Malaysia’s Queen talks about her Chinese heritage
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia's Queen Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah Sultan Iskandar 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 told the Sin Chew daily, adding that her roots go back to Guangdong.
Tunku Azizah is the daughter of the late Johor Ruler Sultan Iskandar and the sister of current Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim 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 this daughter became Sultanah Fatimah.
"That's where I got my Chinese lineage from," she said, adding that Sultanah Fatimah was from a rich merchant family in Singapore.
She also spoke 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.
- THE STAR
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