When I was a child, Hang Tuah was my childhood dream. He was my hero. My earliest infatuation, err… so to speak! Then, as I was growing up, I dreamed of him no more. Well, don’t blame me. Blame it on the modern superheroes like Superman, Batman, Mr. Spidey and Cicakman (aiya, this one is so keding) for 'coming to life' to save the world… and the bottom line, to exhibit their classy underwears for the girls to see.
Hang Tuah did not wear underwears (I’m strongly confident that there’s no such thing as men’s briefs or women’s undies back in his era), and if he did have them, he wouldn’t be brazen enough to wear them on the outside. Imagine Hang Tuah wearing the underwears on the outside and the baju melayu on the inside, I would laugh myself to death. The old folks said, he fought the criminals with a keris called ‘Keris Taming Sari’ and with a little bit of silat here and there. My atuk said he was a handsome chap. Really? Would he have looked like Brad Pitt? Or George Clooney?
George Clooney / Brad Pitt + Silat = Hang Tuah = I don’t think so!
Hang Tuah left us a very long time ago. He disappeared, just like a gust of wind. No trace of him and no clue of where he had gone to. He should have at least told somebody so that the history could continue! I don’t like mysterious stories with hanging ends. He shouldn’t have killed Hang Jebat for that ruthless Sultan. And some more, he sacrificed his love for Gusti Puteri Retno Dumilah a.k.a. Puteri Gunung Ledang to the Sultan and even helped the Sultan in wooing the princess. Instead, he should have just booked a flight ticket to Caribean or gone cruising somewhere and have a nice holiday. Forget the stupid Sultan for a while. He had worked for him too much. He needed a break!
Some people say he is just a legend, a myth, and I strongly agree with them that Hang Tuah is just a make-believe hero. If so, I praised the one who had lived in the past for creating such character. But how creative could a person from the past be that he could create such a legendary hero. Wow, he must be one teriffic story-teller back then!
Enough said, apart from everything people talked about the hero, I think he’s beautiful in his own way. The lives of Hang Tuah and Puteri Gunung Ledang were made immortilized by the musical theatre, Puteri Gunung Ledang : The Musical. The show was staged at Istana Budaya Kuala Lumpur for two consecutive seasons. I attended the one shown during Season One while my mom, sister, brother and aunt went for the show in Season Two.
The theatre focussed on the triangle love between Gusti Puteri Retna Dumilah (Puteri Gunung Ledang) played by Datin Tiara Jacquelina, Hang Tuah played by Stephen Rahman-Hughes and Sultan Mahmud played by Adlin Aman Ramlie. So far this is the only Malay theatre that I enjoyed so much. Datin Tiara was graceful and beautiful, not a surprise after all. But that Stephen Rahman, I never knew he’s awesomely handsome! Hee… hee… hee…
