SHEILA MAJID - A Real Malaysian (2)

Can you trace your ancestry? Where are your grandparents or ancestors from?
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My father was Javanese, and my mother has always been from Kuala Lumpur . My mother's great-great grandfather was actually a friend of Yap Ah Loy's. His name is Sutan Puasa, and is from the Mandailing clan, who are originally from Sumatra. The Mandailing are still around today; most of them are in Kajang.
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Sutan Puasa was the first of their settlers in KL, and most of the land was owned by him at the time. Later, he was involved in a clash with the Bugis. But the Mandailing lost because the British were behind the Bugis, and so they lost KL to Selangor.
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The history books never highlighted this because, well, they obviously write more about the Bugis family. I know why Bukit Nenas is named as such, for example. At the time the Mandailing wanted to keep the Bugis out, so they built many pineapple trees as a foil against the enemies.
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If my family meets any others from the Mandailing clan today, we say "Horas!", which is like "Aloha" in the dialect, though we don't know or speak it anymore lah.
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On my father's side, my great-grandfather was Javanese, who travelled to Mecca from Indonesia . They lived in Mecca for 10 years and were very religious. On his way back, my great-grandfather's ship was shipwrecked, and he ended up on the shores of Peninsular Malaysia. He set up home here, and changed his Javanese name to Haji Salleh.
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Then there was my grandfather Haji Shahid, and later my father Haji Majid. My father actually has a family tree that goes right up to the Majapahit warriors. My father's lineage comes from Raden Hussein, who is the brother of Raden Hasan, the first Muslim sultan of Demak in Indonesia . Both were the sons of Probowo Wijoyo the Fifth of Majapahit, who was Hindu.
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Did that rich ancestry feature in or influence your upbringing?
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Well, my father studied in Oxford University , England , so he is very English oriented. When we grew up he emphasised education, being an academic person. Therefore when I wanted to become a singer, he freaked. My parents encouraged us to listen to all kinds of music and sent me for classical piano lessons, but he never thought I was going to be a singer. He thought it was fine as a hobby, but not as a career.
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I'm glad to say, however, that before he passed away in 1996, he saw that I could make a living out of this, and that I was not in it for the wrong reasons. I love singing, I'm passionate about music, and am very much into my art. So I think when he passed away, he was quite assured that I'd be okay.
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Our parents were very religious, and we had our spiritual foundation, but they also brought us up in a very open-minded kind of way. When we were young, we could wear shorts and things like that, they never asked us to cover up. It was a very balanced upbringing.

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