A Deconstructive History of Pahang

Our contention is that Pahang’s story resulted from a host of variable factors that worked with, and sometimes against each other, pushing along with it a tide of humanity whose collective burdens shifted from one generation to the next. Again, we emphasise the contingency of Pahang’s genesis and the multiplicity of identities in the present and the future.

Writing a book on the history of a state – understood as both a place or locality and an identity affixed to its people – can only be such a contingent enterprise, reflecting the arbitrary nature of the object under discussion. This, however, does not mean that one cannot write the history of a state, for it is undeniable that Pahang exists and simply is; what it was and is and shall become, is something that cannot be taken for granted.

Therefore, we need to begin at the origins, in the hazy times when identities were not as fixed as they are today, and when the word ‘Pahang’ had yet be uttered. We shall begin with a look at the landmass that would one day be eyed as a prize by colonialist and nationalists, a vast expanse of dirt, the interior of which was the home to many communities, and a coastline exposed to the trade wind of the world.