The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

432 REVIE\I'S
Asmodeus visits Hell in the meantime and marshalls forces to
incite the Malays to attack tbe Portuguese. In Malacca, the factions
desiring peace with the Europeans are defeated and the "wicked"
Bendahara prevails. After a series of negotiations, betrayals, brave
speeches and prophecies, including a supernatural voyage by one of the
Portuguese captains to "Cathay" where he rescues some comrades being
held by the Queen Titania, battle is joined and the Portuguese gain their
victory.
For the historian of Malaya, and perhaps for Malays as well, the
book is disappointing. It teaches nothing new, or worth knowing about
the conquest of Malacca and that era. The period of its composition
(ca. 1630) was a time when metropolitan Portugal had little to do with
Southeast Asia, and it strikes one that the poem is only of interest within
the field of Portuguese literary history.
Knowlton tells the reader that the poet's objective was to inspire
his contemporaries to emulate their forefathers and to refurbish their
empire. In this respect, his poem was a failure in its own time.
Knowlton offers his effort to Malaysian students in the hope of interesting
them in Portuguese history, literature and culture. He suggests that
it could also " ... present to them features of European epic style in a
setting already partially familiar from their study of the history of
Malaya." Unfortunately, like Sa De Meneses, the translator's hope may
A-lso be in vain.
While it is true that the epic is in a Malayan setting, the nature of
the piece is such that it appears more calculated to repel than to attract
the Malaysian reader. The entire tone of the epic is not only pro-Portuguese
and anti-Malay, but also violently anti-Islam. Such a theme can
gain little appreciation in the modern Malay world.
As epics go, The Conquest of Ma/acca cannot be ranked as an
outstanding example of the genre. It is both artificial and prosaic. Sa
De Meneses conjures up rococco heavens of cherubs and archangels
to aid the Christian Portuguese and smoky hells populated by red devils
with pitchforks to connive hopelessly with the Muslims. They do not
fit well with the actually pragmatic and brutal spirit of Albaquerque's
conquests. This is not to say that there is not real romance and