More than 400 descendants of Hussin Ma Kwantung gather, get to know the family lineage
By Rosli Mansor
For the first time, more than 400 family members of Hussin Ma Kwantung’s descendants gathered at the Family Day Ceremony of Muslim descendants from Kwantung, China at a hotel in Taiping, today.
The chairman of the programme, Azmin Ariffin, said that everyone who gathered today came from all over Malaysia, including Singapore.
Elaborating on the lineage and history of Hussin Ma’s descendants in this country, Azmin said that Hussin Ma had come from China and migrated to Malaya in 1920.
“In the past, many people from China, especially Muslims, migrated and travelled. It is said that Hussin Ma was a farmer who came to Penang and then to Pangkor.
“Taiping was chosen as the venue because Kuala Sepetang here was the first settlement of the Hussin Ma family after migrating from Hainan Island in Mainland China around 1920.
“Based on the collected data, there are more than 2,000 individuals descended from Hussin Ma in Malaysia and Singapore, but we limited the attendance to this ceremony to only 400 people due to space constraints.
“Although this is the first time such a large-scale ceremony has been held, the response has been very encouraging,” he said at a press conference on Sunday.
Among the special guests present at the ceremony were the former Chief of Police, Tan Sri Ismail Omar; as well as the President of the Confederation of Malaysian Hainan Associations, Datuk Lim Chiew An.
When asked why the ceremony was organised, he said it was to reunite Hussin Ma’s generation while also wanting to ensure that the legacy of the family does not simply disappear.
“Our plan for the next year is to gather more members of this lineage family.
“This ceremony is also planned to be held every two years, perhaps in another location and involving a larger scale,” he added.
Until now Hussin Ma Kwantung has seven generations with various backgrounds including intermarriage.
Hussin Ma also had seven children namely Tok Wa Hassan, Tok Ngah Kalsom, Tok Lang Rajmah, Tok Jang Che Ah, Tok Ndak Mohamad, Tok Cik Md Ariffin and Tok Su Hanafiah.
