Bugis roots and books

Once upon a time in 1850, Abdul Jamak Majok of the Bugis tribe of Wajo was born on the island of Sulawesi. He came to the Malay Peninsular with his father and later married Aminah Derima @ Dirwa, also a Bugis and descendant of Raja Chempa and Daeng Pabitah of the Royal Bugis Council of Johor. Living in Parit Bakar, Muar, Johor, Jamak and Aminah brought up a family of ten children, two of whom died in infancy. The remaining eight, one of whom was my great-grandfather Andak, eventually married and gave their parents 52 grandchildren (the second generation). By 2008, the Jamak clan was down to its sixth generation with 1,550 direct descendants.

The story of the Jamak clan is told in The Jamak Family - Continuation of a Bugis Heritage by Shadida Ibrahim, a third generation Jamak, who had the help of members of other branches of the clan to produce it, including yours truly as chief editor.

The book begins with an overview of the clan's Bugis heritage before relating the story of Abdul Jamak Majok. It then goes on to cover the first and second generation Jamaks, some prominent members of the clan and those of the greater Jamak family. The book even shares a few Bugis recipes...

... and ends with charts of the eight branches of the Jamak clan up to the third generation, an example of which is:

My great-grandfather Andak Jamak and his wife Marjilah Yusof were a bit more productive, with nine children who then went on to add 45 of their own to the clan.

The uniqueness of this book is that it was produced for the First Jamak Family Reunion held on 20 December 2008, when about 800 members of the clan, ranging from those in their 80s to just a few months old, congregated at Puspanitapuri, Putrajaya. Organising the reunion was no easy feat - it took a committee comprising members of the Andak and Abdul Majid branches a whole year to put together. But even that would not have been possible without the detailed family tree drawn up by second-generation Jaffar @ Mohamed Abdul Majid, a man with a priceless sense of humour. After he passed away, the responsibility of documenting the family tree was taken up by his son Jalaluddin Jaffar. 

Jalaluddin, or Pes as we call him, is the undisputed penghulu (chief) of the Jamak clan - he knows everyone and everyone knows him. In conjunction with the Family Reunion, he produced a comprehensive directory of the clan as at December 2008.

The directory is remarkable in that, for each branch of the Jamak clan, the members are listed by generation, together with the names of their spouses and children, marital status, years of birth and passing away, and even house telephone numbers, mobile numbers and e-mail addresses (if provided). Each is also assigned a reference number.

The reunion was a brilliant family team effort, with my graphic designer brother Zaid roped in as well to design and produce the programme booklet. Guess who took the photos for the booklet?

Co-Chairpersons Siti Zainab and Datin Kalsom.

Joint Secretaries Zawiyah and Zuraidah, Treasurer Roslina, and, clockwise from left, 

Mohd Amir, Ungku Shereen, Jamaludin, Ungku Balkis and Noridah 

of the F&B Committee.

Faridah, Hashimuddin and Ungku Marsila of the Activities & Exhibition Committee.

Jalaluddin (Pes), Jalaludin and Hanafi of the Protocol & Invitations 

(+ Pes - Family Directory) Committee.

Clockwise standing left, Normah, Alina, Rafeah and Puan Sri Azizah 

of the Sponsorships & Gifts Committee, and Shadida and Sharifuddin 

of the Publication, Video & Photography Committee.

Hood, Hashimuddin and Pes of the IT & Website Committee.

It was a professionally-run event, which shouldn't be a surprise given the backgrounds of the committee members. Everyone wore colour-coded name tags identifying his/her family branch and generation. And MC extraordinaire Dato' Mahadzir Lokman, also part of the family, ensured the day's programme proceeded smoothly (the pictures below are from the commemorative album produced after the reunion). A highlight was the soft launch of Datin Kalsom Taib's biography of her father, Taib Andak - In a Class of His Own.

Registration desk.

Souvenir tee-shirts for sale.

Lots of food for everyone.

Fun activities for the kids.

Poco-poco, a form of line dancing.

Giving respect to the elders and ending the event with Geylang Sipaku Geylang, 

a Malay folk song of goodbye with the hope of meeting up again someday.

An event this big was bound to find its way into the newspapers, but the committee made sure it happened by preparing a press kit. It worked!

The best remembrance of the Jamak Reunion is the group photograph of those who came (almost all; some were too shy while others were outside busy doing other things). The photograph had to be shot in three sections and then put together into one panoramic image. It could be ordered in different sizes and we opted for the six-foot-long version, which hangs proudly on the wall leading to the dining room of our home.

