BOOK REVIEW: Indonesian Roots, Sri Lankan Soil. The Journey of a Sri Lankan Malay from Soldier to Bhoomi Putra by Tony Saldin

Reviewed by Asiff Hussein

Any work on the Malays of Sri Lanka makes interesting reading. The Malays are, after all, a very colourful community with a fascinating history, a history that goes back only a few hundred years and which could be traced or reconstructed without encountering the pitfalls one often experiences in tracing the histories of other communities that go back much further in time. Indeed, one could say that they are one of the best recorded communities in the country with family histories which could be traced to their earliest known forbears who arrived here.

Tony Saldin’s book Indonesian Roots, Sri Lankan Soil: The Journey of a Sri Lankan Malay from Soldier to Bhoomi Putra captures this rich past in a most captivating way, from the very days his ancestor Enche Pantasih arrived here from the kingdom of Sumenep, Madura Island, East Java in present-day Indonesia.

He arrived here as a soldier serving the Dutch East India Company, which was arguably the world’s first multinational corporation with an army of over 10,000 strong. Tony traces with remarkable erudition the story of not only his clan which gets its name from Enche’s eldest son SalahudIn (shortened to Saldin), but also other related Malay families who chose to make Sri Lanka their home and their contribution to our nation. The Malays are second only to the Gurkhas in their military prowess and fearlessness. This book brings that out vividly.

The story of a military family such as Tony’s makes particularly interesting reading, not the least because his forebears passed on their stories to posterity in both written form and orally which the author has faithfully recorded. His paternal great grand uncle, Baba Ounus Saldin was not only a soldier but also a scholar who established two Malay newspapers including the first Malay newspaper in the East, the Alamat Lankapuri and kept a journal titled Kitab Segala Peringnathan (Book of My Memories).

Tony’s father Jamaldeen Saldin hailing from a long line of soldiers was a decorated war hero who fought in the Second World War and received as many as four medals for his bravery. However not all was well on the battlefront, for the British Army which he faithfully served had its own ways in deciding who should be in the front lines and face the brunt of the volley from the enemy, in this case the retreating Italians in Africa. Tony recalls his father telling him that the African soldiers were “cannon fodder” and made to face the enemy on the front line, with Asian troops in the centre and Europeans at the rear. The European officers would cry out for the African soldiers to advance with the command ‘Kwenda’, ‘Kwenda’!

Although Tony himself chose not to join the army, which was a break from family tradition, his story as a full-fledged bhoomiputra or ‘son of the soil’ (Both Malay and Sinhala share this word of Sanskrit origin) also makes interesting reading from his days growing up as a Malay lad to climbing up the corporate ladder of a leading Japanese enterprise. His childhood adventures typical of a Malay boy are indeed fascinating and brings out the very close relationship they had especially with the Sinhalese community.

Other interesting chapters deal with the traditional Malay military dagger known as the Keris which is supposed to have had supernatural powers, Malay mercenaries in the service of the Kandyan Kings, stories behind some place-names and Malay contribution to Sri Lankan culture by way of dress, jewellery, sweetmeats, relishes, pastimes and livelihood.

This is a book certainly worth reading by all those interested not only in the Malay community, but Sri Lanka in general.Reasonably priced at Rs: 1,800/- the book is available at Sarasavi, Expographics and Barefoot Bookshops.