Folks for a change, here is something different.
Here is a fantastic story - just like we see in the Hollywood movies.
It is a true story and is extremely interesting.
I should have written this TWO years ago when I first came to know about it.
I have travelled often to the Taman Negara in Pahang. Usually via Jerantut - Merting - Kuala Tahan or the more exciting Lipis - Merapoh - Kuala Juram.
In 2014, I visited a friend's place of birth in Kampong Bantal which lies in the upper reaches of the most beautiful Sungai Tembeling in Pahang. This is beyond Taman Negara.
Even today, Kampong Bantal is still at the end of the world. There is no road connection to the place.
Here is the location of Kg Bantal on the map. You have to drive to Jerantut. Then from Jerantut you can drive to Kuala Tahan via Merting. At Kuala Tahan (where the Sungai Tahan flows into the Tembeling) you have to take a boat for about five hours upriver before you reach Kg Bantal on the banks of the Tembeling.
There is water and electricity. There are less than 1000 residents in Kg Bantal. It is a quiet village where people live off rubber and other produce.
Here is a fantastic story - just like we see in the Hollywood movies.
It is a true story and is extremely interesting.
I should have written this TWO years ago when I first came to know about it.
I have travelled often to the Taman Negara in Pahang. Usually via Jerantut - Merting - Kuala Tahan or the more exciting Lipis - Merapoh - Kuala Juram.
In 2014, I visited a friend's place of birth in Kampong Bantal which lies in the upper reaches of the most beautiful Sungai Tembeling in Pahang. This is beyond Taman Negara.
Even today, Kampong Bantal is still at the end of the world. There is no road connection to the place.
Here is the location of Kg Bantal on the map. You have to drive to Jerantut. Then from Jerantut you can drive to Kuala Tahan via Merting. At Kuala Tahan (where the Sungai Tahan flows into the Tembeling) you have to take a boat for about five hours upriver before you reach Kg Bantal on the banks of the Tembeling.
There is water and electricity. There are less than 1000 residents in Kg Bantal. It is a quiet village where people live off rubber and other produce.
My friend is this guy : Wan Mohamed Shahrir bin Wan Abdul Jalil. Early 40s, lawyer by training, a history buff by interest and of same wavelength on other issues.
Wan Shahrir's maternal great grandfather is this man in this picture below here : Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib. Wan Ahmad was born circa 1865 and died in 1934/35. This 'Pilgrim Pass For Mecca' was issued to him by the British in 1932.
Wan Ahmad and his father Engku Khatib were the penghulus of Ulu Tembeling, based in Kampong Bantal.
They were descended from Malay royalty and had been in the service of the Sultans as 'panglima perang'. A snippet says :
Surat daripada Sultan Zainal Abidin ibni al marhum Sultan Ahmad, Negeri Terengganu...Residen Pahang telah memohon Engku Wan membawa surat itu kepada baginda dan meminta menangkap sembilan orang yang membunuh orang Perancis di Tembeling, Hulu Pahang. . . . Baginda telah menyerahkan empat orang tersebut kepada Encik Engku Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib untuk diserahkan kepada Residen Pahang. Baginda juga memerintahkan supaya mencari dan menangkap 5 orang yang lain
They helped fight off pirates, brigands and other trouble causers.
The fantastic "royal lineage tracker" Royal Ark (which is run by the orang putih) lists theroyal ancestry of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Wan Khatib as follows :
4) Y.M. Tun Pedah Yusuf bin Dato' Bendahara Paduka Raja Tun ‘Abdu’l Majid [Tun Da] (s/o Tun Inah). He had issue, a son:
a) Y.M. Tun ‘Abdu’llah bin Tun Da. He had issue, five sons and a daughter:
i) Encik Wan Endut bin Tun 'Abdu'llah [Engku Khatib]. He had issue, six sons:
(1) Haji Encik Engku Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib Wan Endut. m. (first) Daing Khadija binti Muhammad (d. 1909, bur. Bukit Angus, Kampong Bantal, Ulu Tembeling), daughter of Encik Muhammad, of Brunei. m.
…He had issue, three sons and a daughter . . .
There is something unique about Kampong Bantal and Ulu Tembeling. The people here speak Malay using a vocabulary that is different from other parts of Pahang or Malaya. They speak a Brunei influenced Malay.
They use Brunei Malay words like 'ong' (you), 'pek' (do not have), 'auk' (yes), masek (what) and tapok (to hide).
The Brunei link is connected to the last line above : married (first) Daing Khadija binti Muhammad (d. 1909, bur. Bukit Angus, Kampong Bantal, Ulu Tembeling), daughter of Encik Muhammad, of Brunei.
Wan Ahmad bin Engku Wan Khatib from Kg Bantal married a noble woman from Brunei and brought her back with him to Ulu Tembeling. How did that happen?
Born in Kg Bantal, Ulu Tembeling
Wan Shahrir's maternal great grandfather is this man in this picture below here : Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib. Wan Ahmad was born circa 1865 and died in 1934/35. This 'Pilgrim Pass For Mecca' was issued to him by the British in 1932.
