Is it "Seperti Belanda atau Portugis Minta Tanah"?

I have just finished reading "The Epic of Hang Tuah" an English translation of the "Hikayat Hang Tuah". The last chapter of the Epic, Chapter 28 depicted how the Portuguese managed to shrewdly grabbed Melaka of its land and at the end occupying the whole of Melaka by force.... It was narrated that at first instance, the Portuguese were only allowed to trade from their vessel and not allowed to build a residence on the Melaka soil. However it was the narrated as below: " ... A year after that a huge vessel arrived from Portugal. The captain was a different Portuguese man, bringing with him a heavy load of gold, silver and weapons; there were no goods to be traded, for the vessel carried only gunpowder, cannon balls, and stone pillars for the building that they proposed to erect. The captain lost no time in disembarking and presented himself before Puteri Gunung Ledang, [Note: She was narrated as the ruler of Nelaka after his father, the Raja Melaka stepped down to be a dervish] carrying with him scores of "bahara" of gold and silver, asking to buy a piece of land just the size of the hide of a cow; he said a place from which to trade..." This was agreed by Puteri Gunung Ledang despite of reservations and objection among the officials of Melaka. What happened next was how the Portuguese bared their heinous or rather ingenious act: " ... Soon after the captain sought leave of the Raja and the Bendahara to return to his vessel. He sliced up the hide, which was then turned into a rope and he ordered his sailors to carry the stones and all the equipment for the go-down, and heaped them down before the main gate of the fotress. The captain landed with the rope of hide, pulling it out into the form of a square, as big as it could stretch. It was there he erected a great, tall building; extremely formidable, reserving holes for seven layers of cannon..." By this time, the Melaka officials realised that they had been duped and asked the Portuguese to stop the construction of the building which was definitely bigger than the width of a cow hide. To this the captain replied: " ... I bought it [the land] with countless of "bahara" of silver; the Raja's promise to me is a piece of land as wide as a hide; this hide I had twined into a rope..." It was narrated as when the building was completed, the Portuguese carried up all their equipment and gunpowder into the building as well as their great cannons in disguise. Not long after that Melaka was bombarded with gun fire from the cannons from midnight till sunrise... The above narration reminds me of the "peribahasa" - "Seperti Belanda Minta Tanah". The origin of the "peribahasa" is exactly the same except the "peribahasa" which we commonly used to know refers to "Belanda" instead of "Potuguese" as narrated in the Epic. From my surfing the Net, the "peribahasa" "Seperti Belanda Minta Tanah" was originated from Betawi with the similar narration of "kulit sapi". As for me it does not matter whether it is "Belanda" or "Portugis" ... Not only the Raja of Melaka was duped but years later on 11 August 1786, another captain, a British named Francis Light hoisted the Union Jack in Penang. Later, on 20 January 1874, the British officially "interfere" in the sovereignty of Perak via "Perjanjian Pangkor" ... It goes on and on as what history has told us.... We had been duped by the colonials again and again as narrated by the author of the "Epic of Hang Tuah" on the reason why Melaka fell to the Portuguese: " ... This was the way that the inhabitants of Melaka were made forgetful of their own welfare, entranced by the beautiful objects and merchandise that came from the sea..." never did we learn our lesson .....

Free Flow Merdeka Posting

As a Malaysian who was born six years after Merdeka and six years before the May 13th incident, I would say that the recent 55th year Merdeka celebration had definitely being "revamped" drastically .... For the 1st time, there were 2 Merdeka themes ... The National theme "Janji DiTepati" and the Pakatan Rakyat's theme of "Sebangsa, SeNegara, SeJiwa". Another 1st, there was a "Cabutan Bertuah" during the Merdeka celebration at Stadium Bukit Jalil on the night of 31 August 2012. For the 1st time, there was no firework display at the Dataran Merdeka at the stroke of midnight (31 August 2012) as it was closed "Dengan Perintah Datuk Bandar" (Note: However, there was a small scale firework "tajaan rakyat that night) I am not sure whether the above "1st" is good or not but what the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia did was very bad indeed ... If you happened to watch TV3 news at 8.00 PM, it showed the Malaysian Embassy Staff led by the Honourable Mlaysian Ambassador in Jakarta celebrated "Merdeka" by cutting a "Malaysian Flag" cake and sang .... "Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You ...." instead of shouting "Merdeka"!!! I nearly choked .... As far as I know Mlaysia Day is on 16 September and 31 August is our "Merdeka Day"!!! Either they are "Buta Sejarah" .... No wonder the Majlis Professor Negara (MPN) declared that TECHNICALLY our nation was never "dijajah" but "bernaung" under the British rule... What a "confused" 55th year Merdeka celebration we just had celebrated ....