Researchers found these letters allegedly written by Hang Tuah… So was he real?

Historians still argue to this day on whether or not legendary Malaysian folk hero Hang Tuah existed. What little tidbits of information out there pointing to his possible existence are often obscure or unreliable.

Fortunately, that hasn’t stopped some historians from trying, and there appears to be quite a bit of possible evidence pointing to his travels and correspondence across the world as Laksmana (Admiral) of the Malaccan Sultanate (if he did indeed exist). It’s even been claimed by UPM historian and co-author of Hang Tuah: Catatan Okinawa Dr. Rohaidah Kamaruddin that he’s met Leonardo da Vinci!

So, did Hang Tuah actually exist? We’ll show you three places he may have visited based on documents allegedly mentioning him, and then you can decide for yourselves…

1) Okinawa, Japan

In the 15^th century, the Malaccan Sultanate flourished as an international trading hub, so it’s no surprise that their reach expanded as far as the Kingdom of Ryukyu in Japan.

Dr. Hashim bin Musa and Dr. Rohaidah (who co-authored Catatan Okinawa together) claim that there are 3 letters written and delivered personally by Hang Tuah himself to the Ryukyu Kingdom on the Malaccan Sultan’s behalf. The letters are believed to have been written in Malay, before being translated into Kanji (Chinese script) by the Ryukyu (though, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to imagine Hang Tuah being fluent in Chinese/Japanese, since legend depicts him as being fluent in 12 languages).

Found in the Rekidai Hoan (a compilation of official documents from the Ryukyu Kingdom), the letters were two of eleven sent from Malacca in 1480 and 1481. Written in the voice of the young Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah (1477-1488), the letters reveal His Majesty’s wishes for continued commerce and prosperity between the two powers, offerings of gifts as tribute, and reports of the departures of Ryukyu envoys. And at the bottom of these, were signed Loh-hsi-ma-na (Laksamana).

While he is never directly mentioned by name in these letters, Dr. Hashim asserts that this person was indeed Hang Tuah, matching up these discoveries with folklore descriptions. The discovery of a keris at Enkaku-ji Temple, Okinawa in 2002, allegedly from the tribute packages, has further fueled his theory; though other local historians have mostly pooh-poohed it.

2) Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (Turkey)

In the classic Malay story Hikayat Hang Tuah, Hang Tuah travels to the Ottoman Empire to purchase a set of 800 cannons on behalf of the Malaccan Sultan. It’s also said that he brought the secret of Ottoman artillery back to Malacca to be manufactured there.

This one’s a bit of a longshot (no pun intended), and it’s a bit harder to say if this one actually happened: a while back, there was a viral FB post of an alleged 1454 letter from Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II to Malacca’s Sultan Mansur Shah inviting His Majesty to Istanbul to celebrate the Ottoman victory over the Byzantines. Mehmed II even goes on to allegedly request to meet Hang Tuah, calling him ‘your finest admiral’:

“I wish to meet him eye to eye, as I adore and admire him, and by Allah, I will be the luckiest man in the world if I have the opportunity to meet Laksamana Hang Tuah Ibn Hang Mahmud of Malacca.” – Mehmed II, allegedly

Sure, it’s cute to imagine mighty Mehmed The Conqueror fangirling over Hang Tuah, except that we couldn’t actually find any proof of this letter actually existing. That hasn’t stopped people from theory-crafting though; allegedly, the letter is said to currently be in Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, and while Dr. Rohaidah has expressed her desire to travel to Istanbul to personally examine ‘related manuscripts’ on-site, we couldn’t find any further developments.

In any case, even if this letter is proven to exist, says Malacca Museums Corporation (PERZIM) General Manager Mohd Nasruddin Rahman, it would be ‘difficult’ to corroborate, given that no other reliable sources exist to confirm if Hang Tuah actually met Mehmed II. However, he did say that it was ‘possible’ that Hang Tuah (if he existed) had visited Istanbul.

3) Temasek (Singapore)

Ironically, a possible reference to Hang Tuah in Singapore may have come from one of our former Portuguese colonial masters: Afonso de Albuquerque, the very man who was responsible for the sacking of Malacca in 1511. In the Commentaries of the Great Afonso de Albuquerque, he wrote a description of a man called ‘Lassamane’, who was

“… of 80 years of age, a good soldier and of good repute and great knowledge.” – The Commentaries of the Great Afonso de Albuquerque, pg. 89-90

In this account, Afonso encounters the Lassamane after docking in Singapore, telling him of Malacca’s fall. Upon hearing this news, the Lassamane opted to stay in Singapore, advising ships on course to Malacca to do the same. In the same letter, he is alleged to have wanted to return to Malacca ‘to serve the King of Portugal’, but didn’t follow through with this.

Again, difficult to say, since again there’s no actual mention of his name, although it was certainly enough for some historians to claim that this person was indeed Hang Tuah.

Will we ever know if Hang Tuah was real?

From film adaptations to online memes, the legend of Hang Tuah persists even after centuries of his purported life. But the question remains: did he actually exist?

The way we see it, there seems to be enough out there to suggest his existence (or someone similar), but not enough to say so conclusively. Does his removal from our history textbooks indicate that we’ve finally given up on it, since we just can’t find anything solid? Or could the truth lie somewhere in between, with Hang Tuah being based off of a real person?

In any case, hopefully current and future generations place more emphasis on actual evidence rather than relying on FB posts and speculation, because as famed late local historian Tan Sri Dr. Khoo Kay Kim put it:

“Because people think it’s not important. They think history is just stories. They don’t realize that we must rely on empirical evidence.” – Tan Sri Dr. Khoo Kay Kim

Speaking of which, if you’d like to read more evidence-based content on Hang Tuah, feel free to check out Ahmat Adam’s  ‘Antara Sejarah dan Mitos: Sejarah Melayu & Hang Tuah dalam Historiografi Malaysia‘ (2016).