OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR.
The late Col. G.E. Gerini published in the J.R.A.S., July, 1905, pp.
485-511, a paper on the Nagarakretagama, a Javanese poem composed by a
native bard named Prapanca, in honour of his sovereign Hayam Wuruk
(1350-1389), the greatest ruler of Majapahit. He upsets all the theories
accepted hitherto regarding Panten. The southernmost portion of the Malay
Peninsula is known as the Malaya or Malayu country (Tanah-Malayu) =
Chinese Ma-li-yue-erh = Malayur = Maluir of Marco Polo, witness the river
Malayu (Sungei Malayu) still so called, and the village Bentan, both
lying there (ignored by all Col. Gerini's predecessors) on the northern
shore of the Old Singapore Strait. Col. Gerini writes (p. 509): "There
exists to this day a village Bentam on the mainland side of Singapore
Strait, right opposite the mouth of the Sungei Selitar, on the northern
shore of Singapore Island, it is not likely that both travellers [Polo and
Odoric] mistook the coast of the Malay Peninsula for an island. The island
of Pentam, Paten, or Pantem must therefore be the Be-Tumah (Island)
of the Arab Navigators, the Tamasak Island of the Malays; and, in short,
the Singapore Island of our day." He adds: "The island of Pentam cannot
be either Batang or Bitang, the latter of which is likewise mentioned by
Marco Polo under the same name of Pentam, but 60 + 30 = 90 miles before
reaching the former.
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