Sejarah Mat Chinchang & Mat Raya

Gunung Mat Chinchang

Alright... a little bit history lesson, this is about the two great mountain in Pualau Langkawi, where one named Gunung Mat Chinchang and the other is Gunung Raya (don't know why they scrap off the name Mat at the middle). According to the legend, both mountains were actually a giant and a guardian of the Langkawi Island. Both were equally strong and powerful. In addition they both have a handsome son and a beautiful daughter.

One faithful day Mat Raya son and Mat Chinchang daughter was united in a holly matrimony. Both families were at joy and the wedding ceremony was grand. A lot of food was offered and there were music too. However something bad had happened. During the ceremony when Mat Chinchang son was sitting at the altar beside his newly wed wife, Mat Raya, the father of his wife, saw him watching every other girls at the crowd. This invoked anger from within Mat Raya.

Gunung Raya

As a result, both family at the wedding ceremony were quarreling and fighting each other. The fighting was so great that all the utensil that was use for cooking were thrown all over including pot. This particullar pot were flying at great distance and crash. The place where the pot crash is called now Belanga Pecah (Crashing Pot). The gravy that was in the pot gushing out and flow out and became now Sungai Kuah (Gravy River). Mat Raya in other hand has forcefully took the beautiful wedding ring from his daughter hand and throw it far away. The place where the ring drop is now called Tanjung Cincin.

The fighting from both family was very noisy and disruptive. One of the village elder called Mat Sawar come to brake off the fight but his effort was no avail. An evil black sorcerer called Gedembai came to the scene because she was troubled with the noise. The noise make her really sick and annoying. Thus without any hasitation she cast a spell to both Mat Raya and Mat Chinchang to become a big mountain. Mat Sawar that was in the scene was also effected when he became a small hill between the two big Mountain.

So that's how the legend goes (as far as I can remember). But as usual with legends the story is short and simple. Because at that time people don't have the excessive tools to write let alone the skill to write so as to explained it in detail. Thus I take a initiative to take this legend and expend it further into a story. In a novel called Alam Legenda : Aku dan Legenda

Fact: Geologically, the sandstone mountain range of MaChinchang, in the north western corner of Langkawi, and Gunung Raya, a granite mountain at the centre, are a great testament to its classification as a Geopark. Gunung Raya is the tallest mountain range on the island standing at 881m. Machinchang is the oldest rock formation on Langkawi, and stands 800m above sea level. It was created over half a billion years ago and was the first part of South East Asia to rise from the seabed during the Cambrian period.

Sara Lemos,  http://www.langkawi-gazette.com/langkawi-geopark