By Nurdiyanah R. –
For the sake of hope that family relationships remain intact after knowing the origin of the family and the genealogy of the extended family, a book titled Director Awang Abdul Rahman (PAAR) bin Pehin Udana Khatib Awang Muhit’s Path.
Accordingly, in order to seek blessings in the production of the book that has been written by one of the descendants of the large family, Haji Janaidi bin Haji Gunong, more than 300 members of the PAAR family from Tutong District and Brunei and Muara District have taken advantage of their weekend to gather at the Silaturahim Council and Thanksgiving at the Multipurpose Hall, Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University (UNISSA), Kampung Sinaut Campus, at the beginning of last October.
Present as the guest of honor at the event was the Rector of UNISSA, Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Norarfan bin Haji Zainal, who is also one of the Purih descendants of the PAAR family.
The ceremony continued with the presentation of the book to PAAR representative from Tutong District, Haji Latif bin Bungsu and PAAR representative from Brunei and Muara District, Major (B) Haji Abdul Kani bin Haji Mohd Said.
THE MEETING BECAME A REALITY
In his welcome speech, Colonel (R) Haji Abidin bin Haji Abdul Hamid as the chairman of the event expressed his gratitude for the historic and meaningful meeting which became a reality after they as purih, descendants of PAAR were separated for approximately four to five generations.
He explained that the initial meeting of the descendants of PAAR began in 2018, as a result of the persistent efforts of Pengiran Haji Abdullah bin Pengiran Haji Jaludin who indirectly paved the way for the writing of the book. At the same time, there are also digital writings that have been produced by one of the dangsanak with different contents and titles.
When recalling the moment of the first meeting, Colonel (B) Haji Abidin added that he and two other family members had held a meeting with Pengiran Haji Abdullah around the beginning of 2020. So from that meeting, a follow-up meeting began that found some of the descendants of PAAR from both -two districts.
He also admitted that Pengiran Haji Abdullah should be considered as the forerunner of the meeting. However, he also expressed his wish that it would be good if all family members did not call themselves as descendants of Brunei and Muara District PAAR or Tutong District PAAR because they are all heirs to the same PAAR.
THE RESULTING MOMENT OF THE RESOURCES
Meanwhile, Haji Janaidi, as the author and publisher of the book, expressed his gratitude to the presence of Allah SWT with the blessing of wanting to strengthen family ties and a high sense of love, resulting in a book in which the process of gathering information and details of family members contained in the description The family tree diagram in the book has been actively worked on since 2015 and stopped in 2017 and then such efforts continued again in 2023 until the printing process was completed.
According to him, the process of gathering information and details of the descendants in the book was actually obtained from a collection of family sources who were also the book’s sources, including Haji Ahmadbi bin Haji Othman, Pengiran Haji Abdullah and Haji Sabri bin Haji Othman.
Similarly, the findings of oral stories from Haji Bolhasan bin Haji Bagol, Haji Johari bin Haji Ibrahim, Haji Abdul Latif bin Bungsu, Major (B) Haji Abdul Kani bin Mohd Said, Haji Suaib bin Haji Mohd Taib, Colonel (B) Haji Abidin, Haji Mohd Yusof bin Haji Dulamin, Awang Jamudin bin Haji Abdul Hamid, Pengiran Jalil bin Pengiran Haji Jaludin, Dayang Siti Afsah binti Haji Abdul Kadir and Hajah Zaiton binti Haji Mohsin.
Among those who contributed to the production of the book were Haji Hamzah bin Haji Hassan, Haji Kawi bin Haji Abdul Kadir, Haji Adinin bin Haji Mayalin, Haji Mohd Yakup bin Othman and Haji Asbinin bin Haji Mayalin.
In addition, explained Haji Janaidi, sources from books published by the Brunei History Center (PSB) such as books Origin of the Tutong Tribe and the information found in the book Dato Hackam also helps a lot in tracking PAAR descendants. The geni.com application which provides a family tree square is also used as a comparison material to identify the lineage and branch of Dato Godam’s lineage.
