Gedung Kuning1, at No

BIBLIOASIA APR – JUN 2017 Vol. 13 / Issue 01 / Feature Hidayah Amin is an award-winning author who has written several books and academic articles, and presented at international conferences. She has also produced more than 70 documentaries, audio resources and short films. Hidayah blogs at https://hida-amin.blogspot.sg/ Gedung Kuning1, at No. 73 Sultan Gate, with its regal yellow walls and stone eagles Gedung perched on the main gate, was the mansion that was originally built for a bendahara or prime minister. When I was growing up in gthe house, I never once thought of my family as being privileged or different in any way. When the government acquired my childhood home in 1999, it began to dawn on me Memories of a Malay Childhood (Facing page) Haji Yusoff posing proudly with his Kuning that having been born in Gedung Kuning and classic Austin Six at the entrance of Gedung Kuning raised in Haji Yusoff’s family, I was part of in 1939. Courtesy of Hidayah Amin. an important heritage. (Above) A 1930s painted portrait of the author’s Gedung Kuning, or the “Yellow Mansion”, was once the home Haji Yusoff bin Haji Mohamed Noor was maternal great-grandfather, Haji Yusoff bin Haji my moyang, or maternal great-grandfather, Mohamed Noor, wearing a songkok, a traditional cap of Tengku Mahmud, a Malay prince. Hidayah Amin shares made of velvet worn by Malay men, and a Western- and the patriarch of Gedung Kuning, hav- style jacket. Courtesy of Hidayah Amin. anecdotes from her childhood years growing up in the house. ing bought the mansion in 1912. As he had passed on before I was born, I never had the opportunity to meet the man with his Regency style of architecture that the sharp nose, white moustache and gentle British brought with them from India. Apart eyes that seemed to gaze directly into mine from the Istana next door, there is no other every time I passed by his portrait in the building like it in Kampong Glam. Rumour living room. has it that the Istana and Gedung Kuning Haji Yusoff was a man who loved were designed by George Coleman, Singa- his family only second to God. He was a pore’s first and, for many years, its finest respected merchant who later became architect, famous for the palatial mansions a pillar of the Malay community in early he designed for rich merchants and gov- Singapore. Gedung Kuning is as regal as ernment officials in the early days of the its name and owner – a testament to Haji settlement. Although this has never been Yusoff’s legacy – and I am proud to share substantiated, the two buildings certainly his legacy with you. Here are two extracts show evidence of his influence. from my book, Gedung Kuning: Memories It was Tengku Mahmud who painted of a Malay Childhood. the house yellow – the colour of royalty in traditional Malay society – which is how it No. 73 Sultan Gate came by its name, Gedung Kuning (literally “Yellow Mansion”). But family fortunes Rumahku, syurgaku, my house, my para- change and Tengku Mahmud’s father, Sul- dise. To many of us, the home is definitely tan Ali, mortgaged the house to an Indian where the heart is and Gedung Kuning, moneylender to pay his debts. This was at No. 73 Sultan Gate, Kampong Glam, around the end of the 19th century and it is was such a home to four generations of here that my story properly begins. the Haji Yusoff family. Built in the mid- As a boy growing up in his father’s 19th century, Gedung Kuning was once house in the vicinity of today’s Kandahar the home of a prince – Tengku Mahmud Street, Haji Yusoff would have passed by – grandson of Sultan Hussein of Johor Gedung Kuning everyday, no doubt looking with whom Sir Stamford Raffles of the up in awe at the majestic mansion. Later, East India Company negotiated a treaty in adult life, when he learned that Gedung to establish a trading post on Singapore Kuning was mortgaged to an Indian mon- island back in 1819, thus setting in motion eylender, he must have been disappointed events that would lead to the creation of at how easily the Malay royal family “gave” modern-day Singapore. away a significant piece of their history to Gedung Kuning was, and remains, people regarded locally as “foreigners”. a grand and stately affair, symmetrical in An industrious young man on the way plan with classical detailing in the Anglo- up in life with dreams, Haji Yusoff strongly 36 37 BIBLIOASIA APR – JUN 2017 Vol. 13 / Issue 01 / Feature Fasting was such a big deal for us kids. Ramadan was not complete without were people from all walks of life. Some Fasting