“ Tin Money of Malacca, 15th-17th century:

Our Museum, MAM, has officially presented its first Paper, titled “ Tin Money of Malacca, 15th-17th century: Its Origin & History of Development”, in International Conference of ICOMON (Money & Banking), UNESCO-ICOM in Being, China, Oct 2002, where our text was re-drafted by GM PERZIM, Dr Badariah, and copy to DG of Muzium Negara, Datuk Dr Adi Bin Hj Taha, attached with full set of Malacca’s sea front and river-based found tin money artifacts, from tin money of primitive period of pre Malacca Sultanate, 15th century to Malacca Sultanate Era, Zheng He Period, to Portuguese Occupation Period, 1511-1641 and Dutch Occupation Period, 1641 – 1796.

This is the first time, our Malacca tin money was introduced to the international institution of UNESCO, to seek help and cooperation, for further academic research and archaeological study. This is our first cooperation & cultural exchange between MAM in Malaysia and China Numismatic Museum/China Numismatic Society of People’s Bank of China.

One of India delegates from Central Bank, when we met in Beijing, under the ICOMON International Conference of Bank & Money Museums, held in Beijing in Oct 2002, we were told, animal money in India can dating back to 2,000 years….China delegates told us that primitive animal money of China can be traced up to Han Dynasty, also found in Perak……in Malaysia, we can’t find any relevant, academic and archaeological data of tin money of Malacca…besides the “ The Encyclopedia of The Coins of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, 1400-1967” by Saran Singh….!

As what other said..” both Siam and Majapahit claimed suzerainty over Peninsula….in 1403, when Malacca was visited by a Ming Dynasty envoy, Yin-King, Parameswara seize this opportunity to seek political recognition from Ming Emperor and support against the Siam….in 1405, Parameswara send an embassy to China and received recognition…..that is the beginning of the history “Admiral Zheng He: was sent to Malacca in 1409 with his treasure fleet….in 1403, ambassadors were sent from port to port , to Java, where two kings were found, also to Malacca…Megat Iskandar Shah is he Muslim name of Parameswara…..may be some Hinduism & Islamic influence were brought into from Indonesia and India…..