Sibu Tales : My Aunts' Favourite Elder

 1930's Sibu was thriving and bustling. The rubber tappers were enjoying the rewards of their hardwork. My grandfather's rubber and rice mill, together with the ice mill were making some profits in Pulau Kerto. He had bought land quite cheaply to set up the factory complex with two other partners.

Relatives around Sibu often came to visit, usually by rowing their own little boats or taking the covered sampan, called Du Roong in Foochow. Usually the relatives would have something to ask from Great Grandfather, or to mill their rice. Great grandfather was quite a leader, with great knowledge about management and herbs. He was also known for his calligraphy although he was basically self taught.

A favourite visitor according to my aunt was Nguong Nguong Moo (my generation would call her moo oh ie Moo Poh in Mandarin)

She and my great grandmother got on very well, so my aunts would also enjoy her visits. She would bring a basket of clothes, her comb and an umbrella. The children would be jumping for joy when they sighted a covered sampan coming from the direction of Sg. Bidut, which was along Sg Igan.

Grand Aunt would bring news of other relatives from Sg. Bidut as she was a very eloquent Foochow lady. And she was also full of legends and fairy tales, a walking library.

The kids enjoyed her visit so much that even after a week they would not allow her to go home. They would hide her comb, and umbrella and even the basket.

By the end of her visit,the children would have heard lots of stories, and finished eating the biscuits and sweets she brought.

Life in a small commercial complex like Hua Hong Factory was very limited. There were about 100 factory workers , mainly Ibans, Melanaus and some Foochows. Then there were only three managerial families, including our family.

Grand Aunty Nguong Nguong Moo (Grand Uncle Kung Nguong was older than Grandpa) was a treasured teacher who provided a lot of informal education for my aunts and uncles before they went to school in Sibu, the major town opposite the Pulau Kerto. Her repertoire of stories would include Chinese legends, Bible stories, famous Chinese Confucius quotations, and other moral stories, good deeds, and even bandit stories. Kids loved to hear about how the bad people were gotten rid off or killed and how the good triumphed. 

My aunt said that all these oral stories were so good that they are still clear in her mind and at age 90 she would gladly retell them to her grand children.

But unfortunately today, technology has changed our life style. Young people do not behave in the same way any more nor do relatives come to visit riding on a covered sampan.

Grand Aunty Nguong Nguong was born in Fujian, so she had a lot of stories my aunties would love to hear. And because of her eloquence, the girls were mesmerized by her story telling.

Her daughters inherited her eloquence, but unfortunately all have passed on by the time I was a teenager. The youngest one passed away about 10 years ago. I was not in time to do all the recording of their stories.