[Islamic Centers in SE Asia – SB]

MALACCA: Malaysia’s Islamic Stronghold

Strategically located on the Malacca Straits, which connects the Indian Ocean with
the South China Sea, Malacca became the first Islamic power center in Southeast
Asia. According to the Sejarah Melayu (‘Malay Annals’) it was founded by
Paramesvara, a descendant of the Sailendra dynasty of Palembang, and it was his son
who embraced Islam around 1414, ruling as Sultan Iskandar Shah.

The significance of this event is considerable, because as Malacca’s economic and

political power grew, its distinct court culture, merging indigenous Malay features
and Islamic elements of Arabic, Indian and Persian origins spread throughout the
archipelago. One such element was the replacement of the ruler’s Sanskrit title of
‘raja’ with the Arabic ‘sultan’. The Malaccan Malay dialect became Southeast Asia’s
lingua franca, used by local and foreign traders as their means of communication.

Malacca’s political fortunes were short-lived; within a century from its emergence as
the Muslim trading center in Southeast Asia, it fell in 1511 to the Portuguese. They
were ousted in 1641 by the Dutch, who controlled Malacca until 1824, when it
became part of British Malaya. Now one of the states in the Federation of Malaysia, it
banks on its legacy of former Malay grandeur.

Carool Kersten
School of Oriental and African Studies