kristal unggu

YOU MALAY OR CHINESE ???
THE FAMILY HISTORY ACCORDING TO MUNIRAH
NIRAH'S DAD : Used to be a Siamese.
MOM: Chinese.
and NIRAH?: Be prepared for the shock of your life...

MUNIRAH AND MOM


MUNIRAH AND MOM, LULU LOH BEE LOO


FLOWERS IN SYDNEY


KAMPUNG GIRL LOST NEAR PADDY'S MARKET, SYDNEY


PROLOGUE

Our daughter Nirah, naturally has the mixed look of a little bit slit Chinese eyes and some Malay features and that has robbed her some peace of the confusion over her looks by friends, acquaintances and strangers alike. Probably that prompted her to explain why and how she got the looks that she has got by writing her family history (her version) and emailing it to all her friends, her mom included.

Well, I have added some pictures as well, relevant to 'our family history and background'. So here is the story, at least according to Munirah....

OUR FAMILY HISTORY: according to MUNIRAH



"YOU MALAY OR CHINESE ?

If there's a story that I never told anyone, it would be the origins of my Borneo face. I never really bothered going out of my way to say much, so the easiest would be to tell people, " My dad's Malay. My mom's Chinese." Go make yourself something to drink and come back. This is an interesting relevation of what makes me, me.

My dad was a sweet young man from Pattani, exploring the world and somehow found his way to Sabah. That was where he met my mom, a wonderful Chinese woman from Chongqing who ironically don't really look so Chinese. I wouldn't know how they really got started, but love being love has its way of glueing people of different backgrounds, even when they are as different as coffee and curry powder. They were blessed with a wonderful life as well as friends. And so they got married and let a decent life. *yawns*

Then came a little bump on my mom's belly. My dad's friend Uncle Rashid Mohd Noor, being one of the rare Malays from the Peninsula at that time was excited to be my god dad, according to my mom. He wanted to know if my dad would honour his wish of naming me. Friendship do possess a power with limits unknown, and as you may have it, my dad wouldn't bite his thumb at his good pal, much to my mom's frustration. She wanted to name her first daughter Dazene.:)

Somehow, Uncle Rashid got involved in a freak accident a few weeks to my birth, and it was a mixture of sadness and joy for my dad. To honour his friend's wish, he wanted to register my name as Munirah when the registrar told him that it is very much a Muslim name. My dad gave a green and so my name has a dramatic history to it.

Over the years, my dad got attracted to Islam and embraced it with my mom; that's how both my parents have Abdullahs as their pseudo last name. It wasn't so surprising as my dad right up to his adolescence years had grown in a predominantly Muslim area, Mai Kaen. That is how Mongkut Saikhwan became Muhamad Abdullah and Lulu Loh Bee Loo became Mariana Hawa Loh Abdullah.


BEING THAI, MONGKUT ( NIRAH'S DAD) WAS NATURALLY A MUANG THAI BOXER. CHAMP OF 18 PROVINCES...


MONGKUT ALSO REPRESENTED THE VILLAGE FOOTBALL TEAM.

MONGKUT'S (NIRAH'S DAD'S) SIAMESE CAT (COZ MONGKUT IS SIAMESE MEH...)


THAI ELEPHANT IN MAI KAEN (NIRAH'S DAD'S KAMPUNG)


THE FAMILY HOUSE IN MAI KAEN (NIRAH'S DAD'S KAMPUNG)


MONGKUT'S RELATIVES BACK HOME IN THAILAND


THE RIVER TO MAI KAEN (NIRAH'S DAD'S KAMPUNG)


BOATS TO MAI KAEN (OUR KAMPUNG)


And my Borneo face? I guess it coincides with my parents history of Sabah.:)


NEERAHDEE MONGKUT SAIKHWAN CHITTAPONG
a.k.a. MUNIRAH."

EPILOGUE

So, that's our family history according to Mongkut's daughter, NEERAADEE MONGKUT SAIKHWAN. And my full name was actually
MONGKUT SAIKHWAN CHITTAPONG.

Got it?

Yours truly,

Muhamad Abdullah a.k.a. Mongkut Saikhwan Chittapong.