CEBU, Philippines - Even though I'd read that
Malaysia has the third largest economy in the ASEAN countries and is the
nineteenth largest in the world, I was flabbergasted to see how
developed it actually is; more so than Vietnam or the Philippines, more
on par with Singapore and Hong Kong. My husband Lauren, our friend Doug,
and I were there last April. Malaysia has all the trappings of a First
World country: excellent infrastructure, social services to its people,
low crime rate, beautiful sites, all of which have made Malaysia a
popular tourist spot.
Our first stop was Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur or KL as it is popularly called.
As our plane approached KL, I could see stretches of land with what
looked like coconut trees. Closer, I realized these were palm trees, the
incredible number, which was both impressive and disturbing. North,
South, East West, as far as your eyes could see, there were palm trees.
It made me wonder what sort of environmental repercussions this monocrop
could cause. We would later learn that palm oil has helped make
Malaysia wealthy and provide its people with a fairly high standard of
living. On the other hand, because of palm trees, forests have been
shrinking, displacing wild animals from the forests and jungles.
Elephants were among those displaced from their natural habitat.
These Oil Palm Trees were planted in the 1960s by the Malaysian
government for its edible fats and oil. At the time, rubber and tin had
ceased being Malaysia's top-income products, thus the cultivation of
these palm trees that originally came from West Africa. Palm oil is one
of the top major exports of Malaysia, along with electronic equipment,
petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, rubber and
textiles.
KL is a modern city. What I liked most was the Lake Garden Park, 92
hectares of it, located in the heart of the city and which acts as the
green lung to about 4 million people. KL was carved out of a jungle, and
fortunately the city planners had not destroyed all of it.
Downtown you have the space needle, twin Petronas Towers, and
numerous skyscrapers. Many of the high-rises are new and have bold
designs, many of them blending Western and Moghul features. As we toured
KL, we realized that it is a sprawling city. The Bintang district,
where we stayed, is part of the Golden Triangle, and from there one
could walk to many tourist sites; but it was April and very hot, so we
opted to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off Self Guided Tours.
We visited the Central Market, which boasts of having been founded in
1888 as a wet market, and which was rebuilt in 1937. We were hoping to
find stalls of fruits, flowers, meat, just like a regular wet market,
but we found only handicrafts and souvenirs. Gone is the wet market, to
our disappointment. I mention this because in fact there is much in
Malaysia that has been "cleaned up and modernized" to the point of being
somewhat sanitized.
A must-see for tourists is the Merdeka Square; Merdeka means
independence, it was there where Malaysia declared its independence from
the British in 1957. The Square is a nicely landscaped grassy area
surrounded by The Selangor Club, St. Mary's Anglican Church, and other
buildings of the British colonial and Indo-Saracenic styles. Nearby are
the copper-dome-topped Sultan Abdul Samad Building and the City Gallery.
The Royal Palace was another tourist stop, and while the actual
palace was far away and surrounded by huge grounds, what tourists could
see close-up were the Royal Guards. Those dressed in Malay uniforms
stood by the entrances; those on horses wore red British-looking
uniforms. There were banners showing pictures of the new Paramount Ruler
and his wife. Malaysia has nine sultanates, and every five years, the
sultans elect a Paramount Ruler to head the country, quite a democratic
way of doing things, I thought.
In fact, the rulers of Malaysia seem to have gone out of their way to
share their wealth with its population of 27 million. The minimum wage
was recently set at 900 ringgit per month (roughly $297) for workers on
the Malaysian Peninsula; 800 ringgit per month (for those in the states
of Sabah and Sarawak). The Malaysian government wants to transform the
country into a high-income nation by 2020. There does not seem to be a
lack of employment in Malaysia. When we later drove out of town, our
tour guide commented that the villages have few young people because
they are all working in cities.
Other places to see in KL: Chinatown, Little India, the Petronas
Towers, the National mosque, National Art Gallery, the Convention
Center, the large Crafts Cultural Complex, and the Bintang area had
high-end shops and excellent restaurants serving international cuisine.
We had a wonderful dinner at La Bodega, which serves Spanish food. We
also had Arab food in an open-air restaurant. There are food courts for a
quick cheap meal or snack.
