Denying and distorting history

Attempts are being made to bar academic discourse over obvious archaeological evidence.

THE twisting of the truth of Malaysia’s history has now taken on an alarming new tangent.

Those who have been getting away with the falsification or distortion of past records and events are now attempting to even shut down academic discourse in yet another level of historical negationism.

The latest affront to rationality is the furore against a gathering of international scholars who are scheduled to discuss the historical and archaeological significance of Kedah’s Bujang Valley and its connections to regional civilisations later this month.

Historical negationism is the deliberate alteration or denial of historical facts to serve a specific agenda. This is usually done through methods which are ­inadmissible in proper academic study, such as presenting forged or incorrect information as ­genuine and inventing preposterous reasons for distrusting ­obvious archaeological evidence.

Historical negationism should not be confused with historical revisionism, which involves the scholarly reinterpreting of histori­cal narratives based on new facts and evidence.

Much like what the “Inter­national Conference on Kedah Tua: Bujang Valley in a Regional Context”, to be held in Penang from May 19 to 20, aims to achieve.

The conference, being held in conjunction with Malaysia’s chairmanship of Asean this year, is being co-organised by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, as well as the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry’s Department of Heritage.

Among the experts participa­ting is Assoc Prof Nasha Rodziadi Khaw, from USM’s Global Archaeological Research Centre, whose team uncovered a life-sized Buddha statue last year that is believed to predate Cambodia’s Angkor Wat.

The others are from universities in Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, India and China.

A Malay NGO, Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam dan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Pekida), has demanded that the conference be scrapped on the grounds that it would promote a Hindu-Buddhist narrative of Malay history.

Members of Pekida and ­another NGO, Gabungan Hak Bela Insan, held a protest against the conference outside USM’s entrance after Friday prayers on April 11.

They disputed the claim that the renowned archaeological site is a Hindu/Buddhist settlement despite the overwhelming archaeo­logical evidence, inclu­ding recovered sculptures of Hindu deities and images of Buddha.

Kedah Tua comprised an immense coastal area, covering Bukit Choras and Gunung Jerai; the valleys of the Merbok, Bujang, and Muda rivers; and the area where the Cherok Tok Kun inscription stone was found in Bukit Mertajam, Penang.

Emeritus Prof Datuk Dr Mohamed Ghouse Nasuruddin of USM’s School of Arts wrote in the TwentyTwo13 news portal that these early coastal settlements and ports, with easy access to fresh water and raw materials, were a maritime power and predecessor of the Malacca Sultanate as an international trade centre.

It was already bustling in entrepot trade with Chinese, Indian, Arabian and Persian merchants before the rise of the sultanate.

The region was renamed Bujang Valley (Lembah Bujang) by Malaysia’s Museum and Antiquities Department in the 1970s.

Seafarers and traders from India, Indochina, and China had been in contact with settlements along the Malay Peninsula since the fifth century, as supported by various Indian records – Sanskrit literature, Buddhist manuscripts, Chola dynasty inscriptions and Tamil poems.

In Tamil records, Bujang Valley is referred to as Kadaram, Kidaram and Kazhagam. Sanskrit records refer to it as Kataha.

Arab and Persian writings recog­nised Bujang Valley as Kalah, describing it as a settlement trading in tin, forest ­products, spices and Indian swords. They mention Bujang Valley as part of the Srivijaya Empire, then based largely in what is now Indonesia.

Chinese sources note its ­presence from the second century onwards, mentioning Bujang Valley in the Weng-Hsien Tung-Pao and Yi Jing (also referred to as I-Tsing) records.

From the second to the 14th centuries, the Bujang Valley was the centre of trade and industry in the region. Its diverse econo­mic activities included the iron industry as well as brick and pottery making.

But from the 14th to 15th century, its status declined because of the lowering of the sea level, which resulted in a receding shoreline as well as sedimentation and silting of the port, cutting off access to ancient settlements.

The inhabitants comprised indigenous people and temporary foreign traders from India, China, Arabia, Java, Sumatra and Indochina who stayed for six months in Bujang Valley to await the change in monsoon winds.

Pekida spokesman Ahmad Yakqub Nazri has been quoted as saying that the upcoming conference is “particularly aimed at proving that Kedah Tua had Hindu-Buddhist origins”.

If so, based on the findings, what’s wrong with that?

Without substantiating anything, he claimed that people of the early civilisation of Kedah were converted to Islam by Arab traders long before Hindu or Buddhist influence.

Ahmad Yakqub also flatly denied the contention that the Bujang Valley temple ruins indicated an early Hindu influence.

“We went to Bujang Valley and looked at the structures. They’re just square pillars, not like Hindu temples,” he said.

According to Prof Dr Mohamed Ghouse, the temples – or “candi” – had their own architectural characteristics.

They were built according to the Manasara and Mayamata Shilpa-Shastra, which are compilations of treaties concerning the construction of temples and buildings.

The Pekida spokesman also questioned the participation of foreign academics as speakers at the conference, specifically a French-born professor who was once a Buddhist monk.

He accused USM of sidelining Malaysian scholars, saying respected archaeologist Mokhtar Saidin was only added to the list of speakers after pressure from Pekida.

USM has since stated its openness to differing views and ­invited Malay NGOs to participate in the conference.

Its deputy vice-chancellor (Indus­try Network and Commu­nity), Prof Azlan Amran, said the university welcomes dialogue and urged the groups to engage directly rather than stage protests.

In July last year, Malaysia hosted the “International Conference: History of Ancient Kedah Based on Yi-Jing’s Records”.

Yi Jing was a Tang dynasty Buddhist monk from Shandong, China, who travelled to more than 30 countries during his 25-year-long journey to Nalanda, India, 1,300 years ago.

The monk, a respected figure of his time, described Bujang Valley as a place teeming with trade and diverse cultures where people had various religious beliefs and practices.

Media consultant M. Veera Pandiyan likes this observation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: We learn from history that we do not learn from history. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.