Advances In Natural And Applied Sciences 2018 January; 12(1): pages 11-14 DOI: 10.22587/anas.2018.12.1.3 Research Article AENSI Publications

The Origins of Kelantanese

1 2 Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan and Lee Suan Chong

1University , Center for Language Studies & Generic Development, 16300, Bachok, Malaysia. 2University Malaysia Kelantan, Heritage Department, Faculty of Creative Technology & Heritage, 16300, Bachok, Malaysia.

Correspondence Author: Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan, University Malaysia Kelantan; E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright: © 2018 Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Background: Mak Yong is an ancient form of Malay traditional dance theatre combining the elements of ritual, stylised dance and acting, vocal and instrumental music, romance and comedy in a single presentation and is claimed to be of pure Malay heritage and has been passed down for more than 100 years though the traditional art is today upheld by less than ten veteran performers in Malaysia. Objective: The research emphasizes on inter-textual analysis, ethnographic interviews and observation-participation of Mak Yong performances by considering the viewpoints of both the scholars and the Mak Yong practitioners as well as classical texts that have possible records of Mak Yong performance in the past. Results: This paper delves in depth to analyse further the historical origins of Mak Yong with a special focus on the sources of written records as well as oral tales told from generation to generation. The paper suggests that Mak Yong place of origin as well as how long it has been existing remain disputable due to limited reliable records on the performance although intellectual assumptions can be academically drawn. Conclusion: Although the origins of Mak Yong are very much debatable, with neither scholars nor traditional performers able to validate the place of its actual origin and the precise period of time in which it was established, this paper has provided some possibilities through thorough analysis of the limited written accounts available as well as from traditional sources of its history and origins that have been handed down orally from generation to generation.

Key words: History of Mak Yong, Origin of Mak Yong

INTRODUCTION

Mak Yong is claimed to be of pure Malay heritage and has been passed down for more than 100 years. Today, the traditional art is upheld by less than ten performers who are veterans of over 50 years old surviving in the Malaysian states of Kelantan and . Mak yong is considered the most authentic and representative of Malay performing arts because it is mostly untouched by external sources as cited from UNESCO [7] and although most traditional Malay dances were influenced by India, Java and other parts of Southeast Asia, Mak Yong's singing and musical repertoire are unique. Of the major stories performed in Mak Yong, most are derived from Kelantan- mythology.

Fig. 1: Mak Yong Performance in Kampung Gabus, Pasir Mas, Kelantan. Photo: Research Team

The traditional form of Mak Yong (Fig. 1) is declining and a more recent form has been striving to array its young sprouts on the stage of the cities and the world. While the future of Mak Yong is unpredictable, its past is given less attention

Scholars such as Andries Teeuw, David K. Wyatt, Mubin Sheppard and Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof have tried in vain to trace the origin of Mak Yong, since different genres of performing arts in the old Patani and Kelantan are quite similar. For example, both and Mak Yong are graceful female dances found in the royal court. Different versions of legendary stories compiled from the Mak Yong practitioners have been transmitted orally from their old teachers. While scholars were enthusiastic in searching for the answers, the practitioners are more focused on holding performances. The practitioners of the art turn to their living Mak Yong as an art form they need to safeguard for the younger generations as Nasuruddin [4] suggested, it adapted itself to the new environment by changing its dramatic and structural elements to be in consonant with the rustic sentiments of the folk audience. These factors make the past a mystery that is difficult to unveil. This paper strives to look into the past of Mak Yong from the viewpoints of both the scholars and the Mak Yong practitioners. Mak Yong‟s origin circles around the royal court-folk traditions, and Patani-Kelantan. It is equally possible for Mak Yong to have originated from either the royal court or villages, and from either Patani or Kelantan. This paper attempts to present the stories collected from the surviving Mak Yong performers with the hope that the preservation of these materials may be useful in the future for study and discovery of new knowledge. .

Scholars’ Views of Mak Yong Origins: Geographical: The first documented account of Mak Yong is the Hikayat Patani or the Story of Patani, although this fact is disputed by some despite being supported by many scholars. As a primary and the most reliable record of the complete history of the Kingdom of Patani (Fig. 2), a state that is now located in southern th th th , Hikayat Patani is highly regarded as a historical reference of the political and sociocultural climate of the 15 , 16 and 17 century Patani.

Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences ISSN-1995-0772 EISSN-1998-1090

12 Citation: Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan and Chong Lee Suan, 2018. The Origins of Kelantanese Mak Yong. Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences., 12(1): 11-14.

