Tok Chu

I spent the entire day today outside the house. I met with Tok Chu (husband & wife), the parents of Prof. Ahmad Murad Merican. This was the first time we met.  We met at his residence in Ayer Itam, and I interviewed both of them. Tok Chu knows a lot about Penang history. He can remember street names, people and events.

HOW I MET TOK CHU

25 May 2012 - I left a note in the Facebook account of Datuk Jenaton group. 

26 May 2012 - I received a hp# of a lady (Kak Yang Kalsom).

26 May 2012 - My husband Affandi called Kak Yang Kalsom as I had the pictures to edit and upload. She SMS and informed of Tok Chu, who would have the key to Datuk Jenaton's graveyard in Minden Heights. Since it was about 1 am, I didn't call the # provided. It was a good thing I did not call.

27 May 2012 - Affandi called Tok Chu and asked about the key to the graveyard. Tok Chu said to come and see him. We went over to Tok Chu's house in Ayer Itam. Earlier after breakfast I checked Google Map for directions to his residence. The landmarks he gave were Kuil India and Kg Melayu. 

HOW TO GET TO TOK CHU'S HOUSE

AYER ITAM

Tok Chu lives in Ayer Itam in Penang.

We decided to go down Jalan Masjid Negeri (old street name, Green Lane). We passed by Jalan Thean Teik - a narrow congested road, and the BHP petrol station on the left. We passed by Jalan Satu on the left. We passed by the Indian temple  on the right (Affandi recognised the temple first) - I took some photos of the temple. Then we reached the turn-off for Jalan Dua and finally Jalan Kg Melayu on the left. 

JALAN KAMPUNG MELAYU

We followed Jalan Kg Melayu to Jalan Ayer Itam and got lost. We U-turned at the school and went back on Jalan Ayer Itam till we reached Jalan Pisang Embun. All the roads here were named after bananas. We turned right into Jalan Pisang Embun and went right till the end. Tok Chu's house is on the right, at the end of the row.

When we arrived, Tok Chu was outside sweeping his porch. We parked in the street (turn right) after his house. Tok Chu met us at his front gate and was happy to see us. He's 83 and still strong. He called out to his wife (also called Tok Chu) and she came to greet us at the door. Tok Chu invited us in and we went inside. 

We started with introducing ourselves. I said I am looking for the key to Datuk Jenaton's graveyard and that we had been there yesterday. I introduced myself as the 10th generation of Muhammad Saleh of West Sumatra (who was well-known as Nakhoda). I also introduced myself as a granddaughter of Dr Che Lah. Once Tok Chu knew where I stand, it was easier to talk as relatives, rather than interviewer-interviewee.

WHO IS TOK CHU?

Tok Chu is Mohd Noor Merican  bin Ahmad Merican bin Osman Merican. He was born on 13 June 1929 in Penang and grew up in a big bungalow, now lies empty beside the Chinese girls' school in Jalan Dato Keramat. His mother was Zaleha bt Haji Yasin.

Tok Chu worked as an apprentice surveyor in Sungai Petani. He resigned after working less than a year, for some reason he explained but which I couldn't understand. He then returned to Penang and was with the City Council of Georgetown for 25 years, then with LLN and later TNB. He's retired 25 years ago in 1984.

TOK CHU'S FATHER-IN-LAW

Tok Chu's father-in-law was Haji Yasin, who was in charge of Masjid Titi Papan in Georgetown. Masjid Titi Papan is named as such because long ago the parit (drain) was large enough for sampan and tongkang to enter right up to the mosque. A wooden plank was used, and thus the mosque was named after the plank.

Haji Yasin was a goldsmith from Medan in Sumatra. His workplace was at Kinta Lane and later in Burma Road. According to Tok Chu's wife, last time there was no lock and key to keep the gold and gold ornaments safe at home. Haji Yasin had to hide his gold ornaments, stuffing them in between anything - books, clothes, etc. That worked fine.

Tok Chu showed us the Silsilah sheet for Datuk Jenaton and other ascendants. From what I understand Haji Muhammad Saleh (Nakhoda) had 4 siblings - an elder brother, himself, a younger brother and a youngest and only sister. Datuk Jenaton married the youngest and only sister of Muhammad Saleh. Thus, they became related by way of marriage. They were also blood relatives even before marriage as their ancestor cousins married in Sumatra. Datuk Jenaton was the younger brother-in-law of Nakhoda.

PENANG MALAYS

BURMA ROAD

Tok Chu said long ago, Burma Road was a Malay place with many Malay families. Sir KM Ariff's house was opposite the Telekoms (I have not seen this location).

CHOWRASTA SCHOOL

TRANSFER ROAD

The Chowrasta School moved at least 2 places - Transfer Road and Jalan Hatin.

