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By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, June 25: A descendant of the late Sultan Tengah—Sarawak’s only recorded Sultan in history—recently had his dream of visiting his ancestor’s mausoleum come true.
Indonesian journalist Denny Kurniawan, 42, was part of the country’s media team travelling all the way from Pontianak, Kalimantan to Kuching via land transport to attend the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) from June 23 to 25.
I was introduced to him during a RWMF media briefing at Damai Beach Resort, Santubong here last Thursday (June 22).
After the function, I offered to play host and bring Denny for a ride to visit the Kuching city centre for the rest of the day.
While driving down from Santubong to the city, Denny who tagged along, begged me to make a brief stop at the Sungai Tengah Mausoleum which is located in front of the Kampung Santubong junction along Jalan Sultan Tengah.
He told me that he had passed by the mausoleum three times ever since he arrived in Kuching but never had the chance to visit the place.
Being a good host, I decided to make the stop.
From there, I learnt that he had been very hopeful of visiting his ancestor’s tomb on his first trip to Kuching as he is in fact the direct descendant of the late Sultan Tengah.
Denny explained that the eldest son of the late Sultan Tengah was Raden Sulaiman or Sultan Muhammad Shafiuddin I who was crowned the first Sultan of Sambas.
His bloodline’s reign lasted until the 15th and last Sultan of Sambas named Raden Muhammad Mulia Ibrahim or Sultan Muhammad Mulia Ibrahim Shafiuddin.
The last Sultan of Sambas had five children, namely Raden Berti, Raden Maryam, Raden Muhammad Taufik, Raden Anisah and Raden Asmara.
One of Raden Maryam’s children was Daeng Sumaryati who is Denny’s mother. His mother still lives in Sambas presently.
For the record, the late Sultan Tengah or Sultan Ibrahim Ali Omar Shah was born as Pengiran Raja Tengah (Middle Prince) and was one of the sons of Brunei’s ninth Sultan, Muhammad Hasan.
He was made the Sultan of Sarawak in 1599, a frontier territory far from the centre of the Brunei kingdom.
In 1641, Sultan Tengah and his party settled in Batu Buaya, Santubong while en route to Sarawak. It was during this time in Batu Buaya that he was assassinated by one of his escorts and he was buried there (now the Mausoleum).
The Sultan Tengah Mausoleum in Santubong is open to visitors from 8am to 5pm daily. — DayakDaily
