KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Tunka Azizah, the Malaysian Raja Permaisuri Agong, spoke to Chinese media days before the July 30 installation ceremony of her husband, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong and took the opportunity to explain her Chinese heritage.

“I am Cantonese. I can speak a bit of the dialect and also some Hokkien. I am a Raja Permaisuri Agong with Chinese parentage,” she said told the Sin Chew daily, adding that her roots go back to Guangdong.

Tunka Azizah is the daughter of the late Johor Ruler Sultan Iskandar and the sister of current Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar.

Recounting her family history going back to 1885, she said the late Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor married the daughter of a Chinese merchant, Wong Ah Gew and added that this daughter became Sultanah Fatimah.

“That’s where I got my Chinese lineage from,” she said, adding that Sultanah Fatimah was from a very rich merchant family in Singapore.

Tunku Azizah said that although Sultanah Fatimah had no sons, she ensured her Chinese heritage remained in the Johor royal family by arranging for her two daughters to be married to members of the royal family in the state.

She also revealed that Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok, whom she met six years ago, had borrowed US$3,000 (S$4,108.50) from the Johor royal family to start his business when he was young.

She said the Johor royal family was close to Kuok, whose parents supplied daily necessities to the army at that time.

“I don’t remember the details, but I know my grandmother took my father’s – Sultan Iskandar’s – savings and gave it to him,” she said. “I believed he has already returned the money. At that time, US$3,000 dollars was a large amount.”

Tunku Azizah also revealed that the late Sultan Iskandar had offered to award Mr Kuok the honorary title of Tan Sri when he was the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, but Mr Kuok turned down the offer and insisted he was not to be given any title.

“He is a filial son,” she said. “He would consult his mother, regardless of any business decision he made and his mother’s residence is still in Johor. I really respect Robert Kuok and I also want to invite him to the installation ceremony. I really hope he could make it.”

Tunku Azizah also recalled a joke her late father made when she was a child.

“This happened when my birth certificate went missing. So my father joked that I was actually picked up from a dumpster in China and since my birth certificate was missing, I had to be cut up in pieces and cooked in curry,” she said.

“He then said that I had to be eaten in order to be reborn. As a child, that was scary to hear.”

She also shared a story about the spectacles she wore as a child.

“I had amblyopia (lazy eye) when I was small. When wearing wingtip spectacles like those used by Lydia Sum, I really looked like a Chinese person,” she said referring to the late Hong Kong actress.

Tunku Azizah said the spectacles she wore made her look like Hong Kong songstress Jenny Tseng and this prompted her family to give her a Chinese nickname.

“They called me Ling Ling from Tong Sua,” she said, adding that many in the Chinese community also called her Jenny Tseng due to her strong resemblance to the singer.

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