menarik juga baca pandangan seorang puteri raja ni, yg mana salasilah
keturunannya berasal dari Sultan Mahmud yg telah dipaparkan "awful"
(katanya) dalam filem PGL.

sempat lagi tu ditegur perempuan2 muda yg tak kisah kahwin dgn lelaki
tua bergelar Datuk yg takde rupa. haha.. Tiara kena la tu!

katanya lagi, lesen kreatif utk buat filem tak sepatutnya disalah-
gunakan untuk "personal fame". bacalah seterusnya..

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She's our princess!

Raja Zarith Idris
September 10:

The legendary Puteri Gunung Ledang is part of our rich heritage and
should not be used to glorify another culture at the expense of our
own. RAJA ZARITH IDRIS writes.

MY father used to throw dates and historical anecdotes at me, willing
me to catch what he said in mid-air. He told me that I was named
after Zaris Gangga from the kingdom of Gangga Negara, which was
established in the 11th century at a site where present-day Dinding,
Bruas and and Manjung in Perak are. Whether for good or bad, I bear
that name still, and hope that my children will name one of their
daughters after me one day.

My father also explained why Perak Sultans do not wear mahkota
(crowns) at their pertabalan (installation) ceremony.

After the Portuguese captured Malacca in 1511, Sultan Mahmud Shah,
the last Sultan of Malacca, established a new court in Johor, and
attacked them in 1517, 1520 and 1521. He then sailed to Kampar, in
Sumatra, just before he died. An entourage from Perak came to his
court and asked for his permission to allow one of his sons to rule
Perak. He agreed and commanded his son, Raja Muzaffar Shah, to sail
to Perak, and to take with him all the royal regalia that once
belonged to Malacca. While sailing to the mouth of the Perak River,
Raja Muzaffar Shah's ship became stuck in the mud. Fearing that the
ship would capsize because it was too heavy, he tried to lighten it
by throwing as many objects overboard as possible. Finally, he threw
the mahkota (crown) into the water. By coincidence, the ship then
came free and could sail on. When he was made ruler of Perak, Sultan
Muzaffar Shah (1528-1549) issued a decree that, from that day on,
none of his heirs, when installed as Sultan, could wear a mahkota.
Despite the loss of the mahkota, the rest of the Malacca royal
regalia was still in Sultan Muzaffar Shah's possession. This included
the Taming Sari kris, which apparently belonged to Hang Tuah, the
famed Malacca a warrior. The Taming Sari is tucked into the bengkong
(waist sash) of each Sultan of Perak on the day that he is installed
as ruler of the state. For many centuries now, it has been in the
safekeeping of successive Sultans. I remember the times my father
allowed me to hold the Taming Sari in my hands. On its golden hilt
were rubies of a pale pink colour, like faded flowers. A green enamel
was painted onto the gold base of the kris. The blade was darkly
stained, a mixture of shades of brown, grey and deep red. Were the
deep, dark reds on the tip of the blade merely rust or are they the
stains of the blood of those who were slain by it? History supports
the claim of the Perak royal family as direct descendants of the
Malacca Sultanate: "Perak's prestige rose considerably when a new
dynasty was established by Sultan Muzaffar Shah, a son of Sultan
Mahmud Shah, the last ruler of Melaka... The founding of Perak also
signified a further extension of Melaka's Malay culture, for the
reign of Sultan Muzaffar Shah ... brought not only refugee members of
the Melaka court, but also its customs and traditions." Historical
events are also noted in one of the most respected pieces of Malay
literature, the Sejarah Melayu, which has been attributed to Tun Sri
Lanang. It was written not just as a historical account but
also "to `set forth the genealogy of the Malay rajas and the
ceremonial of their courts so that this can be heard by (the king's)
descendants...' " (A History of Malaysia by Barbara Watson Andaya and
Leonard Y. Andaya, 1982, second edition 2001.) When I wrote the
children's book, Puteri Gunung Ledang (Penerbit Fajar Bakti, 1995),
some journalists who reviewed it wondered if I could begin a revival
of literature written by those within palace walls, much in the same
way that Tun Sri Lanang, a palace courtier, wrote Sejarah Melayu.
Flattering though the comparison may be, I know that nothing that I
have written thus far can be compared to Tun Sri Lanang's Sejarah
Melayu, which has stood both the test of time and the scrutiny of
scholars. My ability to string more than two sentences together is
but like the shadow of a grain of rice compared to the bountiful
harvest that was Tun Sri Lanang's gift to Malay literature. My main
concern in re-telling Puteri Gunung Ledang was that it should remain
as Malaysian as possible. Since Islam is the official religion of
Malaysia, and because I, too, am Muslim, I did not want to offend
others of my faith and so I depicted the Puteri as wearing baju
kurung or baju kebaya. I grew to love the princess I had created in
words and pictures. Thus, when the locally-produced film Puteri
Gunung Ledang portrays the legendary princess as being part of a
royal court from another country, I was crushed. Is it so very awful
to portray Puteri Gunung Ledang as Malaysian? Was Puteri Gunung
Ledang real? We do not know. She had been given life by word of
mouth, from one family to another, from one generation to the next.
The legend of Puteri Gunung Ledang belongs to all Malaysians. Most of
us are used to the idea that she was a mysterious woman bred, if not
born, in this wonderful land we call our home. Artistic licence
allows Puteri Gunung Ledang to assume any identity that her creators
have chosen for her, and so in the film of the same name, we are told
that she came from the kingdom of Majapahit. Since she was said to
have left Majapahit to be near Hang Tuah during Sultan Mahmud's
reign, then it places her at or near the time of the Portuguese
conquest of Malacca in 1511. The same artistic licence indeed gives
the rest of us endless possibilities as regards her real identity.
Perhaps she was a member of Portuguese nobility and bore the name Ana
Crisitina Gaminha de Azevedo. Perhaps she was one of the
many "treasures" that Admiral Zheng He brought from China. Who knows,
she and Mahsuri of Langkawi may be of the same bloodline. The present
Johor royal family came into power from the time of Temenggong Daeng
Ibrahim (18th ruler of Johor) and is proud of the state's heritage,
including its store of legends. What the Johor royal family share
with the other royal families of Malaysia is pride in successfully
establishing a Malaysian rather than a Javanese identity. Even though
most of us, as part of kerabat diraja (royal lineage), know that our
ancestors came from either Sumatra or Java, we also know that we must
adapt ourselves to ever-changing sensibilities and sensitivities. The
French saying, Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose describes this
necessity to change with the times. For example, after the Melaka
Sultans became Muslims, the women of the court wore loosely-fitted
baju kebaya or baju kurung rather than bare their shoulders and arms
the way that their Hindu ancestors did.