In 1970, Andries Teeuw and David K. Wyatt collected what are known to be the six surviving manuscripts of the Hikayat Patani, which is believed to have been written by different authors from the 15th to the 17th century. Teeuw and Wyatt [6] reorganized the manuscripts into six parts that narrate the dynasties that ruled the kingdom, the people in the royal circle, wars that took place as well as the laws of the kingdom. The collection as understood by Sheppard [5] also provided details of performances in the royal court, including Mak Yong and Wayang Kulit. If Hikayat Patani was completed in the 17th century, then this suggests that Mak Yong has existed for more than 200 years since its first mention. Sheppard [5] also proclaimed that Mak Yong was originally from Patani, and was introduced to Kelantan later. However, Sheppard‟s [5] belief that Mak Yong is cited in Hikayat Patani is disputed by Yousof [8], who asserts that there is no absolute evidence that the Hikayat Patani talked about Mak Yong. According to Yousof [8], Mak Yong is not mentioned specifically by name anywhere in the Hikayat Patani. Thus, Sheppard‟s [5] account of the origin of Mak Yong from Patani can be disputed.

Fig. 2: A Map of the Sultanate of Patani that covers modern day Kelantan and Patani. Photo source: Taken with the consent of Creative Commons Attributions- Share Alike 4.0 International License

Yousof [8] further explained that Sheppard‟s [5] opinion regarding the origin of Mak Yong from Patani was partly based on the journals written by a 15th century Dutch voyager, Peter Floris. He cited Peter Floris‟ journal of his voyage to the East Indies in the 15th century, in which there is a description of a dance performance that Sheppard assumed to be Mak Yong. Sheppard [5] concluded that, based on both Hikayat Patani and the accounts of Peter Floris, Mak Yong was first mentioned and played in the court of Patani. Against this, Yousof [8] argues that Peter Floris did not mention Mak Yong by name, rather just a description of what Sheppard [5] believed to be a Mak Yong performance in the court of Patani. Peter Floris‟ description of “commedye played all by women, to the manner of Java, which were apparelled very antickly, very pleasount to behold” as according to Yousof [8] is vague and could apply to other possible dance performance with female performers and not only to Mak Yong. While Sheppard‟s [5] belief that this is a Mak Yong performance could be correct, it is too unclear to be accepted as fact. Yousof [8] later suggested that Sheppard‟s [5] account of the origins of Mak Yong from Patani that are based on Hikayat Patani and on Peter Floris‟ journals should be rejected. Yousof [8] later discusses the Hikayat Kelantan (the Story of Kelantan) that cites Mak Yong as being performed in the 18th century in a royal ceremony in the Kelantanese palace. For instance, Mak Yong was performed during the circumcision ceremony of the son of Long Yunus, the Kelantanese sultan from 1765 to 1795. Therefore, academically, the origin of Mak Yong is hard to validate, as there is no proper and reliable written source that mentioned Mak Yong by name and records its performance in detail. If one is to assume, based on Peter Floris‟ account, that Mak Yong was originally established in Patani in the 15th century, it cannot be academically confirmed whether Mak Yong was introduced in the court of Patani by Mak Yong troupes from Kelantan prior to that time. A similar issue arises if Mak Yong is said to be from Kelantan and later spread to Patani. Regardless of this, the Chempaka Willis Mak Yong group that is currently based in Besut, in the Malaysian state of Terengganu believes that Mak Yong was originally established in Kelantan and later spread to Patani. Though this belief cannot be backed by academic facts, as it was told orally from generation to generation, it reveals that Mak Yong itself is an oral tradition that has survived this way for centuries. It can be argued that the dispute about the origins of Mak Yong, whether in Patani or Kelantan, is of minor importance given the geographic and geopolitical histories of Patani and Kelantan. Both Kelantan and Patani were closely related, as they were once one state under the 14th century Kingdom of Patani as well as under previous rulers. The relation between Patani and Kelantan was strengthened when the Patani Kingdom itself was ruled by two Kelantanese Dynasties from the 15th to 17th century. [6] Not just that, both Patani and Kelantan were at different times the vassal states of other powers such as the 14th century Sultanate of Malacca and 15th century Kingdom of (Fig. 3). Thus Patani and Kelantan were once a single state, making the debate about where Mak Yong was originally established less important.

