tuah to the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom between 1480 and 1481.

“This will be good evidence of good relations between the Melaka Sultanate and part of what now is Japan,” he said.

Theseira said that the state government must also ramp up the research in India.

“Historians have previously told us that records on Hang Tuah were languishing in repositories in India but no one has done anything about it,” he said.

Theseira said he found that Tamil Nadu archives had a lot of information about the then Tanah Melayu (Malay Peninsula) based on his experience in researching Melaka’s history.