Each royal court has its own Adat Istiadat Istana (palace
ceremonies). It seems strange then that none of them were asked to
contribute details about such ceremonies when the producers of Puteri
Gunung Ledang decided to make a film about the legendary princess. It
also beggars belief that "research" was done at a kraton (a Javanese
word for palace) in Indonesia, away from the Malaysian istana
(palaces) of Kedah, Perlis, Trengganu, Kelantan, Selangor, Pahang,
Negri Sembilan, Perak and Johor. If Malaysian istana ceremonies are
to be sniffed at, why then is there such great interest every year as
to whom will be conferred the title of "Datuk" by the Sultan of each
of the nine states? Why does the title carry so much more weight than
an "Encik"? The wife of a "Datuk" becomes a "Datin" and this title
also accounts for the decisions of some young women to marry
unattractive, balding older men. For the sake of a love triangle that
never happened, we are hoodwinked into believing that a legendary
princess of whom our grandparents and parents talked about, is not
our own. I believe that all of us bear the responsibility to ensure
that Malaysian legends, with or without artistic licence, are not
used as vehicles for personal fame nor to glorify the ways of another
culture at the expense of our own.

I realise that by putting forth my grievances on paper, I make myself
the target for those who think that all Malaysians should be proud of
its first multi-million ringgit epic movie. If the same blood of the
Melaka Sultans flow in my veins, even if it be just a drop, and even
if my ancestors, such as Sultan Mahmud Shah, were awful men, let me
say that a great love for my heritage and my country means that I
must make a stand, regardless of the criticisms. Keranamu Malaysia --
for you, Malaysia, let not our blood nor those of our ancestors
either flow or be shed in vain.

* Raja Zarith is the daughter of Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah of Perak
(33rd Sultan of Perak). The line of sultans have been unbroken since
the death of Sultan Mahmud, the last Sultan of Perak. She graduated
with a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Chinese Studies from Oxford
University.

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Sumber: New Straits Times