Siantan

I have always wondered what the word "siantan" meant. I've heard it many times but I never knew what it meant. Today, I found the word at a botanical blog and it points to the ixora plant. To the Malay people, it is called siantan or tudung periuk, and the related Malay ballad is Seri Siantan or Sri Siantan.

Siantan or tudung periuk (Ixora). Photos were taken at the USM Herbal Garden, Health Campus, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.

When I wrote my books on the early Malay doctors, and covered the origins of Bugis people, I had thought that Siantan was an island, and therefore the people from "that island" were referred to as Orang Siantan. Just my imagination, because I don't know this Malay language that well to make sense of that word. Well, at least now I know what "siantan" is. A synonym is tudung periuk, and I wonder why. The Malay language is mysterious, and many Malay words have a hidden meaning.

A storm lasting nine days and nine nights stalled their journey and they found refuge among the Indonesian islands. Arong Abdul Rasul and his entourage anchored at Pulau Siantan, Kepulauan Anambas in Indonesia, which became their new home. They established a village, planted paddy and erected mosques. It was recorded by a scribe, Haji Jaafar, that the famous Bugis Daing warrior brothers came to the Riau Archipelago at about this time.
Three generations of Arong Abdul Rasul remained at Pulau Siantan – himself, his son Arong Muda and Arong Muda’s son Daing Abdul Latiff. The fates of the other two brothers, Arong Mustafa and Arong Marang, are unknown at the time of writing.Dr Abdul Latiff’s great-great-great grandfather was Arong Muda (Pulau Siantan),[1] who had three children, two sons and a daughter – Daing Abu, Daing Abdul Latiff and Daing Mahaya.Dr Abdul Latiff’s great-great grandfather was Daing Abdul Latiff (Pulau Siantan),[2] who had nine children, eight sons and a daughter – Omar, Maimon, Jumaat, Abdul Rahim, Haji Abdul Karim, Haji Tahir, Khamis, Haji Mohamed Kassim[3] and Haji Mohd Ali.

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[1] Also styled Arong Muda Pulau Siantan, to mean Arong Muda of Pulau Siantan where he resided.[2] Also styled Daing Abdul Latiff Pulau Siantan, to mean Daing Abdul Latiff of Pulau Siantan where he resided.[3] It is possible that Haji Jaafar could have been the son of Haji Mohamed Kassim.

I know from the old days, ladies would wear the red ixora florets in their buns and when the petals dried out, one by one they fell to the ground. Of course men could trace the ladies' trail by following the fallen ixora florets.

I remember sucking the nectar from the red, pink and yellow ixora florets. There's also the Malaysian Ixora vehicle (van). I wonder why we never used Seri Siantan for our Ixora vehicles.

I have tried planting ixora but it always died. Almost all Malay homes plant this ixora plant except my house. I have to learn how to grow this plant so that my home can also be grouped as a Malay home. Trying my best for 30 years now!! LOL.

External links:
Siantan, tudung periuk or ixora: http://adrydaud.blogspot.com/2010/05/bunga-part-ii.html
Bugis kings in Riau-Lingga-Johor: http://www.rmkhalid.com/2011_01_02_archive.html

Slave Trade

The slave trade was described in Hikayat Abdullah (Abdullah's autobiography)

http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellhpj/resources/abdullah15.HTM

Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir @ Munshi Abdullah @ Inchi Abdulla

• Born 1796 in Malacca; died 1854 in Jeddah
• An Indian Muslim writer and translator who worked with Colonel William Farquhar in Malacca and later, Stamford Raffles in Singapore
• Popular with the colonials but unpopular with the Malay and Arab communities
• Translated the Bible into Malay for the Christian missionaries
• Many of his life/work stories are studied in Malaysian schools and colleges
• Wrote Hikayat Abdullah (1843), an autobiography, in Jawi Malay script

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_bin_Abdul_Kadir
http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellhpj/resources/abdullah.HTM
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_503_2004-12-27.html

