LITMIR.BIZ

      An aerial view of the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The large green rectangle is Independence Square, once the heart of the colonial administration when it was known as the Padang. The mock Tudor-style Selangor Club is on its left and the Sultan Abdul Samad Building on its right. The triangle of green is the confluence of Kuala Lumpur’s two rivers and the point where the city started.

      The startling variety of food in Malaysia is a good illustration of these differing cultural streams. From the majority Malay population comes spicy coconut and lemon grass-based cuisine. Southern Indian, Hainanese, Cantonese, Hakka, Javanese, Sumatran, Middle Eastern and Portuguese foods all have large followings. There is even the celebrated Nyonya style, which is a mixture of Chinese and Malay cooking. And every so often you’ll be offered a watery cucumber sandwich and a stiff cup of tea in a nod at British colonial rule.

      The first major outside influence on the Malay-speaking world came from Indian and Chinese traders. The monsoon winds meant vessels had to pass down the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, round the tip and past what is now Singapore, and up the other side through the Strait of Malacca. Indian influence was particularly strong, and old documents speak of Indian traders buying timber and jewels from the Malays.

      By the first century AD, both Hinduism and Buddhism were well established in these coastal enclaves, and Chinese chronicles speak of a great port in the Strait of Malacca in the fifth century AD. Two hundred years later, the maritime kingdom of Srivijaya rose to strength, and controlled the coasts of Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo. The maharajahs of Srivijaya waxed and waned, but stayed in power for 700 years by controlling the spice trade through the region.

      Records of the time are sparse, but a possible early capital currently under exploration is Kota Gelanggi, in the jungles of southern Malaysia near to Singapore. Other outposts were in northern Malaysia, while most of the kingdom was focused on Palembang on the north coast of Sumatra. Srivijaya came under increasing attack from others who wanted to tax the lucrative spice trade. The fatal blow came in the middle of the fourteenth century from the Hindu Majapahit empire from eastern Java.

      This is really the point where today’s Malaysian school children start their history lessons. A rebel prince called Parameswara escaped from Srivijaya when the empire fell and headed north, eventually establishing a coastal fiefdom around 1400. This was Malacca (Melaka in Malay), which quickly became the most important port in Southeast Asia, controlling the lands on both sides of the Malacca Strait and all the lucrative spice trade that passed through.

      The record-breaking Petronas Twin Towers are Malaysia’s icon to modernity. Completed in 1998, they are eighty-eight stories high and were the world’s tallest building until they were eclipsed by Taipei 101 in 2004. The sky-bridge which links the two towers is open to the public..

      The Kuala Lumpur Tower is the city’s telecommunications beacon, complete with a revolving restaurant at its upper levels. It is built on top of a hill and appears to loom over the Petronas Twin Towers. Views over the city are unrivalled on a clear day.

      The port was the cultural lodestone of the archipelago, and when Parameswara converted from Hinduism to Islam in 1414, much of the region followed suit. What followed was the “golden age” of Malacca. The city deftly positioned itself to appeal to Indian, Chinese and Arab merchants, as well as all the local kingdoms. At the peak of its influence, some eighty languages were spoken in the city. To this day, the Malacca Sultanate is held up as the golden age of Malay self-rule.

      But it was not to last. Tales of Malacca’s wealth and influence reached as far as Venice and made the port a prime target for the expansionist Europeans. A Portuguese expedition sailed from India in 1511, and after a month-long siege took the city. The last Sultan escaped and moved the court south to Johor. The port of Malacca then went into a slow but terminal decline, because the Portuguese did not have the resources to force trade to continue at Malacca. Muslim traders, in particular, started to use the port of Aceh across the Strait in Sumatra.

      Johor, too, rose in significance, and the ousted descendants of the Malacca Sultanate finally tasted revenge in 1641 when they helped the Dutch expel the Portuguese from Malacca. But they were not able to rid themselves of the Dutch, who took firm control of the lucrative spice trade.

      More than a century later, the British started to close in on the spice trade, first by forcing the cession of the island of Penang in 1791, and then by starting a trading post on Singapore in 1819. The British and Dutch then divided the region between themselves in 1824, with Singapore, Malacca and Penang going to the British and the rest going to the Netherlands. The political border has stuck to this day, with Malaysia and Indonesia divided by the Strait of Malacca to the west and the island of Borneo to the east.

      The National Monument is a larger than life-size bronze sculpture commemorating those who died in Malaysia’s struggle for freedom, principally during the Japanese occupation in the Second World War and the 1948–60 Communist insurgency.

      Malaysia is made up of a diverse collection of peoples and territories and makes a big deal of its diversity on National Day on 31 August each year. People dress in the national flag (far left), participate in musical and other routines (left) and parade in their regional costumes (below).

      The armed forces and police take part in the National Day parade (above). Thousands of students, dressed in the colours of the Malaysian flag (bottom), also participate in choreographed formations reflecting the theme of the year’s independence celebrations.

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