(14 September 11998 ) A Malaysian Journal: Jackie - vol 03: newspapers, coconut, and some leftover anecdotes [ (C) Copyright 1998, D. Crocker, Brandenburg Consulting ] [ This is a continuing series of notes about our experiences living and ] [ working in Malaysia, during Jackie's 10-month Fullbright Fellowship to ] [ the Universiti Putra Malaysia, just outside Kuala Lumpur. ] [ Copies may be freely distributed, but must retain this preamble. ] [ Anyone wishing to be added to the distribution list, or removed from ] [ it, should send me a note. /Dave ] Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 08:22:20 +0700 To: (merlihat) From: Jackie Snell Subject: vol 03: newspapers, coconut, and some leftover anecdotes Merlihat Malaysia (Observing Malaysia) vol. 03: newspapers, coconut, and some leftover anecdotes I was going to title this Politics and food, but in fact the newspapers are well controlled by PM Mahathir. So you may know more about my local politics than I do: I hear that ousted Deputy PM, Anwar, has been speaking on CNN. Our CNN went out the weekend that the ringgit was pegged and Anwar was sacked. Many people here are receiving CNN, so I can't say that our losing it in such a timely manner was contrived, but it certainly looks suspicious. There are 2 ways of receiving subscription TV, one is a satellite system, which always gets CNN and in general has better service and more channels. We opted for the budget competitor, MegaTV, which is neither satellite nor cable, but has an antenna and decoder. Everyone on MegaTV lost CNN that weekend, but most have gotten it turned back on by now, which requires a service call. MegaTV runs frequent ads to pay your bills, the cutest one has a couple of preschoolers watching some cartoon show when the TV suddenly goes out, and the tag line is something like "Don't disappoint your family, pay your bill". We were told they are hungry for customers, but when we called in June, they said they were so busy they couldn't install til mid September. Our downstairs neighbor gave us the phone number of her repairman, Mr. Lee, who charged us cash (250 RM?) & installed the hardware, but said we wouldn't be official, or get a service bill, until Sept. Mr. Lee can't get CNN back for us, and we're not official yet, so we can't officially complain. We are talking about getting Astrovision, the satellite service. We're not completely without news. We occasionally listen to NPR over the Internet. There are 3 English language newspapers, and they do report that there is opposition to Mahathir, it is just fairly hidden and veiled. The front page stories this weekend are the Commonwealth Games, similar to the Olympics, but just the former British colonies. The rest of this week the front page headlines were consistently about "Mahathir gains support", or somebody or other comes around to Mahathir's view. Buried in page 6 or 7 will be some stories about the opposition, mainly UMNO Youth Organization. UMNO is Anwar's and Mahathir's political party and the youth organization was started by Anwar. I knew it was a big deal Friday when news of Anwar speaking at a mosque, after being denied permission, made it to page 4. The sacking of Anwar seems to be bigger news here than the monetary controls. Other headlines this week often had the theme "It's not political, it's Anwar's morals" I think it's not much believed. I heard through the rumor mill that various police heads are resigning because they won't carry-out charges against Anwar. However, we are not seeing or feeling unrest. Yes, people talk about the economy and the sacking over lunch, and the newspaper is reporting supporters gathering at Anwar's house. Otherwise, it's hard for newcomers to know anything is going on. The shopping centers seem to be filled to overflowing on the weekends, though some shops are empty. Sellers don't seem particularly eager to bargain. I have been reassured by several people that there aren't traffic jams anymore - but it looks like traffic jams to me. I have seen no political gatherings on campus or in our local area. On a lighter note: We do not cook here. Food is so cheap and so good, why bother. I eat too many lunches at the school cafeteria, which is not the best local food, and unfortunately kind of fills me up on Malay food, so we generally get Indian or Chinese for dinner. Dave already told some about local food - I'll try not to repeat. Coconut is ubiquitous. Even at Chinese restaurants, most or all desserts include coconut milk. For breakfast we have fried noodles (mee goreng), nasi lemak, or kuih from the school cafeteria, or the executive lounge on our floor, which gets its food from the school cafeteria. Nasi lemak is usually translated in the phrase books as coconut rice. Literally "lemak" means grease or oil, but it isn't noticeably greasy. It is probably the least fatty of the foods I just listed for breakfast. The rice is cooked in coconut milk, so it is greasier than plain rice, but not as greasy as fried rice (or fried noodles). It is served with a very thick, somewhat chunky hot sauce, hard boiled egg, dried anchovies, slices of cucumber, and peanuts. I like it a lot, this one is my favorite hot sauce. Kuih is an assortment of small things, sort of like saying "canape" but served for dessert or for breakfast. Usually it is a layered pudding-y thing, with 1 or more layers made of glutinous rice cooked 'til, once it cools, it's thick enough to slice. The other layer/s may also be glutinous rice, but smoother, or some other kind of starch, cooked with (usually) coconut milk and some other flavoring. If it is pink it is rosewater, if it's green, pandan, if brown, kaya. Pandan is a leaf that is used for desserts and curries around here. It is a very mild flavor, I couldn't taste it over the coconut, so I bought a bottle of extract just so I could recognize pandan flavoring. Kaya