made us feel grown-up. the daily trips to the Sultan Mosque to collect of them looked rather poor and the bubur Wak Lah [my uncle, Abdullah] used bubur masjid (mosque porridge). Almost was probably their only meal for the day. to tell me how Haji Yusoff emphasised the all the mosques in Singapore prepared I remember when I was preparing food at importance of fasting and prayers to his the porridge which they gave out freely to a homeless shelter in Washington D.C., I grandchildren. The strict Haji Yusoff, who the public. I remember queuing with Wak thought of bubur masjid. How good it would attended the Sultan Mosque daily, some- Lah, bringing two plastic containers for the be if we could serve bubur masjid during times splashed water on his grandchildren helper at the mosque to fill up with delicious other months as well! to wake them up for morning prayers. porridge. The bubur was so popular that if Our next destination after collecting Since the girls of Gedung Kuning were you did not queue up early, you might not bubur at the Sultan Mosque was Bussorah more obedient, they were never given the be able to get it. The simple porridge of Street, the street leading up to the front “water treatment”. Sometimes, Haji Yusoff rice, little morsels of meat and nuts, was of the mosque. The street was lined with used his walking stick to tap the legs of so tasty that sometimes non-Muslims shophouses facing each other, in front of the sleeping boys to wake them up. He would also stand in queue. In the queue which were makeshift tents, sheltering had a strict ruling during Ramadan; the grandchildren who did not fast could not (Left) The Ramadan Charity sit at the dining table with the rest of the Fair along Jalan Sultan and family. Forgoing a seat at the long table full Bussorah Street in 1988. of delicious food and dessert was indeed a Sultan Mosque is in the back- tragedy. So every child at Gedung Kuning ground. Ministry of Informa- attempted to fast, even if it was for only 30 tion and the Arts Collection, courtesy of National Archives (Left) A photo taken on 2 June 1955 showing the facade of Gedung Kuning at No. 73 Sultan Gate. The rear of the house faces Kandahar Street. Courtesy minutes a day. of Singapore. of Hidayah Amin. I particularly disliked waking up before (Below) Haji Yusoff’s family (Right) Gedung Kuning was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act in 1999, and underwent restoration until 2003. Currently housed within the building is dawn for the sahur, the early morning meal, posing in front of Gedung the Mamanda restaurant that serves Malay cuisine. Photo by Erwin Soo, 27 October 2012. Courtesy of Flickr. eaten just before fasting begins for the day. Kuning for a family gather- ing in 1958. Hajah Aisah Emak [my mother] and Nenek [my grand- (Haji Yusoff’s second wife felt that Gedung Kuning should return to was interested in acquiring Gedung Kuning all of his second wife’s children and their mother] would gently shake my lethargic and Hidayah Amin’s great- the Malay community. At the same time, and a deal was struck. children in turn, at one point in time six body but I would always mumble, “five grandmother) is seated 6th he needed to provide a home for his second However, when the time came for the household units could be found all living more minutes...” They would finally give from the right. On her right wife and her children, and so he decided he supposed “Sultan of Trengganu” to sign the together beneath the one roof. up and go downstairs to eat. I would only is Nenek, Hidayah’s grandmother, while her mother would spend his entire savings to purchase legal papers for the sale of the property, Gedung Kuning was to remain in the run down about 20 minutes before sunrise Emak is seated 4th from the Gedung Kuning. My grandmother, Nenek, it was Haji Yusoff who turned up instead. family for almost a hundred years and life to eat whatever food was left. I remember right. Courtesy of Hidayah who was Haji Yusoff’s eldest daughter, Though horrified, the Chinese owner could there was akin to a century of history in the telling them that I preferred to eat before Amin. said he paid about $37,000 in cash, a huge not back out of the deal, especially when making. Sadly, nearly 50 years after the going to bed and not having to wake up so amount in those days, to R.M.P.C Mootiah Haji Yusoff offered to seal the transaction death of Haji Yusoff, the Gedung Kuning early in the morning. But of course, as I Chitty in 1912.

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