Fig. 3: A map of the Langkasuka Kingdom. Photo source: Taken with the consent of Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License

Scholars’ Views of Mak Yong Origins: Age: [3] Another question about the origin of Mak Yong is how long it has existed. Like its place of origin, neither academics nor traditional Mak Yong performers can provide an exact period when Mak Yong was established. Encyclopaedia Brittanica [2] noted that Mak Yong a dance drama that probably dates back more than 1,000 years. However, some factual insights into the age of Mak Yong can be gained from Sheppard‟s [5] account. His interpretation of Hikayat Patani and Peter Floris‟ journals would give us an age of roughly 400 years. However, as mentioned earlier, the reliability of Sheppard‟s [5] interpretation can be disputed. Even if we assume his interpretation is accurate, we still cannot be sure of Mak Yong‟s age because if it was an established performance 400 years ago, it must have been performed for a period of time before that. Nevertheless, a rough estimate for how long Mak Yong has been in existence can made by analysing Sheppard‟s [5] account of the relation between Mak Yong and Mak Hiang. . Sheppard [5] referred to Mak Hiang as „the spirit of rice‟, which was highly regarded by the animistic pre-religion Malay society, where the spirit would be celebrated during the harvest season, normally through dances 13 Citation: Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan and Chong Lee Suan, 2018. The Origins of Kelantanese Mak Yong. Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences., 12(1): 11-14.

Though it was not made clear where the name Mak Hiang came from and how it evolved into Mak Yong, Sheppard‟s [5] connection between Mak Hiang and Mak Yong was perhaps due to the inclusion of spirits in the performance of both Mak Hiang and traditional Mak Yong, in which the presence of the unseen spirits would be observed. Thus, if Mak Yong is somehow related to Mak Hiang and if the Mak Hiang spirit was celebrated during the time of animism, could be assumed that Mak Yong must have been existed before the arrival of religions to the Malay Archipelago or the Malay Peninsula specifically. This can be dated back to the period before the 3rd century prior to the arrival of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam to this region, which would give a roughage of about 1000 years. It is also important to note that, as stressed by Yousof [8], Sheppard‟s [5] opinion of the relation between Mak Hiang and Mak Yong is highly debatable, as Sheppard [5] failed to provide the origin of the term Mak Hiang itself and how it evolved into Mak Yong. As argued by Yousof [8], if Mak Yong is related to Mak Hiang, then Mak Yong performance should be for “a bountiful rice harvest”, which it is not.

Traditional Mak Yong Performers’ Views on Mak Yong Origins: Regardless of the academic debate concerning its origins, today, remnant recollections of Mak Yong‟s origins can be traced among existing Mak Yong performers in Kelantan that have either been transmitted down from the gurus or masters of the lineages or through inferences by later practitioners. More than one version of the story of the Kelantanese Mak Yong‟s origins can be attributed to different groups of Mak Yong‟s performers in the state. There are primarily two divergent schools of thought on Mak Yong‟s origins: one concerns a family of three with the name of “Yong”, and the other concerns theatrical games played by the princesses and queens in the palace. Basically, according to many accounts regarding the history of Mak Yong, most Kelantanese Mak Yong performers believe that Mak Yong originated with a family lost in the jungle. The family consisted of a father (referred as “Pak Yong” by Arjuna Sastera Bahu group and as “Din” by Chempaka Willis group), a mother (referred to “Mak Yong” by Arjuna Sastera Bahu group and as “Sal” by Chempaka Willis group) and their daughter (Yong). The family of three, according to the story, could not find a way out of the jungle and had to stay there for quite some time with jungle dwellers known as the Batak Putih people by the natives. According to an account narrated by Mak Su Siti, a prominent Mak Yong performer from the Chempaka Willis group, the Batak Putih people live in the jungle located at Bukit Yong (Yong Hill) (Fig. 4), Pasir Putih in modern day Kelantan. Since the family could not get out of the jungle, they started a performance to entertain themselves and relieve the boredom of living in the forest. When the audience asked them what the performance was called, they came up with the name “Mak Yong”, which means the “Mother of Yong” since the daughter‟s name was Yong. The Pak Yong character in Mak Yong performance referred to the “Father of Yong”. This is the account of Mak Yong‟s history as recalled by Mad Gel Bin Mad Deli or Pak Agel, leader of the Arjuna Sastera Bahu group. The history narrated by Pak Agel indicates that Mak Yong originated from the “Yong” family, and the theatrical performances began to spread in the cross- junction areas upstream of Terengganu and downstream of Kelantan. This theory is strongly supported by the Mak Yong stories themselves, as several places located in Setiu upstream of Terengganu were mentioned in Mak Yong stories such as Wakaf Sebuah Telaga Sebutir and Padang Luas Saujana Menanti, which still exist today. In a slightly different account, the Chempaka Willis group believes that there is an addition to the story. According to their account, after the family of three was lost in the jungle, the mother died. Yong, the daughter in the family, grieved for many days and the father failed to console her. Trying to soothe the daughter‟s sorrow, the father thought to calm her down by entertaining her with a type of performance. The story relates that the father collected the bones of the deceased mother and assembled them into a . He created a cello–like musical instrument by using the backbone as the fingerboard or the neck, the pelvis as the bout, the rib as the stick, and the hair as the strings to make sound out of it. This cello-like instrument was later known as the rebab that is used in current Mak Yong performances.

