A historical note on the northeastern Malay states

Anker Rentse, a Dutch archaeologist based in Singapore, published this historical note in 1947 to document the antiquity of the northeastern Malay states—Kelantan, Patani, Ligor, Sai, and Pahang—and to argue that these states possessed a distinct and far older cultural history than the west coast, driven primarily by ancient gold mining and a network of overland trade routes that connected the east coast to Kedah and the Indian Ocean. The article synthesises Chinese chronicle records, Eredia’s early-seventeenth-century account, Ptolemy’s geography, and Rentse’s own archaeological collections to reconstruct a pre-1500 A.D. history that had been largely overlooked by Malayan historiography, which had focused almost exclusively on Malacca.

Summary

Rentse’s central argument is that the Malays of the northeastern states represent a people culturally and historically distinct from those of the west and south coasts. While the Malays of Perak, Pahang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Johore bear Sumatran affinities, the Malays of Kelantan, Patani, and Ligor developed through contact with peoples from the north and east—Khmer, Mon, and later Thai—and their culture was shaped by Brahmanism and Hinduism transmitted through the northern overland routes rather than through the maritime channels that brought Javanese and Sumatran influence to the west coast (pp. 19–20). This distinction, Rentse contends, explains why so little is known about the region: the ancient trade routes from Europe ran across the Bay of Bengal to the west coast, and piracy likely prevented traders from following established routes further east, leaving the east coast largely invisible in the records produced by western merchants (p. 20).

The article’s most substantial contribution is its reconstruction of the ancient gold trade and the overland routes that made it possible. Rentse traces a continuous chain of ancient mining sites from the Raub Gold Mines in Pahang northward through the Galas, Nenggiri, Pergau, and Sokor river valleys in Kelantan, across the Thai border into the Tadoh and Telubin (Sai) river systems, and finally into the upper Patani and Belum valleys in Perak (pp. 27–28). He argues that these gold-bearing watersheds, separated by ridges of less than a thousand feet, formed a natural corridor of settlement and trade that linked the east coast to the west coast independent of maritime routes. The existence of a place called Sungei Patani in Kedah is offered as toponymic evidence for an ancient overland route from Patani through the upper Patani and Ketil rivers toward Kuala Merbok, where gold and other products would have been transferred to the west coast for export to India, Persia, and Egypt (p. 30).

Rentse also engages with the identification of the Chinese chronicle name Ho-lo-tan (Kou-lo-tan) with Kelantan, following J. L. Moens’ 1940 argument that this was the centre of the Srivijaya empire before its transfer to Malayu. While Rentse accepts the identification as probable, he disputes Moens’ specific claim that the seventh-century capital lay at 5° 50′ N. latitude near the present seashore, arguing instead that the Kelantan plain is of a much earlier geological formation and that the ancient capital may have been buried under monsoon silt deposits (p. 24). He further suggests that the ruling power in the region alternated between Malay and Khmer hands, which would account for the shifting identifications in Chinese sources (p. 23).

Key Findings

• Eredia (c. 1600 A.D.) records that “The Empire of the Malaios was founded in Pattane by Tuan Malaio, the first Emperor, who was chosen in the third year before the birth of Christ,” and that the seat of the empire subsequently passed to Pan (Pahang) and then to Malacca (p. 20).
• Chinese annals record envoys from Ho-lo-tan (identified with Kelantan) to China in 430/452 A.D. carrying crystal rings, parrots, and textiles; the Sui annals (589–618 A.D.) place Ho-lo-tan south of Tch’e-t’ou, a name Rentse links to the red-soil area near Patalung (Singgora) (pp. 23–24).
• Locally minted gold coins bearing Arabic inscriptions have been unearthed across the Kelantan plain, some dating to the sixteenth century and others probably two centuries older; Rentse argues a gold currency was in force before 1500 A.D. (pp. 27–28).
• A socketed bronze celt (8 cm long) was found in a gold mine at Sungei Jenera, two days’ journey from the nearest Malay village, in territory inhabited only by the Temiar; the site lies just below Gunong Chintawasa, which local tradition identifies as the seat of a queen who once ruled all of Kelantan (p. 38).
• Sung Celadon porcelain (a green-glazed plate approximately 40 cm in diameter and a dark-glazed bowl) was found about 2 feet below the surface at Pendek on the bank of Sungei Mulong, an old delta arm of the Kelantan River; large Ming-period jars with incised dragon designs (50–57 cm high) were found at Ulu Sungei Galas, Kg. Temangan Lama, and S. Golok (pp. 38–39).
• Envoys to China were sent from Ligor (Lankasuka) in 515–531, 568, and 616–664 A.D.; from Kelantan (Ho-lo-tan) in 430–452 and 616 A.D.; and from Kedah (Ho-ling) in 640–666 A.D.—a pattern Rentse interprets as evidence of shifting overlordship among states united by the inland gold trade routes (p. 36).

Conclusion

Rentse’s definitive historical takeaway is that the northeastern Malay states constitute a coherent historical unit whose antiquity and cultural distinctiveness have been obscured by the west-coast bias of Malayan historiography. He concludes that a “net of inland routes of great importance” once linked these states to Kedah and the broader Indian Ocean trade, and that the gold-bearing river valleys of the Kelantan–Pahang–Patani corridor will prove the key to establishing pre-1500 A.D. Malay history once systematic field investigation is undertaken (p. 36).

Context

• Rentse drew on his own archaeological collections (stone, bronze, and ceramic implements gathered in Kelantan from the 1930s onward), the Chinese chronicle literature as interpreted by Moens and Pelliot, Eredia’s account as edited by J. V. Mills, and the recent work of Quaritch Wales, Braddell, Linehan, and Baker published in the JMBRAS.
• The article represents an early attempt to integrate archaeological fieldwork with Chinese diplomatic records and local oral tradition to reconstruct a regional history that predated the Malacca-centric narrative dominant in Malayan studies at the time.

References