Essay: Rise and fall of Malacca

THE RISE OF MALACCA
Around the year 1400, Parameswara, a prince from Palembang, was forced to flee his homeland. He then left for Temasek and became the ruler of Temasek, now more commonly known as Singapore. He assumed the throne of Temasek for two years before he was later ousted by the stronger Majapahit. Parameswara was forced to flee northwards to Malaya when Majapahit raided Temasek. He stumbled upon Malacca while trying to find a good trading place to settle down and exert his influence.
He established an area near present day Malacca in 1403. It was said that the name Malacca’s was to have derived from the Arabic word Malakut which means a market place.
Parameswara encouraged and promoted peaceful trading between regions after establishing the Port of Malacca. International attention was given by other traders as Malacca. At the time, Muslims from Arabia dominated the international trade in the Indian Ocean to South China Seas in the 1400’s.
Islam had then gained many followers in the many islands of Indonesia since 1300’s. In 1405, as fate had it, the Prince Parameswara fell in love with a Muslim princess from the Court of Pasai in Northern Sumatra. Parameswara married the princess, converted to Islam and changed his name to Sultan Iskandar Shah to reflect his new religion.
Sultan Iskandar Shah became a Muslim around 1414. In the 1420s, Sultan Megat Iskandar, the son of Sultan Iskandar Shah, converted from Hinduism to Islam.
In 1424, Sultan Megat Iskandar Shah passed away and was replaced by Sultan Muhammad Shah (1424-1444). beginning of the Islamization period in Malacca Sultanate, subsequently spreading its influence to the rest of the Malay Peninsula. However, most historians agree that Islam was firmly established during the reign of Sultan Mudzafar Shah of the Malacca Sultanate (1446 to 1459).
FALL OF MALACCA EMPIRE
The golden age of Malacca ended in 1511. Empire Malacca who called to an end after the Portuguese attack Malacca under the rule of Sultan Mansur Shah.
WEAK LEADERSHIP AND OPPRESSIVE ADMINISTRATION
Weak ruling government is the root cause to the fall of the Malacca Sultanate. They were overdependence on Tun Perak until they can’t find a capable leader to replace him. After the death of the Bendahara Tun Perak, Malacca lacked an efficient leader as the replacement of Tun Perak which is Tun Mutahir as a Bendahara was a weak leader because he more concern on his personal welfare and biased during his administration.
Bribing and defamation were rife and inevitably result in economic instability and discontent among the people. Corruption in administration to gain personal wealth had caused the imposed of high taxes on citizens and traders forced merchants to shift their attention to Acheh, the other trading ports.
DISUNITY
Malacca’s weak position caused the disunited of people and spilt into factions. Bendahara Tun Mutahir is and Indian-Muslims. His weak administration and practiced favoritism had caused the Malays to become hostile towards them and develop into racial tension.
Military and Defence
Continued misunderstanding caused segregation and disunity among the people. The situation became worse and critical when the Portuguese, led by Alfonso d’Albuquerque attacked Malacca. For Malacca soldiers, they are losing of skills because they not involved in war for a long time. They had been using traditional weapons such as creese, arrow and spear during the war with Portuguese. Whereas, Portuguese used modern weapons such as cannon that clearly different from Malacca in term of range and mobility. Portuguese armed forces have well-equipped weapons and good strategic planning with the guidance of Alfonso d’Albuquerque.
DISLOYALTY OF MERCHANTS
Due to the political instability, merchants who came and stay at Malacca did not believe to the government of Malacca. They even backed and supported Portuguese during their attack. For Chinese merchant, they provided huge barges on loan to Portuguese. Tamil merchant provided information regarding Malacca defense system.