BUKAN ORANG SEBARANGAN
In search of my ancestry

During my early childhood I have always been reminded by the family elders to uphold the good name of our family. The most vocal of the family elders was my uncle Wan Mohamed, fondly known to everybody as Ayah Mat. He always stressed, nay, he insisted that we should protect the good name of the Wan Ngah family. I can still remember his stern words “Kita kena jaga nama baik keluarga kita. Kita bukan keturunan orang sebarangan”. Ayah Mat was the eldest son and the third child of the couple Kapten Haji Wan Ngah Wan Abdul Rahman and his wife Hajjah Rafeah Ahmad, my maternal grandparents.

Haji Wan Ngah Bin Panglima Besar Hajjah Rafeah Ahmad (Tok Darat)
Wan Abdul Rahman in the Uniform of Captain of the Askar Timbalan Setia Negeri (JMF)

Hajjah Rafeah binti Ahmad (Tok Darat)

Ayah Mat was literally “the voice of the family”, speaking always on behalf of my mother’s family-members. We, myself, my siblings and other cousins took that advice, or decree, as some saw it, at face value. It was incumbent upon us to keep ourselves out of trouble and not to do anything that might taint or smear the family’s name. What we never did, until quite recently was to ask and get an explanation from him or from other family elders, what was meant by“orang sebarangan”

Fast forward to the present.

About four years ago, my elder brother Yahya and cousin Faridah Aris organized, for the first time a Hari Raya gathering of the “Waris Keluarga Kapten Haji Wan Ngah”. The one day gathering that saw about 300 waris-waris of Kapten Haji Wan Ngah gathered in the compound of the Johor State Secretary’s Residence in Johor Bahru for a day of silatur rahim and getting to know the extent of Kapten Haji Wan Ngah’s family and off- springs. The Guest of Honour was my aunt, Hajjah Wan Fatimah, the second oldest surviving member of the Haji Wan Ngah’s nine children.

The only photograph of Haji Wan Ngah’s complete family, taken in Nong Chik, Johor Bahru in 1966.

Standing (R-L), Wan Abdul Rahim (Anjang), Wan Kamariah (Teh), Wan Mohamed (Ayah Mat), Wan Fatimah (Cu) and Wan Mahmood (Pak Haji Kecik).
Sitting (R-L): Wan Tom (Encik Ngah), Wan Wok (Mak Hatta), Hajjah Rafeah (Tok Darat), Wan Esah (Mak Besar) and Wan Halijah (Mak Aa)

The other member present was Haji Wan Mahmood, the youngest member of the family, while the eldest surviving child Wan Kamariah who lives in Perth, Australia with her daughter Hamidah (Nem) could not come because of health reason.

I never realised that the well organized and attended gathering would open a new chapter for the descendents of Kapten Haji Wan Ngah and Rafeah Ahmad.

It took me almost three years after that gathering to realise that what Ayah Mat told us 50 years ago did actually mean something, and something very significant. Till now not many of the waris-waris were actually aware of the fact and significance of the newly discovered secret as it has not been “officially disseminated to everyone. Insya Allah, when all the facts have been properly verified, everyone would be told.

During that gathering, my nephew Amran Idris started a web-site on Kapten Haji Wan Ngah at http://www.hajiwanngah.com/. That web-site contained useful information about my Grandfather and detailed information about his nine children and their families. It was also intended to be inter-active where members of the extended family could share information and updates. Sadly due to minimal participation and contribution from family-members that web-site was rarely updated and I believe it has now been suspended. It was from this web-site that I finally learnt my great Grandfather’s real name was Panglima Besar Wan Abdul Rahman. Wow! A Panglima Besar! Must have been a high court official. This new revelation actually sparked my interest to find out more about my Grandfather’s ancestry.

My Grandfather, Wan Ngah mengembara from Terengganu to Johore when he was about 17 years old. From stories I heard from family elders he accompanied his step-mother Tok Gobek and half-brother Wan Ahmad (Tok Chik) and came to Johor Bahru in search of a better life and prospect for both himself and his half brother. He later joined the Askar Timbalan Setia Negeri Johor, or the Johor Military Force (JMF), the private army of the Sultan of Johor

http://asianmil.typepad.com/stage3/2009/06/the-johore-military-force

For a long time I have been wondering how a non-Johorian had managed to become a Captain in that outfit when it has always been a rule, till to-day I believe, that you have to be an anak watan, i.e a Johorian to join the force and to rise through the rank to become an officer. How did my Grandfather do it? From stories I heard, my Grandfather did, in the beginning, face a lot of hostility and envy from his comrades-in-arm until an emissary from the Terengganu Palace came down to Johor and explained my Grandfather’s family background and origin which was Johor. That put an end to all suspicion and hostility, and I am sure the JMF must have been proud to welcome back an anak watan from a distinguished family.

