Why views from the other side? Because no Mongol views have survived into our time.

Wassaf thus describes the Mongol invasion of Java in what is perhaps the closest to an official Mongol version as is extant, having been written for the Mongol Ilkhans of Persia in the early 14th century. The Yuan dynastic history compiled under the Ming gives a very different account, as do the accounts written in Java. Even so, Wassaf's account — and all other accounts of the Java campaign — differ greatly in tone from his own and other accounts of the Mongol campaigns in western Asia and elsewhere. Although Wassaf claims that the Mongols “gained possession of the Island … through spreading fear of the fury of their sword”, he concludes his account with the claim that Khubilai “did not permit that certain death should excercise his power here,” but installed a new king on the throne — Javanese, not Mongol — “conferred on him much grace” and left the kingdom in his hands. Compare the preceding description with his account of the Mongol siege of Baghdad and Ibn al-Athir's account of the Central Asian campaigns: