Lahad Datu: A Suluk-Sabahan's take
- 9 years ago
Part-Suluk Cynthia Ong shares her thoughts on the clashes in her hometown of Sabah and the negative criticisms being yielded at the Suluk community since the attacks.
Read Cynthia's full letter below or visit http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/223016
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A Suluk-Sabahan's perspective
by Cynthia Ong
Mar 5, 2013
I considered being silent so as not to add to the noise. My loyalty to my ancestry calls me to speak. I speak as a Sabahan, a Malaysian, a South-East Asian, and a proud bearer of Suluk ancestry.
My pure Suluk maternal great-grandfather came to British North Borneo in the late 1800s. He was adopted by Sir William Pryer and his wife Ada, and became a key person in the administration.
This was likely the reason he was beheaded by the Japanese during World War II, and along with him, two sons and three sons-in-law including my grandfather who were involved in the liberation movement in some way. The women buried their dead men and somehow survived to raise the children alone. There are now six generations of us, in Sabah, in Malaysia, in South-East Asia and throughout the world.
No matter how distant we've travelled, Sabah has been home, where our roots are deep, where our ancestors are buried. Although I studied, worked and lived in Europe and the US, those roots and the cause of my ancestors called me back. I was very close to my half-Suluk grandmother who gave me an ongoing oral history lesson, of everything, through my childhood including stories of family relations to the sultan of Sulu.
Over the last few days, as I read articles, Facebook and Twitter posts on the Internet, I questioned why I am here. The black and white anti-ness and hate towards what felt like 'Sulukness' grew deeply personal and intense. I do not in any way condone or support the manner in which Jamalul Kiram's people invaded Sabah, and if they'd asked me I would have advocated a different course of action! That said, a part of me feels deep compassion for their quest for s
Read Cynthia's full letter below or visit http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/223016
****
A Suluk-Sabahan's perspective
by Cynthia Ong
Mar 5, 2013
I considered being silent so as not to add to the noise. My loyalty to my ancestry calls me to speak. I speak as a Sabahan, a Malaysian, a South-East Asian, and a proud bearer of Suluk ancestry.
My pure Suluk maternal great-grandfather came to British North Borneo in the late 1800s. He was adopted by Sir William Pryer and his wife Ada, and became a key person in the administration.
This was likely the reason he was beheaded by the Japanese during World War II, and along with him, two sons and three sons-in-law including my grandfather who were involved in the liberation movement in some way. The women buried their dead men and somehow survived to raise the children alone. There are now six generations of us, in Sabah, in Malaysia, in South-East Asia and throughout the world.
No matter how distant we've travelled, Sabah has been home, where our roots are deep, where our ancestors are buried. Although I studied, worked and lived in Europe and the US, those roots and the cause of my ancestors called me back. I was very close to my half-Suluk grandmother who gave me an ongoing oral history lesson, of everything, through my childhood including stories of family relations to the sultan of Sulu.
Over the last few days, as I read articles, Facebook and Twitter posts on the Internet, I questioned why I am here. The black and white anti-ness and hate towards what felt like 'Sulukness' grew deeply personal and intense. I do not in any way condone or support the manner in which Jamalul Kiram's people invaded Sabah, and if they'd asked me I would have advocated a different course of action! That said, a part of me feels deep compassion for their quest for s