Malacca History (5)

I'm thankful to readers who dropped by to read some of the pages in this blog. I'm most grateful to those of you who cared to pen a line or two in the comments. The comments are useful as any small piece of information creates another big area of search and further research in a more defined direction. Nothing goes to waste. The comments are precious especially to this type of research that digs far back into our history.

For now, I have managed to go back into our history. The ancient Malay graves are in Semabok, in an enclosed low perimeter thick brick wall. I haven't been back to see the ancient graves in Semabok since university teaching has just begun for the new academic session 2012/2013. I have vivid memories of the graves there - the gravestones resembled the large Minangkabau ones. Whether the people buried there were from Pagarruyung or descended from their Pagarruyung ascendants is not known. But evidence from a Penang clan may shed some light that these graves could be Minangkabau; they could also be mixed Arab. Could also be Chinese Muslims.

Other questions arise; if there was a marriage of the Chinese Muslim princess to the Sultan of Malacca, where would she be buried? Where would he be buried? So, the graves at Semabok are important to Malacca history. Maybe the anthropologists and archaeologists missed that place as they don't have connection.

But as far as I know from my late father, Datuk Prof Dr Zuraina Abdul Majid is related to my father; therefore she should know. I only met her twice but can only recall the second time I met her. According to my father, she attended my wedding in Penang. But because I didn't know her at the time, I didn't talk to her and took no notice of her. The second time I met her, she was in the panel that interviewed me for my Associate Professor post at USM in Kelantan; I didn't know she was in the panel, so it was a surprise for me and probably for her too. I have not met her after that interview but I met her husband a few times.

A visit to the graves at Semabok should be worth a visit. I don't know the grave digger or graveyard caretaker at all as usually my late father and Imam Haji Yusof went there; they knew who were buried there. I only visited the graves once with my father and he pointed to our family plot (so very ancient).

Another small ancient Muslim burial plot actually lies beneath Masjid Banda Hilir, now renamed to Masjid an-Nur. As far as I know, only babies were buried there and the adults were buried in Semabok.

There are other ancient graves in Malacca, at Kampung Hulu and somewhere near the Malacca High School (if I'm not mistaken).

The last Sultan of Singapore is buried behind Masjid Tengkera? He went to live in Banda Hilir, Malacca first. Did he live in my grandfather's house? Whose house did he live in at Banda Hilir?

There were no other Malay houses in Banda Hilir at the time except my grandfather's (and his ascendants); the Malays lived farther down the road in Ujong Pasir and Umbai (according to my father and his uncle Coco). Banda Hilir or Banda Ilir is also in Dutch maps. Who was the last Sultan of Singapore? Was he related to the Malacca Sultanate?

Why did Coco and my paternal grandmother tell me that we are related to the Chinese princess? Did she really exist? Did the Malacca sultan marry her? Did they have issue? Nobody has tried to explain how our family is related to the Chinese Ming princess.

My mother said most of the Chinese wooden furniture (black) were used as firewood during the Japanese war, and she had bought modern furniture for our house in Malacca when she married to my father in 1955.

So there are none of the ancient Chinese furniture left today. I had seen some of the Chinese furniture when I was growing up in Malacca; most resembled the dressing tables and cabinets at Penang Museum. The European cupboards are also familiar to me. I haven't searched the thousands of photos my grandfather and my father left behind. A lot of photos are still missing. Both my grandfather and my father were avid photographers. They documented a lot of our history in B/W photos.

External links:
http://khleo.tripod.com/tour.htm#tor2
http://www.expatgomalaysia.com/article/1773/revenge-conquest-and-a-murder-plot-learn-more-about-melakas-turbulent-history

Malacca History (3)

This post is about my Malacca relatives and Coco.

The photos come from everywhere. There is a collection of photos I inherited from 1937 onward from my paternal grandfather who worked as an entomologist (pakar ulat) before the Serdang agricultural school was born and UPM began. I also inherited a lot of photos from my late father - his photos are from 1940s onward. Some photos are from my late mother. I haven't sorted out the photos by State, event or date as I don't know what the events were since 1937 but I can make out a few. It seems to me, a lot of the photos were about Malay life and some of the early organisations and striving for Independence. Some of the text on the rear of the paper prints are written in English and others in Malay Jawi (some were left blank but have #). The Jawi script is difficult to read as my father had compressed and stylised his Jawi writing beyond what I can read - it will take time to enlarge and decipher the Jawi script correctly before I can make out what the events were and where/when things took place. I checked the communication between my father and his father (Walid) and they had communicated in English, and even included jokes! All the written communication were written in pencil on thick brown paper and looked as good as original. I haven't tried scanning them yet because the contrast between the pencil marks and the dark brown bkgr is tricky to tackle. Some of the brown paper have postage stamps affixed - they could have been envelopes (DIY). I will blog about them in my other family blog.

