Yee Sang – From the Time the World and Malaya Were Young

By A. Najib Ariffin - Nadge

“Do you know yee sang, the veggie dish with raw fish?” I asked breathlessly as I went around China in my research visit years ago. When the person I asked didn’t speak English, I switch to Chinese, which makes it worse. Although I’m part Chinese, my Mandarin is almost non-existent, as my street dialect is Cantonese and even then my tones are tortured.

“So, do you know yee sang?” The best answer I get is a puzzled, “You mean like sushi?”

Well, that trip established it: the dish of raw fish and mixed chopped veggies and sauces that we Malaysians and Singaporeans take for granted during Chinese New Year was NOT common in China. Not even on the 7^th day of CNY as it traditionally was served in Malaysia.

So where does the yee sang we know today come from? No doubt a million people in at least two countries. Malaysia and Singapore, have been asking that. I just had to satisfy our need for an answer. After all, my father is Malaysian while my mother is Singaporean, and of Chinese descent to boot.

So I began asking… My Chinese grandmother in Singapore had dismissed it, as she is one of the few northerners among Sino-descendants in Southeast Asia; (“We northerners are nobles, different from southerners”). Okay but that in fact said something; at least I knew yee sang was definitely NOT of northern Chinese origin. So I headed south.

Southern China’s Guangdong province was the one place where a few people knew of yee sang (and where I could speak the Cantonese dialect!). Good, especially in Hong Kong with its more worldly restaurants. But surprise, surprise; many of those who knew it said it’s a modern import from Malaysia-Singapore! Back to square one.

Sure, maybe the modern version of yee sang as we know it really IS from Southeast Asia. But maybe there were roots, some earlier version of it hidden in a corner of China somewhere? I made some last tries and trials in the name of food. Finally a Mr. Cheng said that some communities of coastal southern China do have a raw fish type of dish. Where exactly?

The southeastern Chinese cities of Chaozhou and Shantou are located in the northeastern part of the province of Guangdong (Canton in English). Yet the people in this locality are NOT ethno-linguistically Cantonese. A localised pronunciation of Chaozhou is in fact Teochew, and that’s where some clues start to appear on where a raw fish dish originated.

Before that, let’s go further back in Chinese history and mythology. It is said that the goddess Nuwa (or Nuwo) created man from clay and mud on the 7^th day in the first month of the year.

Thus on the 7^th day of Chinese New Year people would celebrate Renri or the People’s birthday with a dish of raw meat called kuài (膾). I suppose raw meat was symbolic of the early naked humankind. Eventually raw fish became preferred, possibly because fish is an abundant creature of the waters from where mythology equates with life, as well as practically for the coastal Chinese such as in Chanzhou area and Guangdong as a whole the region was rich in seafood. What better way for them to celebrate than with their abundant raw fish symbolizing this birth of life.

Queries seem to show that the dish was more popular in the Teochew people’s Chaoshan region that must have also been spread to or shared with the coastal Cantonese in Guangdong province as a whole, especially in the port city of Jiangmen further south.

Shantou is the bigger sister port downriver from Chaozhou city; combined they make the Chaoshan region. Shantou city is also prominent in 19^th century Chinese history. It was then called Swatow, one of the ‘treaty ports’ that the colonial West used to exploit China, and was ceded to British concession in 1858. That was an Age of Turmoil in Chinese history. Meanwhile just a year earlier Kuala Lumpur had been opened by Raja Abdullah; and with its rich tin mines it began an immigration pull factor in which one of the results later became… yee sang in Malaysia. How?

Throughout the early mid-19^th to the early 20^th centuries China was facing its Age of Turmoil, especially in coastal China with the meddling of Western powers, the Opium Wars, rebellions and conflicts. Certainly turmoil did not escape Guangdong, including Chanzhou prefecture and to the Teochew and Cantonese in that era.

And so, like many other southern Chinese regional and dialect groups such as the Hokkiens, Hakkas and Hainanese, the Teochews and Cantonese migrated in significant numbers to the relatively peaceful and abundant lands of the Nanyang or the Southern Ocean, where Southeast Asia was located. One of the main ports of transshipment and departure to the Nanyang was Guangdong province’s port of Jiangmen, which gives another clue to Malaysia-Singapore’s yee sang origins.

