Dayang Suri (Datu Permaisuri) Raja Jarum (Dato Undi)

Malay legend associates Santubong with Datu Merpati, the mythical founding father who settled here 'long ago'.He represents the history of the Malay people of Sarawak -- hailing from Johore, well connected in west Borneo, often travelling upriver where he left progeny, mementos and hereditary titles among the indigenous Bidayuh people.

The Datu's wife, Datu Permaisuri, held the fort in her husband's absence, though on one fatal occasion she and her daughter were kidnapped by the rascally one-eyed pirate chief Rajah Pegu.

The valiant lady defended her honour by means of a long, sharp hairpin; the pirate crew, seeing their leader stabbed to the heart, hastened to disembark their passengers in Brunei. The story meanders from one heroic incident to the next, but in the end the Datu was reunited with his family, and his daughter Dayang Bulan was married to the Sultan of Brunei.And are these stories true? The Datu's grave may still be seen at the northwest tip of Borneo which is named in his honour, Tanjung Datus. Datu Permaisuri is buried in Brunei. The worthy couple's son and successor, Jepang, gave his name to the northern tip of Damai peninsula; Kuching's hereditary aristocracy of Abangs trace their descent to this ancestor.The picture becomes more focused as time proceeds. By the 17th century, the present-day area of Sarawak was under the influence of the Brunei sultanate. One cadet member of the dynasty, dubbed Sultan of Sarawak by his ruling brother, was buried at Santubong in 1641; the piety of a royal cousin furnished a handsome mausoleum almost four centuries later.