Third book appreciating unique heritage of 'Baba Nyonya' launched

KUALA LUMPUR: In appreciating and preserving the unique heritage of Malacca's Baba Nyonya left behind by the late Tun Tan Siew Sin, a third book on his ancestral home has been released.
Although Siew Sin and his father Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock are not Chinese literate, they collected and kept numerous memorable artifacts from their ancestors' homeland since the 1770s.
The book, Within the Walls of Tun Tan Siew Sin's Ancestral Home, is co-authored by Siew Sin's daughter Datin Paduka Tan Siok Choo and family friend Datuk Dr Lee Yow Ching.
It is a follow-up to the previous publication Ancestral Home of Tun Tan Siew Sin in 2015.
The book showcases the cartouches, paintings, calligraphy, embroideries, lanterns, carvings, figurines and photographs found within the walls of Siew Sin's ancestral home.
Launching the book, International Trade and Industry Minister II Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan related the special connection he shares with Siew Sin, who was the first minister of his portfolio, then known as the commerce and industry ministry.
Siew Sin was also finance minister for 15 years.
"Although I have visited her family's ancestral home in Malacca several times, the visits didn't give me the time to view the calligraphy, paintings, cartouches (pronounced cart-too-shays) and numerous photographs hanging on the walls of the Tan family home.
"By reading this book and looking at the photographs, I can fully appreciate all the items in the ancestral home that have belonged to the Tan family since 1875," he said.
Ong paid tribute to Siew Sin's efforts in pioneering the development of affordable higher education for the younger generation.
"Under his leadership, on July 14 1968, (then) Minister of Education Tan Sri Mohd Khir Johari announced that the government had agreed to the establishment of the Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) College," he said.
Ong, who is also MCA secretary-general, pointed out that today TAR College has produced more than 180,000 professionals in all fields.
Subsequently Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman was also established and to date both universities in total have over 54,000 students.
Speaking on some of the artifacts at the ancestral home, Ong said some of the carvings depict scenes from the Three Kingdoms novels, which were translated into the Baba language for the enjoyment of the non-Chinese speaking Babas and Nyonyas.
"Why aren't more efforts being made to translate famous literature from China, India and Indonesia into Bahasa Malaysia to enhance greater understanding among all ethnic groups?
"Hopefully, by reading the book more Malaysians realise that old items, even if they are not valuable in Ringgit terms, should be treasured rather than thrown into a trash bin," he said.
Also present at the launch was former Gerakan president Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, who was instrumental in the research, translation and documentation of all the items in both Chinese and English.