The Teochews spread to Siam, the Malay Peninsula’s Penang and Johor states and Singapore next door as well as parts of Indonesia such as in Pontianak and Ketapang. Johor Bahru was even nicknamed “Little Swatow” because so many Teochews congregated there.The other group with raw fish dish cultural memories, the Cantonese, settled largely in the Malay Peninsula’s west coast and a few in Singapore. With that we begin to see a commonality and pattern of why yee sang came up in Malaysia-Singapore and not, say, in Thailand or Indonesia as well.

The Chinese as a whole brought with them their ancestral culture including beliefs, dialects, lifestyle and of course, cuisine. In the earlier years their aim was to make money and bring it back to China; culture was not a main concern. But as Chinese numbers increased and life in Southeast Asia was good; people began to stay permanently and raise families; and so culture began to be more and more practiced.

By after World War II, some Teochew and Cantonese families in Malaya (especially on the west coast down to some Johor Teochews; Singapore geographically included) began reviving the ancestral cultural memories of a raw fish dish that was eaten together at the meal table over Chinese New Year, especially on the 7^th day in honour of the goddess Nuwa and the human birthday Renri. [For this part onward of my research I thank the kind older Chinese residents in Subang Jaya where my parents live for sharing their yee sang reminiscences.]

Let’s take a look at the yee sang name, which helps give further clues as to how it came about. The dish was mainly raw fish. Vegetables were somewhat limited then using only carrot and turnip mixed with some oil, vinegar and a sweetener such as even sugar.

That was how the name yee sang or the official version yú shēng (鱼生) meaning “fish basic-life” or figuratively “raw fish” came into being in the first place. The word “fish” (鱼) is commonly associated with its homonym "abundance" (余). Thus yú shēng (鱼生) is correlated as a homophone sound for yu sheng (余升) meaning “abundance increasing".

By comparison it could not be, say, from the Hakka because in their dialect it would be “ng sang” (ng for fish) and what’s more “ng” is considered a bad omen. Definitely not an auspicious dish to start the Chinese New Year! So we must go back to the Teochews and Cantonese.

To a certain extent the raw fish and raw vegetables as ingredients were also dictated by practical considerations in the early days. By the end of the first week of Chinese New Year, the huge amount of food prepared before the celebrations would be only leftovers. Yet households were too tired to cook more sophisticated dishes.

Meanwhile leftover fish and vegetables that had been kept, needed to be consumed soon. The fish, while still fresh, would have softened by then and would be tasty just raw. That’s what happened with the Melanau fishermen’s umai dish, which is fish stripped up and eaten raw cured just with lime juice after a few days still at sea.

Whatever vegetables that were available in the kitchen would start to look less fresh too. So, in the same vein as the Malay kerabu dishes, just cut and chop up all your vegetables in strips so it would look fresh and fine, while any of the veggie parts turning bad can be cut away and discarded.

There are also personal anecdotes of stalls in Malaya selling yee sang-type raw fish mixes as side dishes meant to be shared with “Teochew moi” (Teochew-style porridge), and that the stall-holders had come via the Cantonese port of Jiangmen.

This mix of strips of raw fish and whatever shredded vegetables plus really anything else you like from noodles to crackers to sauces gave rise to another opportunity for auspiciousness. It’s something that is quite uniquely Cantonese; “lo hei” (撈起 or 捞起 in Cantonese). The “lo hei” activity mixes the words and homophone meanings for mix, toss and rise or high as everyone around the table merrily joins in. What a perfect combo of action and expression for a mix of “raising prosperity, abundance and happiness” for everyone present as they’re mixing and tossing the ingredients together.

Older people remember that this yee sang dish and the accompanying “lo hei” custom began spreading through Cantonese and Teochew households up and down Peninsular Malaya’s west coast for Chinese New Year.

Ever enterprising, the Cantonese began offering yee sang in restaurants for Chinese New Year menus from the 1950s. It was not as common or as elaborate as it is now. But it was found in places where there were concentrations of Cantonese, Teochews or any Chinese business activities, including in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and southwards but not so much north and none on the east coast.

Yee sang was available in food outlets only after the Chinese New Year holidays, usually the 7^th day, when restaurants reopened and the dish became a starter at business meals for “patrons to raise good luck for the forthcoming year”. In the 1950s branding was still not a huge thing for restaurants and dishes, so no-one bothered to brand or even record these for posterity. Besides, it was still very much a family and business partners’ specialty dish kind of item.

But something happened in 1952 that began to bring yee sang into the culinary awareness in Malaya. In that year, UMNO and MCA formed the Alliance to contest the Kuala Lumpur Municipal Council elections in February, which they won. Note that it was just around the corner of the Chinese New Year season.

