Perabangan-1

About the Author

Abang Tan Hj. Mohammad Ekhwan bin Tan Hj. Zolkipli is a Consultant with a local Engineering Consultancy Company in Kuching and is a Registered Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers of Malaysia.

He was born at Kampong Masjid, Datu’s Road, Kuching, to Dayang Hamdiah binti Abang Razali and Tan Hj. Zolkipli bin Tan Ana.

He started his early schooling at Seria English School, Seria , Brunei which later became St. Michael School where he obtained his Senior Cambridge School Certificate in 1960 and started his career in engineering as a Broadcasting Technician at Radio Sarawak in the same year.
As part of Decolonisation Programme of the British Empire in Sarawak he secured a Colombo Plan Scholarship and studied Communication Engineering at RMIT, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and graduated in 1968. At the recommendation of the Federal Government of Malaysia he studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering in London, England, United Kingdom under British Government Scholarship and graduated in 1974 securing a Professional Qualification acceptable for admission to Corporate Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Place, London, England, United Kingdom and conferred by the Institution as Chartered Electrical Engineer being the highest Professional Qualification in Electrical Engineering awarded in England of the United Kingdom.

Career wise he had served in the public service and the private sector in Sarawak and Peninsula Malaysia such as RTM, MLNG, PLUS BERHAD, PROLINK PROPERTY SDN. BHD. and VIMAS JV.CO. of VIETNAM and MALAYSIA in his capacity as Professional Engineer.

From an early age his arwah mother used to relate to him on the genealogical data of the Perabangan in Kuching by way of traditional oral narration. He is fascinated by this oral history of the Perabangan and especially the family motto of the Perabangan based on the teaching of the Holy Al-Quran by which they are to hold on in obedience to the Divine Law of Allah SWT in that to “ enjoin good and forbid evil and rush in emulating each other in good deeds “ (Quran Surah 3 Verse 114 ) as the way forward to achieve “best in conduct “ ( Quran Surah 67 Verse 2 ) in our daily activities in this world and for preparation in the next world of the hereafter motivated him to pursue reseach work on the subject.

Then in 1989 the Author received from his cousin, Abang Haji Ir. Moasili bin Abang Haji Naili , a Genealogical Manuscript on Selesilah - Selesilah Perabangan Malayu Sarawak recorded and written by Abang Hj. Abdul Razak bin Abang Abdul Hamid bin Abang Hj. Abdul Rahim bin Nakhoda Daeng Yi’ee as well as a copy of the research work on the same subject written by Abang Ahmat bin Abang Hj. Abdul Rahim bin Abang Abdul Hamid.
The Author started his research work on the Selesilah - Selseilah Perabangan in 1989 involving with visting the Sarawak Museum, the Perabangan Grave Yard at Masjid Besar Kuching at Datu’s Road including reading books relevant to the subject but could not carry on any further due to disconnections in relation to the origins of the descendants of Datu Shah Johan and Syarif Mokhsen bin Syarif Alwei Al-Idrus.

Finally in 2015 his discovery on the descendants of Datu Shah Johan landed him in Aceh, Sumatra, to visit the Royal Makam of Sultan Sayyid Maulana Abdul Aziz Shah Berdaulat ( First Sultanate in Nusantara 840-1292 AD ) and his wife Meurah Makhdum Khudawi in
August 2016 confirming the origins of Datu Shah Johan who was the grandfather of Abang Haji Taha Shahdan bin Abang Tassem. As regards Syarif Mokhsen bin Syarif Alwei Al-Idrus he was the descendants of Syarif Idrus Abdul Rahman Al-Idrus Raja Kubu Pertama who was married to Sharifah Aishah binti Syarif Abdul Rahman Al-Qadri of the Sultanate of Pontianak.
In 2018 this book on Genealogical Directory of Perabangan Malayu Sarawak the first of its kind to be written is recommended for publication by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka of Malaysia and the Historical Society of Malaysia which is done in 2019.


About the Book

Brief on the Contents of the Book

The Book on Genealogical Directory of Perabangan Malayu Sarawak is the first of its kind to appear for publication in the book market place in Malaysia in particular and in the Nusantara ( South-East Asia ) market place in general.

The contents of the Book comprise four chapters.

Chpater 1 is the Introduction covering topics on the historical background ( 4000 BC to present day ) of the Malayu people ( Mo-lo-yeou, I-tsing 671 AD, D.G.E.HALL, p.48 ) using ‘ Taiwan Model ‘ of how they settled in their New Homes in the Nusantara meaning Motherland (Nusa) between (antara) two oceans the Pacific Ocean in the East and the Indian Ocean to the West ; their dependent on the Monsoon Seasons as the mode of maritime transportation as they were par excellence a sea-going people ( D.E.G.HALL, p.13 ); the rise of the great Malayu Empire of the Sriwijaya Kingdom; cultural development where women position is the authority in the family ( matrilineal descents of the Minangkabau, like Nusa is for motherland ); the emergence of the Malayu language started in Sambas ( Kalimantan Barat, Andaya p. 60 ); the rise of the Brooke family founding their ‘ Kingdom of Sarawak ‘ in Kalimantan Barat ( West Borneo ); and the surrendering of the Brooke Kindom of Sarawak to the British Empire.

Chapter 2 deals with the development of the Houses of the Perabangan Malayu Sarawak resulting in the generation of the population of the Perabangan starting with the marriage of Datu Merpate of the House of Raja Jawa to Dayang Datu Puteri Permaisuri binti Raja Jarom of the House of Raja Jarom both of whom had roots in the Malayu-Sriwijaya Kingdom ( 600-1300 AD ). From the aspect of the Institution of Matrilineal Descents and Inheritance of Minangkabau Dayang Datu Puteri Permaisuri is the Ibu Kandong ( Natural Mother ) of the Perabangan in Kuching, Sarawak.
The genealogical illustration is based on single-line schematic graphic design often used in the design of the distribution system in electrical engineering.

Chapter 3 is the core of the Book forming the Genealogical Directory arranged and illustrated in terms of structure and analysis to illustrate clearly the authentic matrilineal blue-blooded lineage of the Perabangan.

Chapter 4 describes the roles played by the past generations of the Perabangan in nation building from the start of Sriwijaya Empire to the end of the British Empire in Sarawak. Among the personalities covered were Datu Merpate , Dayang Datu Puteri Permaisur, Abang Datu Merpate Jepang, Abang Datu Patenggi Ali, Abang Datu Patenggi Ghaphor, Abang Datu Hakim Abdul Rahman Karamat, Abang Syeikh Usman Alim as-Sarawaqi and Abang Datu Bandar Mustapha.

The Summary and Conclusion covered the origins of the family titles of “ Abang “ for the male and “ Dayang “ for the female descendants of Raja Jarom in Sarawak.

The Book’s objectives are to provide real time genealogical information to the Perabangan’s young generations of today and to the general public on the contributions of the Perabangan in the past and the present making the people of Sarawak to enjoy peace, stability and harmony as the way forward to nation building by which Datu’s Road was so named to commemorate their good deeds.