Fig. 4: Bukit Yong, Pasir Puteh, located along the Kelantan and Terengganu state border

According to the Chempaka Willis group, the mother‟s passing was due to breast cancer, due to which she lost one of her breasts, and this explains the shape of the rebab. The rebab is made of different parts, including the kecopong or the scroll, the pemulas or the pegs for loosing or tightening the strings, the leher or the neck, the kaki or the endpin and the bout as the base of rebab as well as a part called the susu that cannot be found on other string instruments. The susu is a knoll- like shape on the right side of the bout and is said to represent Mak Yong‟s remaining breast – susu in the Kelantanese dialect refers to human breast. The father is said to have performed Mak Yong using the rebab to entertain and comfort his daughter, Yong. The performance also attracted the jungle dwellers or the Batak Putih people. After living in the forest for a while, the father and daughter managed to find a way out. The story of the father‟s musical performance had also seeped out of the forest and became the talk of the villagers. Thereafter, Mak Yong gradually began to be performed in the village. The story of the performance later reached the palace and the Mak Yong performers of that time were invited to perform for ceremonies there. In the ancient time prior to the introduction of Mak Yong to the palace, every year during the celebration of the King‟s birthday different types of performance would be held at the palace, including performances such as and . According to this account, the palace guard told the King that all types of performances had been invited except for Mak Yong, which he was not sure that the King would like. The King in response asked the guard to invite the Mak Yong performers to play in the palace courtyard. So enchanted was the King by the performance, he asked for one of the Mak Yong members to teach Mak Yong to the palace maid. Based on the elaboration of Pak Wan Midin‟s, from the Sri Gabus group, his ancestors believe that Mak Yong was brought to Kelantan from Patani by a court officer to provide entertainment for the royal families in the palace. He created characters of dramas for the princesses to play in the park. Pak Su Roni (currently residing in Besut, Terengganu), a descendant of the Sri Temenggong Group rooted in Kelantan, added another version of the origin of Mak Yong. He and his wife, Mek Jah, a recipient of the National Heritage Living Person Award in 2010, hold the belief that Mak Yong originated from the palace way before the 13th century. In the 13th century, Raja Besar, a member of the royalty, patronised Mak Yong which later continued to be supported by other royalty such as Raja Sakti, Raja Muda, and Raja Sari Bulan. Pak Su Roni can still recall a Mak Yong performing group known as Tok Gari that came under the patronage of Raja Muda. Tengku Sa Rima, a famous Mak Yong entertainer, played the character of Pak Yong for the rulers of the Kingdom of Patani in early 1900s. During that time, the famous Mak Yong troupe was led by Datuk Temenggong at Wakaf Meh Zainab. Though Mak Yong has been mainly performed by traditional Kelantanese from farming and fishing societies, its storylines are about royalty, gods, and goddesses. According to present Mak Yong performers, especially Pak Su Roni, these royal stories were oral records of the royal annals. The royalty in the stories were connected to the characters of gods and goddesses as a result of the animistic beliefs of the Kelantanese Malay society – an ancient belief from before the 14 Citation: Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan and Chong Lee Suan, 2018. The Origins of Kelantanese Mak Yong. Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences., 12(1): 11-14.