What better way for Alliance partners to celebrate over an auspicious shared meal!

For Malays, yee sang was fine as it’s perfectly halal, being fish and vegetables, while Malay and Melanau fishermen for example were no strangers to lime-cured raw fish (dipped in sambal of course). And any possible misgivings about it being a “Chinese” food never arose, as the Malays simply saw it as a form of their own traditional kerabu salad dish that was just mixed with any keropok or whatever you wanted, and tossed up together in the spirit of muhibbah in the new year. Yee sang was thus also “kerabu tahun baru”, if you please.

After all, the symbolisms of mixing and raising the ingredients for prosperity and sharing the food for harmony are happily universal. (A similar concept applied with the Malay “nasi talam” where wedding guests share four to a large plate or tray called talam.)

From then on, yee sang became a popular Malayan / Malaysian staple each Chinese New Year with more ingredients added or variegated according to the restaurant or chef, or even the matriarch at family gatherings as well as politicians at coalition meal meetings.

Meanwhile Singapore puts its earliest commercially available yee sang in 1964, while it was still part of Malaysia, with the collaboration of four restaurant cooks. That’s perfectly fine, true and correct for Singapore.

For Malaysia, the Malaysians tossed yee sang up earlier. LO HEI!!

[This article was researched for and first appeared in Friedchillies.com under Gastropology 101 on food history in 2010]  
http://www.friedchillies.com/articles/category/gastropology-101 

TV shoot for my interview on #CapitalTV 2015 Chinese New Year special show on the #YeeSang research I did for #Friedchillies.com — at China Treasures, Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur

Melayu Orang Asli

Many Malays don't know that they have various Orang Asli blood in their ancestry. I know and I am proud of my Semai roots. The Semai are a tribe of the Senoi sub-group, one of three aboriginal sub-groups in the Malay Peninsula, the others being the Negrito and Melayu Asli (Aboriginal or Pure Malay). The fact that we all still distinctively exist in Malaysia right into the 21st century shows how peaceful our land and the people are.

Here I'm with my ancient cousin Woh up in the Brinchang Highlands (our original name for the Cameron Highlands - "berincang" means 'very windy' ;-) and later at night I'll wear my own cawat loin-cloth and we'll reminisce our oral stories of the ancient antediluvian Benua Mu that are part of pre-historic Malayan folklore - the lost Continent of Mu that sank in the Great Floods and gave rise to the legend of Atlantis. Ah, we Malays, Orang Asli and Bumiputra or Pribumi (in Indonesia) folk have many forgotten stories.

Hari Raya – A Guide for the Unsure

By A. Najib Ariffin - Nadge –

“...Hari Raya, which is the Muslim New Year... ”, Oops! Have you heard anyone say something like that, or do you yourself think Hari Raya is the Muslim New Year? Well, it is not - but that was what one Malaysian speaker mentioned while addressing a public function some time ago. Granted, the person was not Muslim but having heard that, this is a good chance to explain a few things about “puasa” and “Hari Raya” (“literally the “Great Day”) for the better understanding of our multi-cultural society.

Hari Raya in relation to the puasa (Malay word for “fasting”) in the month of Ramadhan is the celebration to mark the fulfillment of the month's fasting, which is an obligatory part of Islamic faith. Thus it is sometimes half-jokingly said that any Muslim who does not puasa doesn't have the right to celebrate Hari Raya. Also it is clear that it is NOT the Muslim New Year, which by the way is another holiday, Awal Muharram (Muharram being the first month in the Islamic calendar).

Delicious "Kuih raya" or festive cookies of many kinds sold at the ubiquitous Bazaar Ramadhan around Malaysia, to be served to guests at Hari Raya season when people visit each other, a tradition called  'Rumah Terbuka' (Open House).

It is pertinent to note that the Ramadhan fasting and the celebration at its completion are not just a Malaysian or Melayu Muslim affair. The whole Muslim Ummah (“Umat” in Malay or roughly “the community”) all over the world performs the same fasting and celebrates it at the end. In Arabic, Hari Raya Puasa is the 'Eid or “'Eid-ul-Fitr” and this is Malaysianised in spelling as “Aidil Fitri” (or "Idul Fitri" in Indonesia).

Meanwhile the other Hari Raya is for the Hajj, or “Hari Raya Haji” and also called “Hari Raya Kurban”, because it marks both the annual Pilgrimage for pilgrims to holy Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia as well as commemorating the symbolic sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) on his son Ismail (Ishmael). Kurban means “sacrifice” and at this feast domestic animals are sacrificed or properly slaughtered for their meat to be distributed, especially to the poor.

