Kota Gelanggi

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Kota Gelanggi is a potential archaeological site believed to be the first capital of the ancient Malay Empire of Srivijaya ca. 650-900 and one of the oldest pre-Islamic Malay Kingdoms on the Malay Peninsula.

Its existence was announced dramatically as a 'discovery' by the Malaysian Press on 3 February 2005.

The site of this ancient city is reportedly located in the dense jungles of the southern Malaysian state of Johor Darul Takzim. It is said to lie near a forest reserve currently managed as a water catchment area, the Linggiu Dam, by the Public Utilities Board (PUB) of Singapore. This locates it somewhere within a 140 square kilometre site of the forest reserve in the area surrounding Sungai Madek and Sungai Lenggiu.

Specific reference to Kota Gelanggi is made in the Sejarah Melayu or Malay Annals, an early 17th century Malay historical text. In it, Kota Gelanggi is said to be found on the upper reaches of the Johor River. The main fort of Kota Gelanggi was reportedly made of black stone (or Kota Batu Hitam in Malay). Its name 'Kota Gelanggi' was apparently derived from the Malay mispronunciation of the Thai word 'Ghlong-Keow' or 'Box of Emeralds', hence in Malay, 'Perbendaharaan Permata' ('Treasury of Jewels'). Some scholars believe that the city formed part of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, and may thus be the unidentified 12th Naksat city of ancient Siamese folklore. Ancient Tamil inscriptions inform us that the city was raided by the Chola conqueror Rajendra Chola I, of the South Indian Chola Dynasty in 1025, after he had destroyed the Malay Kingdom of Gangga Negara. The latter is generally equated with the ruins and ancient tombs which still can be seen in the district of Beruas, Perak Darul Ridzuan. Old European maps of the Malay Peninsula further show the location of a city known as 'Polepi' (i.e. 'Gelanggi') at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula (see Sebastian Munster's (1614) Map of Taprobana).

References to Kota Gelanggi were reported in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by colonial scholar-administrators including Dudley Francis Amelius Hervey (1849-1911); who published eyewitness reports of the city in 1881; and Sir Richard Olof Winstedt (1878-1966); who stated that an Orang Asli was prepared to take people to the site in the late 1920s. The ancient city was also known to the adventurer-explorer Gerald Gardner (1884-1964), who discovered the ruins of Johore Lama while searching for Kota Gelanggi.

Recent evidence of its existence and approximate location was presented as the result of a decade-long research project based on Malay manuscripts, cartographical and topographical surveys, aerial inspections and assessing local folklore. A preliminary discussion on the subject based on these sources was published as a lengthy academic paper entitled The "Lost City" of Kota Gelanggi (JMBRAS, Vol. 77 Pt. 2, pp.27-58) in 2004. Prior to that, its author, Raimy Che-Ross, an independent researcher, had tabled and discussed his findings with experts at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore, the Johor Chapter of Badan Warisan Malaysia (Malaysian Heritage Trust) and to archaeologists at the Jabatan Muzium dan Antikuiti Malaysia (Museums and Antiquities Department of Malaysia), between January-June 2004.

The paper was given wide coverage by the Malaysian Media, who prematurely reported the introductory article as the announcement of a major 'discovery'. This prompted the then Minister for Heritage, Culture and the Arts to himself announce ambitious plans to 'discover' the city by selected museum and government officials.

On April 28th 2006, the Malaysian National News Service (Bernama) reported that the "Lost City does not exist". Khalid Syed Ali, the Curator of Archaeology in the Department's Research and Development Division, said a team of government appointed researchers carried out a study over a month in July last year [2005] but found no trace of the "Lost City".

However, Khalid later added that 'the Heritage Department (Jabatan Warisan) does not categorically deny that it exists, only that research carried out until now [over the month of July] has not shown any proof that can verify the existence of the ancient city of Linggiu [sic]' (Azahari Ibrahim, 'Kota Purba Linggiu: Antara Realiti dan Ilusi', Sejarah Malaysia, July-August 2006, p.37). When pressed for details, he revealed that Che-Ross was not involved in the museum's search team for the lost city.

Three elder Orang Asli headmen from the Linggiu Dam area nonetheless insist that the city indeed exists. According to Tuk Batin Abdul Rahman, 85, 'the city is very large, I have seen it myself because it was located near my village. I estimate its fort to be approximately forty feet square, with three holes like windows along its walls'. He added that the area was formerly inhabited by him and fifty Orang Asli families, before being moved by the British due to the Communist threat in the late 1940s-50s. He further said that he had first stumbled across the fort in the 1930s, while foraging for jungle produce. Tuk Batin Abdul Rahman's statements were independently verified by Tuk Batin Daud, 60 and Tuk Batin Adong, 58, who added that their people had visited the site on numerous occasions before, and had seen the black stone walls themselves (Amad Bahri Mardi, 'Kota Gelanggi hanya wujud pada nama', Berita Harian, Sunday, 20 February 2005, p.18). Two old manuscript drawings believed to depict the ruins are in the possession of Tuk Batin Adong. The rough outline coloured sketches show a large building surrounding a steep hill. Two circular apertures are found on the walls on each side of the entrance into this structure.

Note that the Kota Gelanggi of Johor Darul Takzim is different from the Kota Gelanggi Caves near Jerantut in Pahang Darul Makmur. The Kota Gelanggi Caves of Jerantut hold Neolithic sites, with no evidence of substantial habitation beyond that period having been found despite extensive archaeological digs in its caverns by the museums department.

Late in May 2008, the Malaysian Press reported the discovery of an ancient bronze vessel or Kendi near a river close to Mentakab, Pahang Darul Makmur that may be connected to the ancient city of Kota Gelanggi in Johor Darul Takzim. Both sites are linked by a network of rivers once believed to form a trans-peninsular trading route cutting across the Malay Peninsula.