Wan Ahmad and his father Engku Khatib were the penghulus of Ulu Tembeling, based in Kampong Bantal.
They were descended from Malay royalty and had been in the service of the Sultans as 'panglima perang'. A snippet says :
Surat daripada Sultan Zainal Abidin ibni al marhum Sultan Ahmad, Negeri Terengganu...Residen Pahang telah memohon Engku Wan membawa surat itu kepada baginda dan meminta menangkap sembilan orang yang membunuh orang Perancis di Tembeling, Hulu Pahang. . . . Baginda telah menyerahkan empat orang tersebut kepada Encik Engku Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib untuk diserahkan kepada Residen Pahang. Baginda juga memerintahkan supaya mencari dan menangkap 5 orang yang lain
They helped fight off pirates, brigands and other trouble causers.
The fantastic "royal lineage tracker" Royal Ark (which is run by the orang putih) lists theroyal ancestry of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Wan Khatib as follows :
4) Y.M. Tun Pedah Yusuf bin Dato' Bendahara Paduka Raja Tun ‘Abdu’l Majid [Tun Da] (s/o Tun Inah). He had issue, a son:
a) Y.M. Tun ‘Abdu’llah bin Tun Da. He had issue, five sons and a daughter:
i) Encik Wan Endut bin Tun 'Abdu'llah [Engku Khatib]. He had issue, six sons:
(1) Haji Encik Engku Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib Wan Endut. m. (first) Daing Khadija binti Muhammad (d. 1909, bur. Bukit Angus, Kampong Bantal, Ulu Tembeling), daughter of Encik Muhammad, of Brunei. m.
…He had issue, three sons and a daughter . . .
There is something unique about Kampong Bantal and Ulu Tembeling. The people here speak Malay using a vocabulary that is different from other parts of Pahang or Malaya. They speak a Brunei influenced Malay.
They use Brunei Malay words like 'ong' (you), 'pek' (do not have), 'auk' (yes), masek (what) and tapok (to hide).
The Brunei link is connected to the last line above : married (first) Daing Khadija binti Muhammad (d. 1909, bur. Bukit Angus, Kampong Bantal, Ulu Tembeling), daughter of Encik Muhammad, of Brunei.
Wan Ahmad bin Engku Wan Khatib from Kg Bantal married a noble woman from Brunei and brought her back with him to Ulu Tembeling. How did that happen?
In the early 1890s, Brunei suffered some serious problems from pirate gangs. Serious enough for the Sultan of Brunei to ask for help from the British. The British in turn asked for assistance from the Sultan of Pahang, whose family already had a long relationship with Brunei.
The Sultan of Pahang in turn summoned his pahlawan perang Wan Ahmad bin Engku Wan Khatib from Kampong Bantal to go to Brunei and help put down the piracy problem.
Wan Ahmad sailed to Brunei circa 1892 and met the Sultan of Brunei. He spent about six months in Brunei and did put an end to the piracy in the South Sulu Sea led by two bad guys named Sa'ad and Sa'id.
Wan Ahmad sailed to Brunei circa 1892 and met the Sultan of Brunei. He spent about six months in Brunei and did put an end to the piracy in the South Sulu Sea led by two bad guys named Sa'ad and Sa'id.
Here is a Brunei chronicler about the event :
For his great service to the Sultanate of Brunei, the Sultan of Brunei gave Wan Ahmad some rewards and awards. This is where the story gets really interesting.
The rewards included Wan Ahmad's marriage to Dang Khadijah (Dayang Khadijah) - daughter of a Brunei nobleman.
My friend Wan Shahrir said that when his great grandfather returned to Kg Bantal with his Brunei bride, she also brought with her maids, assistants and pengiring from Brunei. This Brunei entourage also settled down and married into Kg Bantal. As a result they introduced the Brunei Malay dialect into Ulu Tembeling.
Other than a new bride, the Sultan of Brunei in 1892 also gave Wan Ahmad a few other things namely some colonial cash money (which the family still kept in a box in Kg Bantal until it disappeared) and a pending or royal belt (which could carry a title with it)
HRH the Sultan of Selangor wearing his pending or royal belt.
Finally the Sultan of Brunei of 1892 gave Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib an award of land close to Limbang (along the Sarawak - Brunei border).
Although the exact size is not known to Wan Shahrir, it was believed to be a whole stretch of land along the Limbang valley area. It was the Sultan's gratitude to Wan Ahmad for solving the piracy problem. Meaning it was not just one or two acres.
All this has been lost to history (Wan Ahmad died 81 years ago circa 1935).
.
.
Wan Ahmad never returned to Brunei to claim the land that was awarded by the Sultan.
.
After Wan Ahmad's death, the family kept the royal pending.
After Wan Ahmad's death, the family kept the royal pending.
.
