I'm far from being a historian of early modern Southeast Asia but here is a thread about rumour in historical writing and how Sejarah Melayu makes an interesting source in examining political rumour outside Europe. 1/

: See @BLMalay's blogpost for more https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2013/09/sejarah-melayu-a-malay-masterpiece.html

The treatment of rumour as a historical source has been done in European and South Asian contexts. For instance, John Walter's ‘A “rising of the people”? the Oxfordshire rising of 1596' and Ranajit Guha's "Elementary aspects of peasant insurgency in colonial India". 2/

Between these two texts, both share one thing in common. Rumour is extremely useful in understanding the the conditions of subaltern groups in society and has often been a mobilizer for political rebellion. But can we attempt to do the same with early modern Southeast Asia? 3/

In the Malay world, although the intention of hikayats and babads are to preserve memories of a kingdom’s political developments, it is often interweaved with fantastical myths, magic and prophecies that aim to legitimize the ruler's mandate and legacy. 4/

This leads to the question: Does the dominant perception of rumour as "insurgent communication" maintain when it comes to examining known sources of Malay-Indon classical texts? Is rumour merely a tool of power for the elite in early modern Malay societies such as Melaka? 5/

Taking inspiration from Anand A. Yang (1987), I think that examining incidents of rumour-mongering or the spread of "fitnah" in texts like Sejarah Melayu actually gives us an opportunity to see different agents navigating through court politics to advance their own interests. 6/

From here, I'll be sharing some of the narratives from the Sejarah Melayu that discuss the powerful (at least for some, not the purveyors in some cases) consequences of "fitnah" in shaping the dynamics of court politics. 7/

Alqisah 6: Sultan Iskandar Syah of Singapore was very angry to hear that one of his concubines was spoken ill-off by other concubines that he ordered for one of guilty ones to be executed publicly in the marketplace. The father of the deceased, Sang Rajuna Tapa was humiliated. 8/

For he felt that his daughter's punishment had brought dishonour to his family. So Tapa requested Batara Majapahit to go to war with Singapore. However, he and his two wives in Java were turned to stoned while the Iskandar Syah escaped to Muar in the end. 9/

Alqisah 9: Hang Tuah was rumoured to have desired for dayang-dayang istana (court women). Sultan Mansur Syah of Melaka was angered and instructed Sri Nara Diraja to kill him. But Diraja refrained because he believed Tuah's sin wasn't grave enough and could be concealed. 10/

As the rumour lingered for sometime, Hang Kasturi then too expressed desire for a court woman. When this story emerged, nobody had the heart to expel him from the palace. So Hang Tuah took this opportunity to appear righteous and engaged in a bloody duel with Kasturi. 11/

Kasturi died in the fight with Tuah. The consequence of this was Tuah's promotion to becoming Laksamana. As noted by Sabri Zain, it was this grand conflict that was to be more historical compared to the one with Hang Jebat in Hikayat Hang Tuah. See: http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/melaka2.htm 12/

Alqisah 20: There was a story going around that a certain intellectual (pendeta), Makhdum Maulana Sadar Johan, is coming to Melaka. The Hindu scholar Sri Rama waltz in intoxicated and tells Bendahara Sri Maharaja that Makhdum is greedy and a poor tongue for Malay. 13/

To fact-check, the Bendahara visits Makhdum as he was studying with Tun Mai Ulat Bulu. Makhdum noticed that Bulu spoke with "lidah keras" (poor pronunciation). Evidently being informed by Rama's words, Bulu condescended on Makhdum's ability to speak Malay, offending him. 14/

Alqisah 22: Bendahara Sri Maharaja has been established as the wealthiest man in Melaka. Two merchants, Raja Mendeliar and Nina Sudar Dewana were both competing for the attention of the bendahara for commercial interests. They were willing to do anything to curry his favour. 15/

Dewana feared the Bendahara would favour Mendeliar, so he brought gold. But Dewana's relative (a Keling), Kitul owed Mendeliar gold. So he snitched Dewana's encounter with the Bendahara to Mendeliar and claimed that there were plans to assassinate him. 16/

Out of fear, Mendeliar brings the greatest jewels to the Laksamana, claiming that the Bendahara is going to commit treason (derhaka) and wants to claim kingship in Melaka. Enchanted by all the treasure, Laksamana goes to Sultan Mahmud Syah and informs him of this rumour. 17/

Sultan Mahmud Syah was quick to act and destroyed the Bendahara's entire family except for Tun Hamzah. Tragically, the King later learns that the rumour of treason was false and he had inflicted injustice to the Bendahara. As punishment, Mendeliar was executed for his lies. 18/

Kitul was "disula" (impaled? Someone correct me if wrong) and the Laksamana was castrated.

These are the selected excerpts from the Sejarah Melayu that describe how rumour is a force in navigating and consolidating power in early modern Malay polities. 19/

Hope you enjoyed reading this thread. I was just not in the mood to strain my eyes and brains with more reading. This has been a great exercise for me to get my ideas for the essay together.

Feel free to correct me if I made any mistakes. Cheers!

To complement this thread: If Hang Tuah interests you a lot, please take a look at this informative thread by @uglyluhan https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1180768821977571328?s=20