Back to the puasa itself. The fasting practically and physically means not eating, drinking (not even a drop of water) or engaging in sexual activities during the fast. The actual time of fasting is the entire daytime. This is from when the first indication of light is visible in the horizon (note that this is before actual sunrise as the light appears before the sun itself) and ends exactly at sunset. Both times are marked by the “azan” (or the “bang” in colloquial Malay) i.e. the calls to prayer at Subuh pre-sunrise and then at Maghrib sunset.

Some people also wonder about the annually 'changing' times of Ramadhan and Hari Raya, which don't coincide with the standard solar or Western calendar. This is because they follow the Islamic calendar that observes the cycle of the moon, similar to the Chinese calendar. There are 12 months in the Islamic calendar but they follow the shorter moon cycle, as the lunar month is less than the solar 30 or 31 days in a month. Thus on average the Islamic year is shorter than the solar year by roughly 11-odd days.

This means that the Islamic months, such as Ramadhan, slowly 'move' earlier each year throughout the solar years. Actually both the sun and moon are not exactly regular in their relative movements with the earth and that is why there are 'leap years' in the solar calendar, while in the Muslim calendar the actual observation of the moon is made, to visually sight the new crescent moon that marks the fasting and then Hari Raya.

Selamat Hari Raya Puasa!

A Nightmare On Elm Street [2010]

"Mimpi Ngeri Di Jalan Elm"

Have you ever really had a nightmare? A real mimpi ngeri? (The meaning is even better in Bahasa Melayu as the Malay designation is literally “horror dream”)

To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever had a real nightmare. In fact I sleep so soundly I hardly dream… And when I do dream my idea of a horror dream, or at least a bad one, is if it doesn’t involve any kind of wild and kinky sex with Sci-Fi characters. [Okay I think this review is meant for age 21 and above.]

So I really pity those kids who have A Nightmare on Elm Street – sleep and you dream, then you die... ayoyo!

Actually the original movie of the same name first terrified audiences – and maybe even kept some awake - in 1984. That’s over 26 years ago! Hmm I think most of those who watched the 2010 version with me today weren’t even born then…

Anyway, despite meagre advertising, that film managed to make nearly 25 times its production budget in ticket sales. It relied almost completely on word-of-mouth promotion. See how powerful word-of-mouth is!

Then after being released on video to a wider audience, A Nightmare on Elm Street gained a surprising cult following that survived all these decades, dragging the razor-fingered dude Freddy Krueger to cult status with it… All the way to 7 more films in the franchise, including Wes Craven's New Nightmare and the tie-in release Freddy Vs. Jason with that other, masked, horror guy in Halloween. Meanwhile this Freddy Krueger character has become a branded horror icon, “idolized with fear” by fans or at least recognised by film-goers everywhere. His trademark striped sweater and knifey hands are by now symbols of horror-movie greatness.

Having watched the earlier series of Nightmares on Elm Street, the immediate thing I like about this 2010 version is that it has a tighter plot, despite some twists here and there that actually add to the story-telling. The earlier ones with Freddy’s mother Amanda Krueger thrown in (a Nun, of all people!) didn’t quite convince me with its tale. The new version is more plausible, and gives a lesson in how to react in grave situations as well, re: the kids’ parents’ reactions to Freddy at the Pre-School.

Nonetheless I feel that the dialogue could have more forcefully explained certain points. For example, you sort of have to flesh out yourself why Freddy is innocent OR guilty and why is he dream-haunting those poor kids, as the near one-line mentions are almost dismissable, even missable. [I think I just coined some phrases here; “dream-haunting”…]

Still, I couldn’t find any immediate boo-boos or loopholes in this version’s story (yet :-), in the way that I did with Iron Man 2 where they were as big as the atrium at GSC Mid-Valley’s South Court!

On this Nightmare’s acting and actors, I know some would agree with me that we’d prefer Kellan Lutz as the main protagonist who is “saved” at the end (we’re prejudiced because of his Twilight appearance!). Instead he’s the first to be killed off here, and eekily too. Eeek!

I put “saved” above in quote marks because the ending is hmm… in the sequel?

