Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Birth of Malaysia?

I am currently reading Gavin Menzies's 1421: The Year China Discovered the World and found an interesting passage:

"Formerly this place [Malacca] was not designated a 'country'...There was no king of the country; it was controlled only by a chief. This territory was subordinate to the jurisdiction of Hsien Lo [Thailand];; it paid an annual tribute of forty Liang of gold; if it were not [to pay] then Hsien Lo would send men to attack it.

in the seventh year of the Yung Lo (1409) the Emperor ordered the principal envoy the grand Eunuch Cheng Ho [Zheng He] and others to assume command and to take the imperial edicts and to bestow upon the chief two strong seals, a hat, a girdle and a robe...Thereafter Hsien Lo did not dare to invade it" Ma Huan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores, Beijing, 1433, translated by JVG Mills, Cambridge UP (for Hakluyt Society) 1970 page 108

Gavin Menzies went on to boldly say that "in effect, this was the birth of Malaysia"

Wow...I am surprised that this book has not been banned by the Malaysian authorities.

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