Discovering My Ancestral Roots!

Gosh! All these five decades of my life, I have always thought I am a pure Chinese.
Since papa's surname is Kam, and mama's surname is Ooi, I thought my grandparents hailed from China!

During my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, I only discovered that my paternal grandparents were part Javanese who hailed from Indonesia! No wonder, my uncles and aunties had very dark complexion. Even I myself had sometimes been mistaken to be a Malay or a Thai!

My cousin, Suan, is a fantastic lady who loves to keep things. Together with her youngest son, Chee Boon, they still keep some antique books left by their maternal grandmother! Chee Boon showed my sister and I the books they had kept all these years. The books were printed in 1931 long before I was born!! I teased both mother and son that if I had the authority, I would appoint them to be the curators of our National Museum! What an exciting and amazing discovery!



My paternal grandmother, Lim Liang Nio, with my tua pek (eldest uncle's) two wives.
The little girl is my cousin, Nya Chi.



A one page passport of my tua pek (eldest uncle), Kam Beng Jiang. Note the written words in Dutch.



A one page passport of my paternal grandmother, Lim Liang Nio. Grandmother passed away when I was a baby. Note that the Authorities did not take finger prints. They took whole prints of the fingers!!