THE ESCAPE 4

The Family of Musa

Why Musa sailed?

I don't really know why Musa left his family. I was told by my late Allahyarham Grandfather (Musa's youngest son) that Musa came from a big and respectable Bugis family in downtown of Makassar, South Sulawesi. His father was the village chief and the Imam of the Mosque. His parents taught Qur'an for the villagers and were renowned as among the best Qur'an reciters.

Musa's entire young life was filled in with religious, customs and traditions of Bugis. He was trained by his parents to obey and follow the religious and respect the elders. He was not allowed to leave the village save and except accompanied by his parents or other relatives in his family circle. He was sent to religious school in his village to recite and study Qur'an and other religious syllabus. The school's headmaster was his father. Musa was well controlled by his father and under full disciplinary observation. He had lost his freedom as a child and as a teenager.

When his age entering 15 years old he started to dream about escaping from his family. He heard and learned about the Dutch and Holland, British, Spanish and other races like Arabs, Chinese and Indians. His vision was to sail to those countries away from home, to learn something new and ran away from his parents' control. He had a very wide outlook on his life and his future.

So, that was probably the main reason why Musa escaped from his family. No one from his village knew where he had gone. After several months then his parents concluded and accepted the facts that Musa was disappeared and vanished into the world of Bunians. The search for Musa was stopped accordingly.