The most famous story in Langkawi narrated from one generation to
the next until it now became suspended between history and legend is the
story of Mahsuri, the beautiful maiden who lives 200 years ago. She was
wrongly accused of committing adultery and was sentenced to death. Her
death is the core of the Langkawi most famous tale.
 The story arises during the reign of
Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah the Second (1762-1800), a man named Pandak
Maya came to Langkawi seeking for his fortune. After eating some enchanted
rice grains, his wife was soon blessed with a beautiful daughter, Mahsuri,
who eventually married Mat Deris, the son of Langkawi chief. Her beauty
let to jealous and wrongful accusations of adultery and Mahsuri was
subsequently condemned to death. During the execution at Padang Hangus,
she was stabbed with a special Kris (Malay dagger), and witnesses claimed
to see white blood gushing from her wound, as if to prove her innocence.
Instantly, a mysterious mist shrouded the area. For the injustice done to
her and her unborn child, Mahsuri laid a curse as she died - Langkawi was
not to prosper for the next seven generations.
Only a few years after the Mahsuri's
execution, the Siamese invaded Langkawi in 1821. In order to starve the
enemy, Kato Kerma Jaya ordered the village's granary to be burnt. Even
today, remnants of the burnt rice can be seen re-surfacing from the earth
on rainy days at Kampong Raja in Padang Matsirat, the ancient
capital. After this episode, the island fell into a period of obscurity
and was beset by a series of smaller misfortunes.
Langkawi's development was slow up to the
1970s, when the population was still fewer than 2,000. In the mid 1980s
(which is the end of the seventh generations!), the islands began to
flourish with government plans to promote the archipelago as a tourist
destination. Langkawi International Airport was built and more ferry
services from Peninsular Malaysia were offered to cater the escalating
number of tourists. On 1 January 1987, the Federal Government declared
Langkawi a duty-free port to further boosted the popularity of the
islands. And in 1990, the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), which is
housed in the LADA Complex, was created with a mission to further develop
Langkawi as a tourist hotspot and to improve the socio-economics
conditions of the local people.
On 13 January 1996, Malaysia saw the
launching of MEASAT I into the earth's orbit. Langkawi was then chosen to
house the MEASAT Satellite Control Center to monitor and control all
MEASAT satellites in-orbit operation. The erection of the center at Gunung
Raya, the highest peak of the island, brought Langkawi's name up further
in the world map.
Today, Mahsuri's curse is believed to
have been completely ended and the Mahsuri's Mausoleum was erected
to honor her innocence. Also, the descendants of Mahsuri's family line
were officially welcomed back to the island from Thailand in March 2001,
by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Now, with its population of more than
50,000 Langkawi has become a venue for various international events and
world meeting. Even so, Mahsuri's story is still told, retold and continue
to live in almost every place you visit on this fabled island. |
