Page 57 - Hikayat-Patani-The-Story-Of-Patani 1

48 HIKAYAT PATANI

Malay texts such as the Sejarah Melayu.29 In other cases it seems
probable that S has added information from his own local knowledge
of the Patani area, e.g. the details which he adds with regard to the
waterworks (S 46—47 as compared with HP 49—50). In yet other cases
it seems as though S has tried to rationalize the legendary aspects of the
Malay text, e.g. parts of the story of the foundation of Patani. Finally,
there is sometimes a political overtone in Syukri’s text, extolling the
Malays and deprecating the Siamese, which is completely lacking in the
Hikayat. A good example is the story of Mudhaffar Syah’s visit to Siam
(HP story 4, S 38—39), and another that of the defeat of the Siamese
army in its attacks on Patani (story 17, cf. S 68—71).

As has already been mentioned, it is obvious that Syukri had access to
other information besides the Malay texts, which he has used extensively.
He does not mention any Thai sources specifically, but it is certain that
he had access to a Thai text dealing with the history of Patani as well;
there is evidence of this in the story of the founding of the cannon 30 and
the 1563 attack on Siam.31
It can therefore be said that Syukri wrote an interesting book on the
history of Patani from the Malay-Patani point of view. It is not a
particularly helpful book in editing and gaining an understanding of
the Hikayat Patani, however. It rarely, if ever, quotes the HP as we
have it, and wherever differences occur and whatever their nature, it is
impossible to prove that they originate from a version of the HP used
by Syukri which was different from our versions, nor is it possible to
determine whether the version used by Syukri was closer to our version A
or B. Syukri freely selected. from his sources whatever he considered
relevant for the history of Patani, adding his own interpretation, and
even in the rare instances where he says or implies that he is quoting
his source directly we have difficulty in tracing the quotation. It is even
difficult to say whether Syukri’s version of the Hikayat Patani went
much beyond part I of our text. The kings of the Kalantan dynasty are
discussed briefly in S 79—80, and in the main their names are identical

Syukri may have quoted from a secondary source. In the case of Hamilton the
author mixes up data from James Low (The Kedah Annals} and our Hikayat
with Hamilton. On p. 55, footnote 1, Syukri identifies Orangkaya Seri Nuna,
who is mentioned by Floris, with O. Encik Yunus seperti yang tersebut dalam
Sejarah Patani. This man does not occur in our text, however.
29 Syukri, p. 26.
30 Wyatt, 1967, footnotes nos. 21 and 27.
31 Wyatt, 1967, footnote no. 40.