Malay Manuscripts on Firearms as an Ethnohistorical Source of Malay Firearms Technology

The Malay manuscripts on firearms are fundamental sources of indigenous knowledge with regard to the firearms technological know-how of the Malays in the past. Although much research has been done on Malay firearms technology, Malay manuscripts are rarely referred to despite being authoritative and pertinent sources of reference. Its very existence is little known to the masses; and this is most probably the one single cause that impeded researchers from exploring the extensive data in the manuscripts. This article aims to disclose the contents of the manuscripts through the description of the important details they hold. This was done by means of amassing the manuscripts on firearms from several archives throughout Malaysia, followed by a critical analysis of the texts. The findings obtained were then classified into relevant topics and subject matter. Finally, it was found that the content in firearms manuscripts forms a primary ethnohistorical source that is vital to the study of technology in the context of the Malay traditional epistemology. Through the study of its discourse, data can be harnessed to help understand the capabilities and intellectual capacity of the Malays in the handling of firearms technology according to their spatio-temporal sphere, based on the cultural meanings which spring from their belief system and world view, set in their cultural setting.