1) Malaya 500 Early Postcards by Professor Cheah Jin Seng of National University of Singapore (NUS). 2008. [Category: Malaysian History] ISBN 9789814155984 Coloured photos, hand-painted photos, sepia photos, b/w photos. Soft brown cover. Price: RM99 - available from Borders, Queensbay Mall, Penang
Short Notes:-
Pudu is a small treeKinta is noted for its timber
Brickfields Road in KL was renamed Jalan Tun Sambanthan
Race courses were named after Sir William Maxwell, British resident of Selangor & patron circa 1890s
The KL race course now sites the Petronas Twin Towers
Ampang Road was an early mining site
Part of the Selangor Museum was bombed by an American plane (stray bomb) in 1945
The Selangor Museum is the forerunner of Muzium Negara
St Mary's Church is at Jalan Raja - 2 postcards published by a Japanese, MS Nakajima circa 1920
Station Hotel, FMS Railway in KL used rattan furniture in its lounge
Tung Shin Chinese Maternity Hospital was built by Kapitan China Yap Kwan Seng using personal $$ in 1892 (page 24)
The Institute for Medical Research (IMR) at Jalan Pahang in KL was founded by Sir Frank Athelston Swettenham in 1900 for malaria & beri-beri research (page 24)
The caption reads ... entrance to the Government Hospital but Pauper Hospital, Kuala Lumpur is printed at the bottom of the postcard (page 23)
The Vagrant Ward is likely a free ward at the Government General Hospital in KL (page 23)
The European Hospital, FMS is sited on a hilltop - 2 photos by MS Nakajima circa 1920 (page 22)
The Carcosa (Government House) in KL was formerly the residence of the British Resident-General of the FMS, Sir Frank A. Swettenham. Now renamed Carcosa Sri Negara (page 21)
Photograph of HH Sultan Sir Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah (1898-1938) Sultan of Selangor & suite shows both Malay and British menswear (page 18)
Sikh bodyguards were on horseback in KL (page 18)
A horse carriage awaits in front of the Rest House in Gopeng (page 132)
The Sultan Idris College Dining Hall in Telok Anson (now Tajung Malim) looks like a church interior (page 132) circa 1940
2) Raffles. The Story of Singapore by Raymond Flower. Hardcover. 2007. Marshall Cavendish Editions. First published 1984 by Times Book International. Reprinted 1988, 1991, 2002 and 2007. ISBN-13 9789812614438 ISBN-10 9812614435
Short Notes:-
Two gold bracelets of the Majapahit Empire of Java were unearthed at Fort Canning in July 1928. The Majapahit Empire was from 1360 onward (page 2) til the fall of the Majapahit Empire to Parameswara, an Indian prince
Origin of the word Singapura could be a fusion of 2 words - singgah (stop-over) and pura (city) - a stop-over city (page 6). Singa means lion in Malay - Singapura is therefore lion city.
Singapore kings (1299-1413):
Sri Tri Buana (1299-1347) - sri is an Indian salutation; buana means world in old Malay
Paduka Sri Pikrama Wira (1347-1362) - paduka is an Indian salutation; wira means warrior in Malay
Sri Rana Wikerma (1362-1375)
Paduka Sri Raja (1375-1388) - raja is an Indian salutation; raja means ruler
Sri Sultan Iskandar Shah @ Parameswara (1388-1391) in Singapore & (1393-1413) in Malacca - he was an Indian prince who converted to Islam. Sultan is a a title or salutation and indicates a ruler. Iskandar is Alexander in English. Shah is a suffix for Iskandar, means the great. So, Parameswara the King of Malacca was named after Alexander the Great when he converted to Islam?
While Malacca rose to fame under Sri Sultan Iskandar Shah, Singapore disintegrated into a wasteland for sea-gypsies or sea pirates (lanun laut) to slaughter their captives
Munshi Abdullah wrote the account of Singapore being used by sea-pirates to slaughter humans
Throughout the Middle Ages, spices were brought from India via the desert in the Middle East to Europe (including Venice) by caravans
The Indian spice trade & trade route were precious to the Portuguese
A Portuguese Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498
A Portuguese Diego Lopez de Sequeira sailed from Lisbon to Malacca
The Portuguese probably took so much spices and this angered the Sultan's people?
