Research Reveals New Evidence Of Malaysia's Multicultural Past

Archaeologists in northwest Malaysia find new evidence of the region's role as a thriving multicultural trading hub.

Kedah, Malaysia: Until six months ago, none of the inhabitants of the village of Bukit Choras, set amid rice fields near the steep and lush hill of the same name in northwestern Malaysia, had any idea they had been living next to an archaeological wonder all their lives. It was only after a team of 11 researchers cleared the thick bushes and secondary jungle from the top of the hill and gently scraped away at the soil that a missing piece of Southeast Asian history was revealed. The 1200-year-old Buddhist stupa of Bukit Choras was discovered last August in Malaysia's Bujang Valley, a river basin scattered with several clusters of protohistoric sites in the country's northwestern Kedah state.

The stupa is the best preserved in the country, and experts say it could hold the key to Malaysia's long history of multiculturalism. "The site is an anomaly because it stands all by itself,". Bukit Choras is located near the small town of Yan on Keddah's southern coast, about 370 km north of the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Unlike the 184 archaeological sites previously identified in the Bujang Valley that lie to the south, the stupa is isolated on the northern side of Mount Jerai. It was once a cape and a pivotal navigation point for seafaring traders who ventured to this part of the world from as far as the Arabian peninsula.

"We are still not sure of Bukit Chora's function. It may have been a military garrison or coastal trade outpost, but we need further excavation. Our preliminary findings show plenty of similarities with other sites found in Java and Sumatra, Indonesia," said Nasha, whose team would continue to work at the site throughout the first half of 2024.

 A Forlorn Discovery

Nasha Bukit Choras was first reported in 1850 by a British officer looking for treasures and then briefly studied by another British scholar, HG Quaritch Wales, in 1937. Wales undertook minor excavations but only reported finding a squarish Buddhist stupa and taking note of its measurements. He never provided any illustrations or plates for the site. In 1984, nearly 50 years later, the site remained largely undisturbed. "I realised that nobody had done proper exploration since then and managed to get a fund to survey the site in 2017,"

"We used electronic waves to detect what was hidden underground physically and found some big structures underneath." Nasha received more funding from Malaysia's Ministery of Higher Education to conduct proper examinations in 2022, and his team was compared with those unearthed in the Bujang Valley between the 1930s and 1950s, some of which had deteriorated because of erosion, human activities and even accidental destruction. "At first, we only excavated 40 per cent of the whole Bukit Choras site, finding a stupa about none metres long," Nasha said. "But the most important discovery was two stucco statues of Buddha in good condition that have never been found in the area before." Stucco Nasha explained it was thought only to be found in Java and Sumatra, neighbouring Indonesia and India at the time.

 Ancient Association

Placed in two niches together with an inscription in Pallava, the language of the Pallava Dynasty that ruled in South India between the 3rd and 8th century, Bukit Choras two Buddha statues have architectural features resembling those of other ancient artefacts from the Srivijaya kingdom that prospered between 7th and 11th centuries CE in an area from southern Thailand through the  Malay peninsula and into Java. The statues are now being studied and restored at CGAR on Penang Island. "The discovery of two still intact human-size statues and their inscriptions is significant for further studies," Mohd Azmi, Malaysia's National Heritage Department commissioner, said. "This shows that the site has not been disturbed and has the potential to provide new evidence of Ancient Kedah's history."

The discoveries in the Bujang Valley testify to an ancient civilisation that archaeologists call the "Ancient Kedah Kingdom". It prospered between the 2nd and the 14th century CE, stretching across the northwestern coast of the Malay peninsula and into Thailand, predating the arrival of Islam in the region. Ancient Kedah grew rich in international trade and iron and glass bead production, prospering as a multiethnic and multireligious ancient Southeast Asian polity where residents and foreign traders lived together. Nasha points out that findings in the area suggest that for centuries, traders from China, India, and even the Middle East came to the area to do business and were often forced to spend long spells in Kedah when the harsh monsoon seasons made sailing back from impossible. Temples are artefacts built by local labourers mixing foreign architectural motifs and knowledge with two main influences. "First in Buddhism classified in areas such as Sungai Mas, Kuala Muda and Sungai Batu in Semeling plus the most recent benign the temple site at Bujit Choras," explained Asyaari Muhamad, a senior archaeologist and the director of the Institute of the Malay World and Civilization at the University Kebangsaan Malaysia referring to some of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia referring to some of the Bujang Valley sites.

"The rest of the archaeological sites in the Pengkalam Bujang complex Merbok received Hindu influences. This classification is based on the discovery of artefacts and temple structures symbolising the religious beliefs or influences at that time," he said.

Enhancing Multiculturalism

All of Ancient Kedah's temples functioned as places of worship, mainly for the mixed population of migrant traders and workers of the local glass bead and poetry-making sites," said Nasha. We believe it was the same in Sungai Batu, the leading site for Ancient Kedah's iron smelting furnaces, where we found evidence of a community and its temples. But in Bukit Choras, proof of economic activities or industry has not yet been found," he said.

Archaeological discoveries suggest that while Ancient Kedah thrived for centuries, it went into decline when climate transformed the large maritime bay and accessible riverways leading to the iron smelting site of Sungai Batu into mangrove and tidal swamps that were impassable to ships. "Multiculturalism is not new in the Malay peninsula and Ancient Kedah," Nasha added. "It started with trade in the 2nd century when there was an increase in connectivity between China, India and Southeast Asia and continued well into the Melaka Kingdom that we know was also a multicultural society and continues today".

The Malaysia of the 21st century is also a multiethnic and multireligious Southeast Asian nation made up of a majority of Malay Muslims followed by Chinese, Indians and more than 50 other ethnic groups living across the peninsula and the northern half of the island of Borneo in the states of Sarawak and Sabah. Asyaari said it was important for researchers to collaborate and reach a better understanding of the origins of civilisations in and beyond the Malay peninsula.

"Any statements about our previous findings need to be carefully examined so that a theory, discovery, and the results of a study do not become an issue and controversial in nature," he said.

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