Lawyer Burok makes the case for blood relations claiming their share of an estate
Siapa lu punya Kong? Mama lu dulu tinggal kat Spalain depan rumah Bibik Jambol? Bapak lu ya bukan si Baba Eng Siang punya adek number tiga? (Who is your grandfather? Did your grandmother live at Sepoy Lines last time opposite Bibik Jambol’s house? Isn’t your father Baba Eng Siang’s third younger brother?)
Those were the typically interrogative questions put forth by the bibiks and at times by the babas when meeting a young enche or nyonya.
The answer given usually went along these lines: “Kong gua si Koh Hoon Teck, dulu dia suka nyanyi dondang sayang. Dia ada tulis jenis panton buat satu buku nama Panton Panton Peranakan”. (My grandfather was Koh Hoon Teck, he used to love singing dondang sayang. He wrote a book on Peranakan poems).
Invariably the exclamation would be, “Oh, si Baba Koh Hoon Teck, dia tu paling choot miah nyanyi dondang sayang. Dulu dia tinggal kat Carpmael Road dekat Joo Chiat. Gua nya Kong sama Enche Koh ada chin sikit, Enche Koh nya bini nya Ngku kawen Kong gua punya Ko, so we are related lah!” (Oh, Baba Koh Hoon Teck was a famous dondang sayang singer. He used to stay at Carpmael Road near Joo Chiat. My grandfather and Mr Koh were a bit connected, Mr Koh’s wife’s uncle married my grandfather’s auntie, so we are related lah!)
The Peranakan community was a small and closely-knit one, and intermarriages were common among the prominent Peranakan families and even the humble relatives.
Hence many were interrelated. In the news recently, an estate of a bibik who passed away in 1939 included a bungalow which though dilapidated, was sitting on land valued at $4 million, attracting many who claimed to be her descendants. However, to be entitled to a share of that cache, one needed to produce proof of being a blood descendant of that bibik.
She had stipulated in her will that the bungalow was not to be sold, in order to house her family from generation to generation. The clause in her will was deemed to be invalid by the Rule Against Perpetuity. Therefore her estate, including her bungalow, was ordered to be sold and distributed to her beneficiaries.
Before the Rule Against Perpetuity was effected, there could be a clause in a will stipulating that a property of the estate should not be sold until the last offspring of the ruling sovereign of the British Empire dies . The children or grandchildren of the person who had such a clause in his or her will, would, in all likelihood, never get their share of the estate; in the parlance of the Peranakans, “tungguh macham buah tak jatoh” (waiting for a fruit that never drops) or “tungguh sampay bejanggot” (wait until you grow a beard).
In cases where a person dies intestate (without making a will) then the law of intestacy governs the estate of the deceased, which shall be distributed according to the Intestate Succession Act.
If the deceased did not make a will and was unmarried, everything would go to his parents; if married with no child, then half to the parents and the other half to the spouse; if married with a child or children, then half to the spouse and the other half to the child or children equally.
To be entitled to the intestate deceased’s estate, the spouse, child or children MUST be the legal wife or legitimate children. There were cases in the Straits Settlements Law Reports where secondary wives and their children were entitled to an intestate deceased’s estate. BUT that was before the enactment of the Women’s Charter in Singapore, which stipulates that there can be only one valid subsisting marriage between a man and a woman.
Some folk would like to parade their ancestry, linking themselves to past luminaries such as Tan Kim Seng, or Lee Choon Guan, or Lim Boon Keng, as their ancestors. And rightly so, because their ancestors had made significant contributions to the Peranakan community in the past.
Many of us do not have the privilege of having such illustrious ancestors, but in my opinion, as long as you have a Peranakan as one of your ancestors, you are justified in feeling proud, because orang Peranakan ia lah orang Singapura dari dulu! (Peranakans are Singaporeans from long ago!)