My father is standing in back row, 4th left (between the 2 little boys in front of him).
With his kampung friends (kompang group?) and brothers at his sister's wedding in Semabok. The sister married to a schoolteacher, who became Imam of Masjid Semabok. circa 1948/49

Same as above. My father is kneeling 1st left.

Boy scouts at Padang Kubu, Banda Hilir, Melaka; 1947. This photo was taken 10 years before Tunku Abdul Rahman declared Merdeka in Malacca and before the first Merdeka Parade was held in Malacca at Padang Kubu (in front of A Famosa). My father is standing at 2nd left (short boy). The boys could be his schoolfriends - ACS Malacca.

This is my father, Abdul Rashid Mohd Yusope (as he had signed on the first line).
The second line reads Troop Leader 8th Senior. This is ACS Scouts and he was in 8th Grade and was the Scouts Troop Leader. Undated; circa 1947. After school he was a cake seller by the sea, Straits of Malacca, at Banda Hilir padang. The only trait he shared with his sister Zainah and also Coco, is their mathematical skills - he wrote the mathematics syllabus and textbooks for Malaysia. Tun Mahathir asked him to be Malaysia's Ambassador to Germany for our engineering boys who were to be sent there - he refused because there would be nobody to take care of his mother. He loved his mother dearly. I will blog about his mother some other time at my family blog. Zainah is deceased. She was the most intelligent Malay woman I have ever met in my life - she could do 3rd root of any large number anytime! I was amazed! She only attended Grade 1 and quit school. She had a string of languages which I don't know where she learnt them.

My father is seated. He is as Scouts Troop Leader 8th Senior, ACS Malacca
circa 1947. He led the troop and most of the boys were Chinese. They liked him as he was intelligent especially when it came to mathematics. I will upload some pages of his mathematics exercise book at my family blog. I have never attended tuition in my entire life. My father taught me mathematics and when I went to first year university and took maths classes, my own American professors were amazed and asked me where I had learnt mathematics - I told them I learned math from my father. I taught some of the same skills to my children at age 3 onward - and they managed well in school without any math tuition. My first job offer was by the Math Dept when I was in 2nd year! By the time I graduated, they already alerted the entire UC system in California.

Yusuf bin Buntal, schoolteacher and Imam of Masjid Semabok, with his first son Mu'in. Photographed at  his home in Semabok, Malacca.  Sunday 10 September 1950. Later, Haji Yusuf became my father's mentor after my father's Walid died. 

Yusuf bin Buntal photographed at home in Semabok, Malacca before leaving for Makkah (pilgrimage for first Hajj). Thursday 10 June 1954

As above. Villagers visited Yusuf bin Buntal at home before he left for Makkah.

This is a family photo. There are probably 4 families in this photo. The names are on the right. At extreme left is Haji Noordin bin Ismail. He is my father's granduncle. Standing next to Haji Noordin is Haji Yusuf bin Buntal, schoolteacher and Imam of Masjid Semabok. At extreme right is Walid (Haji Mohd Yusope bin Haji Mohd Sharif). Standing next to Walid is Abas bin Abdul Rahman, Walid's son-in-law who married Walid's eldest daughter Ainon.

This is Abas bin Haji Abdul Rahman, as in the photo above.
If you study the facial features carefully, you will see that the same features occur in another man, Tan Sri Abdul Majid bin Ismail @ Coco. I only found this photo this year. It was in my father's pendrive and album all the time.

Abas when he was older. Pak Abas with some young relatives. My father is the boy behind his sister Sekmah. The boy squatting could be my father's younger brother Baharuddin Mohd Yusope, later Private Secretary to Tun Hussein Onn. Circa 1947-1950s

