News Part II

Another piece of news that caught my eye this week is about a man by the name of Raja Noor Jan Shah. If you're a Malaysian, you'd probably know that Malay people with names that starts with Raja and Tengku are usually relatives of royalty. (Be careful about Raja though...cause it can also be a common name if one is an Indian). They may not be the direct lineage of the king but their ancestors probably played polo with the big guy.

If you all remember your history well, back in those days, Melaka (aside from Penang and Singapore) was part of the Negeri-Negeri Selat. Negeri-Negeri Selat are those states in Malaysia that was under the colony of the British. These 3 states (yes, Singapore was part of Malaysia until the 1960s) was ruled by a British governor. The reason for a governor being installed as the head of the state is due to the fact that there was no known royal lineage in those states at that point of time.
Melaka being an entreport was raped and plundered many a times way before the British were even a force to be reckoned with. Before the Brits, there were the Portugese. Before the Portugese, Melaka was a Dutch colony. The last known king of Melaka was Sultan Mahmud Shah or more commonly read about in the history books as 'Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Dijulang'. He was the king that was assassinated when he was being chauffeured around in his sedan. (This happened in 1511...so sedan in this context is more of a chair than a car). When he was assassinated (probably by a blowpipe...i forgot this part of history) he was not known to have an heir. So just like that on a sunny day in 1511, Melaka lost its royal lineage.

Suddenly, after close to 5 centuries, this guy, Raja Noor Jan Shah comes up and stakes his claim to the Melaka throne! According to him he has proofs that his ancestor is indeed Sultan Mahmud Shah. Not only that, but this dude comes equipped with all the royal regalia. He has with him 2 'royal' keris, a 'royal' stamp and other paraphenelia. When asked how he managed to get his hands on all these antiques, he said that he had a dream from his ancestor which points him to the correct direction to dig for all these memorabilia. My, I wonder if he can dream me up next sunday's Big Sweep lottery numbers.
The funniest part is that he even had the audacity to give honorific titles to 150 people in an 'inauguration' ball last week in Kuala Lumpur. He was even dressed for the occasion, complete with a headgear, umbrellas and maids-in-waiting. Everyone in the function was dressed in yellow(colour of royalty) from head to toe.
I think I'd better start bringing out my cape and wearing my underwear inside out and stake my claim as the heir of planet Krypton...

News

Since the time Benjamin Day invented the Daily Sun, newspaper has been a source of information for the general public. It should have been the greatest invention of the 19th century as it was the beginning of mass culture, mass media, mass opinion and mass movements. With it, spotting events of the greatest interest to the greatest number emerged as a skill and a profession.

Of late, there has been some news which is of great interest amongst the Malaysian public. The most famous one is being the marriage between a certain Joshua and Jessie. This would appear to be a seemingly harmless and plainly uninteresting piece of news. Except for the tiny bit of fact that Jessie until 3 years ago used to be known as Jefferey! On top of that, the marriage was quite a lavish affair. More than a million ringgit was used by the couple for the whole event. 700K goes to the purchase of a bungalow, 300K goes to a brand new car and around 100K goes to the wedding reception.

Being the first communion of such sort in Malaysia, it definitely wagged the tongues of every Ram, Kerk and Ali. From mamak stalls to the cabinet ministries, everyone had their own comments. One of the minister actually announced in the daily that such a marriage is not legalized under the Malaysian constituency. According to him, marriages are based on the individuals identity card (or more commonly known as IC). In this case, eventhough the bride had a full blown operation to become a woman, the sex in the IC would still indicates that the person is a male. (Males have IC numbers ending with an odd number. Females have even numbers). He added that eventhough the marriage was solemnized by the church (3 pastors from 3 different sect attended the event) Malaysia will not recognize a marriage of the same sexes.
Some of the more disparaging comments from the public would be to the likes of "You think they can DO IT ar?". "Waseh...the bride has an adam apple lor." The more intelectually challenged ones would pass comments like "Does a sex change operation install a womb inside?". "Does she still have a winkie?" I'm not sure who to pity. The couple for having to withstand all these brickbats or all the jokers who made the comments.

Why can we not just look at it the way it is supposed to be? Two people who are in love and who are so willingly to share their love and their lives together. Does it matter if the couple are both males or both females? Some people prefer coffee, others are just plain tea drinkers. Some prefer sausages for breakfast others like bacon to go with their eggs. Just let them be and wish that they have a happy and eventful life together. Even if you cannot, at least respect them for having the guts to openly proclaim their love and commitment towards each other...