Photo-break #6

Mash, owned by my young rider friend Eda Wong - 

shot this photo while they were competing at the Premier Cup in Putrajaya 

on 21 June 2009.

My friend - baker, designer... and writer

I am fortunate to have some remarkable women as my friends and one of them is Noorshin Ng Abdullah. A single mother, she uses her God-given talents to support herself and her son (now a young adult). She bakes really delicious cakes, for which she takes orders, and designs and makes clothes. Busy with these pursuits as well as taking care of her aged parents (until first her mother passed away and then her father not long after), she still finds time to be actively involved in NGOs. And Noorshin is also a writer, having written, illustrated and published her very first book, The Beauty of Covering Up, in 2010.

Front cover

It's a beautiful full-colour book produced with the help of Yasmin Gan Abdullah, with whom I co-wrote Hajj - The Humbling Journey in 2011, and her production team. The designer, Junaida Samsu, also worked on the book by Yasmin and me. 

On the back cover, Noorshin explains that her book "is a humble means of sharing my thoughts and ideas on the beauty of Muslimah covering ourselves not only with garments that conceal our aurah but also with beautiful manners and character that come our cloak of humility as Muslims." It is dedicated to her mother...

The chapters, each with its own pleasing colour scheme, begin with the first two reminding readers 'You Are Beautiful' and that 'Beauty (comes) From Within'. In the chapters that follow, Noorshin shares 'Words From Al-Quran', 'Branches Of Iman' and 'Striving Towards Modesty'. She also collected the experiences of women who donned the hijab in 'What Our Sisters Have To Say'.  

A page from 'You Are Beautiful'.

A Chinese Muslimah relates her experience in 'What Our Sisters Have To Say'.

The experience of a corporate high-flyer.

Noorshin has included several design ideas (all illustrated by her) in the book to show the many possibilities of covering up without looking boring.

Friends need to support one another. Noorshin had many in regard to her book; there were those who helped her get started, who instilled confidence in her, who gave helpful comments, who helped towards part of the publication costs. My contribution was to offer my house for introducing Noorshin's book to guests that included my family and friends, as well as those of Noorshin and Yasmin's, on 12 February 2011. 

Waiting for others to arrive.

Pot-luck.

Some of Noorshin's designer clothes on sale.

It was a simple but memorable occasion, during which guests not only got a copy of Noorshin's book for themselves and others but were also able to catch up with one another and make new friends. Noorshin's road towards and in Islam is a fascinating one and I hope that her next book will be a memoir. By the way, Noorshin also blogs at Enjoy Your Life, where she shares her values and experiences.

The exquisitely designed endpaper of The Beauty of Covering Up.

Note: The book's pages above are reproduced with Noorshin's permission.

Living books

Imagine a walking, talking, living book, someone representative of a group of people that you may have prejudices about, that you may have stereotyped, that you may be curious about. Imagine being able to 'borrow' this Living Book for a couple of hours, during which you may talk to the book and ask any questions, with a view to understanding what the book is all about.

That's the idea behind the Human Library, initiated in 2000 by five Danish youths as an activity to encourage dialogue and build relations at a summer festival. At the festival, the 'books' wore t-shirts and readers were given library cards that allowed them to take out three books during the event. Posters were put up as teasers, such as: 

The text in the lower right corner means: Borrow a person you normally think you would not like. We have a wide selection of unpopular stereotypes. Everything from gays to hip-hoppers to immigrants. Take a walk, have a talk, or don't. Just remember to give back the person within two hours.

The Human Library has since grown into a worldwide movement to break stereotypes by "challenging the most common prejudices in a positive and humorous manner." The Human Library is a free service and the Living Books are volunteers, people who are subjected to stereotyping and prejudices, who are open about and willing to share their experiences. A Living Book can be someone who is physically challenged, a cancer survivor, a police officer, an elderly person. To me, it may be anyone with a story to tell. 

The Human Library can adapt to any setting. In Denmark, for example, parliamentarians were offered Living Books to borrow so that they could understand the situation in regard to minorities in the country. Public libraries, festivals, schools and book fairs are other places suitable for the Human Library. In 2011, the Human Library was active in the United Kingdom, Canada, Greece, USA, Italy, South Korea, Romania, Switzerland, Cyprus, Romania, and even Russia. 

So... what about Malaysia?

Photo-break #5

Sunset on the Sarawak River 

- photo taken on a river cruise on 1 January 2012.