Palace of Ghosts: Singapore's Untold History

A flurry of news reports this week inform us that Malaysia’s sultans are imminently scheduled to meet and elect the next King of Malaysia from among a set of candidates consisting of only themselves. From the perspective of the Palace of Ghosts story the election, and its outcome, is potentially hugely significant. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Madam Ho Ching (centre) hosts the Johor Royals in Singapore in October 2023 The position of King of Malaysia, known in Malay as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, or simply Agong, was created in 1957 when Malaya gained independence from the United Kingdom. It is, rather uniquely, a rotating office where the Agong is elected by a Conference of Rulers which is made up of the nine traditional rulers of the Malay States. Once elected the Agong remains in office for a period of five years, whereupon another election takes place and a new Agong is elected. The term in office cannot be renewed and what has happened in practice is that ...

I am far from any kind of expert in the field of etymology nor in the Malay language. However, a quick survey of the existing research on the topic provides plenty of food for thought and, like the previous few blog posts, is intended to provide context for the story of Palace of Ghosts. Some of the explanations may be plausible, but cannot be undisputedly proven. The point is to show that Singapore and the surrounding islands and shorelines are far from being disconnected from history. What is important is to strip away the barriers which blur perceptions of the past. Look beyond the modern inventions of borders and cities to see more clearly how the present links to the past and vice versa. The people who today live in territories once occupied by the Johor-Sultanate should look to the island of Sumatra to understand where the people who created the first trading hubs in area originally came from. The zone where mainland Southeast Asia (SEA) meets maritime SEA seems to lack a catchy ...

Occasionally an item of news appears that makes me stop and think about how the present engages with the past. It can be a comment from a politician, an announcement from a government department, or an observation by a journalist that arrests the mind for a while and stands out from the dross that unfortunately characterises much of the so-called current events commentary. And the reason why is that it connects to something you had previously thought was important to you in one way or another. A key theme of Palace of Ghosts is the way the past connects to the present. So, I am always on the lookout for those connections, however unlikely their provenance. One of my pleasures in life is waiting for, then reading, the next episode of ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad, age 96, ranting about something or other. I do find it a little amusing. Rants that are often disguised as a reasoned observation or philosophical musings, but which simultaneously cast aside any semblance of ...