OK so we'll start with Bapak Tua's ancestry. I gathered facts though not so in detail when both Bapak Bayin and Baharudin Shariff, the eldest grandson of Shakarai Rawther were reminiscing their ancestors and what the waterfront biz was like when Lone Ranger and Tonto were catching bad buys during the old west. The discussion came about when I had to prepare an article on the history of shipping in Penang for the souvenir programme in conjunction with the 15th anniversary of the Shipping Agents' Association dinner in 1998.
During the early 1800s, there was a ship chandler whose name was not known. He operated in a big way because the Straits Of Malacca was serving shipping sailing from the west to the east to and fro. A passenger ship from India frequently called Penang bringing cargo and passengers. The ship's pursor, was S. Varusay Mohamad ( who did not realised that a century later, a great grandson would be named after him whom we all know who ). He would come ashore to get supplies from the ship chandler who, coincidentally was a close relative back home in India. Varusay was interested to know more about the business as perhaps he was getting tired of sailing. At that time too, the ship chandler wanted to give up the business as he was getting old and both began talking about it. An understanding was arrived at that Varusay would acquire the business and he would sign off from sailing and learned the trade. When he took over, the business grew because as a maritime person, he could contact more people of the fraternity. He recruited his son, SV Kader Naina Mohamad who eventually took over when the latter became more capable. SV Shaik Mohamad, Bapak Tua's father later joined him, taking over after his death in 1918. Then came both Bapak Tua and his elder brother Abdul Rahman. The rest is history until our Shaik is the present day captain of the Bishop Street office.
Tok Nu's father Sultan Mydin came from India as a young man around 1880 to work as an assistant in a textile shop. He learned the trade until he was capable enough to start his own shop in Chulia Street Penang. The elders in the Indian Muslim community who knew Mak Tanchi's family through the fame of her wealthy father Kadir Sultan, also knew that Sultan Mydin used to call Argyll Road to promote his clothing materials. One thing about the Indian Muslims was that people from the same clan used to be closely knitted. Hence as Kadir Sultan was from Emaneswaram and so was Sultan Mydin, a marriage between him and the Kadir Sultan girl was most appropriate.
According to arwah Tok Chak, Kadir Sultan was not the first owner of Argyll Road. The actual owners were his parents in law. He bought over the house not long after he married their daughter Mydin Bee. Sultan Mydin too did the same thing. That was why Mak Tanchi wanted one of her sons in law to do the same. However, Tok Haji Mamia's husband, APS Mohd. Ibrahim did not buy the house as he had other commitments. ChaCha Yusof, Mak Tun's husband was not in a position to do so. Bapak Tua who was financially capable bought over the house in 1940. The tradition was then maintained but Tok Nu had wished but could not get someone like her husband to do the same.
His real name was SV Shaik Mohamad. According to arwah Khaja, some dude recorded 'Manium' which was simpler to pronounce but sounded more Hinduistic. The actual word was 'Maniar' which means philanthropist because he was keen in contributing to charities and giving alms in India as well as Penang. In India then, although the days of kingships of the Maharajas had perished, there were small Indian Muslim kingdoms and one of them was Sivagangar. Since Bapak Tua's father was wealthy, his status and philanthropic habits did not escape the aqcuaintance of the palace there, the emperor bestowed the title of 'Maniar on him. Perhaps the emperor himself, when the kingdoms there were dwindling ( like the Sulu Kingdom in the Philippines ) was using him as a benefactor to finance palace expenses. Wallhua'lam.
SVK stood for SV Kader Naina Mohamad. The SV stood for S. Varusay Mohd. The letter S could have meant Shaik or Sayana which meant Shaik, a respected addressing for Muslims from the original Sheikh in Arabic. I think our religious scholars in the Kutom will be able to define the actual meaning of Sheikh being attached to a person's name. However that name became our surname eversince the last century.
Patchee means a sparrow. When Kader Naina Mohamad was running the business towards the end of the 19th century, the government began to upgrade the maritime administrative affairs with port state controls which warranted ship owners to either open branch offices or appoint agents at countries outside their own in order to streamline documentations. Subsidiary service providers needed also to have their own offices, hence what was before a store at the waterfront had to be upgraded. Requirements for more modern vessels which took over the olden junks were getting more complex. SVK had to move a lot in order to be abreast in the industry and was seldom around where his friends could meet him. He was like a sparrow moving from one place to another there he was more apt to be referred to as a sparrow ( Patchee ).
