In Son of Patani, Fadillah Merican travels back in time to explore the life and times of her great-grandfather Tengku Abdul Kadir Kamaruddin, the last Malay Raja of Patani (1898- 1902).
This is an interpretation of his story in the form of a journal, based on real events, historical figures, history books and accounts from immediate family members and close relatives.
We follow Tengku Abdul Kadir’s story as a young ruler bent on freeing his beloved Patani from Siamese rule. What began as an English writing exercise becomes an honest, sometimes hopeful, anguished account of a fight for freedom and survival. Yet it is also a story of family ties and love.
This then is Tengku Abdul Kadir’s story and the writer’s attempt to put on record a personal re-creation of those historical events that happened in Patani, in Tanah Melayu, in Siam, indeed of the European world ever present in their midst. This book is both for the younger descendants of Tengku Abdul Kadir to discover and understand, and for others who must make the present and shape their future.
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