TAMAN BUNGA MERDEKA

     If there is one criticism of Melaka, it’s that it s a bit lacking in parks and open green spaces. One park that does exist in the city centre is along Jalan Kota, facing the People’s Museum and the strip of other museums in that street. It is known as Taman Bunga Merdeka but still remembered as Coronation Park, a name given to commemorate the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne in June 1953.

At that time the park was facing the sea and was considerably bigger but successive land reclamations have pushed the sea back a considerable distance and city development has nibbled away at the edges of the park.

As well as providing much needed green space for tourists and the residents of Malacca, it also serves as an outdoor museum by displaying various transportation related exhibits indeed the park is sometimes referred to as the Malacca Transportation Museum.

Here are some of things you can find in this park :

1)      Malacca Memorial Obelisk

It is a Malacca Memorial Obelisk with inscription on four sides commemorating those who died for the British side in the sungai Ujong war of 1875 to 1876. It is perhaps surprising the memorial still stands given that the war was fought against Malay chief’s rebelling against British colonial taxes.

1)      Diesel Locomotive Railway

A decommissioned Diesel Locomotive named Sungai Lukut 2111 (built in Japan in 1965) together with an attached vintage railway carriage which is now used as a souvenir shop. A vintage yellow fire engine.

1)      St. Francis Xavier and Bastion Mauritius

This stone is known as “The City Cross”. It was originally located in the sea but as since been moved in land want reclamation work was done by the British circa 1937-1939. During the Portuguese reign in Malacca, The Bacarro records depicted that this stone had once been adorned by a steer crucifix. The stone is believed to be the location where St. Francis Xavier first set foot in Malacca during is visit in 1512. It is also believed that the stone will not sink. This is due the curse that St. Francis Xavier had put on it. There is an excavated area revealing foundation stones, all that remains of a bastion in the city walls of Malacca which were built by the Portuguese and Dutch and demolished by the British.