Museum hopes Johor will assist in lost city quest

KUALA LUMPUR: Museum officials are hoping that the Johor government will assist in efforts to verify the location of Kota Gelanggi.

Department of Museums and Antiquities director-general Datuk Dr Adi Taha said Johor would also be asked to preserve the area for research.


PRICELESS ARTEFACT: This amulet from thi Sri Vijaya period depicting Buddha surrounded by eight Bodhisattvas was found in Gua Chawas.
He said the National Museum would work with Raimy Che-Ross, an independent Malaysian researcher, to mobilise an expedition to verify the site of Kota Gelanggi.

According to Raimy, he was told that the museum had earlier sent teams to locate the site but had failed each time.

The most recent attempt saw their boat capsizing thrice, leading the team to abandon the mission.

Adi said his department would also work with the State Heritage Foundation on this, as it would have knowledge of the area, he said.

He said the search for Kota Gelanggi had been an ongoing endeavour for many scholars and researchers since the days of the British Empire.

“They never did find it as our history did not give any exact whereabouts of the city.

“Even Tun Seri Lanang (the Bendahara – equivalent to a modern day prime minister) did not state the location in Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals),” he added.

He said archaeologists hoped to find evidence of physical structures and also a fairly advanced irrigation system, which used to exist in the city.

“A big city would have good infrastructure such as irrigation to sustain its inhabitants.

“We also expect and hope to find Sri Vijaya artefacts from the site similar to those found in Gua Chawas in Kelantan,” he added.

Adi said the public should not attempt to enter the site to look for artefacts and treasure as it was an offence under the Antiquities Act 1976.

“Anyone found doing so can be fined or jailed,” he said.

On the expedition, Adi said that due to the inaccessibility of the site, the team would have to plan very thoroughly before attempting to enter the dense jungles.

Raimy: The one in Pahang is not lost city

PETALING JAYA: The existence of another “Kota Gelanggi” has presented itself as a puzzle for the public since reports that a lost city is apparently located in Johor.

However, independent researcher Raimy Che-Ross, who first broke the news of the possible location of the lost city, pointed out that the one in Pahang was a cave complex with pre-historic links located about 30km from Jerantut.

“Artefacts found at the caves include pottery, food waste and traces of stone tools. Explorer William Cameron visited the site in 1882 and recorded local fairy tales about its existence,” he said yesterday.

The site was gazetted as a Historical Heritage Area in 1995 by the Pahang government.

However, the Kota Gelanggi he refers to as the lost city in Johor is well recorded by Tun Sri Lanang in the Sejarah Melayu, describing its granite structure and its location “di Hulu Sungai Johor (at the head waters of the Johor River).”

“I have no reason to doubt this description,” he said.

Raimy said he was aware of the confusion and urged interested parties to read his published findings.

His article “The ‘Lost City’ of Kota Gelanggi” appears in the latest issue of the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and could be obtained at the society’s website at www.mbras.org.my.

The lost city is 'not Kota Gelanggi'

The Star, Kuala Lumpur

08 February 2005


Lost city is ‘not Kota Gelanggi’

BY MAZWIN NIK ANIS

JOHOR BARU: The Johor government agrees that there is a lost city in the state but is disputing its name.

As the mystery of the site deepens, Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said there was a historic city in Johor located within the deep jungles of Kota Tinggi but it was not Kota Gelanggi.

He said based on historical facts and archaeological finds over the past 10 years by the state heritage foundation Yayasan Warisan Johor, there was evidence that the historic city in Kota Tinggi is Kota Klang Kiu or Ganggayu.

The search for the lost city drew nationwide interest after The Star broke the story last week, prompting the Federal Government to say it would be given top priority.

When he first responded to the report, Ghani had stated that it was a fantastic development for the state, something that would enrich the history of Johor and the nation.

Yesterday, however, he said historical facts showed that the Kota Gelanggi mentioned by independent researcher Raimy Che Ross was situated in Pahang and not in Johor.

“I do not know how Raimy came to the conclusion (that Kota Gelanggi is in Johor),” he said.

He added that the researcher was not part of the state’s team in searching for historical sites.

Ghani said apart from what was written in Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals), a discovery by English scholar Quaritch Wales of a temple known as Candi Bemban along Sungai Madek and other artefacts there strengthened the belief that a government had existed way before the Johor-Riau-Lingga sultanate.

He said the foundation, led by prominent archaeologist Prof Datuk Nik Hassan Suhaimi, had, since 1996, carried out excavation work and study in the area.

“We believe that until today, some parts of the city are still standing somewhere upstream from Sungai Johor,” he said, referring to records in the Sejarah Melayu that after conquering Gangganegara, Raja Suran of Thailand had sailed to Ganggayu.

He declined to disclose the site of the lost city in Johor but said the area could be “somewhere within the 14,000ha site of the forest reserve where Sungai Madek and Sungai Lenggiu are located.”

Ghani said the whole area where the historical artefacts were found and the possible site of Kota Klang Kiu had been gazetted as forest reserve.

“No one is allowed to enter the area without the state authorities' go ahead,” he said.

To a question, Ghani said Federal agencies had no jurisdiction over the area until there was a discovery and that any expedition work, study and excavation would be under the state's purview.

“However, we have no problem working together with the National Museum on this matter,” he said.

Manuscript leads to lost city

PETALING JAYA: It was an old Malay manuscript once owned by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, in a London library that led Raimy Che-Ross to the existence of the lost city in Johor.