Coco

When I interviewed Coco for the first time on 11 May 2007 at his office in Jalan Damai in KL, it was the first time I met him but the features of Abas were so strikingly similar in Coco. When Coco asked me where I originated, I told him I was born in Malacca but my parents were from KL. When Coco probed further and asked me where I lived in Malacca, I said Banda Hilir, behind the mosque. Then, Coco probed even further and asked me if I knew others in Ujong Pasir. I said I didn't know but that I knew some relatives who lived in Umbai from my childhood. At that point Coco asked me whom I knew in Umbai and I told him I knew Pak Cik Abas (above), his wife Mak Ainon and the kids/my cousins (Kak Besar/Hawa, Kak Mariam, Abang Mohamad, Abang Abdul Rahman, Kak Zaleha, and Adik Musa). Then Coco asked who else I knew in Umbai. I said to him there is a big Malay house beside Pak Abas where Nenek Mun lived. Coco asked me about Nenek Mun. I said Nenek Mun lived with some assistance and her relatives lived in PJ-KL, and that my dad had great respect for Nenek Mun. At that point Coco said "then we are related!" You can imagine the shock I had on my face! Even my husband who was recording the interview stopped in shock! I did not know how to proceed as the man I was interviewing was my own granduncle! It took me awhile to come to terms with that shocking news. With tears in my eyes (and Coco's too), I proceeded with some trepidation for about another hour. Coco was much more relaxed after we found out we were related. 

I have met many of Coco's sisters and relatives but I never knew they were all related to him! I then informed my father of this new find. And to my surprise my father said there is no such name as Tan Sri Abdul Majid but there is Doktor Abdul Majid. Now I was so confused! But I had confirmed with Coco at his interview whether he was the only Dr Abdul Majid bin Ismail and also the only Tan Sri Abdul Majid bin Ismail. So I couldn't be wrong. My father then asked me for Coco's # which I gave him. When my father tried calling Coco's office, he said the lady who answered the phone said Coco was busy, and replied the same for further calls. As a result my father never had a chance to speak to his own uncle. My father died in 2009.

Coco had written in his book and I also mentioned in TEMD, that 'a friend had come to look for him while he was attending the King Edward VII College of Medicine'. I believe that 'friend' was my father. My father had narrated to me that when he was offered a place at the KE VII to do medicine (which he did but just for a brief 9 months), he first went to look for his uncle Abdul Majid. He did not elaborate what happened. But in Coco's account and in TEMD, Coco mentioned the 'friend had asked for Abdul Majid' whilst he was nicknamed Coco and nobody knew his real name, for which Coco's friends told my father that there was no one by the name of Abdul Majid. But in the end my father met Coco as they knew each other and were related. My father attended KE VII briefly for 9 months in first year medicine in 1951 before he went to UK.

Coco's last book

Coco's book 'An Old Man Remembers' (2006) has a lot more on our common ascendants. You can read his book and find out. I don't know whether he sells that book but you can go to his office and ask for one.

More on Coco in New Sunday Times 2006
More on Coco and daughter Ellina's family in Yayasan Tun Abdul Hamid
More on Coco at VI
More on Coco at Arkib Negara Malaysia
More on Coco in Malaysian Orthopedic Association (MOA)

Coco and I thought about whether we can possibly write a book together on our common ascendants and therefore provide a new breath to Malacca History. If that is possible then you will see how Princess Hang Li Poh comes into the family tree and the Malacca History. Coco knows it all too well.

Malacca History (2)

In this post, I give you the details of my gene-rich Malacca heritage.

Well, being born and raised in Malacca, I inherit a weird background, that I stand nowhere but somewhere on this Earth.

I am a third generation Dutch from my maternal Burgher grandmother who came from Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

I am probably 16th generation Ming Chinese from my paternal grandmother who could be related to Yap Ah Loy somewhere from Chow Kit market area where a lot of Chinese grew vegetables, even my paternal-maternal great grandfather had a Malay name but a Chinese suffix when I know he is probably Indonesian from his facial features. 

I am 10th generation Hadrami Arab from my paternal grandfather whom I have never met as he died before my parents got married. From his photos in my dad's pendrive, he looks Indian or a dark Malay but a funny thing is all my uncles are fair Chinese except my dad who looks Indian to me, and I take 50% Indian features from him. This week I heard he is Bugis - that's 3 years posthumous identification! 

I had a maternal grandfather whom I couldn't make out what he was - I had thought he was in the wrong place, which is true. Some 24 years after he died, I had the opportunity of Indian colleagues in my dept, who are well-travelled and they identified my grandfather to be a typical Indian, and specifically from Madras! Can you believe that?! That positive identification helped solved a lot of mysteries about him. 

I then presented the same photo of my maternal grandfather to a Malay-Arab, one of my Syed uncles. He said my grandfather was most probably Indian with a lot of Arab infusion based on the probable location of his birthplace! I almost fainted! His birth certificate can't be found. Without proper birth identification, it is hard to tell a person's background and inheritance. I then visited the large graveyard in Jalan Perak where my grandfather used to go every Aidilfitri. I was told earlier this year (2012) his ancestors were all interred there, in a special plot some distance from Makam Dato' Keramat (after who Jalan Dato' Keramat is named). I don't know keramat and qaromah stuff. But I guess, having an ancestral plot near the Makan could mean my grandfather's ancestors were probably workers for Dato' Keramat or his people, or else they would not be buried in the area close to Makam Dato' Keramat. 

