Author: Huang Baoxin (---.brunet.bn)
Date: 03-21-02 01:18
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is not a Chinese.
There are two versions of the story of Ong Sum Ping. One says that Sultan Ahmad (r.1408-1425), the 2nd Sultan of Brunei is Ong Sum Ping (Sejarah Melayu, etc.). Another says Sultan Ahmad is Pateh Berbai, the brother of Sultan Muhammad Shah (r.1363-1402) and not Ong Sum Ping.
The Brunei royal genealogy follows the version that says Sultan Ahmad was Pateh Berbai and not Ong Sum Ping.
The 'Tarsilah Raja-Raja Brunei' (Genealogy of the rulers of Brunei, first compiled in ) recorded that Ong Sum Ping married the daughter of Sultan Muhammad Shah, the first Sultan of Brunei and he was elected chief of Kinabatangan (Today Kinabatangan region in Sabah, Malaysia).
Ong Sum Ping's sister married Pateh Berbai, the brother of Sultan Muhammad Shah. And because Sultan Muhammad Shah had no male heir, he was suceeded by his brother, Pateh Berbai, who became Sultan Ahmad, the second Sultan of Brunei.
Sultan Ahmad and his Chinese consort (Ong Sum Ping's sister) had a daughter (Princess Ratna Kesuma), who married Sharif Ali, an Arab, (25th generation) descendant of Prophet Muhammad, from Taif, Arabia. Sultan Ahmad had no male heir and the throne was passed to his son-in-law, who ascended the throne as Sultan Sharif Ali (r.1425-1432), the 3rd Sultan of Brunei. Today, the royal genealogy of Brunei follows the male line from Sultan Sharif Ali. The royal genealogy of Brunei can be traced back 1,400 years to the Prophet Muhammad (AD 571-632). Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is the 18th generation descendant of Sultan Sharif Ali and 42nd generation from the Prophet Muhammad.
Even if Sultan Ahmad was really Ong Sum Ping, that doesn't make the royal family of Brunei Chinese, because (generally accepted) one's ethnicity is passed down through the male line of the lineage.
|
|
The Asiawind forums are provided to you by
InTechTra Inc.
