KUALA LUMPUR – Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has defended research by two of its academicians on Malay maritime history which has been slammed by some quarters for wrongly attributing ancient Chinese vessels with Malay origins.
UPM in a statement said there can be differing interpretations in academia, and diversity of views would serve to enrich discourse.
“It must be considered that the social sciences and humanities are open to interpretation for various meanings, and this is a good practice for research, for the purpose of improvements.”
The public-funded university, which is under the purview of the Higher Education Ministry, was defending the research titled ‘The Jongs and The Galleys: Traditional Ships of the Past Malay Maritime Civilization’, which recently took social media by storm because of its perceived inaccuracies.
The academic paper came under fire from French historian Serge Jardin who posted his criticisms on Facebook.
UPM, however, today said the article that was published in the International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Vol.13, Issue 11, 2023, had been “blind peer reviewed”, adding that the journal is listed in the Educational Research Abstracts (ERA) database.
“It is a refereed journal which means it has been reviewed by experts in the field with no affiliation to the researchers so as to avoid any conflict of interest in verifying the research.
“UPM views the allegations seriously. As this involved academic research, UPM is of the view that the matter should have been discussed in an academic space.
“UPM remains committed to protecting the integrity of higher education and integrity in preparing academic research and publications.”
Jardin in his critique of the article had questioned if the journal was peer-reviewed, pointing out a photo of a Foochow Pole Junk from China in the article that was wrongly labeled as a Malay Jong.
He also pointed out other errors such as the location of the model exhibit in the Royal Museums of Greenwich, England, and not in Jakarta as stated by the paper’s authors, Rozita Che Rodi and Hashim Musa, both of UPM.
Jardin also disputed the use of galleys (a type of low, flat ship) by local mariners during the Malacca Sultanate period as claimed by the article, saying that the galley ship, Mendam Berahi mentioned in Hikayat Hang Tuah, was “an anachronism”.
He said the mention of galleys in Sejarah Melayu were “in connection with the arrival of the Portuguese in Melaka (confirmed by the Portuguese sources), never in the ‘Malacca armada’. Galley was never used by local mariner during the Malacca Sultanate period. Most Southeast Asian Navy start adopting galley in their fleet after the advent of Portuguese-Ottoman to SEA.”
“How low can academia go! Shame, shame, shame, shame!” Jardin added. – January 23, 2024