Some years after Malaya's Independence in 1957 his grandson Wan Abdul Jalil (the father of my friend Wan Shahrir), in the fervour of intense patriotism that existed at that time, handed over the royal pending to the Pahang State government for their safekeeping. They do not know what has become of the pending since then.
Some years after Malaya's Independence in 1957 his grandson Wan Abdul Jalil (the father of my friend Wan Shahrir), in the fervour of intense patriotism that existed at that time, handed over the royal pending to the Pahang State government for their safekeeping. They do not know what has become of the pending since then.
.
There is an endnote to this story.
.
As late as the 1990s HRH Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei sent a palace official - a Pehin - on a mission to Kg Bantal looking for the descendants of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib and Dayang Khadijah. (A Pehin is a titled person - between a Dato and Tan Sri). However by that time the descendants of Wan Ahmad had dispersed throughout Pahang and Kuala Lumpur.
.
The Pehin asked and was taken to visit the grave of Dayang Khadijah.
.
"Makam Bukit Hangus Kg Bantal Ulu Tembeling - Ini makam Engku Khatib (Wan Endut) bin Tun Abdullah dan Puteri Daing Khadijah dari Brunei yang berkahwin dengan Che Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib."
.
The Pehin from Brunei asked about the family and told people in Kg Bantal that his visit was also about the issue of Wan Ahmad's "pesaka" in Brunei. No further details about what the Pehin said were recalled.
Finally the Pehin also asked the people if anyone knew the whereabouts of the royal pending that the old Sultan of Brunei had awarded to Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib in 1892. Of course the village people did not know anything about that as well.
124 years have gone by since a brave warrior by the name of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib travelled all the way from Kg Bantal in Ulu Tembeling to Brunei to help the Sultan of Brunei put down a pirate uprising.
Although he returned with a Bruneian wife and an entourage that gave birth to generations of people with links to Brunei he never pursued the title and the lands that were awarded to him in gratitude by the Sultan of Brunei.
Since the last visit to Kg Bantal in the 1990s by the emissary of the reigning Sultan of Brunei no further attempts have been made by the Sultanate of Brunei to contact the descendants of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib.
The fact is the descendants of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib are many and still alive.
Perhaps it is not too late for the present Sultanate of Brunei to conclude the matter of the older Sultan's gratitude to Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib to a good resolution.
It is not a difficult thing to do especially with the power and authority of the Sultanate.
Plus Brunei's recently introduced Shariah Laws - which promise justice and fair dealing - have well worked out methods to address such issues.
It is also a fantastic opportunity to reestablish old links between the people of Brunei and Pahang. There must be descendants on both sides who may want to meet and know each other. I can think of the media interest.
Wan Shahrir can be contacted at sri_tribuana7@yahoo.com
There is an endnote to this story.
.
As late as the 1990s HRH Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei sent a palace official - a Pehin - on a mission to Kg Bantal looking for the descendants of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib and Dayang Khadijah. (A Pehin is a titled person - between a Dato and Tan Sri). However by that time the descendants of Wan Ahmad had dispersed throughout Pahang and Kuala Lumpur.
.
The Pehin asked and was taken to visit the grave of Dayang Khadijah.
.
"Makam Bukit Hangus Kg Bantal Ulu Tembeling - Ini makam Engku Khatib (Wan Endut) bin Tun Abdullah dan Puteri Daing Khadijah dari Brunei yang berkahwin dengan Che Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib."
.
The Pehin from Brunei asked about the family and told people in Kg Bantal that his visit was also about the issue of Wan Ahmad's "pesaka" in Brunei. No further details about what the Pehin said were recalled.
Finally the Pehin also asked the people if anyone knew the whereabouts of the royal pending that the old Sultan of Brunei had awarded to Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib in 1892. Of course the village people did not know anything about that as well.
124 years have gone by since a brave warrior by the name of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib travelled all the way from Kg Bantal in Ulu Tembeling to Brunei to help the Sultan of Brunei put down a pirate uprising.
Although he returned with a Bruneian wife and an entourage that gave birth to generations of people with links to Brunei he never pursued the title and the lands that were awarded to him in gratitude by the Sultan of Brunei.
Since the last visit to Kg Bantal in the 1990s by the emissary of the reigning Sultan of Brunei no further attempts have been made by the Sultanate of Brunei to contact the descendants of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib.
The fact is the descendants of Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib are many and still alive.
Perhaps it is not too late for the present Sultanate of Brunei to conclude the matter of the older Sultan's gratitude to Wan Ahmad bin Engku Khatib to a good resolution.
It is not a difficult thing to do especially with the power and authority of the Sultanate.
Plus Brunei's recently introduced Shariah Laws - which promise justice and fair dealing - have well worked out methods to address such issues.
It is also a fantastic opportunity to reestablish old links between the people of Brunei and Pahang. There must be descendants on both sides who may want to meet and know each other. I can think of the media interest.
Wan Shahrir can be contacted at sri_tribuana7@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.