Michael Portillo: Great Asian Railway Journeys #18 – “Melaka to Johor Bahru”

Great Asian Railway Journeys is a 20-part BBC travel and history documentary series produced by Boundless^[1] and presented by Michael Portillo, a former Conservative MP and Minister of State for Transport.^[2] Following the format of the highly successful Great British Railway Journeys and related series with Portillo as presenter, each episode features a railway journey in south-east Asia using Bradshaw’s Through Routes to the Chief Cities, and Bathing, and Health Resorts of the World (1913)^[a] as a historical reference, in order to consider how the places visited have changed over the preceding century.

During the course of the series, Portillo travels a total distance of 2,500 miles and passes through six countries,^[1] beginning with the Chinese territory of Hong Kong then moving on to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia before reaching his final destination of Singapore.^[3] One of the main themes he explores is colonial history, examining the legacy of the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese Empires, and how the countries involved gained their independence.^[1][4] Filming for the series was carried out in two stages and took 7–8 weeks to complete

This Episode

Michael Portillo is in Malaysia on a 2,500-mile tour of south east Asia. His 1913 Bradshaw’s Guide takes him to Melaka, for centuries one of the greatest trading ports in the world. He tastes the spicy cuisine of the Kristang community, descendants of early 16th-century Portuguese settlers who mixed with local Malays.

Continuing to Kluang amid fertile farmland, Michael joins in the pineapple harvest and discovers how Malaysia’s resources of tin and tropical fruit created a global market in food.

Arriving at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula in Johor Bahru, Michael visits the palace of Sultan Abu Bakar, a canny and well-travelled monarch who became friends with Queen Victoria and used what he learned in Britain to modernise his realm. Michael learns how Malaysia’s first ever railway fell prey to an implacable foe.