P.Ramlee The Musical, My Article

Last night Sunday 15 July I got a treat, which I'm so glad I could share with my mum, wife & eldest daughter - tickets to the acclaimed 'P.Ramlee The Musical' (PRM) at KL's Istana Budaya National Theatre. Now that's a spectacular production. The innovative sets and rivetting storyline were worth all four hours.

Thanks to my pal Boudeng / Enfiniti Productions and Celcom (glad corporations like this are supporting the Arts & Heritage - I'll support these entities in return...) or I wouldn't have had the chance to see PRM. Anyway, I'm glad to also have been involved in work with Enfiniti Productions especially as Heritage and Development Consultant on the well-awaited Malaysian Cultural Village project in progress. That's something that KL needs badly!

Back to PRM. I like to think I had a small role to play in its beginning as well. While the crew were developing the play, I had written an illustrated article about P.Ramlee in 'The Hilt' magazine, which I gave to Adlin Aman Ramlee and Pat Ibrahim after one meeting we had at Ten-On-Ten. They were poring over it, so hopefully it helped them with a weeny bit of shaping their award-winning play...! My original article is below.

A Man for all Seasons... and Talents
Reminiscing the life and times of the Malay World's late P. Ramlee
by Nadge Irving

"That man really hit the nail on the head, and with a sharp blow too", guffawed the elderly but elegant Chinese lady.

"Which man, and what head?" quizzed the young Caucasian expat woman as they sat at the bar in Kuala Lumpur's partiest road.

"Why, the man whose name graces this street, of course", the elder lady motions to the neon-strewn Jalan P. Ramlee, and its array of restaurants, bars, night clubs, karaoke parlours and live band entertainment joints, with the now globally famous Petronas Twin Towers anchoring one end.

The road that bears the name of P. Ramlee is, strangely, both aptly yet ironically named. Apt because P. Ramlee himself was an entertainer, par excellence – indeed one so versatile as a prolific actor, composer, singer, live comedian, director and film-maker - that everyone who knows his work still says that it has been impossible to find anyone like him since his death 34 years ago, on 29 May 1973 of heart attack at a still young 44 years.

Yet ironic because at the same time few of his fans would associate him with a boozy and chic flesh-exposed nightlife strip. Indeed, for some the association is near sacrilegious as although P. Ramlee was adored by millions of fans in at least three countries (Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia) - including women who literally threw themselves at him with at least one having tried to break down his hotel room door - he lived a surprisingly clean life of no womanizing or drinking. A downright simple and exemplary modus, considering his fame and celebrity status.

True he was married thrice, with one wife being the consort of a Sultan no less, who left a privileged palace life to seek him, but they were all in succession and he never appeared to be in a hurry for another woman after each divorce. The public saw him as a perfectly matched couple with third wife Saloma, the beautifully-voiced diva who remained a popular singer until she died in 1983, with whom P.Ramlee remained faithful till his earlier death.

Precious few men can claim to be so chaste.

Especially if they had at least 65 films under their belt as actor or director or both, done 360 songs to fill all those films and of others’, numerous capacity audience shows and umpteen awards, especially international ones including the world's first ever "The Most Versatile Talent" award which seemed to be created specially for him at the Asia Film Festival, Tokyo in 1963, just after Malaysia's formation. Also most of his oeuvres were not commercial flops, but in fact popular hits in the days when many films had to be graced with songs, which he did all himself.

Despite just a summary above, his achievements are nothing short of outstanding. No wonder that he is the first to be posthumously awarded a most deserved 'Tan Sri' title.

Maybe it was in his upbringing, which was straightforward if a little underprivileged. Born Teuku Zakaria in Penang on the morning of the Muslim post-Ramadhan fasting month celebration Aidil Fitri on 22 March 1929, P. Ramlee’s mother was Che Mah Hussin of Penang and his father was Teuku Nyak Puteh from Aceh, Sumatra island in what is now Indonesia. Teuku is a hereditary title of Acehnese royalty, similar to the Malay Tengku. Yet his father was a humble sailor who came to Penang supposedly to take himself away from a family disagreement.

The boy's name was changed to Ramlee as his grandmother was not able to pronounce Teuku Zakaria.

Later Ramlee added the‘P’of his father's Puteh (meaning 'white') in front of his name, and P.Ramlee became one of the earliest instances of a wildly successful ‘personal branding’ – short, rhyming and easy to remember. He had a talent for that and gave many ‘stage names’ or essentially ‘personal brands’ to many colleagues whom he helped raise in his line of work. Among them were actresses Roseyatimah (Rosnah) and Fadzilliyaton (Zaiton).

