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Archaeologist defends hunt for site of ancient Malay empire

It sounds more like a movie script than a real story: swashbuckling young archaeologist claims to find 1,000-year-old lost city deep in the Malaysian jungle.

But 33-year-old Raimy Che-Ross, who has played a central role in the hunt for Kota Gelanggi, bristles at the obvious Hollywood comparisons. 'Please ... this is not an Indiana Jones or Lara Croft yarn. I am a serious researcher,' said Mr Raimy, whose  boyish good looks hide behind a serious and scholarly demeanour.

'I have a real problem convincing people that I am a genuine researcher,' admitted Mr Raimy who is an accredited translator of ancient Malay manuscripts and is based in Canberra, Australia.

'I have published monographs on old Malay manuscripts and Jewish cemeteries but these don't count for much among archaeologists. I am too young ... archaeologists give me the cold shoulder.'

But Mr Raimy may end up making a name for himself way beyond that of the dusty world of his peers.

He hit the headlines last week after saying he could lead a team of experts to rediscover Kota Gelanggi, which he says was the capital of the ancient Malay empire of Sri Vijaya that flourished more than 1,000 years ago.

The city is hidden in jungles in southeast Malaysia near Singapore, he says, announcing his discovery after 12 years of research.

'I was only a translator in 1993 when I first stumbled on an old Malay manuscript in a London museum that referred to Kota Gelanggi as the flourishing capital of an old Malay empire. Many others had read the same passage but they had dismissed it as unimportant. The passage struck me as crucial. Finding the site started as a hobby and soon became a consuming passion.'

Mr Raimy toiled away in obscurity pouring over hundreds of old Malay manuscripts in England, Germany and Holland,  trying to find the location of the fabled city that once thrived, then vanished from the national memory like Cambodia's Angkor temples.

He studied monsoon wind patterns, data on tides, trade routes and  pored over old second world war aerial photographs to narrow down the search to one part of southern Johor state.

During a field trip to the area in 2003 he discovered trenches and embankments of the buried outer city.

'There are possibly granite and brick structures, walls, buildings and undisturbed tombs below the surface,' he said.

The exact location of the site is secret to keep off treasure hunters. All that has been revealed is that it is deep in the jungle on the upper reaches of the Johor River.

Old Malay documents describe Kota Gelanggi as the first capital of the Sri Vijaya Malay empire that flourished between the seventh and 13th centuries.

Mr Raimy went public with his discovery to protect his research and secure official support.

The publicity has turned the obscure young man into an overnight celebrity and the government is underwriting an expedition later this year to excavate the site.

'We are enthusiastic and, if true, the find would rewrite Southeast Asian history,' said Culture Minister Rais Yatim, promising government support for the enterprise. 'This is a serious scientific expedition, not a quest for the Lost Ark.'

However, some  experts have spent years fruitlessly searching for the city and believe it only exist in mythology. They doubt Mr Raimy's claims.

'I am convinced Kota Gelanggi lies under the jungle but we have to dig and confirm it,' Mr Raimy said.

'Until then I feel my life is in suspension.'

Raimy Che-Ross pores over ancient Malay texts in a London museum in 2003. His studies led him to pinpoint the site of Kota Gelanggi, but he is for now only revealing that it is deep in the Malaysian jungle along the Johor River. Above, the river would have been distinct to ancient sailors from Gelanggi as three peaks converge at its mouth on the coast near Singapore. Right, two aerial pictures, one in infra-red, clearly show a diagonal strip of clearing. Raimy believes it was once a major pathway in the inner precinct of Kota Gelanggi.



Lost city claim 'is not an Indiana Jones tale'