Disagreement arose and Sri Sultan Iskandar Shah imprisoned some Portuguese sailors
A Portuguese D'Albuquerque came to rescue the imprisoned Portuguese sailors in Malacca in 1511
Sri Sultan Iskandar Shah used elephants & poisoned arrows to mitigate the Portuguese attack
The Portuguese used gunpowder and Malacca fell to the Portuguese within a week
There is no news as to what happened to Sri Sultan Iskandar Shah when Malacca fell to the Portuguese
The Portuguese ruled Malacca for 130 years (1511-1641)
King Manuel I ruled Portugal in 1515 and Malacca was a Portuguese colony
The Dutch East India Company was set up in 1602
The Dutch competed with the Portuguese for spice trade
The Dutch attacked Portuguese Malacca. Malacca came under Dutch rule from 1641 to 1856
The British attacked Dutch Malacca. Malacca came under British rule from 1856 to 1957
The first British naval vessel that came to the Straits of Malacca was the Edward Bonaventure
Admiral Edward Lancaster was the Bonaventure captain; Bonaventure sank with its seized goods and never returned to Great Britain
St Francis Xavier started his Christian mission in Malacca in the Malay Archipelago (he was competing with the Arabs who were spreading Islam)
Additional notes:
There are no mosques in Malacca city centre til today; the nearest mosque is Masjid Banda Hilir (now renamed Masjid An Nur) built by the Arabs
At most 10 generations of mixed Arab descendants lived in the vicinity of Masjid Banda Hilir in Malacca
Masjid An Nur is sited at the end of the Chinese Baba Nyonya row, on the seaward side of the road from Ujong Pasir to Malacca town
Banda Hilir is the capital city of Malacca.
Banda Hilir means beach city, city at the river mouth, city at the bay or city downstream as opposed to Banda Ulu
Banda Hilir is sited at the mouth of the Malacca River (Sungai Melaka) that opens into the Straits of Malacca
Banda Hilir could have well been named Banda Selat (straits city)
Chinese junks (tongkang) used to anchor in the Bay of Malacca
3) Singapore. A Pictorial History 1819-2000 by Gretchen Liu. Hardcover. First published by Archipelago Press in 1999. Printed many times - 1999, 2000 (3 times), 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008. ISBN-13 9789813018815 ISBN-10 981301881-X. Includes bromide sepia photos, b/w photos, coloured photos and carbon sketches.
Short Notes:-
Two pages of Munshi Abdullah's hand-writing in Jawi script (page 20)The male labourers at the harbour had pointed hats and pigtails (pages 30-31)
Horse & hackney carriage of 1860s (page 42) - British transport?
An Indian boy grinding spices with a stone hand grinder (batu giling)(page 82)
The Babas & Nyonyas are different from the Chinese family
The manual fans had pleats instead of fan blades powered electrically (page 90)
The British people still wore their clothes their style in hot & humid Malaya
Cars looked like that used in Chitty-chitty Bang Bang (the movie)
The fire engine was a simple buggy
Offices were cluttered and full of books and files - open office concept
A jinrickshaw carrying a thin young man holding an umbrella (page 121)
An Indian man pulling a jinrickshaw carrying a British officer (page 122)
Features 3 British officers - MacKay, Makinson and Walker circa 1909 (page129)
Shows British officers in Malay clothes - kain sarong or kain basahan (page 131)
Indian labourers working to make roads (pages 134-135)
Coolies smoking opium (page 139)
Ward of old Tan Tock Seng Hospital with mosquito nets tucked neatly above each bed (page 167)
General Hospital ward in Singapore (page 185)
Floods in Singapore (pages 207 & 265))
Child labour in Singapore (page 217)
Singapore Malays (pages 232-234, 286, 300-301, 346, 382-383)
Postwar photos (pages 250-263)
Hospital scenes (pages 288-289)
Reading newspaper (page 292)
Maria Hertogh riots of 1 December 1950 (page 306)
Modern Singapore (1965-2000)
Phua Chu Kang (page 380)
