Things weren’t the same for the fictional Al-Jaffari clan after the violent power grab by the Malacca Sultanate in the 1500s. Females who were monarchs in Perak were forced to step down and give way to a system that favours men and male heirs. Young women had their fathers and brothers killed, some forcibly taken by the Malaccans as concubines, the ultimate indignity. To avoid male next-of-kins – or usurpers – confiscating their properties, the Al-Jaffari women tactically married outsiders so these fell into their husbands’ hands. The latter were only too grateful to play along with their blue-blooded wives, who orchestrated the manoeuvres. One particular marriage in the 1870s to the son of a sinkheh, or a Chinese immigrant, enraged the men of the Al-Jaffari clan. It was also frowned upon by the sinkheh community. In that period, trouble was brewing amongst the Chinese kongsi or triad groups who swore allegiance to noble houses already at each other’s throats. The marriage made an outcast out of the Al-Jaffari women who supported the union, but they got to keep their lands. The son of the sinkheh got to opt out from the dismal life of a gang member.
See See ‘The Al-Jaffari family’, ‘The Raden Family’, ‘The Fanged King’ and ‘Moyang’.
Salina Christmas 