Cornelis Poortman (Born: unknown, died: Netherlands, 1951) otherwise known as resident Poortman was a colonial Dutch official in the Dutch East Indies. The existence of this figure in history still controversial.
Life
The life is Poortman is mentioned by Mangaraja Onggang Parlindungan in his work titled Tuanku Rao. He mentioned that Poortman studied Indology at Delft and was later appointed as the Administrative Cadet in the Netherland Indies and was assigned to Tapaktuan in North Sumatra. In 1904 he was appointed as Controleur in Sipirok, then became Resident in Jambi, and finally he became Acting Adviser in the Native Affairs department in Batavia. In 1914–1918 Poortman studied Chinese language and in 1928 managed to gain access to Chinese language documents at Sam Po Kong Temple, Semarang. In 1930 he retired. In the period 1930–1940 he carried out his research in Holland, especially in the field of Batak history, and had documents in Amsterdam which he brought back home in Voorburg. In 1951 he died in the Netherlands.
Controversy
As written by Parlindungan, Poortman led a search of the Sam Po Kong Temple in Semarang and transported the Chinese language manuscripts there, some of which were 400 years old at the time, needing as much as 3 cikar (carts drawn by oxen), in 1928 in the framework of the task assigned by the colonial government Dutch to investigate whether Raden Patah was a Chinese or not. Although his existence has not really been able to be proven, or whether it is another person but is in the same position at that time, Mangaraja Onggang Parlindungan has quoted many of Poortman's alleged life story in his book Tuanku Rao, which was later cited frequently by Slamet Muljana in his book Runtuhnya Kerajaan Hindu-Jawa dan Timbulnya Negara-Negara Islam di Nusantara (The Collapse of the Hindu-Javanese Empire and the Emergence of Islamic Countries in the Archipelago) and in other analysis.
Ricklefs claims that search attempts by Dutch scholars to identify Poortman were fruitless. Poortman should have been a fairly high-ranking person, and considering there are also claims that he was a student of Snouck Hurgronje and teacher of van Leur. Poortman's existence and the story told by Parlindungan is still speculative, and perhaps imaginative.
Chinese texts
There are 2 Chinese texts/chronicles that allegedly brought by Poortman from the Chinese temple, namely:
Semarang Chinese Chronicles
Also known as Malay Annals of Semarang, this one has received a lot of attention: The text contains several references to a man named Gan Eng Cu, who is identified as the “Captain of Chinese Islam” from Tuban. Supposed to be appointed to this position in 1423 by a person named Bong Tak Keng (identified by the text as the person Zheng He appointed to be governor of the Chinese Muslim Community in Java), the text also claims that, in 1436, Gan Eng Cu was sent to China as a messenger of Majapahit.
There are many problems surrounding the Semarang Chinese Chronicle which have a very high level of problem. For example, the passage of text centered around the Demak revival is very similar to the narrative found in Babad Tanah Jawi. Both sources, for example, named the first ruler of Demak "Jinbun" and describe him as the son of the last ruler of Majapahit, identified as Kerta Bumi in the Chinese Chronicle of Semarang and Prabu Brawijaya in Babad Tanah Jawi. As in Babad Tanah Jawi, the Chinese Chronicle of Semarang also claims that Jinbun originally lived in Palembang where, along with his younger brother, he was raised by the city governor. In the Semarang Chinese Chronicle, the latter is identified with a Chinese Muslim named Swan Liong, while Babad Tanah Jawi claims to be a Javanese Hindu prince called Arya Damar. However, both sources claim that, after living in Palembang for some time, Jinbun and his younger brother returned to Java. Jinbun established himself in Demak (Chinese Chronicle Semarang claims he ruled from 1475 to 1518, while Babad Tanah Jawi does not contain the date) and his brother went to Majapahit. According to these two sources, Jinbun later spread his influence throughout Java. The Semarang Chinese chronicle claims he proceeded to subdue Majapahit twice, once in 1478 and again in 1517, before finally destroying it in 1527.