Shedding old masques for new: constructed faces of Melaka in fictional writing

Abstract

Strangers have arrived in Melaka everyday ever since its birth as a Sultanate (- 1400) to its transformation into a global entre port and even after its defeat to the Portuguese (1511) right up to now in its present status as a state in Malaysia. That 161h Century Malay-Portuguese encounter remains significant today for it foreshadows the subordination of Melaka (and the Malay Peninsula) to other super-powers albeit in different time and space. Historical accounts from both eastem and western traditions have given the events surrounding that encounter substantial space and mention

but, interestingly, literature too has paid similar tribute. Literary texts have re-visioned the Malay- Portuguese experience, and in each are constructed the 'masques' or 'faces' of two nations attempting

to negotiate the freedom, as well as constraints, of the time and space they dwell in. Melaka and Portugal are akin to the two sides of a coin; similarly, they occupy the two sides of the, constructed 'masque': the exposed and the concealed. This paper attempts to address from a New Historicist viewpoint the issue regarding the changing constructs of a nation's identity found in selected revisions on Malay-Portuguese encounters from both Eastern-Western literary traditions. It intends to reveal the 'face' behind the masques created by 'learned' and 'empowered' writers, and more importantly foreground the ideological operations involved in the construction of each masque. The duality of the 'masque' reflects prevalent issues implicated in identity construction not only of Melaka and the past, but also of present-day Malaysia.