Bintan Island, Indonesia: About Cakes And Gods Across Historic Waterways
Straits of Singapore, 1404. A Chinese fleet of three hundred and seventeen huge ships, many of which have nine masts and manned by as many as 500 men, crossed this narrow body of water between the island of Singapore at the tip of the Asian continent and the Indonesian island of Bintan on the southern side. The largest ship was over 440 feet long and 186 feet wide, capable of carrying 1000 men. Led by Admiral Zhenghe, China’s great Muslim sailor, this was at that time the greatest fleet the world had ever seen. Zhenghe would lead many more expeditions of this scale fifty years before Columbus’s voyage to the Americas, in boats merely one quarter the size of the Chinese ships.
The Treasure Boats, as the fleet was called, were on a grand mission across the trading routes of Maritime Asia, through Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent, Middle East and eventually to what is today Somalia. Everywhere they went, they traded extensively, exchanged gifts with local rulers, spread news of the might of the new Chinese emperor, occasionally interfered in local politics though never setting up any colonies nor military outposts like later European invaders would.
Some historians believe that Zhenghe’s real mission was to look for Emperor’s Yongle’s missing brother and rightful owner of the throne, which was usurped by Yongle. Whatever the case, this sparked off the first organised exchange between China and Southeast Asia, a sweet-and-sour affair which persisted till today.
To the north is the island of Singapore, site of the recently abandoned kingdom of Temasek, whose ruler was murdered a few years before by a refugee prince from the Indonesian island of Sumatra named Parameswara. Parameswara, chased out of his kingdom by enemies, was given refuge in Temasek where he soon killed his benefactor to make himself ruler. The overlord of Temasek, Siam (today Thailand), sent a fleet to punish Parameswara for his treacherous deeds.
Parameswara escaped northwards to Melaka in what is today Malaysia where he founded a new kingdom. The Chinese fleet of Zhenghe was to be grandly received by Parameswara in Melaka which marked off the beginning of a Chinese-Malay alliance which enhanced the status of Melaka as an international trading port and its growing stature as a new maritime empire in Southeast Asia.
South of the straits is the island of Bintan, then a sleepy island of mangroves and fishing villages of water gypsies, soon to be home of immigrant fishermen and traders from Fujian, China, who followed in big numbers following Zhenghe’s fleet. Much later, after the capture of Melaka by the Portuguese and the subsequent eviction of Parameswara’s descendants from Johor where they had for some time set up a rival regime, the small island of Pulau Penyengat off Bintan became the capital of the Johor-Riau Empire and centre of the Malay world.
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One Saturday morning, I hopped onto a catamaran in Singapore heading for Tanjung Pinang, capital of Bintan. It’s a 2 hours’ boat ride across the Straits of Singapore to what is now a weekend leisure hangout for Singaporeans. The Straits is one of the busiest waterways in the world – I saw ships across the horizon in this crowded body of water the narrowest stretch of which is only 25km. 50,000 ships, equivalent to more than half of the global merchant fleet tonnage, passes through here in one year, together with most of the petroleum tankers of Japan and China – about 10.3 million barrels per day – second only to the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance of the Persian Gulf.
The Straits of Singapore and the neighbouring Philip Channel are dangerous waterways. Piracy has long been a scourge in Southeast Asia but the 1997 financial crisis in the region has led to immense poverty and political instability in Indonesia, which aggravated piracy. The post September 11 world has led the problem to a new dimension – the possibility of terror attack in the Straits that may block passage in this strategic waterway so vital to the world’s second and third largest economies, that of Japan and China.
More sobering issues aside, I looked across those misty green hills on the islands to the south. I wonder where exactly was Long Yamen – The Dragon’s Tooth Strait – the steep cliffside landmark long reported in ancient Chinese maritime chronicles. Historical records say that the Mongol court once sent emissaries here in search of elephants. Some say Long Yamen was located at Keppel Straits in Singapore while other historians argue that it was on Lingga Island in Riau, Indonesia. Whatever it is, the notion of elephant hunting in either Singapore or Riau sounds somewhat amusing if not downright comical today.
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“Mister! Mister, listen to me!” the Indonesian touts swarmed us the moment we walked out of the jetty complex. Offering anything from “beachside” hotel accommodation in inland locations to deep fried fish chips, the aggressiveness and persistence of these touts were a sudden reminder that we were no longer in First World Singapore but now visitors to a vast country with fifty times the population but only one-eighth the GDP per capita.
We did the standard thing – avoid eye contact for it might implied interest and pushed our way through the crowds, saying no, no and no. One of the more persistent ones refused to give up and followed us across the car park onto the open streets of Tanjung Pinang. Let’s call him Irritating Ali.
“Hey friend, stop, stop, listen to me. I’m a local here. Tell me where you want to stay. I can recommend cheap hotels at good rates. Try the Hotel Tanjung Pinang on the beachside…”
I’m always wary of such offers. Of course, the cheap rates would be supplemented with his own commission. “Thank you. We know where we are going.
