Siamese elephant at the National Museum in Jakarta
Indonesia is a privileged trading partner of Thailand and an average of half a million Indonesian tourists visit the Land of Smiles every year. The historical ties between the two countries are old and go back very far in time.
We find the first traceable traces back to the eighth century of our era. The powerful city-state of Srivijaya in Sumatra - close to present-day Palmbang on the banks of the Musi - exerted considerable influence on the Malay peninsula and large parts of the coasts of present-day Thailand during that period. For example, it is certain that if not they founded Chaiya in the province of Surat Thani, then at least they developed it into a port annex trade center. Excavated on three semastone -traditional demarcations of a temple area- that could be dated to 775, the ruler of Srivijaya is said to have built three stupas in the area and most historians assume that the local Wat Phra Borommathat also has Sumatran roots. Some historians even posit, based on archaeological finds, that the possibility cannot be ruled out that they made a land connection between their port at Laem Pho Beach near Chaiya and Ban Thung Tuek in Phang Nga province in order to connect the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman coast and pirates who were particularly active in the Strait of Malacca. It may also be from Srivijaya that Buddhism moved to the coast of Thailand.
In Nagarakretagama, an ancient Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk a Javanese king who ruled the Majapahit Empire from 1350 to 1389, lists several states, serf and non-seergeous, that can be identified with locations in today's Thailand such as Dharmanagari (Nakhon Si Thammarat) , Sankhya Ayodhyapura (Ayutthaya), Rajapura (Ratburi) and Singhanagari (Songkla).
The Nagarakretagama also has a Dutch connotation because it was stolen in 1894 as war booty by the troops of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) during their attack on Lombok. The Dutch philologist JL Brandes, who was able to prevent the KNIL men from setting fire to the entire library of the Mataram-Cakranagara palace, recognized the exceptional importance of this piece and brought it to Leiden, where a whole generation of linguists was engaged in it. translate and interpret. During Juliana's state visit to Indonesia in 1973, the precious manuscript was returned to Indonesia where it now rests in the National Library. In 2013, this text was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site…
By the way, there was a Siamese-Javanese interaction, which was proven by the discovery of a sixteenth-century bronze statue from Ayutthaya in Talaga, North Java, near Cirebon. In the scarce texts that survived the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767, references regularly return to places such as Jawaa (Java) and Makkasan (Makassar). It is also a historical fact that under the reign of King Narai (1656-1688) several hundred refugees from Makkasar in South Sulawesi settled in Ayutthaya after the Dutch East-India Company between 1667-1669 militarily took possession of Makassar.
Siamese elephant at the National Museum in Jakarta
It is known that the Siamese king Chulalongkorn had a close relationship with what was then the Dutch East Indies. He visited the Dutch colony no less than three times. His first trip abroad in 1871 took him not only to Malaysia but also to Java. He did this out of curiosity about Western inventions and to find out how colonial administrative systems functioned, but he was also very interested in Indonesian history and how Buddhism had spread throughout Southeast Asia from this archipelago. He returned to the Emerald Belt twice more, namely in 1896 and 1901. During his trip in 1896, he donated a bronze statue representing a Siamese white elephant to the Dutch governor-general in Jakarta. It was given a place of honor in the fountain of the park of the venerable Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1778, the current National Museum in Jakarta.
In a subsequent article I will elaborate on the commotion caused by his visit to the temple complex of Borobodur in 1896….
And to finish this: If you were to ask a hundred Thai people to name all neighboring countries, at most a handful would also mention Indonesia. However, they are right: Indonesia has a - maritime - border with Thailand in the northern part of the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea northeast of Sumatra. A border that was established by four international treaties between 1971 and 1975.
Indeed, about 650.000 tourists from Indonesia; three times as much as from the Netherlands.
A few additions, Lung Jan, to your nice piece.
I understand that you write about Thailand and Indonesia, and I do too, but we have to realize that all of Southeast Asia until the 19th century was a collection of many smaller and larger empires.
Until about 1500 there was intensive sea and land trade between all parts of Asia, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, India, Persia and the Middle East. There was a lot of migration and exchange of ideas. For example, only the rulers of Ayutthaya and their entourage were Thai, a large part of the rest of the population consisted of other population groups, such as Mon, Karen, Lawa, Khmer, Chinese, Laotians, etc. Multicultural empires were the most prosperous.
This Asian trade was largely destroyed by the European colonial powers and the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French took over. It is estimated that in 1500 India comprised 25% of the world economy, in 1949, when it gained independence, it was only 5%.
The history of Asia is still too much written from a Western point of view. For example, we call the struggle in Indonesia between 1945 and 1949 'police actions' and the Indonesians call it 'the freedom struggle'.
Another beautiful piece John! And Tino, nice additions.
The last paragraph is unexpected, and illustrates a kind of knowledge that, while true, is supported by a simplified and flawed understanding. I have yet to meet the Thai who has sufficient knowledge of nautical charts and their history...
As a Dutchman “Wait for the sequel” What I have read to still very good and years are correct! Well done/curated/written.
Lung Jan drew attention to the Makassarese in Ayutthaya under the reign of King Narai (1656-1688). My website is in English, but those who wish to learn more about these Makassarese in Ayutthaya, please use the link: https://www.ayutthaya-history.com/Settlements_Makassar1.html. Only for those interested because it is 5 pages long.
As for Singhanagari in the Nagarakretagama, according to Stuart Robson (Thailand in an Old Javanese Source) it would refer to Sing Buri and specifically to the Dvaravati site Ban Khu Mueang north of the current provincial town, although I would rather speculate on the location Pho Sangkho in Khai Bang Rachan District along the Noi River in the same province of Sing Buri, given the period of establishment of the Nagarakretagama. Of course I do not deny that Songkhla (Singora) remains a possibility and I would have liked to know the source of Lung Jan.
Many articles written by Lung Jan about the history of Thailand have been reviewed on Thailandblog. I myself am very interested in that history.
That's why I just wanted to thank Jan for all that fantastic information.
Comments are made so quickly, but a compliment is also allowed.
Hansest
What a nice piece, maybe one of my ancestors. After all, my roots are in Indonesia.
Dear Lung Jan,
Have you never thought about collecting your contributions about the history of Thailand in a book? I would like to buy the book right away!
The same statue, also a gift from Chulalongkorn, is located at the old parliament in Singapore