arrival of Hinduism and Islam to the Malay Peninsula. Pak Agel related that the royal families were considered in animism to be gods and goddesses who came from the heavenly realms. The main character in the Dewa Muda story for instance, Dewa Muda, was said to be a son thrown out of the heavens who tried to find his way back to the heavenly realms in search of Princess Ratna Mas. Animistic influences can be observed throughout the shamanistic healing rituals and doa or baca kenduri ritual in Mak Yong. The healers, or bomoh in Malay or Indonesian terms, are people who have the ability, knowledge or power to heal diseases through contact with spiritual beings. Other than bomoh, there are other terms used to describe these people, such as Tok Bomoh, dukun or pawang. This act of traditional healing has been practised by the people in the Southeast Asian region for centuries before the arrival of religions, although the exact time is debatable. The earliest trace of the arrival of Hinduism in Kelantan was in the 3rd century in the ancient Hindu Kingdom of Pan Pan, which was located in modern day Terengganu, as mentioned by Munoz [3] in the early kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula. Meanwhile, Islam is said to have arrived in the Malay Archipelago as early as the 7th century and in the Malay Peninsula in the 12th century, as cited by Al-Attas (1971). Nevertheless, until today, shamanistic healing practices can still be observed in Malaysia and in Kelantan. Among the traditional performers, the exact period when Mak Yong was first created is unknown, yet the performing art is considered a pure Malay heritage based on the early and latter beliefs of animism and Islam. Like the academic debate previously discussed, this has caused differences in opinions among traditional Mak Yong performers as to whether the Kelantanese Mak Yong originated in Kelantan or its origin can be traced back to Patani. According to Pak Agel, Mak Yong originated in Kelantan during the reign of the Queen of Kelantan. Kelantan at that time was under the colonial power of Patani and Kelantan needed to send golden flowers as offerings to the kingdom of Siam. At that time, there was no entertainment to be presented to the King of Patani, hence Mak Yong was selected as an entertaining gift for the Patani kings. At that point, one of the Mak Yong performers from Kelantan decided to settle in Patani. Thus, Mak Yong had grown and spread in Patani. If Mak Yong existed since the time of animism, it could be more than 1,000 years old as mentioned earlier, as the arrival of Hinduism itself can be dated back to the 3rd century.

CONCLUSION

This paper has delved into the possible origins of the traditional performing art of Mak Yong by considering two points of view; traditional performers and activists and also the scholars. The consideration of analyzing both opinions are made by combining all opinions of surviving traditional Mak Yong performers in Kelantan and Terengganu as well as all scholars through their books and manuscripts. The results of the analysis surely provide us with the most current and up to date information on the origins of Mak Yong, and this is the most important contribution of this research to the field of knowledge. Future studies on the same field therefore could work based on the findings of this research.

Acknowledgment

This research would not be possible without financial support from Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS). Our research team would like to extend sincere gratitude for the help and assistance given by the research member, Chua Hui Wen, and surviving Mak Yong activists in Kelantan and Terengganu especially Pak Wan Midin (Wan Midin Bin Wan Majid), Mek Nisah (Nisah Binti Mamat), Pak Siri (Siri Neng Buah), Pak Su Roni (Muhammad @ Mohd Nor B. Salleh), Mek Jah Deris (Mek Jah Binti Deris), Mak Su Siti (Che Siti Binti Dollah), Pak Kadir (Abdul Kadir Bin Dollah), Aminah Binti Hussain, Rohimah (Rohimah Binti Zakaria), Pak Agel (Md. Gel Bin Mat Dali) and Kak Rahimah (Siti Aishah Binti Muttok).

REFERENCES

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[2] Encyclopaedia Brittanica. 2018. Southeast Asian Arts. Encyclopaedia Brittanica; [cited 2018 Mar 26]. Available from: https://www.britannica.com/art/Southeast-Asian-arts/Thailand-Laos-and-Cambodia#ref402325

[3] Munoz, P. M., 2006. Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula. Editions Didier Millet.

[4] Nasuruddin, M. G., 2018. Evolution of Mak Yong. New Straits Times; [cited 2018 Mar 26]. Available from: https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnists/2018/03/349052/evolution-makyong

[5] Sheppard, M., 1972. Taman Indera. Oxford University Press.

[6] Teeuw, A. & Wyatt, D., 1970. Hikayat Patani (The Story of Patani). Martinus Nijhoff.

[7] UNESCO. 2008. Mak Yong Theathre. UNESCO; [cited 2017 Nov 20]. Available from: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/mak- yong-theatre-00167

[8] Yousof, G. S., 2015. Panggung Semar: Aspects of Traditional Malay Theatre. Partridge P