38一下 today: Revisiting Melaka, a thundering impression

That night at the performance of “Impression Melaka”, over 2,000 tourists were so captivated with the live performance by the cast of 300 people. Indeed, the team of Zhang Yimou and Wang Chaoge has brought Admiral Cheng Ho and the history of Melaka back to “life”!

Revisiting Melaka, a thundering impression

As the luxury cruise ship slowly sails into the port in the Straits of Melaka, our foreign visitors could catch a glimpse of the icon of this world heritage site –St. Francis Xavier Church on St Paul’s Hill. Everyone looks forward to visit the A Famosa built by the Portuguese some 504 years ago. Apparently, the Portuguese believed the port of Melaka could be the “Eurasian spice route” connecting Lisbon and China. The Dutch Stadthuys (Red Square), Jonker Street and ‘Baba Nyonya” culture are also on their itinerary. All these were probably linked to Princess Hang Li Po from the Ming Dynasty. Having in mind the trails of Admiral Cheng Ho, visitors also look forward to explore the legend at Bukit Cina.

Melaka is a place with extraordinary historical significance. Back in the British colonial days Melaka’s port was a vital link to Penang and Singapore in the Straits Settlements. Melaka has more cultural aspects than Greece. Perhaps there is nowhere in this world where mosques, churches and temples could exist in harmony. It’s a pleasure to meander through the narrow streets on a bicycle and appreciate the heritage architectures. Not only that, the unique and spicy traditional Nyonya cuisines are also delectable experiences.

At the private mansion of Shi Dong in Beijing, it was a night in late autumn and the temperature was 7 degrees outside the window. Even after a few drinks of Maotai, I was still sober enough to sketch the vision of “Revisiting Melaka”. Meanwhile, Shi Dong announced in confidence ‘Melaka – I have only met you for the first time last month but my instinct and experience tells me besides economy and development benefit, this project is a revival of the glory of the Straits. Shi Dong is certainly a far sighted entrepreneur of modern China with assets of more than USD 16 trillion in the Bank of China. Bank of China provides assistance to Chinese entrepreneurs to expand their global interests in Southeast Asia especially in the fields of local infrastructure – airports, highways, high-speed rail, industrial park, tourism industry, etc. It is also the Chinese national top leaders’ policy to adopt the concept of good neighbourliness. Well, as the Straits of Melaka is the one and only waterway to this part of the world, this warrants international policy considerations.

Although the history of Melaka does not reach the level of magnificence of Rome, Egypt, Xi’an or Kyoto, it is still the envy of neighbouring countries as it has 5 privileges such as good policies, logistics, trade, currency exchange and human resource at the crossroad of the Eurasian connection.

The key point is to create an environment conducive to tourism and not radical development. And also a much needed harmonious melting pot of culture without destructive racism. This is the Melaka that we would like to see. We look forward to the thundering Impression Melaka.

p/s: 22 November 2015, we appreciate the visit of China’s Premier Li to Melaka and that shows the impression of Melaka in the eyes of the world.