Definition of Munshi

• a Persian, Urdu or Hindi word that originated from the Arabic word, munshi which refers to a writer or author
• The word existed or was used circa 1770-80
• a native interpreter or language instructor
• a native secretary or assistant
• a secretary or language teacher in South Asia (eg, Malacca)
• highly loyal personal attendant
• usually young Indian men
• worked for the British colonial masters as interpreters
• mainly from northern India where the British had ruled till India's independence
• See Queen Victoria's 'Indian John Brown' in 1800s
• Munshi is also used as a male name and a surname
• See usage in the literature

Definition of Hikayat

• From The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979): (also hikâyet), a literary term of the peoples of the Near and Middle East and Southeast Asia. In the broad sense, a hikayat is any long narrative work in prose or sometimes in verse. In the narrow sense, it is an anonymous prose work in book form, such as the 17th-century Malay work The Tale of Hang Tuah. In Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literatures, the term is synonymous with “short story.” In Turkish literature it also refers to an anonymous folk story.
• literary work, eg Hikayat Hang Tuah

List of Malay stories (hikayat)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hikayat

Bugis History (1)

I have copied and pasted this text below from the Ancient Mariner's blog. He is deceased and I have never met him. I wrote to him once to ask about ex-MB Tan Sri Dr Mohamed Said bin Mohamed but he never replied. Tan Sri was an early Malay doctor. Dr Yusof is his only son, the others are girls.

This text is on Bugis History about a family who got together and there were 1,400 of them in the get-together. I feel this is great and the Bugis people must pursue their culture and tradition. They are already great as a civilised society but they are not properly portrayed by the western media.

Original website of the Ancient Mariner (deceased July 2009)

Hj Amir Abdul MajidMay 9, 2009 09:12 AM

Hj Amir bin Abdul Majid
Kamirmajid@gmail.com

Ampang Jaya,
10.05.09

Dear Capt Yusof,

The Bugis from Linggi
(in response to Homecoming in “The Ancient Mariner” April 29th 2009)

I was introduced to your blog today by your cousin Dr Yusof Tan Sri Mohd Said. He is close friend of mine. Our friendship started when he introduced himself as a descendent of Daeng Chelak and hails from Linggi. When I told him that both my maternal and paternal great grandfathers descended from Daeng Chelak, he declared that we are related. Our usual conversation topics centered on Bugis: Riau, Sulawasi, Daeng Chelak, Raja Haji and our own family connections. How proud was he to declare himself a Bugis! Yes, the Bugis ancestry brings with it dignity and honor, because the Bugis are people who place family honor above everything else, and even prepared to die in defending their dignity. They work hard to achieve stature in the community, and would not allow anything to wreck what had been achieved. The proverb “Biar putih tulang, jangan putih mata” may have its origin in the Bugis psyche.

My paternal great grand father followed his three elder siblings, one of them my maternal great grandfather, to start a new life in Merlimau, Melaka 154 years ago. They were from Pulau Penyengat and were of Bugis origin. Their mother was descended from Daeng Parani, while their father was a grandson of Raja Haji bin Daeng Chelak. They never revealed their origin outside the family circle. After three generations had lapsed, we felt it was time to reveal our identity. On 8th December 2002, the descendents of Rimbun, Pajar, Ismail and Masrobiah met for the first time, all 1400 of them, under one roof in Padang Temu Melaka. The gathering was recorded in the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest family gathering ever. Our family members, called the Masparimbunis Family, are found residing mainly in Merlimau, Muar, Batu Pahat and Kluang. The family head is called Ketua Limpo. He is Tuan Hj Kassim bin Ahmad bin Pajar bin Raja Ali bin Raja Jaafar bin Raja Haji bin Daeng Chelak. The four branches of the family are each headed by an Anang. We have a Lembaga Adat, the supreme council where the Anangs (branch heads) and Matoas (family heads) meet annually to discuss matters of interest. I am the General Secretary to this Lembaga Adat.

So Capt, that’s our story. As for the Ancient Mariner, do continue the good work. Selamat Berkenalan!

External links
http://www.rmkhalid.com/2011_01_02_archive.html

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]
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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.
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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/