Much of his talents and successes, interestingly, appeared to be inborn or self-taught as his family was not rich and he did not have any formal courses or classes other than normal schooling. But he was known as a curious and self-motivated learner, voluntarily learning many things on his own from whoever would care to teach, including to play the piano and violin.

He had much knack and yearning for entertaining, and in those Pre-World War II days where there was no Indonesia or Malaysia – the region was still its single fluid pan-Malayic community except that it was ruled by either the British or Dutch – people, traders and entertainers crossed the Melaka Strait and surrounding seas like these were corridors and not barriers.

Thus it was that while P. Ramlee sang and performed with local bands, a Medan, Sumatra artiste troupe visited Penang for shows and he ended up singing on stage with lead star Kasma, who would later be a long-time friend and industry colleague Kasma Booty.

It is said to be one B. S. Rahjan, an Indian film director with Malay Film Productions of Jalan Ampas, Singapore who spotted P. Ramlee singing in 1948 in Butterworth and was impressed. As P. Ramlee left for Singapore, his father said, with a touch of reverse psychology, “If you leave the village with just two shirts and come back with still two shirts, don't come back”. It was clear that Nyak Puteh meant not material wealth when he added, “If you leave this village you must prove that you have gone out into the world. Come back with success.” P. Ramlee was to prove it every time he made a new film or won his awards at numerous international film festivals.

In that same year 1948 the slim young man acted in his first film ‘Chinta’ (Love), as a villain. But it was in the film ‘Bakti’ (Beneficence) that P. Ramlee got the break that he in fact almost missed. The heroine was none other than Kasma Booty, and an earlier star actor had had to back out. P. Ramlee was invited yet Kasma sincerely thought he was too thin for a hero. But his singing voice won him the part and the film went on to be a hit. P. Ramlee became a big star almost overnight. The rest was history.

P. Ramlee always had a “boleh” (can do) attitude long before the ‘Malaysia Boleh’ slogan was brought up by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. This can-do spirit was basically how P. Ramlee established himself as a film director as well.

The studio mogul, Run Run Shaw, was looking for a director for his script ‘Pancha Delima’ but none of the studio’s usual directors thought it was workable. In near desperation, the studio approached P. Ramlee if he would give the script a try. He accepted and completed the film. During the inaugural screening where all the other directors were invited, Run Run Shaw stopped the film during mid-screening, got up and blasted the earlier directors for not taking up the challenge where P. Ramlee had succeeded commendably. As far as film directing went, the rest too was history.

Part of P. Ramlee's success in film making was his ability to portray very local and realistic situations with low budgets and yet spin it all into a story or convey a message that was humanistically universal, and transcended cultural boundaries or political correctness.

And that was why the Malaysian Chinese lady at the beginning of this article was laughing. There's a scene in the popular comedy ‘Ali Baba Bujang Lapok’ in which the hero's brother was beheaded by thieves. The hero doesn't want his brother buried without his head re-attached and calls a Chinese tukang to sew the head back on to the body. At first he refuses but as the hero adds more and more money, the man finally agrees, saying (in translation) “because of the money, I'll do it lah”.

"Haiya, such a simple truism but entertaining message about human nature; if the money is right anything can and will be done." The lady chuckles as she sips her drink along Jalan P. Ramlee.

Notes:

The P.Ramlee Memorial / Pustaka Peringatan P.Ramlee
is located in the former residence of P.Ramlee in Kuala Lumpur, where he lived with his wife Saloma and children until his death on 29 May 1973. The one storey bungalow was fortunately acquired by the Malaysian Government as a national heritage.

It houses nostalgic memorabilia of P.Ramlee's awards, clothes, musical equipment, documents, personal artifacts and photos. His old car, a Datsun Sunny 1200 (1971 model) number BAD 3608 is parked in the porch. The memorial is maintained by Arkib Negara Malaysia (Archives of Malaysia).

Address: Pustaka Peringatan P Ramlee No. 22 Jalan Dedap Taman P.Ramlee (formerly Taman Furlong) Setapak 53000 Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA. Tel: 603-40231131
From Bulatan Pahang, take Jalan Pahang and pass the Police Station until there is a signboard to turn left and go straight in till another signboard of the place.
Visiting Hours: Tuesday to Sunday (10 am - 5.00 pm) Friday (10 am - 12.00 pm & 3.00 pm - 5.00 pm) Monday closed (except public and school holidays)
Admission is free. Do check out the books, souvenirs and CDs for sale.

