Angullia Story

Angullia Beach House Resort

The Enchantment Of Marang .

Our story began in 1850 when eight young men from the Angullia family set out on a sailing ship to seek their fortunes in the Far-East. The Angullias, who were then known as “Angadias”, hailed from Rander, a small town of Surat, in the province of Gugerat, north of Bombay on the North-Western coast of India. They are Gujerati Sunni Muslims who themselves were migrants to India in the early 1600s from Kufah, Iraq. The Angullias left a legacy wherever they called home – till today, the Angullia Trust Fund continues to endow charities in Mecca, Madina, Baghdad, Rander and Singapore.

The Angullias were Sunni “vohras” (traders), and travel was in their blood. Thus, from thriving port, the eight young men set sail on a four month journey; and along the way scattered themselves in Burma, Thailand, Singapore and Mauritius. Soon, they each had a thriving business in the international trade of sugar and spice, but all keeping to a traditional, family-oriented philosophy.

One of these young men was Mohammed Salleh Esoof Angullia. He was a man who relied on his instinct well and decided to call Singapore his home. For another of the young men, Ajum Ismael Angullia, it was “love at first sight” when he set eyes on beautiful Mauritius.

In Singapore, Mohammed Salleh Esoof Angullia became a successful trader and invested in property. Mohammed died in 1904, leaving 34 pieces of property to a charitable trust called “Wakaf Am”, which went towards funding the construction of two mosques, completed in 1933 – the Angullia Park Mosque in Orchard Road and the Angullia Mosque in Serangoon Road. Mohammed’s son Ahmed continued to expand the family business, and soon the Angullias owned stretches of land along Orchard Road, from Hilton Hotel to Liat Towers and Paterson Road. Today, some of the streets in Singapore – “Angullia Road” and “Angullia Park” – still bear testament to their legacy.

In Mauritius, Ajum Ismael Angullia had developed a thriving sugar trade. His success in the sugar trade made him a key player in the industry, and by the early 1900s, the Angullia clan were known as “Sugar King of Mauritius”. Ajum’s son, Ismael, took over the family business from his father. However, luck was not his side. The world economic downturn in the early 1930s crippled the sugar trade and led to the collapse of the Angullia’s sugar empire. Perhaps it was destiny that led to Ismael and his four sons to be reunited with their cousins in Singapore.

Upon the family’s arrival in Singapore, Ismael’s eldest son, named Ajum, after his grandfather, wedded Mariambibi, daughter of Ahmed. Thus was born Sulloo, or Sulleiman Ajum Angullia, in 1939.

Sulloo like his forefathers, was a traveler and explorer – by the age of 26, he had been to all of Europe. But of all the places he had been to, Malaysia was by far his favourite. It was there, on its East Coast, that Sulloo discovered paradise on earth in the late 1970s in the form of a quaint fishing village called Ru Muda in the district of Marang.

From the modest beginnings that once was part of a fishing village, Sulloo, together with his children, developed the land that first began as a modest private beach cottage with a single guest room in 1979, to one that eventually blossomed into 5 full acres in 1985 into what can be truly called ……. “SULLOO’S HAVEN”. Two years later, in 1987, the Angullia Beach House Resort was eventually established with 17 rooms and chalets. And today, it boast of 40 rooms and chalets sprawling amidst lush tropical greenery. It is still, in the Angullia tradition, family-run, and it is still growing……!

For Sulleiman Ajum Angullia and the Angullias, the sailing ship that had brought them to Marang by now had certainly strayed a long long way from …..Home.

Life is one long unpredictable journey as one is in search of the ever elusive greener pasture. Hence, you may never know if this ship may set sail again…….?