translates as "rich" and is made of (surprise!) coconut cream, egg and palm sugar (tastes just like brown sugar). Another "traditional" kuih that they are very proud of is a bright green crepe filled with palm/brown sugar and coconut, not milk, but grated coconut this time. The green means it is pandan flavored, but it is definitely artificial coloring. Other kuih can be fried: Donuts basically just like ours, curry puffs are a small turnover with curried potato filling and deep fried, other kinds of curried things some of them both hot and sweet. They sell lots of cookies around here, often LARGE tins of cookies. If it doesn't say a flavor (one is "milk biscuit", remember the British heritage), it is coconut. I'm becoming addicted to coconut. One day this week I chose kaya-filled buns over chocolate filled. Ice cream is as popular here as in the states (which is to say, probably not as popular as in Europe). Durian, king of fruits, is always one of the flavor choices. I think Dave wrote about durian (tastes like heaven, smells like hell), so I won't dwell on that. A Haagen Dasz ice cream bar costs US$ 2, more than an entire dinner. In Singapore one evening I had a craving for some Haagen Dasz. I had been here about 2 months and it was my first instance of feeling tired of local food. We each had 2 scoops and together it cost about US$ 10! Besides "real" ice cream the locals eat shaved ice with all kinds of odd things poured over: several kinds of beans, some kind of sweetened syrup, usually coconut cream and/or palm sugar. Yes, beans. Plain red kidney beans out of a can are the only ones strictly familiar to us, others are more Chinese-type. They also will put on canned corn or canned creamed corn, many other things that I can't identify, some of them are jellied things. Corn is very popular here, it is added to puddings as well as the shaved ice, and many ice cream stands sell cups of corn. Nothing else in it, just paper cups filled w/canned corn! I promise next time I write about food it won't be dessert! Some of the more interesting tidbits from long ago, that I never sent: Andy Kramer, exec. Director of MACEE, apparently speaks Bahasa well. I had been concerned that I shouldn't look men in the eyes. He said I should look men and women in the eyes. My Malay students might not look me in the eye, it isn't considered respectful, but I should, because it's business. According to Kala, though, the Indians say if someone doesn't look you in the eye not to trust them, just like we Americans say. The official quitting time, and the time most people leave work, is at 4:15. I've found that if I hang out til 5 or 6 I get a chance to talk to Nik, the director of the University Business Center where I work. Iskandar, the 2nd in command, is an Iban. Even Nik was surprised and fascinated by some of the stories he was telling after work one evening. Iskandar was telling us that the Iban are the "head hunters of Borneo" (Sarawak). His family had many heads ("many, many!") in their house until the British came, then the missionaries told them they must bury them under the church. In the olden days, when a man wanted to get married, first he would be asked how many heads he has. I teased him that I couldn't tell he was Iban because he has small ears, he said they don't do that (stretch out their ears, down to their chest) so much now a days, but the boys who do have to hold their ears to keep them from swinging when they play soccer. Iskandar is now a very cosmopolitan and ambitious man. About 50% of Sarawakians are Christian these days, and Iskander trained for the priesthood, but now has converted to Islam. Nik is from Kalantan, up near the border on the east coast. He speaks Kalantan, which is a bit different from Bahasa, and sounds a bit different (not as soft). He is also part Chinese and a little Thai, and he speaks a little Thai. Iskandar asked him what he was speaking w/so-and-so the other day. He said "Orang Asli" the aboriginal language. The Orang Asli live in the interior, look more like Australian aborigines than like orientals. He said they had a bunch at their school. Iskandar was surprised that Nik knows some of that language. Nearly everyone in MY speaks at least Bahasa and some English, plus their native tongue if they are not Malay. If they are Chinese, their mother tongue is usually Hokkien, so they speak that and Bahasa and English, and Mandarin. The most common Indian language is Tamil, but of course most people who speak Tamil also know some Hindi. I am getting better at understanding the local English, but when I don't understand, I'm as humble as can be. My Bahasa is still next to non-existent. Tried to open a credit card when I first arrived, so I can buy things w/Ringgit. Even then, all new credit cards were frozen at Bank Bumiputra. I can't even open one if I pay in advance. They suggested I try Citibank. Citibank said I have to be here for 2 years. This is a cash economy, most people use neither checks nor credit cards. Now we can't be sure the bank is sound either, so we are not keeping much money in the bank. -------------------- Jackie Snell June 1998 - March 1999: jaq@admin.upm.edu.my University Business Centre O: +60(3)948-5649 4th Floor Admin. Bldg. F: +60(3)943-2513 Universiti Putra Malaysia 43400 Serdang, Selangor H: +60(3)945-7239 Malaysia Dave's hand-phone: +60(19)329-9445 after April 1, 1999: snell_j@cob.sjsu.edu Marketing Dept., San Jose State University +1 408 924 3484 One Washington Square fax: +1 408 924 3445 San Jose, CA 95192-0069 USA www.cob.sjsu.edu/facstaff/snell_j _________________________________________________________________________ Dave CROCKER Tel: +1 408 246 8253 BRANDENBURG CONSULTING Tel: +60 19 3299 445 675 Spruce Drive P. O. Box 296, UPM Sunnyvale, CA 94086 www.brandenburg.com Serdang, Selangor 43400 United States Fax: +1 408 273 6464 Malaysia