Notes from Europe: Italy & the UK - April 2008

Salam semua,

I've just got back from Italy, attending an international event in Milan and tour guiding a group while doing some research around the Venice, Padova and Como area (incidentally where 'Casino Royale' was filmed). Flew north for a weekend in London before returning to Milan, then back to KL via Dubai.

For me, Italy is like 'balik kampung' as I spent time studying there and still speak fluent Italian. So much so that Italian Immigration personnel thought I was working there! But my Italian is put to good use because I promote Malaysia in my tour guiding for Italians and other Europeans.

This is in fact the first time I set foot in Italy after 21 years! It's a fascinating homecoming of sorts. Italy, like many parts of Europe, is both a land of storied past and dynamic present. And I'm glad I'm from an equally dynamic country with much to be proud of – no inferiority complex here.

I had kept in touch with a good ole Italian friend from Milan itself, Moreno. And he was so kind as to offer me and my fellow two Malaysian architects Surea & Chan to stay in his cozy apartment in the Corvetto suburb south of the city.

Our first day was at the sprawling Fiera Milano Rho for the Salone Internazionale di Mobili, an international design fair focusing on furniture – the best from the past and the latest for the future. Indeed, some of the most appealing and even exotic furniture can be seen here. People who are interested in design should be here as there's much to appreciate, especially if you bring me along as your Italian-speaking guide :-) , like I was for the Malaysian group I went with. We'd love to come back for next year's Fair.

We even met some Indonesians checking out the latest design offerings. It's nice to meet Indonesians; I always feel a kinship with fellow people of the Nusantara, sharing our related language and cultures.

In fact, I was in Italy also to do some research on the Nusantara for my upcoming book. Italians are very interested in history & heritage. Not surprisingly because they have a long history from the ancient Romans to medieval Islamic influence to the many European wars and interventions right through World War II.

Yet they're not interested in just their own history. Recently, Italian researchers studying ancient world historic links have found that there must have been connections between the Malay World and as far north of the Indian subcontinent as the Indus Valley - remember the ancient cities at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, in today's Pakisan.

As an example, Italian tests on archaeological remains found in the Indus Valley indicate the presence of banana species that are originally grown only in the Malay Archipelago! This is 4000 years ago! It corroborates my own research that the Malay peoples of South-east Asia have long been seafaring traders since pre-Biblical times. Indeed, old texts from India confirm that ships of the "Malayo" have been sailing around the Indian Ocean just like the various Indian states have also been trading with the Nusantara. This Italian finding was also reported via BBC History in March.

When I arrived in London, the UK was going through a petrol supply strike crisis. On Sunday my brother-in-law Ben and I drove from one south London petrol station to another looking for a pump which was not filled with anxious buyers. By the time I left UK that Wednesday, car fuel prices had risen to £1.2 (RM7) per litre. As high as Italy's, yet isn't Britain (via North Sea oil) one of Europe's biggest oil producers?

Food costs were rising fast across Europe too, not just in both Italy andUK, but in France for example, bread prices have been raised three times in the last 6 months. The BBC reports food supply and price rise tensions in places from the Philippines to Egypt to supermarket shelves emptying of rice in even some Wal-Marts in the USA!

We are much better off in Malaysia, with petrol and staples better controlled by the Government (except rice in ironically Kedah the rice-planting heartland, I hear). And when I got home, I was proud to see that my family was doing its bit to help with food production. In my two-week absence my wife and kids had planted more kinds of fruits and veggies in our little garden, as I had suggested.

We can always do something, anything, for a better world, insyAllah.
-nadge- www.nadge.org (test-site; migrated to new host)

Nadge reporting from Sumatera 2006

[This post was a record of e-mails in mc7983 from 10-15 Oct 2006]

Subject: Nadge reporting from Indonesia Re: Fuel for sale
> Sun. 15 Oct 2006
--- In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mc7983, Nik Ahmad Fikri Nik Ismail wrote:>> Nadge, Did you try to email me something. I received your email with a file that couldn't be opened. Pok Nik. Melaka.

