Credit:Sungai Batu 788 BC: The Great Kingdom of Kedah Tua
The hybrid ship referred to the above link, was a combination of technology, architectural, technique etc between Chinese and Malay / Nusantara (wrote Malay for the rest) . Since the hybrid ships were synonym to the Chinese, therefore it is fair to say that the Chinese has taken many aspects of Malay's shipbuilding into theirs.
Taking the consideration that Chinese start building long haul ship begins in 9 or 10th century AD, while Malay trade ship have brave the open sea very much earlier, it is fair to say that the Chinese have adopted Malay shipbuilding techniques, design and skill. In other word, the Chinese shipbuilder have LEARNED from the Malays indirectly or directly. It could also fair to say that there was a technology transfer by the Malays, in minor or major scale.
Although the Chinese have used to built ship thousand of years ago, but those ships were used in big river for commodity transportation, patrolling, mobolising people and army etc. There are lot of different in designs between open sea vessel and river transportation.
One major aspects that distinguished the hybrid ship and Malay ship is NAIL. Hybrid ship used nail, which clearly Chinese element but not for Malay.
So far, there is no statement that the recent excavation in Pulau Melaka have found nails , which indicate it was belong to the Malays.
Back to the hybrid ship, there was a possibility that other people LEARNED something or many things from the Malay shipbuilder DIRECTLY or INDIRECTLY.
Since the Periplus of Erithrean Sea that written by the Greek did mention the ship call 'Kolandio Phonta' and the author himself showed his amazement, there are many possibilities to speculate about the prowess of Malay shipbuilding because Manguin indicates that Kolandio Phonta was a relatively big vessel own and built by the native people of Southeast Asia.
16 JUNE 2023
The current situation where China made goods and products flooded the market is not something new. 500 years ago, their goods & product were equally important in global scale. Commerce and trade with China traders was vital in order for the colonial to survive. Without China trade vessels coming to Luzon, Batavia, Malacca etc, the Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese might not have enough revenue to keep their presence in Nusantara. Although local and native resources of Nusantara do have high demand, but solely dependant on it, might not strategically wise. Therefore, in 15th and 16th century Chinese trade vessel were most welcome to major port of SeAsia that under the European colonial control. Chinese was a manufacturer where their major trade goods were ceramic and silk. Ceramic alone probably comprise hundreds of SKU as well as the silk and for the European the Chinese sell relatively cheap. Once it reach Europe market, they gain a high margin and make them wealthier.
Not only the goods, but in VOC (Dutch East India Company) records, out of thousand Chinese got on-shore from their ships, only 1/3 going back with the ship.
All the above were extracted from a thesis paper by Alexander Wain (2015). Not many of Western researchers use the word 'Nusantara' as to refer to the islands of SeAsia and its inhabitant.
Another interesting point by Wain is about the Chinese vessel design and construction where he said the Chinese seagoing vessel was a hybrid type, meaning the combination of Chinese and Nusantaran ship-building technology. Most of trade vessel that dominating the maritime trade as far as Indian Ocean were a hybrid type wether it is belong to Chinese or Nusantaran and the size was far bigger than the Arab, Persian, Indian and later the Europeans.
In other words, there was a technological exchange in the ship building between Nusantaran and Chinese. China has abundance of timber and workforce apart of knowledge of building huge vessel for their riverine network, while the Nusantara have the expert in building seagoing vessel and skillful sailor. These was proves by archaeological finding of Royal Nanhai wreckage where the ship shows the trademark of Malay/Nusantara ship which is peg and dowel were used to joint between the planks while iron nail were used by Chinese to joint the planks and frame to the body.
If we look at back into history , Ming Dynasty have changed their foreign policy. Once Admiral Zheng He and his fleet accompanied by his naval prowess back to China from global expedition (diplomatic, and trade mission), the new Emperor seize all the vessel and stop sending new expedition. Now, China no longer presence as a naval power in South Sea and Indian Ocean. (The merchant vessel keep on going). It occured after 1420's AD.
Many years later, something happened in Europe that forced the European kingdom to launch massive expedition in order to find the route for spices and other resources from the East. Finally they found the starting point of spice route, which is Nusantara, and later they found Moluccas Island. With the absence of China naval prowess, the greed European found out that there are opportunity for them to conquer the entire trade of Nusantara. And the rest we know what has happened.
Centuries later, with the weakened naval power of the Chinese, again, the greed European have made them to conquer China and the rest is history.
This posting begin by looking back at 500 years ago to find the similarities with current situation. Now, we just imagine, in present time, if China have no military and naval prowess, what has the American done in our maritime and region.