Ode to Melaka

I'm sure many of you have known the story of how Parameswara founded Melaka. For those of you who don't know, the story goes that Parameswara a Sumatran prince came to a place by a river bank. As he was resting against a tree, he saw a mousedeer kicked his hunting dogs into the river. He was dumbfounded by the sight that he told his followers that it's a good omen. So he decided to name the place after the tree that he was resting on. So Melaka it is known! (Until today I don't even know what the f**k a Melaka tree is...any input from people who studies botany? or treelogy? Sorry for the pun).
However, if you make a search on Google, you will know that the word in Greek actually carries the meaning of...'Masturbation'. Now it makes you wonder what Mr. Paras was actually doing while resting against the tree. That's why history is so exciting. No one is around right now to give justification or validation on things like this. It's based on hear say. Just like Hang Tuah, right now historians are proving that he is not some kind of superb, kick-ass warrior. In fact he is a sychophant (in Hockkien, we call these people Por-lampa or Bodek in Bahasa Melayu) who stood up for a king who oppressed the weak. The true hero is in fact Hang Jebat. Now that is story for another day...
Anyway, I had my higher education in Melaka. Was there for the whole duration of my Bachelor's degree. I've not been back there since I graduated. (Close to 4 years). So the recent trip back was like a walk down memory lane.
Melaka has changed quite a bit in these past 4 years. The Air Keroh area is now filled with new buildings. Hotels and shoplots among them. The roads are nonetheless the same. I could still go around without much of a problem.
My first stop was of course the town. The place more commonly known has Stadhuys or the red house. Stadhuys is actually Dutch for 'State house'. Which was the administration center when the Dutch ruled Melaka. I went to the famous Chicken Ball Rice in that area. It's actually Chicken Rice but the uniqueness is that the rice are made into cute little balls. (Size of a golf ball). I should think 5 balls is equivalent to a usual plate of rice as this is the serving everyone gets. The 5 balls are accompanied with a plate of steamed chicken. Until today I do not know why people call it Chicken Ball Rice. To me, it's not the chicken that's made into a ball. It's the rice that is balled up. So it should be Chicken Rice Balls rather than Chicken Ball Rice!
After that it was a walk down Jonker Walk. Not much has changed. Except for the fact that I noticed there were more antique shops than I could remember. There was a shop that struck my fancy. It was called Puri Padi. The shop actually sell a lot of knick knacks (from retro clothes to antiques to decors). But the most eye catching part was the entrance of the place. It actually converts part of the house into a garden with a Balinese theme. I got to know that the owner of the shop actually an interior designer as well as a landscape architect. The shop is actually a show house for his works. Truly impressive.
A visit to Melaka is not complete without paying a visit to my alma mater, Multimedia University. A drive along Bukit Beruang brings back all the sweet and bitter memories. The time that I walked from my rented house to university, the numerous mango trees that provided myself and my uni-mates fruits for 3 years, the mamak where we use to hang out, the makan places...the memories came gushing back.
Melaka, thanks for everything. Thanks for being a place where I went as a stranger and left 3 years later with you being so close to my heart....

Penang...the pearl of the orient.

After being away for almost two years, I didn't know that I could miss Penang so much. Perhaps deep inside I'm just a little country mouse, who will not depart far away from things that are near and dear to his heart. Perhaps it's the aroma of the famous Hockkien Mee (Prawn Noodle) that uses crawfish along Penang Road that lures me back. Perhaps it's the Char Koay Teow... but whatever it is, every break that I can garner, I'll try to make it a point to go back to my hometown.
This trip back is not much different from the previous trips...Spending time with the family, having dinner with the extended family, going around eating things that I've missed. Within my family, we do have a certain agenda when it comes to food. I dunno why, but we will always go back to a certain restaurant (on certain days) and order the same kind of food. Boring? Maybe...
If I'm back on a Friday night, the first stop for breakfast on a Saturday would be the 'Bah Kut Teh' shop along Gurney Drive. The funny thing is that I know everyone in that shop by name but I can never recall the name of that place. (If I'm not mistaken, it's called Song River). In that shop, the dishes that we ordered are the same. One look and a nod is all it needs to get our dishes out.
Scenario in Song River
Me: Ah Hwa...
(Ah Hwa looking in our direction)
**A nod and a wink from me**
**Two nods from dad**
**A nod and a smile from mum**
Ah Hwa: Oh OK, lai liau! (ok come already)

...A few minutes later and I'll get my bowl of Fish Stir Fried Rice Noodle with a plate of Tofu mixed vegetables, my dad will get his bowl of Fish Rice Noodle Soup. And my mum will get her bowl of clear soup Bah Kut Teh.

Waseh, maybe that's why we keep going back there. It kinda make me look like a triad leader with secret codes to my henchman Ah Hwa. But then again Ah Hwa won't be much of a henchman if he only serves Bah Kut Teh...

Ipoh...the quaint little mining town.

My past two weeks has been quite an adventure...
First I was back in Penang for my DeepaRaya vacation. On my way back to Penang I stopped by Ipoh. It was kinda interesting in the sense that although as a Malaysian, I've never actually stayed overnight in Ipoh. (Aside from this one time when I had a camp in St. Michael's Institution). Aside from it's Ngah Choy Gai (Beansprout chicken), Pomelos and Mitchelle Yeoh, I've practically not known Ipoh at all. So the objective of my one day in Ipoh was to visit all the places that I've never been and try their local dishes. Albeit short, the trip did not disappoint. Aside from the Ngah Choy Gai, I managed to try their famous Vegetarian Curry Mee. Just like our normal Curry Mee (or what they call Curry Laksa in KL) except that all the cockles and frozen pig's blood are missing. In its place, there are different kinds of tau-pok (A kind of tofu).
I managed to make a stop in Little India to get a feel of the Deepavali spirit and also to buy some of their murukus. After that it was another stop in their famous mountain temples. The more famous one being Sam Poh Tong (Precious Mountain Temple). For those of you who have never been there, think of it as a Chinese Batu Caves...with more elaborate decorations and a turtle pond. Some parts of the temple actually look like a perfect shooting location for some Kungfu movie...maybe someone can prompt Mitchelle Yeoh to look into this.
With pomelos in hand, I left Ipoh to head back to Penang. A perfect pit stop for my journey back home...