Monday May 2, 2011
Malacca Museum hopes to replicate ancient cannon
By R.S.N. MURALI
murali@thestar.com.my
MaLACCA: The State Museum Corporation (Perzim) wants to replicate a 500-year-old cannon Si Jagur taken from here to then Batavia (now Jakarta) after the fall of Malacca to the Dutch.
The cannon (Jagur means cannon in Portuguese) has a fist jutting out at the rear and is said to have certain “powers.”
Si Jagur is currently exhibited at the Jakarta History Museum and attracts thousands of childless women who sit on the barrel in the hope of conceiving.
Perzim general manager Khamis Abas said the cannon was significant to Malacca as it was once placed at the Portuguese fortress here.
Antique items: A model of a cannon and an authentic cannon ball.“We will be content if a replica of the cannon can be displayed here to remind the present generation of the glory of ancient Malacca,” he toldThe Star.
Khamis said due to “bureaucracy” the state government had to initiate official meetings with Indonesia before a mould of the cannon could be produced.
Khamis said Si Jagur was believed to have been made in Macau and brought to Malacca by a Portuguese fleet.
He said the Dutch fleet took the cannon to Batavia as a memento of war after conquering Malacca in 1641.
The cannon weighs 3.5 tonnes and measures 3.84m in length with a 25cm diameter.
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