Or, if Ming Dynasty with their naval supremacy did not change their policy and continue establishing the harmony political affair and maritime collaboration with Nusantara, those European might not such aggressive as to invade Nusantara. We might have a different geopolitic currently.
31 OCTOBER 2025
The latest archaeological discovery by JWN and PERZIM on Pulau Melaka could be the game changer of ancient Malay maritime technology and prowess. Looking forward for new fact, data, narratives and interpretation by the researchers.
9 AUGUST 2025
Mari kita bongkar PEMALSUAN, PEMBOHONGAN dan PENYELEWENGAN yang ditulis oleh The Keris Collector (namakan sebagai TKC) dalam posting bertarikh 8 Ogos 2025.
Pertama, dia beri rujukan ‘ Mokhtar Saidin, M. (2015), Penemuan Tapak Arkeometalurgi Terawal di Asia Tenggara: Sungai Batu, Lembah Bujang, Universiti Sains Malaysia’.
Jawapan : Selepas ‘double check’ dengan sumber yang kuat, dipercayai artikel tersebut tidak wujud. Ini merupakan PEMALSUAN dan PEMBOHONGAN yang sangat besar. Kalau TKC ada link, sila lah kemukakan.
Kedua, TKC menulis, “ The oldest archaeological activity verified in Kedah is from Sungai Batu, dated to 535 BCE, and even that is an industrial iron smelting site, not a kingdom (Mokhtar Saidin, 2015)
Jawapan: Ini menunjukan ada kedangkalan kerana apabila ia merujuk pada tarikh 535 BC, dia mesti tahu pentarikhan itu merujuk kepada artifak apa. 535 BC sebenarnya merujuk kepada artifak bata tanah liat yang terdapat di kompleks pentadbiran pelabuhan, bukan tapak relau peleburan besi. Malahan ada sampel bata yang bertarikh 682 BC ditemui di kompleks pentadbiran yang besar itu yang merupakan bukti kesinambungan ‘material culture’ dan antara bukti wujudnya sistem pemerintahan ‘kingdom’.
Petikan yang ditulis oleh TKC itu juga satu PENYELEWENGAN kerana Prof Mokhtar yang mengutarakan kewujudan ‘kingdom’ di Sungai Batu.
Ketiga, selepas diasak dengan beberapa fakta, di dalam ruangan komen dia memetik “We have samples dating from 535 BCE and even as far back as 788 BCE. But we take the 535 BCE date as more consistent with the primary activity layer.”
(USM Archaeological Report Summary, 2017)
Jawapan : Ini juga merupakan satu PEMALSUAN kerana apabila dirujuk kepada penyeIidik lapangan, tarikh 788 BC hanya disahkan oleh laporan makmal pada tahun 2018 dan thesis ditulis pada 2019. Jadi bagaimana mungkin Report tahun 2017 boleh menyatakan tarikh 788 BC sedangkan pentarikhan tersebut tidak wujud lagi... melainkan ia merupakan satu petikan yang direkacipta... fabricated !. Amat memalukan dan menjijikan kerana jelas ia memalsukan sumber.
Keempat, selepas TKC menyatakan dengan yakin tentang 535 BC ialah tarikh terawal (dlm point Pertama), tiba-tiba dalam ruangan komen dia buat twist, “Prof Mokhtar confirmed that iron-smelting activity at Sungai Batu dates to 788 BC”.
Jawapan : 788 BC jelas lebih awal dari 535 BC. Tulisan TKC dalam Posting dan Comment BERCANGGAH.... ini hanya boleh berlaku apabila dia tidak faham subjek yang ditulis, atau ada penulis lain, atau dia copy paste atau AI yang ‘tipu’ dia.
Dengan segala PEMALSUAN, PENYELEWENGAN DAN PEMBOHONGAN yang dia tulis, LAYAK KAH dia untuk membicarakan tentang TAMADUN Kedah Tua. Jawapanya... jauh panggang dari api.
Untuk TKC, you baca benda asas tentang Sungai Batu dulu, saya sudah tulis 2 buku tentang Kedah Tua dan Sungai Batu... baca buku dulu, jika tidak hanya ‘intelligence deficit’ yang orang lain nampak.
(kebetulan dulu saya ada kawan... kami panggil TKC, Tan Kok Chye nama sebenar ... tapi dia boleh cakap Melayu)
1 OKTOBER 2021
4 important news that we need to share to all readers that we got from the webinars held on 28 - 30 Sept.