JALAN HATIN (old street name was Hutton Road)

The present Chowrasta School is at Jalan Hatin.

THE EARLY MALAY DOCTORS

Tok Chu knew Dr Che Lah bin Md Joonos.

PENANG ARABS

Tok Chu's wife said a lot of Arabs reside in Batu Uban and their graves are at the cemetery attached to Masjid Batu Uban. There are also a large number of them in Jalan Kelawei (Kampung Syed).

Tok Chu also knew Aziz Yamani (my paternal granduncle) who was popularly known as Abdul Aziz Al-Yamani. Aziz was an anglophile. He was of short stature and wore shorts and shirt with short sleeves. He did not come from Yemen (Yaman) but from Malacca. Aziz Yamani had a garage at the corner of Anson Road and Dato' Keramat Road. The British gave him the European car business. (I remember being at his garage in the early 1960s.) They also gave him a double-storey bungalow behind Masjid Jalan Hatin - the bungalow still stands today - it is a bright yellow building (photographed 9 Oct 2011 and 27 May 2012). According to Tok Chu, the house is before '7 hotel'. Aziz Yamani married Nenek Jepun. The mother and child (Mazalifah) often returned to Tokyo.

Front gate of Ami Aziz's residence. His house is the yellow bungalow behind the mosque
(at far left, and partly hidden by the mosque in this pic).

SMELTING WORKS

Eastern Smelting was initially at ______________? It is now just flats.

See updates on 22 August 2013.

TOK CHU's WIFE

Tok Chu's wife is Hendon bt Ahmad bin Abdullah. She was born on 2 August 1932. She has 5 elder brothers - Zainol Abidin, Zainudin, Mohamad Tahir, Ibrahim and Abdul Halim. Hendon is descended from Datuk Jenaton.

External link
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2013/2/23/north/12750272&sec=north

Diaspora

What does diaspora mean in sociology & history?

Traders, Teachers, Pressmen and Pilgrim Brokers:
Penang Arabs in the Regional Network.
By Abdur-Razzaq Lubis


Compared to the Arab presence in Kedah, the Arab diaspora10 to Penang was far
more visible but unlike Arab migration to the Indonesian archipelago, their migration to
Penang was on a much smaller scale.[page 3]
-----------------------
10 Diaspora has been defined as “ethnic minority groups of migrant origin residing and acting in host countries, but maintaining strong sentimental and material links with their countries of origin”.

The printing industry in Penang spearheaded by the Jawi Peranakan, Arabs and Rawa (they are known as Rao in Sumatra) catered to the Jawi-reading population of the northern states of the Peninsula, southern Thailand and Sumatra. (Khoo, 1990; 29) [Page 8]

Not unlike their Arab brethren in Singapore, whose settlements are focused in the urban areas around Arab Street, Baghdad Street, Bussorah Street, Jedda Street and Muscat Street, the Arab presence in Penang, in the early days were concentrated in Acheen Street-Armenian Street enclave and subsequently in the twentieth century they began to expand their settlements to Kampung Syed in Pulau Tikus, in close proximity to the city centre, Jelutong and Kampung Melayu in Air Itam.16 [Page 8]
------------
16 Kampung Melayu, Air Hitam is a Malay reservation established in the 1930s. It is the only
Malay reservation in the former British Straits Settlements.(Sejarah Persatuan Melayu Pulau
Pinang, ditubuhkan pada 1927: 6)

With regard to the Jelutong Mosque, circa 1900, the property appears to have been under the sole control of one Syed Akil Mashor, prompting the Jelutong Muslim community threatening legal action against Syed Akil, forcing the latter to execute a Trust Deed appointing three trustees for the wakaf. It is telling of the state of affairs with the board’s finding that “Trouble is evidently brewing in connection with this Mosque.” (Hand Book, 1932: 18-9) [Page 12]

In the middle of the eighteen century the Hadhramis began to settle in Malacca, and later on in other of the larger towns in the peninsula.25 During the nineteenth century, many of the Hadhramis went to India, East Africa and the countries around the Red Sea, but after the turn of the century, the Dutch East Indies and the British Straits Settlements became the most important destinations.
-----------------
25 It has been suggested that Hadhramis settled in Malacca as early as the fifteenth century.
(Riddell, 1997: 220) [Page 15]

The great majority of Arabs originated from Hadhramaut, the remaining came primarily from the Hejaz although the author knows of Penang Arabs whose forefathers hails from Cairo and Baghdad. The Hadhrami mainly came to trade, though the sayyid and shaykh had multiple roles as sufi, alim and even merchants; the Arabs from the Hejaz oscillate from the Arabian peninsula to ports of Penang, Singapore and the Batavia to recruit and accompany aspiring hajis to the holy land. [Page 16]

