Melaka Sultanate - Legacy

Legacy

Melaka sultanate heralded the golden age of Alam Melayu and became an important port in the far east during the 16th century. It became so rich that the Portuguese writer and trader Tome Pires said "Whoever is lord of Melaka shall have his hands on the throat of Venice.". Within a span of a century, the Malay empire left a lasting and important legacy, especially within Malay culture and the History of Malaysia. Melaka was the first Malay Muslim state that achieved the status of a regional maritime power. Despite the existence of earlier Muslim kingdoms such as Kedah, Samudra Pasai and Aru, which also possessed well-established ports, none of them came close in challenging Melaka's success in expanding its territory and influence in the region. Melaka also contributed in the evolution of a common Malay culture based on Islam by incorporating native and Hindu-Buddhist ideas and layered them extensively with Islamic ideas and values. Through its traditions, laws, and royal rituals and customs, the Melakan court set the example for later Muslim sultanates in the region to follows.

Next to its role on promoting Islamic faith, Melaka is important especially for the modern nation of Malaysia as it was the first centralized polity that consolidated the entire Malay peninsula-now an important part of Malaysia- under its rule. This is contrary with the achievements of older kingdoms of the Malay peninula such as Kedah and Langkasuka that only exerted their influence over a significant northern portion of the peninsula. Because of these roles, Melaka is considered by many to be the spiritual birthplace of Malaysia.

Melaka sultanate also emerged as the primary base in continuing the historic struggles of its predecessors, Singapura and Srivijaya, against their Java-based nemeses. By the mid 15th century, Majapahit found itself unable to control the rising power of Melaka that began to gain effective control of Melaka straits and expands its influence to Sumatra. As a major entrepot, Melaka attracted Muslim traders from various part of the world and became a center of Islam, disseminating the religion throughout the Maritime Southeast Asia. The expansion of Islam into the interiors of Java in 15th century led to the gradual decline of Majapahit, before it finally succumbed to the emerging local Muslim forces in the early 16th century. At the same time, the literary tradition of Melaka developed the Classical Malay that eventually became the lingua franca of the region. The advent of Islam coupled with flourishing trade that used Malay as medium of communication, culminated the domination of Melaka and other succeeding Malay-Muslim sultanates in the Maritime Southeast Asia. As noted by certain scholars, the historic Malay-Javanese rivalry in the region, persists until modern times, and continues to shape the diplomatic relations between the Malaysia and the Java-based Indonesia.