According to Raimy, the presence of a lost city in the jungles at the southern end of the Malay peninsula had been indicated in Malayan forklore for over four centuries.

His findings on the lost city has been published in the latest issue of Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 2004.

In his paper, he said the place was raided by the Indian-Chola conqueror Raja Rajendra Cholavarman I, of the South Indian Chola Dynasty in 1025A.D.

The ruins could be as old as Borobodur, and could pre-date Angkor Wat, Raimy said, adding that aerial photographs taken over the site and tales from the orang asli had indicated the existence of structures.


RARE FIND: Raimy pointing to an unusual square earthern platform which was discovered along the pathway leading into the reported site of the lost city of Kota Gelanggi.
“From the air I could see formations which looked like a set of double-walls, protecting the inner city.

“I have verified all the information by reviewing and reassessing old colonial records and travellers tales,” he said.

Information on Kota Gelanggi appears in the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) which was edited and revised by Tun Seri Lanang, the Bendahara (equivalent to the prime minister of a sultanate) of the Royal Court of Johor in 1612 A.D.

The manuscript narrated an account of the devastating raids by Raja Rajendra Cholavarman I, who after destroying the city of Gangga Negara (now Beruas in Lower Perak) turned his attention to Kota Gelanggi.

Raimy said he did not expect to find in Kota Gelanggi structures similar to Angkor Wat, as the lost city in Johor Gelanggi was much older.

“We can expect to find simple granite and brick structures, walls, buildings and possibly undisturbed tombs.

“Based on the data I have collected and consultations with archaeologists over the years, it is believed that Kota Gelanggi in Johor, which some scholars believe to be the kingdom of Lo-Yue, was also the first centre of trade for Sri Vijaya.

“It was in Johor that the whole Malay civilisation was born. The Sri Vijaya site in Palembang has artefacts which date back to the 13th or 14th century,” he said.

“There is a wealth of information we can derive from this city.

He said that official Japanese records noted that an Imperial Crown Prince of Japan, Prince Takaoka, Shinnyo Hosshinno, reportedly met his death in Lo-Yue after being attacked by a tiger. Perhaps we may find his tomb here,” he said.

Raimy said that while its main activity was a trading post, Kota Gelanggi was also a centre of sacred learning.

“Hinduism and Buddhist statues and figurines may exist but what I hope to find is epigraphic inscriptions (writings on granite),” he added.

Lost city believed found in Johor

PETALING JAYA: A 1,000-year-old lost city, possibly older than Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Borobudur in Indonesia, is believed to have been located in the dense jungles of Johor.

The discovery of what is thought to be the site of Kota Gelanggi or Perbendaharaan Permata (Treasury of Jewels) by an independent Malaysian researcher has prompted museum officials to plan an expedition to confirm the finding.



If indeed the site is that of the lost city , it is set to transform the historical landscape of the region, said Raimy Che-Ross, who spent 12 years researching Malay manuscripts all over the world and conducting aerial searches of the area before locating the site

He said the discovery of “unusual formations” from the air had led him to believe that the site could be the first capital of the Sri Vijaya Malay empire dating back to 650AD.

“If the city is what we suspect it to be, then the Malacca Sultanate can no longer be considered as the start of modern Malay history.

“Once verified, the honour will go to Johor, as one thousand years ago Malacca had not even been established,” he said.

Raimy had tried to enter the site in early 2003 but failed, managing to get only as far as to the formations which are believed to be trenches and embankments of the outer city.

Department of Museum and Antiquities director-general Datuk Adi Taha said an archaeological expedition would be mounted this year to verify the location of the lost city, with Raimy’s assistance.

Funds for the expedition would be sought under the 9th Malaysia Plan.

Adi said he and the department were very enthusiastic about Raimy’s research findings and would work with him to verify the location of the lost city, which could be spread out over a few hundred square kilometres.

Lost city 'found in jungles'

Lost city 'found in jungles'
From correspondents in Kuala Lumpur


A 1000-year-old lost city may have been found in the jungles of Malaysia's southern Johor state, a researcher claimed in a report published today.

The discovery of what could be the site of the first capital of the Srivijaya Malay empire dating back to the seventh century will be investigated by Malaysia's Department of Museums and Antiquities, The Star newspaper said.
Independent Malaysian researcher Raimy Che-Ross said his find came after 12 years of studying Malay manuscripts around the world and aerial searches which finally turned up "unusual formations".

Investigations on the ground found the formations were possibly trenches and embankments of the outer city of Kota Gelanggi or Perbenddaharaan Permata (Treasury of Jewels), he said.

Raimy, whose findings were published in the journal of the Malaysian branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, said he did not expect to find structures similar to those of the famed Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia as the lost city in Johor was much older.

"We can expect to find simple granite and brick structures, walls, buildings and possibly undisturbed tombs."

Kota Gelanggi was mainly a trading post, but also a centre of sacred learning, he said.

The Srivijaya maritime and commercial kingdom flourished between the seventh and the 13th centuries in the Malay archipelago.

The kingdom, which originated in Palembang on Indonesia's Sumatra island, soon extended its influence and based its power on control of the international sea trade.

Antiquities department director-general Adi Taha said an expedition would be mounted this year to verify Raimy's find.

The Lost City

Everything i posted here will be about the Lost City recently found in Johor, Malaysia. I Will try post as much updates as possible. Stay Tune.