Covering a period of 115 years, 1850-1965, Children of the Monkey God deals with the experiences of four generations of a Chinese family in Sarawak, Borneo. Candid and at times humorous, satirical and controversial, it vividly captures life at the crossroads of changes in the 1950's and '60's when the sun was setting on the colonial era. It conveys to the reader the multi-layered cultural influences of British colonialism, the burgeoning American pop-scene, the various Chinese dialect groups as well as that of the local indigenous people. It also offers a fascinating insight into some of the social, cultural and religious beliefs and practices of a world that is fast disappearing and seldom seen by outsiders.The author, FS Choo grew up in a traditional Chinese Hakka family in Sarawak, Malaysia at a time when it was administered by the British. Written in the gentle style of his native culture, he charts and reveals a fascinating world beginning with his great grandfather's migration from China to West Kalimantan, also known as Borneo in the early 1850's; his life as a gold-miner there and his connection to the mysterious 'Kongsi', a unique self-governing grass-root democratic organization that flourished until the mid 1800's when it came into conflict with the Dutch colonial rulers and the White Rajahs of Sarawak, Borneo. Above all else, the book offers a series of alternative view on controversial historical events. On the significance, culturally, socially and economically of the organizations known as the 'Kongsi', organizations that the Dutch and British colonialists brushed aside as no more significant than mere 'social clubs' where the miners met to smoke . The book, in contrast, would take you into a insightful look into the real nature of these so-called 'social clubs,' where grass-root democracy was in full practice with the members, as shareholders, having the right to vote as to who their leaders should be. And this in the 1800's, where the course of history in South-east and East Asia would have been different had the 'Kongsi" (translated as 'Company' in Chinese) were not destroyed by the Dutch colonialists in West Borneo in a series of punitive military campaigns and the British colonialists in Sarawak in the squashing of the 'Bau Rebellion (1857)'. They would, in all probabilities, be the harbinger of a new democratic era in that part of the world.
Skip to main content
