The_King Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 Tengku Shawal, a royal descendant, gives a tour of his former home the Istana Kampung Glam SINGAPORE - In the modern republic of Singapore, several seemingly ordinary people working in offices or driving taxis can claim to be of royal blood, descendants of a 19th century monarch who ceded control of the Southeast Asian island to the British. But few residents in one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities are even aware of this lineage, a sore point with Tengku, or Prince, Shawal, acclaimed by some members of his family as ‘head of the house of Singapore’. “They still exist?” is a response the 51-year-old says he often receives when he tells people he is one of the descendants of Sultan Hussein Shah - whose treaties with the British led to colonial rule and the founding of the modern country. Shawal is one of several Singaporeans who bear the honorific name Tengku, meaning prince or princess in Malay, and claim links to the Sultan. Until the turn of this century, some of them still lived in their ancestral home, a crowded, dilapidated palace, before they were evicted by the government which turned it into a museum. PHOTO: The Straits Times file Seventy-nine descendants, of whom 14 were living in the palace, were offered payouts as part of colonial-era deal to provide for the Sultan’s family, the government said at the time. Many of the others were living overseas, it said. The legal beneficiaries’ names were not made public, making it difficult to verify royal claims. The Singapore government, which has ruled unbroken since the city-state’s independence in 1965, told Reuters that all but one of the payments have been made but it was unable to share more details on the beneficiaries. “NOT A DYNASTY” Shawal, who showed Reuters government correspondence identifying him as a beneficiary, still regularly visits the palace-cum-museum and its nearby mosque and cemetery in the city-state’s Malay heritage enclave called Kampong Glam. Despite facing personal issues with his income cut and his logistics job at risk due to the coronavirus pandemic, Shawal says he devotes time to keeping the Sultan’s heritage alive by dressing in traditional royal costume and attending celebratory events. But gaining wider recognition is a challenge, even among a disparate and somewhat divided band of claimants. Other descendants warn about the dangers of living in the past or are too preoccupied with hardships of the present. “We are not a dynasty. It is not important whether you are a descendant of the royal family or not,” said Tengku Indra, a 67-year-old consultant who lived in the palace grounds as a child. “What is crucial is you must earn your life through meritocracy instead of enjoying an ascribed status based on ancestral position.” Indra was described as the great-great-great-great grandson of Sultan Hussein in an article by government-affiliated heritage society Friends of the Museums Singapore last year. Indra’s son, 40-year-old businessman Tengku Azan has a two-year-old daughter who would be one of the youngest descendants. He thinks future generations will not take much interest in the Sultan’s history. “The past inadvertently takes a back seat and remains uncherished,” he said. For other former palace residents, life in the outside world has been a rude awakening. Tengku Faizal, 43, said after he left the palace in 1999 he took a job as a cleaner in a condominium and would get teased for being the prince who handles garbage. He now drives a taxi but says he is struggling to make ends meet and has been given financial assistance to cover his daughter’s childcare fees. To help out, his wife has taken a part-time job in a McDonald’s outlet. “We are not smart, we are not rich,” Faizal said, speaking in English. “We got title only.” In neighbouring Malaysia, a constitutional monarchy where Sultans still play an active role in public life, honorific names are far more common. Of seven Singapore claimants Reuters interviewed, Shawal was the most eager about celebrating his heritage. But even he had his own doubts about passing on the “burden” of the royal title and did not give it to his daughter at birth. Now 27 and working for a biotech firm, Princess Puteri has reclaimed her Tengku name but says she also finds explaining her credentials an uphill task in a country that has largely forgotten this piece of history. Princess Puteri has reclaimed her Tengku name but says she also finds explaining her credentials an uphill task. PHOTO: Reuters https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/meet-singapores-forgotten-royals-living-ordinary-lives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meng.huat Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 sad for them. but they can only blame their grand ah gong for selling out to AMDK... no point cosplaying and trying to hang on to the past. they took the cash and enjoyed their time. time to move on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chamfer Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 I used to stay near kampong glam when i was a kid. The palace is just behind my kindergarten. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates469bc Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 if one is familiar with 19th century johor-sgp history, u will also know that their johor cousins suffered the same fate and now only survive in muar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Iskandar_of_Johor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meng.huat Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 26 minutes ago, chamfer said: I used to stay near kampong glam when i was a kid. The palace is just behind my kindergarten. zz grew up in KGK @HarrisY di pan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee_O Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 i thought we still have a royal family living amongst us and control sinkies lives? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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