Perak Man

Before Melaka · Treatise · 10 min read

What Does Bujang Valley Prove?

Kedah's earth hides real temples, real ironworks, and real ports — but the writing on the stones is not Malay

Some people might say: there are civilization remains on the Peninsula older than those in Sumatra, so Malays were here even earlier. The first half of the sentence is true. The Bujang Valley indeed has temple complexes, iron-smelting sites, and ancient ports, dating back at least to the 2nd century CE. The second half of the sentence, however, does not hold up. The writing on those temples is Sanskrit, not Malay. The people who lived there left behind scripts from southern India, names of merchants from Bengal, and deities from Hinduism and Buddhism. The "Malay" identity simply did not exist on the Peninsula at that time.