Malang History, Indonesia

The Dinoyo epitaph of 760 AD is the only and most important document that backs the birth of the city of Malang, Indonesia. Though a new inscription has been unearthed in the year 1986, its contents have not been revealed as yet.

The Dinoyo epitaph states that it was the 8th century that heralded the start of the Malang Regency. It is said that it was the birth of King Gajayana’s rule over the Malang kingdom that lead to the birth of the Malang kingdom.

The Dinoyo epitaph had used the Candra Sengkala or Cronogram calendar for keeping tracks of dates in that era. And according to this Cronogram calendar, the birth date of Malang Regency was on Jum’ at Legi November 28, 760 AD.

Dutch colonization

It was in 1614 that the city was merged with Mataram. Once the Dutch started ruling over Malang, it was the cool atmosphere of the city, and its closeness to the important port of Surabaya that transformed this city from a small time city to a famous terminal for not only the Dutch, but also for other Europeans.

This then lead to the growth of the urbanizing of the city. As the government could not provide sufficient, reasonable housing for its people, Malang saw the start of shacks along its riversides and rail tracks. You can see these shacks in these localities of Malang even today. Only a small quantity of these shacks have been transformed into better types of housing.

Development of the city

However, things did not end here for with the colonization by the Dutch, there was a rise in the development of public facilities to meet the rising and everyday needs of the many Dutch settlements of Malang. The places where you could find most of the Dutch living were Ijen Boulevard and its surroundings. So attached are the Dutch of today with their ancestry in Malang that they visit these localities today purely for sentimental reasons.

It was in 1879 that the first train tracks were built in Malang. With this, came the drive for greater economic growth in Malang as it lead to an increase in the development of land usage. This means that instead of using land only for cultivation purposes, land was then used for housing and commercial reasons.

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