For the great research project CMR,
Christian-Muslim Relations, a Bibliographical Survey, I am now reading sections of 5100 pages of Francis Valentijn's
Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien. I look especially for his vision on Muslim-Christian Relations, of course. The eight volumes tell us much about Asia, concentrating first on tyhe Moluccas, (Ternate, Tidore, Ambon), Javanese history and also further countries of Asia. Because Valentijn was a Protestant (Calvinist, Reormed) minister he gives much information about his own church, but deals also in length with other topics.
The first to be said is about the title page with the image of Valtijn himself, three ladies and three men.
The left above is the Church of the East (in fact of Ambon and batavia): she is a shining light for others. The lady with one bare breast is the Greek goddes Pallas Athena, in the Latin world known as Minerva. She is a goddess of war (therefore the helmet) but also of science. A strange combination! Right on top a lady has disappeared, Thalia, the goddess for festivals and theatres. She is a daughter of Zeus/Jupiter.
The man right, with the turban, is the representative of the Jewish religion.
Below left, in the back, there is a Chinese man, representative for Mandarins, Confucians religion. With the curly hair we see a
Moor or Muslim, but from East Indonesia. He is looking in a book where we can read the words
Al-Kitab which stands for the Bible (not the Qur'an here!) and apparently a Muslim who is interested in Christianity (a rare occasion and not really supported by the content of the book by Valentijn).
One interesting thing in the first volume is a letter in Malay, written in Arab script by Valentijn's daughter Cornelia. It is originally written by the Sultan of Bacan, who hopes that a precious diamand will be sent to him from Hitu on the island of Ambon.
Here is the text (with small alterations taken from Valentijn, Volume 1, Section on the Moluccas, page 121):
Kalām al-sidq qaul al-haqq
Salaam afdalul doa akmaal yang terbit dari pada
Mahabet ul coloeb, iya itu Anacdah padoeka siri Sulthan Makadeddin, Raja Bacan
yang menyampaikan tsahhief ul ikhlas, akan menyatakan hormat al aziz serta
dengan tabea banyak-banyak kepada ayahanda Heer Gouwernedur Adriaan van der
Stel yang memerintahkan dalam negeri Ambon, memegang kuasa Kompeni, hingga dari
sekalian dalam India, sebab cahaya akalaan budiman lagi bijaksanaan melakukan
pada segala pekerjaannya. Syahdan mengasih segala orang kesukaran dan
kedagangan, lagi mengetahui segala bangsa qarib dan ba’id dan terlebih pula
yang menganugerahkan Akkah subhanahu wa ta’ala salamat sempurna usia umur
kabesaran dan yang ketinggian, selama-lamnya. Amin Ya, rabb al ‘alamin.
Kemudian daripada itu tiada ada barang sesuatu, hanya
anakdah bilang tatkala kaicil Mangsur dan kaicil Duba Duba itusudah memberitahu
kepada ayahanda daripada bat uiwak itu. Maka itu anakda minta tolong sedikit
kepada anakda, memanggil mana orang yang menaruh batu itu namanya tubang besi,
baiklah iya membawa kepada Ayahanda Heer Gouwernadoor, maka ayahanda mengambil
batu itu, memberi kepada budak anak Syahbandar yang bernama Abdur-Rahman itu
karena batu itu dengan janjinya, jikalau Ayahanda tiada mengerti janji itu
baiklah panggil Latuwani karena anakda sudah memberi tahu kepada Latuwani itu
tempat.
Tiada
ada cenderamata barang sesuatu seperti patut, hanya dua ekor burung Papua.
Demikianlah
kami tamatkan surat ini dari istananya Raja Bacan, daripada selikur hari bulan
Syawwal tahun seribu dan seratus dua puluh satu.
Another picture here is about the queen or sulthana of Ternate who ruled after her husband Bayanuallh had died in 1522. In fact the drawing looks somewhat like a European court scene! But the queen is not sitting on a chair or throne, but on the ground, the courtiers wear turbans. Valentijn also tells us that Bayanullah wanted to kill all Portuguese in his realm (they were just arriving at the time).