Touching briefly, PAAR is the sixth generation to Dato Godam. PAAR is the son of Pehin Udana Khatib Awang Muhit bin Pehin Siraja Khatib Awang Hassanuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya Perdana Awang Radin bin Manteri Abdul Harith bin Manteri Puteh bin Dato Godam. His mother, Dayang Sarbanun binti Muhammad Yusof bin Pehin Orang Kaya Digadong Awang Badaruddin bin Manteri Harith bin Manteri Puteh bin Dato Godam.
According to a footnote on page 186 of the book Dato Hackam published by PSB, the PAAR Family was the earliest resident of Kampung Tanah Burok after moving from Kuala Parit, Sungai Kelakas, Tutong District. PAAR comes from Kampung Sungai Kedayan, Brunei District and Muara married to Dayang Siti from the Tutong Tribe in Kampung Kuala Birau, Tutong as the third generation heirs believed before.
After tracking down family members in the vicinity of Kampung Kuala Birau to find out Dayang Siti’s biological relatives, there was no convincing information or explanation obtained, in fact there were also stories and rumors that Dayang Siti was a subordinate of Dayang Fasah (PAAR’s wife) who also came from from Sungai Kedayan Village.
PAAR was buried in Sugan Tutong Cemetery (register number 1632) while Dayang Siti is likely to be buried in Telinting Tutong Cemetery. However, efforts will continue to be made to find the authenticity of Siti’s ancestor’s burial place.
The content of the book is clearly only focused on the members of the PAAR generation from the first to the fourth generation, besides the validity of the arrangement through observations and comparisons found in the records of the genealogy book from Pengiran Hajl Abdullah and Haji Asbinin; and also a genealogy book belonging to Haji Hamzah and Haji Mohd Yakup. A digital genealogy is also produced by Awang Abidin bin Haji Othman.
“Some of them have had a face-to-face discussion examining and explaining the genealogy found in Dato Godam’s book with the late Yang Berhormat Pehin Jawatan Dalam Seri Maharaja Dato Seri Utama Professor Honorary (Dr) Haji Awang Mohd Jamil Al-Sufri bin Begawan Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Seri Paduka Haji Awang Umar, as Principal of PSB at that time,” shared Haji Janaidi.
The date 10 May 2023 was the first meeting between the Tutong District PAAR and the Brunei and Muara District PAAR held at the Borneo Restaurant Kopitiam Sungai Hanching where a total of 26 people from two lineages were united in the meeting at the initiative of Pengiran Haji Abdullah and Colonel (B) Haji Abidin .
Following the first meeting, added Haji Janaidi, it has led to the organization of several family events such as Eid celebrations, family friendly events and so on until the recent friendship and thanksgiving ceremony.
“This illustrates the bond of warmth of PAAR’s ancestors that is undeniably still strong despite being separated for quite some time. It was on that impulse that this book was published,” he said.
He also shared that on March 27, a meeting at one of the PAAR family’s purih residences as an effort to establish the validity of the book’s content was held, followed by a final review session with several members of the Brunei and Muara District PAAR and Tutong District PAAR which was held on 10 May and last May 18.
SPIRITUAL MEANING OF FRIENDSHIP
On that occasion, Haji Janaidi hoped that the book could be improved, especially in finding and completing information about the first generation PAAR and beyond.
He believes that the fifth generation and beyond can continue the collection in completing the main family tree diagram of PAAR Tutong District and PAAR Brunei Muara District based on this book so that more progressive and productive efforts will be implemented and achieved.
“Friendship is not just getting to know each other, shaking hands or apologizing by shaking hands. There is something more genuine than all that, which is the mental aspect and the sincerity of the heart.
“The word wasal and relationship itself, which is ‘silah’ or ‘wasal’ which means connecting or bringing together and ‘rahim’ which means love. Bringing together usually contains the meaning of something that is scattered and scattered into something that is united and strong again,” he said at the end of the joint meeting. Gem Media.
