Many people have walked past the walled area containing a small roofed structure opposite the General Post Office in the car park of the TAIB Building in Bandar Seri Begawan.

Many people have even parked their cars beside the structure. But I think not many realised that they are in the vicinity of a grave.

So mysterious is this grave that it is not known if it really holds a person's remains.
It was said that the site was originally a huge mound some nine meters tall. It was blown up by a bomb during World War II, and the mound was found to be empty even though according to legend, there were a few people who were supposed to have been buried there.

The grave was said to belong to a lady by the name of Dang Ayang, Dang being the colloquial term for the modern day 'Dayang'. Some have called it Kubur Raja Ayang, as it was said that the lady buried there was actually of royal parentage.

Legend has it that this was a tragic tale of a woman and her brother who were caught in an incestuous relationship (sumbang mahram). At that time, the punishment for such a crime was death by stoning, but apparently, no one had the heart to carry out the sentence.

So the authorities compromised. The sentence was commuted to banishment and they built a cavern in the middle of the forest. During that period, most Bruneians lived along the river and this grave was about a mile inland then sufficiently far from the living to be a place of exile.

The Dayang Ayang Grave, 2007

Some versions of the legend say that only Dang Ayang lived in the cavern while other versions tell of both the siblings being in exile together.

They must have been kept there for a long while until everyone presumed that she or they had died. Nobody knows when the graveyard was walled, but the site continues to be tended as most graves are. Until now, the grave site exists as a rather sad testimony to the indiscretion of a young Brunei couple.

If one were to visit the grave, there is a broken tombstone which tells the story of the woman.

According to a paper written by the Principal of the History Centre, she was most likely a member of the aristocracy whose father was of Arabic origin and said to be related to Sultan Sharif Ali. It was most likely too, that the crime was committed in 1452 during the reign of Sultan Sulaiman (circa 1432-1485).

Legend also has it that upon realising the enormity of her sin, the lady and her whole entourage voluntarily went to their deaths. Given the context of the time and the parentage, the deed perpetrated was deemed to be very serious and merited such serious punishment.

The tombstone also has Arabic inscriptions which stated that it is hoped that the punishment meted out is sufficient compensation for the sin that was committed for the body (bodies) of those who committed the sin and pray that they are in peace so that the Al-Mighty will forgive them.

Based on the writings on the tombstone, it is understood that for every sin committed, the authorities must carry out the punishment necessary for it. It also reflected the strength of the religion then to the point that the punishment has to be meted out regardless of who the perpetrator was.

7th April 2007

Note: At the point of publishing this book (March 2009), the grave is undergoing a renovation. It may not be as mysterious anymore once the renovation is completed.

Rozan Yunos is the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Development. He has served the Brunei Civil Service since 1987 in many capacities including Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Managing Director, Tabung Amanah Pekerja. He has also served at Economic Planning and Development Department, Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Communications. He writes about Brunei history in his spare time and his weekly Brunei Times articles have been compiled in two books - the Golden Warisan Volume 1 and Volume 2, both currently available at leading bookshops across Brunei.

24th March 2007

Footnote:

In April 2005, the website 'Brunei Resources' was born; designed during the Executive Development Program classes, a five month post graduate mid career program taught by Universiti Brunei Darussalam for Brunei Government senior officers. The website kept lecturers' presentations before other information was added.

By August 2005, it had its own domain name www.bruneiresources.com. By December, a blog was born on msn spaces, at first to update regular readers of the website what was new. The blog developed its own life and by March 2006, 'The Daily Brunei Resources' moved to blogspot.com on www.bruneiresources.blogspot.com.

The daily blog entries are mostly snippets about Brunei - its history, its culture and anything related to Brunei.

Sometime in December 2006, I was asked to write a special article about Bandar Seri Begawan for the March/ April 2007 edition of Muhibbah, the inflight magazine for Royal Brunei Airlines based on my previous entries on the blog.

In February 2007, The Brunei Times wanted to publish a weekly column on Brunei's history again partly based on the blogs' entries. The first article on 'bersunat' appeared on Saturday, 24th March 2007. Since then, an article has appeared on The Brunei Times every weekend.

This is the first compilation of all the articles written for 2007. Other volumes will follow suit. I hope you had enjoyed my writings and will continue to enjoy my writings in the future.

Note: I have been asked many times why I started the Golden Legacy column with an article about circumcision. The answer is that the then Features Editor at Brunei Times was a bit worried about having a historical column. She wanted something social as well as historical. Since my son had just undergone his circumcision, I thought, writing about circumcision would cover both the social as well as historical aspects.

Comments (1)

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good read
written by h , November 03, 2009

now that is a good read. i have always wondered what was the story behind that grave. thanks

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