Peranakan Jawi, Peranakan Arab
At the beginning of the nineteenth century most of the Arabs, Hadhramis included married local women, primarily “Malay” or Javanese, inhibiting their return home but still regarding Hadhramaut as their spiritual home, “in the hope that some day they may be able to return there, to await the day of Resurrection and Judgement.”32 Marriage with local or indigenous women declined as more peranakan Arab women, offspring of mixed marriages in the first instance, were available. In other words, they married primarily descendants of these mixed marriages, muwallad (muwallidun) 33 or peranakan Arab as they are known in Java and Jawi Peranakan in the British Straits Settlements. At the height of Hadhrami migration to Southeast Asia, “the muwalladin were an elite and dynamic element, scions of noble and wealthy families…” (Ho, 1997:143) [Page 19]

As bluntly put by Aljelany, “How then can we account for the twelve thousand Malaya-born Hadramis who are left to be assimilated. Well, their fathers have been forced by circumstances to abandon them. They would indubitably have taken them to Hadramaut had they had any choice in the matter.” (Aljelany, 1935: 10)34 The ‘left behind party’ became the Jawi Pekan or Jawi Peranakan @ Peranakan Arab. [Page 19]

For the most part, many of the Arabs arriving in Penang were already Peranakan to begin with, “a hybrid of Arab men from Aceh and Hadramaut and different regions in the Middle-East whose forefathers had married Malay, Rawa, Madurese, Bugis, Thai and Burmese women and where women of sayyid ancestry had already begun to marry indigenous men.” (Wazir, 2009: 134-235) [Page 19]

By the early nineteenth century, there was already such a thing as “Penang Malays” and when used in the context of George Town, the capital of Penang State, the term refers to people of diverse origin. Thomson commented in mid-1800s, that a “Jawee Pakan [is] (an Arab Kling).” (Thomson, 1865: 84) [Page 20]

Peranakan Arab / Tuan Syed / Tok Sheikh
The Peranakan Arab were also called Tuan Syed and Tok Sheikh and marriage between them and the Indian Muslims caused future generations of Peranakan Arabs to be simply called mama, nana, mamu and so on depending on social preference.  [Page 20]

The Malays in their generosity, added the honorific Tok, reserved for an elderly or aristocratic person, in front of the existing title, shaykh, giving the Arabs, the “glamour of piety” and with wealth this became a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy with the Tok Sheikh becoming some of the most wealthy and respected personalities in the Muslim community of George Town. (Wazir, 2009: 135) [Page 21]

So exclusive was this identity that they saw the “real Penang Malays” (Melayu jati Pulau Pinang) as “orang seberang” (mainland/peninsula people), which was subjected to or a target of ridicule as they were regarded as “kampung” people (rural, therefore, backwards). If someone is inactive (mandom) or untidy (kolom) they are equated with the “orang seberang”. (Zakiah Hanum, 1985: 23) Penang are in two parts, the island and a strip of land on the peninsula which under colonial rule was called Province Wellesley and after independence, Seberang Prai. In the table below are some examples of the influence of Arabic in the Malay language. [Page 21]

Some of these tendencies gave rise to a growing rift between the Malay and Indian Muslim communities, a direct result of different experiences of Islam, cultural backgrounds and geographical origins. The clash of civilizations was to rear its ugly head in the fragmentation along racial lines, reflected in the use of derogatory terms such as Darah Keturunan Keling (Kling by descent) and Darah Keturunan Arab (Arab by descent). The forces of communalism won the day, pressuring peoples of Indian, Arab and Indonesian origin to conform and “masuk Melayu” (enter the Malay fold), at the same time rescinding their original cultural identity and ethnicity. [Page 30]

Persatuan Melayu Pulau Pinang / Dr Kamil Mohamed Arif / Captain Mohamad Nor bin Mohamad
The constitutional provision of what constitutes Malay also applied to Penang. In 1933, the Penang Malay Association (Persatuan Melayu Pulau Pinang) submitted a memorandum to the Colonial Office in London, for the creation of a Malay reservation in Air Itam. The memorandum was drafted by Dr. Kamil Mohamed Arif, Captain Mohamad Nor bin Mohamad and Captain Syed Salleh Alsagoff. A piece of land in Air Hitam costing $40,000 was purchased for the purpose and the settlement became known as Kampung Melayu, Air Itam, the one and only Malay reservation in the Straits Settlement [Page 42]

***Captain Mohamad Noor bin Shaik Ahmad is in Dr Che Lah bin Md Joonos' family tree ***

Source:
http://rihlah.nl.sg/Paper/Abdur-Razzaq%20Lubis.pdf
Pages 3, 8, 12, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 30, and 42.

Abdur-Razzaq Lubis:
http://www.mandailing.org/