FOREIGN POWERS IN MALAYA.

When we discuss foreign powers in Malaya, we shall begin with the Portuguese, the reasons behind their coming to this part of the world and their conquest of Malacca. This topic will end with the Japanese occupation of Malaya and their impact on society.
The Portuguese’ conquest of Malacca is the starting point of foreign colonization in Malaysia and paved the way for other foreign powers to extend their reign and authority.

The objective of this chapter is to examine the reasons behind the colonization of Malaya and the factors that led to this situation. In looking at the mistakes made in history, we see how a nation suffers under the tight reign of foreign powers and in doing so, we will be more able to prevent ourselves from repeating such mistakes.


1.1 The Portuguese
During the 15th century, Portugal heralded its Age of Discovery and became inexhaustible in its quest to discover foreign lands and expand its tiny kingdom. Initiated by Infante Don Enrique, popularly known as Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), who encouraged his people to increase their knowledge and expand their trading activities to the Far East, the Portuguese embarked on countless missions by land and sea.
Their purpose, in addition to searching for "Guinea gold" and expanding their tiny kingdom to become one of the most powerful nations in the world, was to spread the Christian Gospel and reduce the influence of Islam in the East.
Since the 11th century, the Portuguese, who were Christians, had been battling with the Muslims in the Crusades War in Europe. The reason behind this war stemmed from the fact that the Portuguese wanted to conquer Palestine, the Holy Land of the Muslims.
This animosity waged on until the 15th century. By that time, however, Islam had spread to the East and garnered good response from nations in the Malay Archipelago like Acheh, Brunei & Malacca.
Burning with the anti-Muslim crusading spirit, the Portuguese were bent on spreading the gospel to the East and replacing Islam with Christianity.
The Portuguese also had another important reason to venture to the East - to search for Guinea gold - precious Asian spices which had become essential in their part of the world, in flavouring and preserving their food.
For a long time in Europe, Asian spices were sold at exorbitant prices, mainly because of its high demand and the countless number of middlemen in between, from the Muslim merchants of Gujerat & Malabar in India, to Arab merchants in Baghdad & Iskandariah and finally, to the Venetian and Genoese merchants in Italy.
Apart from that, the Muslims, who constantly traveled to and from South-East Asia, reaping high profits, dominated the trading of spices between Europe and Asia.
Keeping consistent in their animosity against the Muslims and fueled by their search for Asian spices, the Portuguese were intent on diverting the Asian spice trade away from the Muslims. The only way to do this was to stop obtaining the Asian spices from the Muslim Mamaluke Empire in Egypt and Syria, and instead, chart a new spice route around the Cape of Good Hope. The efforts of the Portuguese made them the first European nation that came to the South East Asia in search of Asian spies.
Another reason for the Portuguese venturing to the East is to search for the mythical priest-king, Prester John, ruling over a powerful Christian kingdom in, what was then known as, ‘the Indies’. They believed that with his help, they could conquer the Muslims in the East. In addition, since Muslims had dominated the route via land, they decided to find a new route by sea to the East.


1.1.1 The fall of Malacca
In the wake of the many explorations made by the Portuguese in the quest to spread the Gospel and obtain Asian spices, Malacca was recognized as the collecting point for the much sought-after spices of the Moluccas and also a centre where Islam thrived.
Hence, it became a prime target of the Portuguese. If the latter succeeded in conquering Malacca, it meant that they would be able to monopolize the trading of spices and simultaneously halt the spread of Islam through the preaching of the Gospel.
The man who succeeded in the capture of Malacca was none other than the famed Alfonso de Albuquerque, who was a key player in much of the Portuguese’ expansion efforts in Asia. After 10 days under siege, Malacca fell into the hands of the Portuguese on 24th August 1511.
Many factors caused the fall of Malacca. They include:

a) A weak ruling government
The golden age of Malacca, with its wealth and prestige, very much depended on its leadership, and one leader who especially shone through was Bendahara Tun Perak. After his death however, there was no successor capable of running the state of Malacca. Tun Perak’s successor, Tun Putih was old, weak and barely able to carry out his duties.
Following Tun Putih’s death, Tun Mutahir, who was elected Bendahara, was no better, being more concerned about his welfare than the welfare of the state.
Tun Mutahir also evoked the anger of the ruling king, Sultan Mahmud Shah, when the former married off his daughter, Tun Fatimah to Tun Ali, instead of to the Sultan. Because of this, Sultan Mahmud ordered Tun Mutahir executed when an enemy betrayed the latter.