Now back to me, I am nowhere but somewhere. I am Malay Bugis Burgher Indian Dutch German Chinese and Arab, or MBBIDGCA for short. If that is not enough, then try and add Princess van Rooyen, Sultan Mansor Shah and Princess Hang Li Poh to the picture. What do you get? That's who I am from a historical standpoint. To make it even stranger, I am married to a Chinese-Malay. So if you expect me to dress in baju kurung, I will of course laugh. If you expect me to dress in short skirt and blouse and wear high heels, I will also laugh. I am modestly dressed as my female ancestors have dressed before me - with a lose long dress and scarf (like old mother hubbard). 

A lot of people have problems trying to fit me somewhere and usually they will ask - "Are you Malay or not Malay?" Of course I will answer "Saya orang Melayu tapi saya boleh cakap English" and then the conversation goes on in English. My husband had thought I was Eurasian until I told him "I'm not!" Even the Filipinos thought I was a Filipino. I am Malay by today's Malaysian definition.

The only one thing that distinguishes me from the typical orang Melayu is my food - I eat Mediterranean cuisine for heavy meals and Chinese cuisine for the light meals. I like sandwiches. I don't have snacks. That was how I was brought up. 

The first Malay food I learned from my Malay teenage friends was nasi goreng with mixed vegetables. Then I have never stopped cooking Malay food. I have added Thai friend rice, etc to my culinary skills. I'm learning nasi biryani but still not getting it right yet. 

In a nutshell, I can say that Malay is just a label and living in Malaysia means you just live as you please. There is no need to stick to being Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc since everyone is so mixed that it doesn't matter and shouldn't matter anymore. 

So, is Malacca a great city and empire? I would say yes and no. What else did we benefit from having Malacca in Malaysia? I think a mixed heritage not only in the houses and cultures we see today, but also the genes have mixed so much that we all have 'global genes'. That's how I look at Malacca and its importance. Being a Malacca person makes it even more real and a living proof. 

I have no problem adapting and going on living anywhere on Earth, so long as it is not a cold place. I prefer places with Mediterranean climate. When I was in San Francisco, a Chinese restaurant owner asked me if I could do regular cooking demo for his restaurant! He must think I knew how to cook Chinese cuisine so well?! 

In any mixed cultural setting, there is one thing that we must learn to accept and that is despite being culturally different, socially we must try and look to our different cuisines as a binding force and try each other's cuisine for there is a lot to learn, and I think we will all be happy when we try different foods of the different ethnic groups. There is already teamwork at the workplace but sometimes teams don't function so well, and falling outside a team is often better.

I'm baking olive bread this morning and that is a Greek recipe. Olives are mentioned in the Quran. I take it that olive bread is a healthy option (based on its chemical property) and can be made a global item for Muslim dining (can suggest that to Halal Hub). That is how I look at coming together as a nation and globally. 

I still don't understand why people still want to wage war. There is no need for war. When one is of mixed heritage like myself, there is a lot of peace in the heart and mind that war doesn't come into the picture at all. Why do we need war? Why are people after power struggle? Why do people still want to kill? Why do people still want to plunder poor countries? Tell me why? Why do we have so much politics and back-biting? Even the religion Islam tells us what happiness we can have on this earth by coming together. Why can't we be humans and behave like humans should?

Need to check on my olive bread - it is also in my cooking blog.

External links:
http://www.expatgomalaysia.com/article/1773/revenge-conquest-and-a-murder-plot-learn-more-about-melakas-turbulent-history

Malacca History (1)

Malacca has a rather strange history in that nobody can truly give us the exact coordinates of the Malacca Empire. Despite its greatness and importance both in Malay History and World History, there is little written evidence in our local collection, be it within the National Archives (Arkib Negara Malaysia) or in the hands of the Malaysian populace.

I have read Malay accounts that tell the boundaries of the Malacca Empire covered Kedah and Kelantan today. Even graves present in Kedah and Kelantan provide the evidence that were part of the Malacca Empire. A strange thing though that makes me wonder, is there a clear boundary that separates the Malacca Empire from the one in the north (Siamese Empire)? What empire existed south of the Malacca Empire? Muslim Damak Empire? If Damak was the only Muslim empire, then what was the Malacca Empire, Hindu? I will leave it to the historians to write and explain.