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| Pangeran Zainal Abidin ibni Al-Marhum Duli Pangeran Haji Besar |
KAMPUNG MERUNTUM BESTOWED AWARDS
TO 30 PEOPLE
By Saberun Abd. Kadir
If you are travelling by road from Kota Kinabalu towards
Papar, you will reach Kampung Meruntum after proceeding about three kilometres
beyond the township of Putatan.
Kampung Meruntum is a simple kampong not very much different
from any other traditional kampongs in Malaysia. If you mention this kampong
the first thing that comes into your mind is the scenic beauty of a lagoon on
the right hand side of the highway. The
lagoon is a favourite fishing spot among small time and part time fishermen in
the district of Putatan. This lagoon is
also the venue for traditional sea sports held annually by the state
government.
Apart from these features not many people are aware that
Kampung Meruntum has another speciality i.e. there exist in this kampong a real
Royal Family headed by the Ketua Kampung or village headman. The ancestry of the Royal Family of this
kampong may be traced back to the late Sultan Husin Kamaluddin, the 16th Sultan
of the Sultanate of Brunei who ruled
Brunei from 1705-1730AD. The Syariah
High Court of Kota Kinabalu in its ruling in the year 2002 decided that this
ancestry to be genuine
Pangeran Zainal Abidin ibni Al-Marhum Duli Pangeran Haji
Besar is the seventh direct descendent of Sultan Husin Kamaluddin. He does not only inherit the royal bloodline
but a whole set of royal regalia complete with royal standard and
insignia. The regalia has become the
family heirloom since Pangeran Anak Untung and handed down generation after
generation to prove the authenticity of the family’s claim of royal
heritage.
Perhaps Pangeran Zainal is the only Ketua Kampung in
Malaysia that keeps a complete set of royal regalia and perhaps he is the only
Ketua Kampung who is addressed by his subjects as Your Royal Highness.
Last Saturday evening (18.10.08) Pangeran Zainal as
figurehead of his royal family bestowed awards to 30 people in a special
investiture ceremony held in the village Multipurpose Hall in conjunction with
the Hari Raya celebration.
Not less than 500 people attended the ceremony. Among the prominent figures in attendance
was His Royal Highness Prince Mudarasullail Kiram who represented the Sultanate
of Sulu. His consort and a royal
entourage of 7 people accompanied the prince.
Among the local VIPs was Orang Kaya Kaya Haji Yahya Ahmad Shah the
District Chief of Putatan and Encik Malai S. Deo who represented Datuk Yong Ooi
Fah, the Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister of Sabah and Assemblyman for
Tanjung Aru Constituency.
The Multipurpose Hall where the investiture was held was
beautifully converted into a throne room resplendent with royal dais in royal
yellow
Colour.
The ceremony marked the flourishing royal tradition of the
Meruntum Royal Family and a less known fact that royal court practices are
still alive and thriving in the state of Sabah which is one of the state in
Malaysia without a royal figurehead.
The ceremony commenced with the entry of His Royal Highness
into the throne room accompanied by his consorts, two royal princes, princesses,
regalia bearers and the wazirs (cabinet members). The Yang Dipertuan (as Pangeran Zainal is
popularly addressed) sits on the dais flanked by his two sons and a number of
high-ranking members of his royal family to the right and left wings of the
dais. Throughout the ceremony all articles of the
royal regalia were displayed on two credence tables flanking the royal dais.
To confirm the investiture, the watikah was first read aloud
by the Grand Chamberlain. The watikah is
a special investiture instrument specially worded in a mixture of Arabic and
Malay and a special mantra in ancient Javanese.
After the watikah was read out, each person to be knighted
moved courteously to the beat of gamelan music towards the royal dais and menganagkat sembah (saluting in royal
style) several times at calculated steps before descending on the knees before
the royal dais.
His Royal Highness then places the Koran briefly on the head
of the recipient and uses the Keris Panjang Diraja or Kris of Sate to dub the
knighted, before placing the sash of knighthood on the shoulder of the person.
