"Malin Kundang", also called "Si Tanggang" and "Nakhoda Manis", is the main character of an Indonesian/Malaysian classic folk tale which serves as a warning story to always care and love your parents.
Malin Kundang was a boy that lived in poverty with his father being a sailor, and his mother selling fishes and vegetables. One day, his father vanished so his family further sank to poverty. Unable to withstand this further, Malin decided to travel the world and seek his fortune in hopes to eventually improve his family's standing. After receiving his mother's blessings, Malin snuck into a rich merchant's ship and ended up being adopted by the rich merchant after noticing Malin's own hard work ethics. Malin then proceeded to earn his peers, eventually succeeding the merchant and even marrying a beautiful wife, a classic tale of Rags to Riches...
Until one day. He came back to his home due to trade business. His mother came to visit him, recognizing him as her son. However, Malin has grown into a more different man, no longer the poor boy, but an influential rich man. Out of shame with his rich new family, he denied his mother, stating that he did not know the woman and it was outrageous that he could be born from such a poor woman like her. Heartbroken, the mother stepped aside and watched in anguish as Malin's ship sailed away. She cursed under her breath that if her son did come home, all she's seeing was just a lump of rock.
In the same journey home, suddenly Malin's ship was caught in a massive storm. The ship was utterly wrecked and there was no survivor... except Malin himself. But even that was short-lived as the curse from his mother took place. Malin Kundang survived the shipwreck long enough to see his own body turn into stone, without knowing why, or realizing too late that this was his comeuppance for being such an ungrateful son.
Depending on where the story is told, this story became the origin story of the existence of several locations: In Indonesia, there is a rock formation called 'Bukit Sampuraga', believed to be the remains of Malin Kundang ship, and in Air Manis beach, there was another lump of rock, which looked like a man in supplication pose, thus it was believed that it's the petrified Malin Kundang that lasted until today. In Malaysia, the stone hill known as Batu Caves is believed to be the remnants of his ship.
It can be read here
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Tropes associated with this fairy tale:
- Adaptational Badass: In some retelling, Malin Kundang is sometimes turned into a bonafide pirate-fighting badass. He's a sailor and has to protect his goods from pirates roaming in the seas after all. The original story made no mention of pirates or at least just said they slaughtered the crews of the ship he snuck in, with Malin Kundang surviving because he's hiding in a chest.
- Adaptation Name Change: In Indonesia, he's known as Malin Kundang. In Malaysia, he's known as 'Si Tenggang/Tanggang'. In Brunei, he's known by just his title 'Nakhoda Manis'. In several parts of Indonesia, sometimes Malin Kundang's story stays the same, but he's called 'Si Lancang' instead (Lancang means 'ungrateful', by the way.)
- Ambition Is Evil: Malin Kundang got big dreams—nay, ambition, to become rich. At first, with his mother nearby, he could temper it. Once he's without his mother, when he achieved his ambition, cue The Dark Side Will Make You Forget and Malin's Pride went out of control, leading to his downfall.
- An Aesop: Never forget your origins, and always be grateful for your parents.
- Curse: A rather severe one because it came from a heartbroken mother to her ungrateful son.
- Depending on the Writer: As a folklore that carries a lot of retelling and the fact that it was ambiguous on how Malin turned out to be the Ungrateful Bastard; the reason why Malin ended up rejecting his mother would depend on who told the story. Some said that Malin was intoxicated with his newfound wealth and fame on his own that he just naturally forgot his mother, or that his new family (or even his wife) was given Adaptational Villainy and gave bad influence on Malin, slowly eroding his own love for his mother and he ended up giving in to peer pressure to reject his mother for his new family (and riches) (in the original story, his new family were pretty much Flat Character and didn't do anything to him except to accept him and getting impressed for his hard work ethics), or both.
- Downer Ending: Malin Kundang turned into stone, rendering all his hard work and riches for nothing, while his mother still remained in poverty, and now heartbroken that she's all alone, and that's if she lived. Otherwise, she suffered a Death by Despair once she delivered the curse. Malin's new family, who for the most part has nothing to do with Malin's ungrateful attitude, also died as a collateral damage of Malin's sin. No one survived well enough from the tale.
- Fatal Flaw: Pride. If Malin Kundang wasn't all that ashamed with his mother because of his new status, he could have avoided his fate.
- I Have No Son!: The mother's curse revolve on this, if Malin Kundang, her own son, rejected her, then she truly had no son, what she was seeing was just a lump of rock. And then it happened, but she's too much in despair to care.
- Lighter and Softer: There has been some re-imagining of Malin Kundang with different names, but the initial premise was the same: Rags to Riches boy that forgot his mother, rejected her and leaving her heartbroken. However, when karma caught up to the boy, it wasn't as deadly as shipwrecking and he had enough time to have a Heel Realization and returned to his mother, even for a short moment, to apologize, and his mother never cursed him.
- Pose of Supplication: Many also believed that Malin Kundang was petrified in this pose, most likely that during the slow process of petrification, his body felt so stiff and heavy that he fell on his all fours. Other interpretation was that he finally realized the errors of his way, but he was too late to redeem himself.
- Rags to Riches: Malin Kundang the poor no-name boy became a very influential merchant with nothing but hard work ethics.
- Redemption Rejection: In most interpretations, the nasty storm that shipwrecked him was supposedly the wake-up call for Malin Kundang to realize that he has been an ass to his mother. But before he could try to make amends, not only he no longer have any means of transportation, the curse started to take effect and he's turned to stone.
- Taken for Granite: We will just say that Malin Kundang was too stoned to see his whole ship wrecked after a poorly chosen action with his mom.
- Tragic Hero: His issues with his mom aside, Malin Kundang was a shining example of what men could achieve with good ethics, especially hard working diligence. He attained all his riches fair and square and in the beginning, he worked hard with hopes to improve his family, including his mother's, welfare. It's only with the Pride that came with it that he's brought down.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Your mom raised you the best you can after the absence of your father, even in poverty, and you just denied her status as the one who gave birth to you just because you think she's your in-universe Old Shame? You get what you deserve, Malin Kundang. Due to this, as far as Indonesia/Malaysia go, 'Malin Kundang' has become synonymous to 'ungrateful children', similar with how Judas Iscariot was associated with 'traitor'.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When he was a kid, Malin Kundang was generally a nice boy and loved his mother, and before his departure, promised that he will share his riches with his mother to improve her life too. When he actually returned, though, he's a much more stone-hearted asshole that rejected his mother.
- You're Not My Father: Mother, in this case. This is what dooms Malin Kundang, rejecting his own mother that gave birth and cared for him before he could make his dreams come true.
- Villain Protagonist: Malin Kundang is the focus character here, but he's the villain of the story, being the ungrateful son (although he didn't start out that way).
