IT is during Ramadan that I am most intimate with the heart of Negeri Sembilan, even though the schedule of board meetings for companies, foundations and societies carries on unabated in Kuala Lumpur. As each year passes, I become ever more appreciative of the fact that, just over an hour’s drive away from the federal capital (assuming I avoid the rush hour) are sights, sounds, smells – even a spirituality – that ever fewer colleagues seem to relate to.
I have denounced hotel buka puasa buffets on numerous occasions, and the only one I attended this year was sponsored for the children of Yayasan Chow Kit. After being treated to new baju melayu, they showed their musical prowess to a hugely impressed crowd, belying the hardships many of them have experienced.
But the children of the villages dotting the valley of Seri Menanti – even at the 500-capacity primary school where, because of rural-urban shift, only 55 children remain – knew the songs of the same musicians, proving the converging effect of technology on the consumption of popular culture. Still, the reality is that their future merantau will depend as heavily on the distribution of economic opportunities as for the children of Chow Kit.
And yet, against the backdrop of the humble domes and slightly upwardly pointing roofs of the homes of their nazirs belonging to ancient sukus, communities speak of proud histories: that the wood for the tiang seri of this mosque came from that tree in this jungle seven decades ago; that the faithful still visit the grave of a saint who healed Tuanku Muhammad a century ago hoping for divine favour; or that the penghulus of this luak have unwaveringly served the royal family for nine generations.
These folk stories put into context a more academic history spurred this month by coinciding interests in two previous Rulers: Yamtuan Antah and Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Both are intriguing figures in their own right, and their experiences provide many insights into political authority, colonialism and geopolitics of their respective eras. But it is the story across the generations that provides the most significant lesson.
In 1874, Yamtuan Antah personally led his troops to fight British forces stationed at Sungei Ujong, there because the Undang had requested protection from Her Britannic Majesty (a situation reminiscent of the Pangkor Agreement earlier that year). Letters submitted to the Governor in Singapore relate how surveyors were told to, “Balek! Balek!” and cease their invasion, lest rifles be fired and decapitations occur. When conflict came, Yamtuan Antah’s forces advanced and nearly defeated the enemy at Seremban, but Gurkha reinforcements and ambushes (which led to the awarding of a Victoria Cross) accompanied by cannon fire repelled them back to Seri Menanti, where the palace was torched.
The reign of Yamtuan Antah’s son and successor, Tuanku Muhammad, represented a period of reconciliation and reconstruction. It was then that Negeri Sembilan’s unity was restored and a new treaty signed with the British, paving the way for the establishment of the Federated Malay States (with Perak, Selangor and Pahang). Within this arrangement Tuanku Muhammad made significant contributions in the areas of education (where he advocated girls’ school in Negeri Sembilan and the creation of the Malay College), defence (in which he was the first Ruler to call for a locally raised military that became the Malay Regiment) and administration (in which he ardently defended decentralisation in budgeting and policymaking).
But it was in Tuanku Muhammad’s son and successor Tuanku Abdul Rahman that the British episode came to an arc. Growing up in rural Negeri Sembilan with the knowledge of the traditional constitution as defined by adat, he went on to study law at the Inner Temple in London where he learnt about modern constitutionalism and the rule of law. This synthesis of knowledge was applied when he returned to work in the civil service, and as a magistrate, before being proclaimed Yang di-Pertuan Besar in 1933. After World War II he vigorously protested against the Malayan Union (in particular the underhanded way he was coerced into signing the MacMichael treaty), and later he actively contributed to the agreements leading up to the Federation of Malaya in 1948 and Merdeka in 1957: an event that finally resolved the relationship with the British that began with conflict during his grandfather’s reign. Nonetheless, he continued to advocate the universal values of democracy as the head of state of an independent Malaya.
So when, during Ramadan, I hear stories about how, after growing up in humble rural surroundings, my ancestors often returned, I know that they, as I am finding out for myself, were always inspired by the heart of Negeri Sembilan.
Tunku Zain Al-Abidin is founding president of Ideas.