Nope Pok Nik, it was just my earlier message that may have morphed into attachment form. Anyway I hope you all had a good sahur together! I succumbed to all the smoke and tears of my journey through Sumatra. Just got back. I had trudged alone three days around propinsi Riau (kota Pekanbaru & daerah Siak) where I witnessed first hand the local farmers' fires and the smoke that's also 'exported' to Semenanjung... The locals (both authorities and people) don't seem to care even if they're in the midst of all their own suffering! So how can they even care about what happens across the border in Malaysia? On TVRI Riau channel, the Pemda (Pemerintah Daerah) rep of daerah Bengkalis, when asked "Bagaimana harus kita tangani masaelah ini, Bapak?", Bapak gave completely meaningless comments absolving the Pemda of all responsibility. What can we expect, when even the Menteri Perhutanan, Bapak MS Ka'ban, live on SCTV on 10th October could finally only say, "...kita harus meningkatkan kesedaran..."! Even the handsome newscaster Bayu was visibly exasperated with his Minister, "Gimana ini? Kita Indonesia malu dengan Malaysia ini Pak Ka'ban, kesedaran apa lagi? Di mana 'enforcement' kita??"... Really, I love Indonesia as my fellow Rumpun Melayu-Muslim country, but things can get quite frustrating here.

Then I was in Lampung province in the southern tip of Sumatra, where it's been in "kemarau" for months. The sawah padi are yellow and dead... And the local government doesn't seem to be willing, or able, to improve the infrastructure and livelihoods that in Malaysia people take for granted from the Malaysian 'gomen'. Malaysian kampung roads are like highways compared to the dismal quality of Sumatran trunk roads. Just about every local person I meet laments the korupsi that results in bad living standards... Yet Indonesia is RICH! I was there indeed because of business in all the fabulous natural wealth it has. And many Indonesians I meet say that if their country were administered at least as well as Malaysia is, they would be among the richest nations on earth. For example, Indonesia has four times more oil & gas than Malaysia does, but Petronas is four times wealthier than Indonesia's Pertamina! And yet if you look at it politically, Malaysia's non-serumpun ethnic percentile mix is three times potentially more volatile than Indonesia's (referring to the 2003 ISEAS comparative study on volatility of political factors).

Many times after coming back from places like these, masyaAllah you really feel so grateful to be Malaysian. Anyway, forgive my rambling. Aku tetap cinta padamu Indonesia.

Ya Allah, teguhkan iman kami umat Malaysia & Indonesia, berikan kekuatan untuk kami mengatasi segala macam kelemahan & cabaran, eratkan persaudaraan & permuafakatan kami dan sudahi umat Islam Malaysia & Indonesia dengan kemenangan dunia & akhirat.

Mohon disahut dengan "Amien"! Bangkitlah Nusantara!! -nadge-

Subject: Re: [mc7983] For Sale
I hope this is not being sent to be fuel for more forest fires in Kalimantan? I'm still in Riau and the air is absolutely choking with smoke. There was coverage on Indonesia's SCTV and TVRI today, and as usual there are top people here blaming Malaysians but without proof, on Malaysian plantation companies and investors in Sumatra and log buyers and people selling cheap fuel to poor farmers to burn land for clearing in Kalimantan. Hmmm...

I'll be back in our alhamdulillah much-less-messy tanahair for our Sahur on 14th. -nadge-

------ Original Message -----
From: Shamshul Baharin
Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 4:08 amSubject: Re: [mc7983] For Sale

Can you supply item 2 in drums? Delivery to Balik Papan in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Give price and specs please?

>> Ahmad Nizam Azim wrote:
>> 2. Industrial 'legal' diesel.> I can supply anywhere in Malaysia at a price of what you are getting or a bit less.> 10,000 to 21,000 liters per load.>> Lastly........14th ni sahur on ka? at Paya Serai?>> thank you.>>

----- Original Message -----
From: Nadge
Date: Monday, October 9, 2006 8:39 pmSubject: Riau RE: [mc7983] For Sale

Salam dari Seberang! Aku di Pekanbaru, Riau, Sumatera. Jerebu sini lagi hebat. Depa panggil 'kabut'. Tapi depa macam tak kesah aja. Kalau di tempat sendiri dah tak ambik pudul, apa lagi depa nak kesah kalau kita di Malaysia kalut. Bila aku sebut pasal masalah asap ni, depa gelak- gelak! Macamana umat Rumpun Melayu nak maju camni?

Esok aku pi ke Kabupaten Siak yang terkenal di zaman Kesultanan Melaka, tambah 3 jam naik 4WD dari Pekanbaru, nak tengok sendiri berapa banyak lagi hutan & ladang terbakar.

Anyway, batch kita pernah buka puasa, ingat tak di Century Paradise Club dulu. Masa tu aku baru kahwin. Mat Yoq uruskan tak silap.>

-indiana nadge in the land of smoke-