Alor Gajah

Alor Gajah is relaxed and laid back. The district mosque, Masjid Ar-Rasyidin, sits in the middle of the town, and the square nearby carries a large bronze kris. The mosque is newer than it looks. It was built in 2002 beside the Masjid Jamek Jelatang the community had paid for themselves in 1960, and the older building is still standing next to it.

The food is why most people stop. There is nyonya laksa at Restoran Hai Yang, and cucur udang at the Medan Selera Pasar Menggong. Sultan Salai builds more than thirty dishes around meat and fish smoked over a fire, and the masak lemak cili api is some of the best.

The town was settled by Minangkabau families moving down from Tampin during the Melaka Sultanate, and for a long stretch afterwards it was not part of Melaka at all. The boundaries here moved more than once, and Alor Gajah only settled into Melaka in 1937.

Before any of that, this was Naning. In 1831 the British East India Company claimed a tenth of Naning’s produce, and its chief Dato’ Dol Said refused, carrying on with the 400 gantangs of rice his people had always paid instead. The British declared him a traitor and sent 150 sepoys, who were beaten. It took a second campaign the following year, and 600 warriors borrowed from Rembau, before Colonel Herbert took Taboh and ended it. Dol Said surrendered and was given a pension and a house in Melaka. His tomb is here, and the street where you eat cucur udang carries his name.