* * *
From KL, we took a daytrip to Malacca, which is on the West Coast of
Malaysia facing the Straits of Malacca. I was looking forward to
visiting Malacca because of its rich history. Founded by a Sumatran
prince in around the 15th century, Malacca became an important
international trading post, so important in fact that the Portuguese
occupied it in the early 1500s, and later the Dutch and English had
their turn in occupying the strategic place.
One of those who went to Malacca was the Portuguese explorer,
Ferdinand Magellan. It was in Malacca where he acquired his slave,
Enrique De Malacca. Both of them went on the 1519 historic journey from
Sevilla, famously known as the "first circumnavigation of the world." In
fact, Magellan was killed in Mactan, and Enrique left behind in
Cebu. Some historians had suggested that Enrique was originally from
Cebu, because he reportedly understood the language of the people when
Magellan's ships arrived Cebu. Other historians have disputed this,
saying he first understood the language of the people of Mindanao in
what is now known as Butuan. Whatever the truth is, Enrique had a link
to my native Cebu, and I was curious to see Malacca.
It took around two hours by tour bus to get from KL to Malacca (also
called Melaka). Gone were the skyscrapers and glitz of KL; Malacca had
one and two-story houses and some old traditional Malay houses made of
wood with peaked roofs and intricate border designs. Our first stop was
the Strait of Malacca, but because of geographic changes, what is there
now is not what had been there during the time of Magellan. The Strait,
which is between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra remains as one of the
most important shipping lanes in the worlds, connecting the Indian Ocean
and the Pacific Oceans.
Because of its multi-racial population throughout time, Malacca has
different communities in the old parts of the city. We drove through the
Portuguese quarter, which had churches and Catholic schools (Malaysia
is predominantly Muslim). Very little is left of what the Portuguese had
built back in the 1500s. In the historic area, we saw the A Famosa
Portuguese Fort with a lone surviving gate at the foot of St. Paul’s
hill. On top of the hill are the ruins of Saint Paul’s Church. From
there, you have a nice view of Malacca and the Strait. The strait, our
guide said, is now farther away because of land reclamation. This old
section of Malacca is still being developed, and our tour guide told us
the Malaysian government is looking forward to cruise ships stopping in
Malacca. Malacca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Even though current-day Malacca is different from the Malacca of the
16th century, I was still very interested because this very area was
where Ferdinand Magellan and Enrique would have visited. It was the
Portuguese settlement from1511 to 1641; some historians say that
Magellan acquired Enrique as a slave, in Malacca, most probably in 1511.
A short walk down St Paul Hill revealed old Dutch homes and the
charming Dutch Square, with a fountain and red brick buildings around.
There were shops for the shoppers and a shady tree with a bench for the
hot and weary. We opted to sit and take in the sights. To our right was
the administrative building called the Stadhuys, which once housed the
quarters of its governors and officers. Straight ahead was the Christ
Church. There was a clock tower and more Dutch buildings from the 1600s.
The Dutch were in Malacca from 1641-1825, a period of 184 years, the
longest time Malacca was under foreign control. From 1825 to 1946,
Malacca was under British Rule.
Across the street was the Malacca River that joins the Strait of
Malacca, and which had been a passage way for ancient trading ships to
warehouses and piers along the river. A small part of the Malacca River
has been restored to allow tourists to imagine how it looked in the
past.
Across the river was the old Chinatown with Jonker Street at its
center. This narrow street has houses dating to the 1600s. Jonker Street
became famous for its antiques; now there are other shops and
restaurants. Sweltering in the April heat, we took a break in one of the
cafes for a cold drink. Afterwards, we strolled along this historic
street and peeked into the antique shops and took pictures of temples,
mosques and two-story buildings. It was all very colorful and joyful,
and finally totally exhausted, we plopped down in our tourist bus, ready
for our two-hour drive back to KL.
* * *
Born and raised in Cebu,
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the
multi-awarded author and editor of over 15 books. Her recent books are:
Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites (Anvil, 2012) and Out of Cebu:
Essays and Personal Prose (University of San Carlos Press, 2012). Her
website is www.ceciliabrainard.com
tags: travel, tourism, Malaysia, Asia, Malacca, history, Enrique, Ferdinand Magellan
