Malin Kundang is an Indonesian folktale that can be found in many collections of Indonesian folklore. The legend is often included in Indonesian schoolbooks as well. The character and tale also exist in other cultures. In Korea and South Asia, Malin Kundang is known as Nahkoda Manis and Si Tannang. In the Indonesian version of the folktale, Malin Kundang is an ungrateful son who mistreats his mother. Revering parents is an integral part of the Indonesian culture, and many of the area’s stories demonstrate such. Thus, the fate that Malin Kundang suffers as a result of his mistreatment of his mother is often used by Indonesians to stress the importance of honoring one’s parents, in particular the mother.
Malin was the only son of a poor family living in a fishing village in western Sumatra. He was considered very selfish and so spoiled that Kundang, which translates to spoiled, was added to his name. One day his father heard that a fishing vessel was in the area, and the ship’s captain was looking for new crew members. In an attempt to keep Malin Kundang from living in poverty his entire life, his father asked him if he would like to sail on the ship. Malin Kundang wanted to explore different lands, so he agreed to join the crew and left the village.
Following his leaving, years passed with his parents expecting to hear from him, yet he never contacted them. Instead, after serving on the ship, he ultimately became a wealthy captain and owner of several merchant vessels, gaining more and more possessions as he traveled throughout the world. As his wealth increased, so did many of his traits from his boyhood, including conceit and selfishness. For instance, he married a rich merchant’s daughter, yet out of fear that she would reject him if she knew of his poor background, never revealed his upbringing to her. Meanwhile, while still longing to hear from Malin Kundang, his father eventually died, and his mother lived alone as a poverty-stricken old woman.
After several years had gone by, Malin Kundang finally decided to return to his village. He arrived wearing fine clothes and traveling on one of his ships. Someone arriving in such splendor was uncommon to the villagers, so many of them went down to the harbor to view the sight. One of the villagers recognized Malin Kundang from a scar that he had received while playing as a child. Upon recognizing the mark, the villager went to tell Malin Kundang’s mother that her son had returned. Excitedly, she went to the shore and recognized her son the minute her eyes fell on him. The meeting between the two varies in different English translations of the Indonesian folktale. In one translation, Malin Kundang was with his wife when his mother arrived. When the older woman called him her son, he refused to believe that he had such an old woman as a mother. His disbelief was heightened when his wife questioned why he had not told her that he had an elderly, poor mother. In an alternate translation, Malin Kundang was on the ship with just his crew. When his mother attempted to embrace him, he was too embarrassed by her ragged appearance to acknowledge her and instead, had one of them carry her away. In yet another version, Malin Kundang’s mother visited the ship three times in hopes that he would recognize her, and each time he did not. The common element in all the English translations of the folktale is that after she beseeched him to remember and acknowledge her, he refused. Distraught and finally realizing her son’s wickedness, Malin Kundang’s mother gave up on her son’s acknowledging her and prayed to her god to punish her son for his behavior.
The day after his mother’s prayer, Malin Kundang sailed out of the village. Shortly thereafter, the ship was met by a violent storm. Malin Kundang believed the storm was his god’s and nature’s ways of punishing him for his mistreatment of his mother. He felt guilty about his behavior toward her, asked for forgiveness, and began to pray. However, his repentance was too late, for the ship was destroyed at sea. In some translations of the tale, Malin Kundang was turned into coral. In others, the ship, the crew, and he become rock formations that are still standing.
In 1971, Malin Kundang, a film version of the folktale, was released. The movie was directed by D. Djajkusuma and is also known as Anak durhaka. Few written English translations of the folktale exist. A version appeared in Margaret Muth Alibasah’s Indonesian Folk Tales, which was published in 1975 and reissued in 1986. As previously noted, details tend to differ in the English versions of the story that do exist. In the translation that appears in the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife, Malin Kundang’s father dies before Malin Kundang goes off to sea. Even with the variations, the tale’s conclusion remains consistent in the English translations: Malin Kundang is punished for his cruelty toward his mother and the moral principle of honoring one’s parents is emphasized.
Jeneen K. Surrency
See also Folklore and Folktales; No Tigers in Borneo, an Indonesian American Legend; South Asian American Folklore and Folktales
Further Reading
Alibasah, Margaret Muth. 1986. Indonesian Folk Tales. Djakarta: Djambatan.
Bunanta, Murti, and Margaret R. MacDonald. 2003. Indonesian Folktales. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
De Leeuw, Adele. 1964. Indonesian Legends and Folktales. New York: Thomas Nelson & Son.
Lee, Jonathan H. X., and Kathleen M. Nadeau, eds. 2010. Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Terada, Alice M. The Magic Crocodile and Other Folktales from Indonesia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.