The Legend of the Name of Pontianak

         Do you believe that the name of Pontianak came from one of the ghost? Well, almost all of the citizens in Pontianak believe that the name of Pontianak means kuntilanak or female ghost. People said that when Sharif Abdurrahman Alkadrie, the eldest son of Al Habib Husin, arrived in the mainland of Pontianak, he met the kuntilanak and defeated         it.

Sultan Abdurrahman Sharif Alkadrie is was the Founder and the first Sultan of the Kingdom of Pontianak. He was born in 1142 AH / 1729 / 1730 AD. He is son the son of Al HabibHusin, a disseminator of Islam Arab origin. Three months after his father passed away in the kingdom of Mempawah, Abdurrahman Sharif Alkadrie and his brother tried to find a new place for living. They crossed the Peniti River along Kapuas River by fourteen boats till they arrived at KelapaTinggi
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Segedong. Sharif Abdurrahman Alkadrie felt that the place was not a good one for living so they continued their journey. Then they arrived at an island, and they named it Batu Layang. 

In this island they were disturbed by a female ghost called Kuntilanak and Sultan asked his soldiers to defeat it by shot it by a cannon. Before he shot it
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he promised himself, “I will build a new kingdom wherever the cannon ball fall down!” They succeeded to defeat the Kuntilanak and they found that the cannon ball fell down in a place where they built a new kingdom.

            They decided to name the new place as Pontianak. The name of Pontianak was taken from Kuntilanak. People in Pontianak still shoot the cannon without the ball as their tradition to remember the story. This tradition usually held on the ceremonial days such as Ramadhan, Eid, and New Year.

by: Friscka br Manurung

source: Marshauli Kristiari Sitindaon