Archaeological treasures and histories untold in Lembah Bujang

Our history books often consider the 15th Century Melaka kingdom as the most important part of Malaysia’s history. As a wealthy international entrepôt and a powerful kingdom that spanned the Malay Peninsular and a part of Sumatra, it’s difficult to argue that fact. It’s said that the Melaka Kingdom’s power and influence in the region resulted in the creation of the Malay identity and Malay world, as well as the spread of Islam all across Southeast Asia.

But roughly 14 centuries prior and a few hundred kilometers further north in Kedah is Lembah Bujang, a 2,000 year old settlement that, like Melaka, was an important entrepôt whose successes had helped shape the Southeast Asian region.

Similar to Melaka, Lembah Bujang’s wealth and popularity was a result of its strategic location on the Peninsula. Situated near Gunung Jerai in Kedah, western traders hailing as far as Arabia and India found it far easier to trade with the Eastern Kingdoms via Lembah Bujang using porters, rafts and mules, rather than having to sail around the Peninsula.

As a result, Lembah Bujang grew in prominence as a trading port on the Maritime Silk Road. This enabled the trade of goods such as spices, ceramics and sculptures, and more between the Western and Eastern kingdoms. Historical inscriptions from China, Arabia and India show that trade in Lembah Bujang existed and flourished between the 1st and the 14th Century, before falling to the popularity of the newly-minted ports of the Melaka kingdom.

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Today, Lembah Bujang is the richest archaeological site in Malaysia, containing around 50 candi (temples), the remains of a prehistoric jetty, an iron smelting site, and the oldest man-made structure in Southeast Asia. Other artefacts from a similar time such as stone caskets, ornaments, inscriptions and pottery have also been discovered at the site.

Researchers, archaeologists and Universities alike have studied the site over the past few decades in search of more clues about its significance to the Southeast Asian region and its political and economical relationships with the other kingdoms of the time.

It is believed that the people who lived and worked in Lembah Bujang were mostly Southeast Asian and South Indian traders who practiced Hinduism and Buddhism.This is reflected in historical artefacts found at the site which has South Indian influences in the architecture and inscriptions, leading historians to believe the site may have led to the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism around the Southeast Asian region.

At the moment, a lot of Lembah Bujang’s history exists without much context. While much is known about its function and role as a port on the Maritime Silk Route between India and China, little is known, discovered or accepted about its politics, its people and its (possible) greater impact on Southeast Asian history. Historians have found proof of Lembah Bujang’s existence and significance in early foreign inscriptions, and more artefacts and inscriptions are still being uncovered and studied at the site today, giving us a deeper look into what was.

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In 1987, UNESCO studied Lembah Bujang and subsequently endorsed it as a significant historical site that needed to be researched and protected. The document recollected a 1969 proposal by the Federal Government to turn Lembah Bujang into a National Historical Park, and outlined the steps necessary to not only protect the site from further destruction, but to also provide a conducive archaeological research environment. 33 years later today, a large portion of the site continues to be unprotected and unlisted as a World Heritage Site, risking vandalism and encroachment.

“... There are numerous buildings and sites of considerable importance which are related to the historical development of Malaysia. The historic town of Malacca, with its early forts, its Christian churches, its town hall and its unique Chinese street, is one example of an historic centre. Elsewhere there are prominent palaces, some of which have been converted into museums, and forts guarding the river entrances. However, the most important archaeological sites are located in an area loosely described as the Bujang Valley in Kedah State, where the remains of shrines and small palaces have been discovered dating from the Hindu-Buddhist era between the sixth and sixteenth centuries.”

An excerpt from John Sanday’s 1987 UNESCO Report on Bujang Valley and Kuala Kedah Fort - Proposals for a Masterplan.

In 2013, Lembah Bujang came under the national spotlight as a 1,300 year old candi was 'secretly' demolished to make way for a housing development. Despite the resulting public clamor, the State Government and developer escaped unscathed as the demolished candi was found to be “not gazetted as a historical site" and that the land had been privately owned.

Since then, there have been calls to protect Lembah Bujang, but most of it has fallen either unto deaf ears or thrown into the pit of racial and religious politics. The government has continuously laboured in its efforts to protect the site, vaguely ensuring the public in 2017 that “it would be looked into” and “more research and studies would have to be done” before it can be considered as a World Heritage Site.

Little progress or clarity has been seen or heard about Lembah Bujang ever since, in spite of it gaining a museum, an information centre and guided tours.

In spite of its place in the peripherals of the country, its relevance to our national histories continue to spark and be referenced in conversation, in the midst of today’s racially-charged political narrative.

For some Malaysians, its inclusion into the World heritage List would do more than just attract an influx of tourists. Doing so would be a recognition of a past civilisation that existed before the region’s most powerful empires, the spread of Islam and the colonial eras. It recognizes a history that's largely uncharted in the context of the global empires, and one that could have led to the building of a common Southeast Asian identity.