Straits of Singapore, 1404. A Chinese fleet of three hundred and seventeen huge ships, many of which have nine masts and manned by as many as 500 men, crossed this narrow body of water between the island of Singapore at the tip of the Asian continent and the Indonesian island of Bintan on the southern side. The largest ship was over 440 feet long and 186 feet wide, capable of carrying 1000 men. Led by Admiral Zhenghe, China’s great Muslim sailor, this was at that time the greatest fleet the world had ever seen. Zhenghe would lead many more expeditions of this scale fifty years before Columbus’s voyage to the Americas, in boats merely one quarter the size of the Chinese ships.
The Treasure Boats, as the fleet was called, were on a grand mission across the trading routes of Maritime Asia, through Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent, Middle East and eventually to what is today Somalia. Everywhere they went, they traded extensively, exchanged gifts with local rulers, spread news of the might of the new Chinese emperor, occasionally interfered in local politics though never setting up any colonies nor military outposts like later European invaders would.
Some historians believe that Zhenghe’s real mission was to look for Emperor’s Yongle’s missing brother and rightful owner of the throne, which was usurped by Yongle. Whatever the case, this sparked off the first organised exchange between China and Southeast Asia, a sweet-and-sour affair which persisted till today.
To the north is the island of Singapore, site of the recently abandoned kingdom of Temasek, whose ruler was murdered a few years before by a refugee prince from the Indonesian island of Sumatra named Parameswara. Parameswara, chased out of his kingdom by enemies, was given refuge in Temasek where he soon killed his benefactor to make himself ruler. The overlord of Temasek, Siam (today Thailand), sent a fleet to punish Parameswara for his treacherous deeds.
Parameswara escaped northwards to Melaka in what is today Malaysia where he founded a new kingdom. The Chinese fleet of Zhenghe was to be grandly received by Parameswara in Melaka which marked off the beginning of a Chinese-Malay alliance which enhanced the status of Melaka as an international trading port and its growing stature as a new maritime empire in Southeast Asia.
South of the straits is the island of Bintan, then a sleepy island of mangroves and fishing villages of water gypsies, soon to be home of immigrant fishermen and traders from Fujian, China, who followed in big numbers following Zhenghe’s fleet. Much later, after the capture of Melaka by the Portuguese and the subsequent eviction of Parameswara’s descendants from Johor where they had for some time set up a rival regime, the small island of Pulau Penyengat off Bintan became the capital of the Johor-Riau Empire and centre of the Malay world.
----
One Saturday morning, I hopped onto a catamaran in Singapore heading for Tanjung Pinang, capital of Bintan. It’s a 2 hours’ boat ride across the Straits of Singapore to what is now a weekend leisure hangout for Singaporeans. The Straits is one of the busiest waterways in the world – I saw ships across the horizon in this crowded body of water the narrowest stretch of which is only 25km. 50,000 ships, equivalent to more than half of the global merchant fleet tonnage, passes through here in one year, together with most of the petroleum tankers of Japan and China – about 10.3 million barrels per day – second only to the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance of the Persian Gulf.
The Straits of Singapore and the neighbouring Philip Channel are dangerous waterways. Piracy has long been a scourge in Southeast Asia but the 1997 financial crisis in the region has led to immense poverty and political instability in Indonesia, which aggravated piracy. The post September 11 world has led the problem to a new dimension – the possibility of terror attack in the Straits that may block passage in this strategic waterway so vital to the world’s second and third largest economies, that of Japan and China.
More sobering issues aside, I looked across those misty green hills on the islands to the south. I wonder where exactly was Long Yamen – The Dragon’s Tooth Strait – the steep cliffside landmark long reported in ancient Chinese maritime chronicles. Historical records say that the Mongol court once sent emissaries here in search of elephants. Some say Long Yamen was located at Keppel Straits in Singapore while other historians argue that it was on Lingga Island in Riau, Indonesia. Whatever it is, the notion of elephant hunting in either Singapore or Riau sounds somewhat amusing if not downright comical today.
----
“Mister! Mister, listen to me!” the Indonesian touts swarmed us the moment we walked out of the jetty complex. Offering anything from “beachside” hotel accommodation in inland locations to deep fried fish chips, the aggressiveness and persistence of these touts were a sudden reminder that we were no longer in First World Singapore but now visitors to a vast country with fifty times the population but only one-eighth the GDP per capita.
We did the standard thing – avoid eye contact for it might implied interest and pushed our way through the crowds, saying no, no and no. One of the more persistent ones refused to give up and followed us across the car park onto the open streets of Tanjung Pinang. Let’s call him Irritating Ali.
“Hey friend, stop, stop, listen to me. I’m a local here. Tell me where you want to stay. I can recommend cheap hotels at good rates. Try the Hotel Tanjung Pinang on the beachside…”
I’m always wary of such offers. Of course, the cheap rates would be supplemented with his own commission. “Thank you. We know where we are going.
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