Hence began my quest to know as much as possible about my ancestry from my Mother’s side. I was lucky that earlier this year I met a businessman from Terengganu, Dato Suhaimi Hashim, who I have been reliably informed was quite close to the Terengganu Palace. He confirmed about the existence of a Panglima Besar Wan Abdul Rahman who played a significant role in the modern day development of the Terenggan Sultanate. He was the one who told me about the publication Dirgahayu Tuanku – SEJARAH KESULTANAN TERENGGANU 1708 – 2008, a publication by Yayasan Di Raja Sultan Mizan. He mentioned that my great Grandfather’s name was mentioned several times in that book. When I was in Terengganu earlier this year I managed to buy a copy of that book from the Yayasan. Lo and behold! My great Grandfather’s name was indeed mentioned several times and not only that, his official name was Panglima Besar Orang Kaya Megat Sri Mahkota Wan Abdul Rahman, a highly respected and decorated court official from Terengganu. That title was bestowed upon him by Baginda Sultan Omar, the ninth Sultan of Terengganu (1831, 1839-76). Not satisfied with this new information I began a google search on Panglima Besar Wan Abdul Rahman. One of the many postings or sites I came across was a geni.com site which showed a public profile of the Paglima. This public profile is operated by Tunku Dato Iskandar Dzulkarnain Tunku Dato Ismail. That web-site can be found here:

http://www.geni.com/people/panglima-besar-orang-kaya-megat-sri-mahkota-wan-abdul-rahman/6000000010040785868

From here I managed to trace Panglima Wan Abdul Rahman’s ancestors and if the information I have gathered are correct, then my maternal Grandfather, Kapten Hj Wan Ngah was the 7th. generation descendent of Bendahara Tun Habib Abdul Majid Al Idrus, also known as Habib Abdul Majid Padang Saujana, the 19th Bendahara of the Johor Sultanate during the 16th century. Tun Habib Abdul Majid (1637 – 1697), in turn was the great-grandson of Sayyid Abdullah Al-Aidrus, a Hadrami Arab immigrant who settled in Acheh and married the daughter of Sultan Alauddin Mansyur Shah. Their son, Sayyid Zainal Abidin, migrated to Johor and married the granddaughter of Tun Sri Lanang by his son, Tun Jenal the 5th Bendahara of Sekudai. It was from this union that the Maharaja Sri Diraja, the Dato Pasir Diraja (Sayyid Ja’afar) and Putri Bakal were born. Putri Bakal was believed to have later married Sultan Mahmud Shah II. The name “Habib” was a local Achinese variant of the “Sayyid”, an honorific title used by descendants of Prophet Muhamad SAW. However, for political expediency, descendants of Tun Habib decided to abandon the use of the honorific title “Sayyid” and instead use the title “Tun”. Thus Tun Habib’s several sons by different wives were all known as Tuns; Tun Abdul Jalil, Tun Abdullah, Tun Abdul Jamal, Tun Mas Anum, Tun Zainal Abidin and Tun Mas Jiwa. These six sons were all later appointed as Bendahara. Tun Abdul Jalil and Tun Tun Zainal Abidin later established their own independent ruling houses or Sultanate in Johor-Riau and Terengganu, respectively. My maternal grandfather lineage began with Tun Abdul Jamal, who became a Bendahara with the title Bendahara Paduka Raja Tun Abdul Jamal. Tun Habib Abdul Majid died in Padang Saujana, Kota Tinggi in 1697 and was buried there. That place is now known as Kampung Makam, and I was there last Hari Raya to pay my respect to my great Ancestor (Al Fatihah).


The writer standing next to the sign-board put up by Tourism Malaysia Kampung Makam, Kota Tinggi



Makam Bendahara Sri Maharaja Tun Habib Abdul Majid
The 19th Bendahara of Johor (1637 -1697)
Kampung Makam, Kota Tinggi, Johor

Now it becomes clear why Ayah Mat was very particular about us children maintaining the good name of our family. Yes, we are not keturunan orang sebarangan. My only regret about the whole thing is that the family elders should not have kept this information to themselves. They should have told us about our great ancestors much earlier. Imagine that we had to find out the hard way about our ancestors, and they were, as put it nicely by Ayah Mat “bukan orang sebarangan”.

My task is not over. I am hoping to meet up with a local resident of Kampung Makam, Che Gu Ahmad Bahari who, I have been made to understand, has written a book about Tun Habib Abdul Majid. I am interested to find out what new information he has managed to compile and put in his writing. Another task will be to find out why somewhere along the line, the honorific or predicate “Tun” was suddenly changed to “Wan”. This was detected when tracing the family tree of Tun Habib. The fifth generation family members of Tun Aminuddin were Tun Sulaiman Dagang, Che Wan Besar (F), Che Wan Tok, Che Wan Limah (F) and Che Wan Endut (F). Tun Sulaiman Dagang’s son, my great-grandfather was named Wan Abdul Rahman. Insya Allah, I will write about this once information are gathered, vetted and verified.

I am happy that the task I set upon myself a few years back is now almost completed. All information mentioned in these write-ups are based on printed materials which were gathered from the print and electronic media. I must admit that I have not been able to verify them, but since they have already appeared in print, I accept their authenticity.