The reign of Sultan Mahmud Shah as king is also another factor that caused the fall of Malacca. Sultan Mahmud paid no heed to the administration of the government. He allowed his officers to act as they pleased and this encouraged much bribery and corruption among them. When Sultan Mahmud descended the throne to allow his successor Sultan Ahmad Shah to reign as king, the administration of Malacca deteriorated, since Sultan Ahmad was young and lacked experience.
The weak ruling of the government had caused a decline in Malacca’s trading activities and forced many merchants to shift to Acheh, the other trading centre in the region
b) Hostility among races

When Tun Mutahir assumed the position of Bendahara after the demise of Tun Putih, Tun Mutahir, who was a Tamil-Islam, favoured his relatives and reserved important administration positions in the government for them.
Consequently, there was much dissatisfaction among the Malay Muslims and Tamil Muslims, and the racial tensions, which had mellowed to some point due to the wise and fair reign of Tun Perak, flared up again.

c) Disloyalty

Many of the foreign merchants who came to Malacca to trade did not believe loyalty to the government of Malacca. Some even backed the Portuguese during the attack on Malacca.
A Chinese merchant, for instance, provided on loan, 5 huge barges to the Portuguese while a Tamil merchant known as Ninachatu supplied information on Malacca’s defense system.
To make matters worse, the Javanese army hired by the government of Malacca abandoned the state during the siege, since they were not willing to die for a country which wasn’t their own.
The colony states under Malacca failed to back the state up and instead, seized the opportunity to free themselves from the reign of Malacca. Consequently, Malacca lacked military strength and aid.


d) The strength of the Portuguese army
Portuguese soldiers were better equipped than their Malacca counterparts and possessed advanced weapons, like guns and cannons. They were also led by Alfonso d’Albuquerque, who was capable and experienced in the battlefield. The Malacca army, on the other hand, used medieval weapons like the kris, swords, spears and lances. In addition, the Portuguese army was more disciplined and experienced in comparison with the army of Malacca.
All these factors demonstrate how important leadership is to a country. It can either lead a country to rise as a strong empire or cause a country to crumble. It also plays an important role in uniting people and unity among citizens of a country is essential in the formation of a strong government.
Apart from all these factors, we see that political stability is another prerequisite to ensure the expansion of a country’s economy.
If we can say that weak leaders like Sultan Mahmud Shah and Tun Mutahir were very much to blame for the fall of Malacca, then we can in turn, attribute the success of the Portuguese in becoming the first European power to find their way to the east and conquer Malacca, to capable and efficient leaders like Prince Henry and Alfonso d’Albuquerque.

1.1.2 The impact of Portuguese conquest on society
The conquest of the Portuguese, brought an end to the Malacca Sultanate and Malacca no longer played a role as the Islamic centre in South East Asia. This position went to Acheh and Brunei.
The Portuguese ruled Malacca for 130 years (1511 - 1641). Inter-racial marriages between the Portuguese and the local people in Malacca soon took place and resulted in the formation of a new society, known as Serani. They practice customs inherited from Portugal although they dwell in Malacca.
Another impact is seen in the Malay language, which has adopted Portuguese words like almari, beranda, garpu, jendela, tuala, palsu, etc. The Portuguese also introduced Roman writing, the joget, and a popular song entitled Jingkling Nona.
Trading activities in Malacca also dwindled when most of the Muslim merchants opted to go to Acheh, instead of Malacca. Finally, the fall of Malacca ushered the birth of 2 new kingdoms, Johor and Perak, which were established by the sons of Sultan Mahmud Syah.