Kurz, Johannes L.
(2018)
Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping
And His Others During The Late Yuan
And Early Ming Dynasties.
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 14 (2).
pp. 79-104.
ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243
Abstract
The Genealogy of the Sultans of Brunei (Silsilah Raja-raja Brunei) introduces an
alleged Chinese ancestor whose name has been transcribed as Ong Sum Ping. Ong is
said to have been related to the imperial family of China, to have ruled over Sabah in
northern Borneo, and having provided his sister as spouse to one of the early sultans
of Brunei. The current paper examines Ong Sum Ping and his various appearances
under different names in especially Chinese texts from the twentieth century. These
texts emphasise early Chinese influence on northern Borneo. Sometimes Ong Sum
Ping is linked to Manarejiana, a Boni chieftain, who visited Nanjing, the capital
of the Ming empire in 1408 to pay tribute and his respects to the Yongle emperor
(r. 1402–1424). Through the association of the chieftain with the Ming empire, some
writers suggest that Ong Sum Ping may have been an admiral of Zheng He’s fleet
who came to Brunei and stayed there. At the core of the paper is an examination of
modern assumptions about: (1) the identity of Ong Sum Ping; (2) the existence of
a Chinese province in northern Borneo; and (3) the likelihood of an appearance of
the Treasure Fleet of Zheng He in Brunei in the early ffteenth century. I argue that
with the extant Chinese textual sources none of these claims can be verifed, and that
therefore they are reflecting local oral traditions.
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