|
 IN THE fishing village of Batu Maung lies a temple in which the local fishermen pay respects before going out to sea each day. Called the Sam Poh Footprint Temple, it is built over a rock with an altar that holds a footprint, purportedly, of the famous Chinese seafaring legend, Admiral Cheng Ho (Zheng He), locally known as Sam Poh Kong. Built in 1993, it is one of the many temples in the country attributed to Sam Poh, which include, the Poh San Teng Temple in Malacca the Sam Poh Tong Cave Temple in Ipoh, and the Sam Poh Temple in Cameron Highlands.
The footprint measures 0.85 meters -- a colossal 33 inches, and according to local folklore, while one footprint lies in Penang, the other lies in Melaka, indicating his giant stride.
 “While the local Chinese community believe the footprint belongs to Sam Poh, local Indians believed that it was that of Hanuman, the monkey god, who left it in Batu Maung when he was leaping over the Indian Ocean. Local Malays however believed that the footprint belonged to Gedembai, a giant that was feared by the local people. It was just one of four Gedembai footprints in Penang, the other ones are behind the Kampung Mesjid in Bayan Lepas, another at Pulau Aman, and one more at Pulau Jerejak.” (Asia Explorers).
Read here also for more on the many other local myths surrounding the Admiral in Penang.
Historical accounts of Admiral Cheng Ho have also indicated that he was a Muslim, born in the Yunnan province and led seven naval expeditions on behalf of the Emperor, starting during the reign of Emperor Yong Le.
In his seven voyages, Zheng He sailed from China to all major ports in Southeast Asia and India, from Champa to Aden, via ports among which are Ayutthaya, Melaka, Palembang, Surabaya, Jakarta, Semarang, etc…
“Described as an ‘explorer, conqueror, and trader’, and as an envoy of the Emperor of China, Zheng He’s visits to the Muslim Malay World had an undeniable impact as far as Islam is concerned. Indonesian Islamic scholar Hamka wrote in 1961: “The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaya is intimately related to a Chinese Muslim, Admiral Zheng He.”² In Malacca he built granaries, warehouses and a stockade, and most probably he left behind many of his Muslim crew – because the local community was Muslim -- to take care of these interests... However, after Zheng He’s death, Chinese naval expeditions were suspended. After a lapse of 400 years, the Hanafi Islam that Zheng He and his people propagated lost almost all contact with Islam in China, and gradually was totally absorbed by the local Shafi’i sect. When Melaka was successively colonised by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and later the British, Chinese were discouraged, (short of being declared illegal), to convert into Islam. Many of the Chinese Muslim mosques became San Bao temples commemorating Zheng He, the seafarer. With time, the influence of Chinese Muslims in Malacca declined to almost nil.” (Wang Ma, R, 2003).
Read here for more on his fleet and seven voyages.
Admiral Cheng Ho had also kept one of the earliest records of Penang Island.
“The name of Penang as called by Chinese as “Pin lang hsu” (means island of Penang) in the charts of the maritime voyages of Imperial envoy Cheng Ho is the earliest record of island of Penang can be found so far. This charts was reproduced by Mao Yuan-Yi of the Ming dynasty is attached as last chapter of Wu Pei Chih (Notes on Military Preparation) offer to the throne in 1628. According to Wu Pei Chih‘s introduction of the charts, after a brief reference to Cheng Ho as having been employed by the Emperor for these foreign explorations, the author concludes with the words, “His maps record carefully and correctly the distances of the route and of the various countries and I have inserted them for the information of posterity and as a memento of military achievements”. (Ooi Bok Kim, 2002)
References
Click through pictures for slideshow.
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
