News Part II

Another piece of news that caught my eye this week is about a man by the name of Raja Noor Jan Shah. If you're a Malaysian, you'd probably know that Malay people with names that starts with Raja and Tengku are usually relatives of royalty. (Be careful about Raja though...cause it can also be a common name if one is an Indian). They may not be the direct lineage of the king but their ancestors probably played polo with the big guy.

If you all remember your history well, back in those days, Melaka (aside from Penang and Singapore) was part of the Negeri-Negeri Selat. Negeri-Negeri Selat are those states in Malaysia that was under the colony of the British. These 3 states (yes, Singapore was part of Malaysia until the 1960s) was ruled by a British governor. The reason for a governor being installed as the head of the state is due to the fact that there was no known royal lineage in those states at that point of time.
Melaka being an entreport was raped and plundered many a times way before the British were even a force to be reckoned with. Before the Brits, there were the Portugese. Before the Portugese, Melaka was a Dutch colony. The last known king of Melaka was Sultan Mahmud Shah or more commonly read about in the history books as 'Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Dijulang'. He was the king that was assassinated when he was being chauffeured around in his sedan. (This happened in 1511...so sedan in this context is more of a chair than a car). When he was assassinated (probably by a blowpipe...i forgot this part of history) he was not known to have an heir. So just like that on a sunny day in 1511, Melaka lost its royal lineage.

Suddenly, after close to 5 centuries, this guy, Raja Noor Jan Shah comes up and stakes his claim to the Melaka throne! According to him he has proofs that his ancestor is indeed Sultan Mahmud Shah. Not only that, but this dude comes equipped with all the royal regalia. He has with him 2 'royal' keris, a 'royal' stamp and other paraphenelia. When asked how he managed to get his hands on all these antiques, he said that he had a dream from his ancestor which points him to the correct direction to dig for all these memorabilia. My, I wonder if he can dream me up next sunday's Big Sweep lottery numbers.
The funniest part is that he even had the audacity to give honorific titles to 150 people in an 'inauguration' ball last week in Kuala Lumpur. He was even dressed for the occasion, complete with a headgear, umbrellas and maids-in-waiting. Everyone in the function was dressed in yellow(colour of royalty) from head to toe.
I think I'd better start bringing out my cape and wearing my underwear inside out and stake my claim as the heir of planet Krypton...