1. The phrase written by Yi Jing about iron in Kedah Tua
2.Archaeological evidence of Fukantulu and Shenli in Malay Peninsula
3. Someone claim Malay ships never reach China ?? !!
4. Sungai Batu ship.
First, it was an interesting presentation by Dato Goh who dedicate his energy and time to study and search for the Yi Jing expedition from China to Nusantara, Kedah Tua and India.
Dato Goh Hin San emphasize the correct way to address I-Ching. It is " Yi Jing " with thin J, not Ai Ching or Ai Sing or Ee Ching. It was not easy to read Yi Jing text according to Dato Goh, where it requires the expert to interpret into moden Chinese. Since Dato Goh presentation in Malay, he mention two title of Yi Jing text, "Catatan Pengalaman Penjelajahan ke Lautan Selatan" and "Hikayat Sami Menuntut Ilmu ke Barat Dinasti Tang" where he found this phrase;
"JENIS PERDAGANGAN YANG PALING DIGEMARI , TIDAK LAIN TIDAK BUKAN IALAH BESI,BENTUK SEBESAR CANTUMAN DUA JARI LEBARNYA,
BOLEH JUAL DENGAN KELAPA 5 BIJI HINGGA SEPULUH BIJI HARGANYA".
Yi Jing was referring to iron of Kedah Tua, according to Dato Goh. In another phrase, Yi Jing again repeated the word iron.
"PEDAGANG ASING YANG PALING BERMINAT, HANYALAH BESI YANG MEREKA SUKA, BESI JADI PILIHAN UTAMA YANG BERHARGA, KAITKAN NAMA BESI DISEBUT SEBAGAI “LU HE “
Those phrases has confirmed as textual evidence that the people of Kedah Tua have produced iron ingot.
By chronology, we can speculate that Yi Jing came to Kedah thru Sg Mas port that already established in 5th to 10 century AD, while Yi Jing came in 7th century AD.
Meanwhile Dr Nasha showed the evidence that came from 2nd - 4th century BC. The archaeological finding pertaining to two polity called Fukantuku and Shenli that was recorded in Han Dynasty record dated 2nd century BC. Fukantulu and Shenli located in south Thailand, precisely Khao Sam Kheo and Phu Khao Tong and, but bear in mind, these territories, from Kra Ithmus to the south, was known as Malay Peninsula by historian and archaeologist, and even today is populated by Malay ethnic. The excavation, among other artefacts, have found the 'royal seal' given by Chinese Emperor. It was recorded that the Chinese delegation harboured at Fukantulu and travel inland to Shenli in west coast. From Shenli, they charter a ship and depart to foreign land. The time line of the archaelogical dating, were consistent with Han's record according to Dr Nasha.
In another webinar series that talked about Malay maritime world and followed by Q&A session, a gentleman claimed that "Kunlun Bo tidak belayar dari Kataha ke China.. "
Its very difficult for me to crunch and digest the statement because Kunlun Bo itself is a Chinese word. Denying the fact that Malay ships or Kunlun Bo have reached China port, is like denying the European have reached Cape of Good Hope.The entire world knows how significant the cape for European spice trade, so did everybody knows about Kunlun Bo reached Guangzhou, China.
Pierre Yves Manguin have elaborate the subject which he taken the accounts of Wan Chen and K'ang T'ai who lived in 3rd century AD. Both of them have explained in detail how mammoth and fierce the Kunlun Bo was when it harbouring in Guangzhou port.
According to many sources and generally agreed, that until 8 th century AD, Chinese never built a sea going vessel. Chinese-built-vessel were used in their river network and shore patrolling. Chinese used to charter Persian or Malay Kunlun vessel to travel to Southern Sea country which is south Vietnam to Java, Sumatera and Malay Peninsular or to western country like India etc. That how Yi Jing travel to the west. Malay Kunlun were far superior than the Chinese in ship building.(prior to colonial oppression on Malay ship builder) Surprisingly, the gentleman said that the Malays " meniru perahu-perahu dan layar-layar China dan sebagainya..."
How could the American replicating jet fighter from Peurto Rico !! (example)
We agree if he disagree with Schaffer and presenter on certain points, but we can't agree if he disagree with Manguin (that referred to Chinese account dated 3rd - 8th century AD). Kunlun Bo have reached China in 3rd century AD as recorded by Chinese !, and inspired them to build theirs.
Looking from the same context, everyone is eager to know about all those ancient ships that submerged in ancient river at Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex. According to Prof Stephen Chia, the conservation of those ship can only be done once the existence of the ships being proven.
As far as public knowledge and the state exco of that time being informed pertaining to the ships, hence the existence was not an issue. Anyway, we leave it to the expert to prove the non-existence of the ships !!
C&P :6/11/2025: 9.09 p.m
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