![]() The tomb itself is very simple, a leaf-shaped stone marker inscribed with Arabic script atop a few slabs of the locally cut marble. ![]() Set in the midst of the long plain that is the island's rice bowl, the white-walled mausoleum compound is dotted with coconut palms and fruit trees, standing out like an oasis amid the endless paddy fields and the encircling hills beyond. As one of the island's principal sights, Mashuri's grave is carefully tended these days, enclosed within a roughly two-acre compound that has been turned into a showcase of traditional Malay arts and village life. There are numerous other myths associated with the island, but that of Mashuri is the most famous and potent. Islanders usually guess that Mashuri died about 200 years ago, which would leave the expiration date of her curse still uncomfortably close. The islanders are quick to assure visitors that the seven generations of the curse have passed, although some are alarmingly vague about when the incident took place. Her curse lay heavy on Langkawi, the legend concludes, with continuous Siamese invasions and a terrible, all-consuming fire fulfilling her prediction. Unmollified, Mashuri curses the island for seven generations with her dying breath. White blood spurts from her wounds and the villagers clamor that this sign is proof of her innocence. Despite her protestations of innocence, Mashuri is executed with a kris, the curly-bladed dagger that is so central in Malay ritual and custom. ![]() The wife of the village headman, jealous of Mashuri's beauty and popularity, then falsely accuses Mashuri of adultery. In his absence a stranger from neighboring Sumatra appears in the village and she befriends him. Her husband is called away to fight the Siamese during one of the numerous invasions of the area by that warlike people. Mashuri, who sometimes appears as a princess in the tale but is more often simply a village beauty, is married to a famous warrior, the tale goes. Most famous is a story of an innocent woman executed for adultery. Though known for its beaches and scenery, Langkawi is most famous in the region for the legends and myths told and retold over the years by its inhabitants, the numerous tales of magic and mystery adding a supernatural spice to the lure of the islands' natural beauty. The main island is small, about 19 miles wide, and boasts only one town, Kuah, where ferries from the mainland dock the rest of the population is scattered over the island in small fishing and farming villages. Presumably unaware of its brush with fame, Langkawi has slumbered on in peaceful obscurity since then, its 36,000 inhabitants chiefly concerned with the possibility of drought and the movements of the anchovy and pomfret shoals. Later, with imperial directness, they decided to solve the problem by simply annexing Langkawi and its surrounding islands along with four provinces on the mainland. At first the British tried to block the German probe by diplomacy. Not surprisingly, German attempts to obtain rights for a naval base on the island from the Kingdom of Siam raised the hackles of the British, then busy consolidating their hold over the Malay peninsula. With a secure port on the island, the Kaiser's ships could dominate the Strait of Malacca and the swelling stream of merchant shipping that passed through the strait ferrying goods between Europe and Asia. To the officers of the imperial German navy, Langkawi's sheltered bays and its location less than 50 miles off the west coast of the Malay peninsula made it an ideal base. The sleepy island of Langkawi had its last and only moment on the world stage at the turn of the century when it became an unwitting pawn in the rivalry between the British and German empires, a struggle that would ultimately explode into the First World War.
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