International Journal of Membrane Science and Technology, 2023, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp 91-101 91 The Primary Gate of the Melaka Sultanate Fauzan Mustaffa 1* , Ziad Baydoun 2 , Mohamad Izani Zainal Abidin 3 , Muhammed Fauzi Othman 4 , Shamzani Affendy Mohd Din 5 1,2 Multimedia University, Malaysia; E-mail: fauzan.mustaffa@mmu.edu.my 3 Higher Colleges of Technology: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 4 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia 5 International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia Abstracts: Based on the historical Malay, China and Arab textual account, there was a primary gate that marked the entrance to the royal compound of Melaka Sultanate before 1511. The primary gate was arguably among the most iconic construct and strategic to the Sultanate city, at security, socio-cultural, symbolic and aesthetic levels. However, no critical study has been conducted in tracing the form, position, and its relation to the municipality of the Sultanate Melaka City. This study employs narrative analysis framework to carefully investigate descriptive clues to provide the big picture on the primary gate of Melaka Sultanate in view of historical texts from Malay, China, and Arab; all of which were written within or close to the Sultanate period. The findings of the narrative analysis were compared to a collection of municipal plans from the Portuguese and Dutch Melaka eras. This reconstruction study also took precedence of an ancient Malay sultanate gate for the design process which can be seen carrying the tradition of Sultanate Melaka gate. The finding of the study suggests the form, position and orientation of the sultanate Melaka gate. The study also discusses and proposes the route which could possibly accommodate another 6 gates before reaching the sultanate Melaka palace. The study has limitations since it relies on English translation in dealing with ancient Portuguese texts. The long-term goal of this reconstruction study is to promote historical Melaka identity tourism, which is in line with SDGs 8.9 and 11.4. Keywords: Primary Gate of the Melaka Sultanate, Melaka Sultanate city, Route to Sultanate Palace. 1. INTRODUCTION The central city of Melaka Sultanate was once situated at the shore of the west part of the current Peninsular Malaysia, almost at the middle of the Straits of Melaka. The Melaka River flows from the inland which separates this city into two parts; i) the cosmopolitan trading town of Upeh and ii) the royal compound. The royal compound of the Melaka Sultanate was in the southeast part of the city that is opposite of the trading city with the river and the bridge in the middle. This large royal area includes Bukit Melaka (now known as St. Paul Hill) and the area surrounding its foothill. Tome Pires suggested that the location of the Sultanate Palace being on top of the hill and described the royal compound as the same place that is of Portuguese famous fortress [1]. Eredia on the other hand, pointed out the palace was located at the foothill close to the sea, with justification that ‘it would be easier to be reinforced in time of war’ [2]. A Sultanate gate was mentioned in several historical texts [3], [4], [5] and [6] in reference to the fifteenth century kingdom of Melaka Sultanate; connecting the trading town of Upeh and the land of the royal compound. The central Melaka Sultanate City is situated in Bandar Hilir, Melaka of modern-day Malaysia. Currently, neither the Sultanate gate nor the Sultanate city has legitimate visuals. It is still not known if the Sultanate gate partially survived or was still intact after the 1511 war especially during the early period of colonisation. This research project considers the historical context of the Melaka Sultanate as a continuous civilization that spanned approximately 250 years [7]. It acknowledges the influence of historical and technological traditions inherited from Srivijaya that existed over many centuries [9]. With the magnitude of the city, it is deemed illogical to assume that the Portuguese, who arrived in Melaka seeking economic gains, completely demolished the city and began anew. From this perspective, the effort to trace the Sultanate gate is not considered impossible in the light of historical text and visuals. By examining historical texts and visuals, the researcher aims to gather evidence that supports the existence of the primary gate and its significance within the historical and cultural landscape of Melaka