At the end of the ceremony, HRH Pangeran Zainal delivered
his speech of state. He said according
to the annals of history, before the arrival of the British on the shores of
Borneo, the West Coast of Sabah was under the rule of the Sultanate of
Brunei.
When Sultan Husin Kamaluddin
ascended the Brunei throne, he bestowed the territory of Dumpil Meruntum to his
son Pangeran Anak Untung as Tanah Tulen.
(In Brunei term, Tanah Tulin is a state gift to be inheritance
permanently by the recipient and his posterity). The Sultan also conferred his
son as lord of the territory with complete set of royal regalia, royal standard
and insignia.
HRH Pangeran Anak Untung ruled Tanah Tulen Dumpil Meruntum
(TTDM) from 1730AD-1790AD. The size of
TTDM was approximately 43 miles in diameter spanning from Tanjung Dumpil in the
north to the mouth of Kinarut River in the south. In the north it shares a common border with
Tanah Putatan owned by Pangeran Muda Hashim and to the south it shares a common
border with Tanah Sungai Kinarut and Pulau Dinawan owned Pangeran Abdul Rauf (father of Pangeran
Fatimah the owner of Tanah Karambunai).
The ownership and stewardship of TTDM was kept and descended
in a smooth succession from father to son, generation after generation. Pangeran Anak Untung was succeeded by his son
Pangeran Kermaraja who was then
succeeded by his son Pangeran Daud, then Pangeran Ahmad, then Pangeran Abdul
Wahab and then Pangeran Haji Besar.
Pangeran Zainal Abidin is the eldest son of Pangeran Haji Besar and is
the seventh direct descendent of Sultan Husin Kamaluddin.
TTDM was an autonomous state and was ruled according to
Islamic laws and traditions. Dumpil
became a popular trading and anchorage centre for foreign vessels. Dumpil point was clearly marked in old maps
used by ancient sailors. Business was
thriving and TTDM was in the height of its glory during the reign of Pangeran
Kermaraja.
The royal palace was called the “Astana Tamba Ruyung” and practised
a form of customs and traditions, which is a marriage between Brunei and
Mataram traditions called “Adat Istiadat Astana Tamba Ruyung”. This adat is jealously guarded until today
and the investiture proceeding was one of them.
According to the Pangeran Zainal, the Pangeran Anak Untung
family is a very large family the descendents of which are known to spread far
and wide throughout the Malay Archipelago.
The royal family of TTDM was closely related to other royal families of
Mataram, Banjarmasin, Sambas, Sulu and Sulawesi. In the olden days when
movement was unrestricted, they were very much together, but with the emergence
of new nations, they became separated and kept to themselves and became
strangers.
The attendance of HRH
Prince Mudarasulail Kiram of the Sulu Sultanate in the ceremony is a proof of
proximity between the two royal households,
Under the colonial rule large number of Pangerans left TTDM
and other Brunei territories for fear of colonial reprisal. They migrated to far away places, dropped
their Pangeran initials and adopt a new identity in the new land. After sometimes they became obscure and
untraceable. One of the purposes of the annual gathering is to recall these
long lost relatives back to Dumpil Meruntum at least once a year. Response from relatives far and near has been
very encouraging. In this gathering, a
delegation of 50 newly recovered relatives from Peninsular attended the
investiture.
Pangeran Zainal said the gathering is a powerful tool for
unity and may be utilised for other purposes to benefit the government and the
people He however, lamented that many people including those in position of
power fail to understand or simply ignore history.
History showed that TTDM was never sold,
ceded or parted to any body before or after independence. As early as 1903 his forefathers had made
tireless efforts to regain ownership of their properties from British
dominance. The effort was continuous
until today.
Failure to understand this
fact of history by a lot of people including the authorities has put his family
on disadvantage of enjoying the benefits of their own private inheritance. He hoped that the government might do
something to protect the rights of the rightful.
Meanwhile, should the
descendents of Pangeran Anak Untung continue to watch in silence and let their
inheritance plundered by other people through ignorance? The family members
should wake up and unite to help the government to help themselves.
Source : Saberunkadir
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