I'm currently in school. NabNab, Fara and I are taking a break after those brain killing revision for tomorrow's Hist and Eng paper. We were from the library and the fact is I just CAN'T concentrate in school. I'm the kind of person who can concentrate better at home. In my bedroom, to be precise.
So, recapping on the Hari Raya Open House I had last Saturday. It was not what I expected. There were lesser 'customers' than the past years and how wasted it was that this year's food was much yummy and there's a lot more variety to choose from. Just ask those who came and you'll believe how hell of a heaven the foods are. There were
* soup made from soya sauce with sliced lettuce, fishballs and beef. (it's supposed to be eaten with the noodle, but eating it alone is better)
*sambal prawn (I have to emphasize this-HUGE prawns)
*daging masak kurma (how do you spell the latter word?)
*paru-paru goreng (fried cow's lungs?)
*bubur caca (basically it's a some kind of a dessert in a liquid form)
*salad
Alright. My memory can only reach up to that and I'm sure there's quite a few more food that I haven't mention.
My sis' boyfriend was browsing around The Online Citizen and came across this rather old article by Alfian Saat and had blogged it. I came across it recently and thought that the context was interesting so I've decided to blogged it too. I hope non-malay readers won't get too carried away by this context. It's just a text of a Malay guy's perspective. So here it is
A Context From An Old Article By Alfian Saat
"I can only speak of the circle of Malay friends that I have, although I suspect that our numbers are growing. We’re a product of Singapore’s bilingual education system, and many of us come from lower-middle-to-middle-class backgrounds. We all received decent grades for our Malay in school, even though in Malay class, we’d probably put our hands up and ask, ‘Cikgu, ‘imagination’ cakap Melayu apa?’ (How do you say ‘imagination’ in Malay?)
Our mothers are prone to melodramatic meltdowns and our fathers watch too much Malaysian news on TV. We think a ‘lepak’ (idling) place like Simpang Bedok possesses its charms because they have Malaysian stall assistants who hand you money with their right hand, their left hand respectfully clasping their right wrist. We like hanging out at the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station because it’s on Malaysian land and we can smoke to our hearts’ content–although we’ll also admit that the whole idea of being in a place where the railway is called Keretapi Tanah Melayu (literally ‘Train Running On Malay Soil’) does warm and fuzzy things to our self-worth.
We’ve had our individual encounters with service staff from China who spoke to us in Mandarin, and our coping strategies included advice from religion: ‘kesabaran itu sebahagian daripada iman’ (patience is part of faith), our mothers’ sayings: ‘biar orang buat kita, jangan kita yang buat orang’ (let others do unto us, but never should we do unto others), and of course the wisdom of P. Ramlee movies: the ‘cubaan…’ (this is just a trial) lament from the movie ‘Pendekar Bujang Lapok’.
We think the Chinese can’t sing or dance as well as us because they all ‘takde soul’. Indians, on the other hand, have both soul and rhythm. We have at least one friend who jams in a band.
We love our slang, much of which consists of distorted English loan-words: ‘over’ (excessive), ‘potong steam’ (to interrupt something abruptly, causing one to lose momentum) and ‘tangkap feel’ (to be inspired). Once in a while, we’ll invent our own: the affectionate ‘Mintod’ (Minah + Tudung) and ’sentimentel’ (sentimental + mentel, or ‘coy’), although we know that when it comes to neologistic invention we’re way behind the good people of Jakarta.
We think Malay MP’s are handsomely paid mouthpieces for the State, a sentiment we sometimes share with our parents, who’d instead use the phrase ‘Pak Turut’ (Mr Yes-man). We think the ‘drug problem’ shouldn’t be handled on a community level, like how nobody insists that the Chinese Development Assistance Council should be tackling the ‘gambling problem’ or that the Singapore Indian Development Association should be dealing with the ‘alcoholism problem’. We know how difficult it is to talk about Malay marginality in Singapore–the Malays who do it are accused of a ‘victim mentality’, and the non-Malays who do it tend to be opposition politicians (like Chiam See Tong who spoke about Malays and the army in Parliament, or Chee Soon Juan who spoke about the tudung issue at Speaker’s Corner), and they get accused of ‘politicking’.
We think Berita Harian gets carried away with their ‘Anak Melayu’ stories, of the ‘Anak Melayu Mengharumkan Nama Bangsa’ (literally—‘Malay Child Adds Fragrance to the Community’s Name’) variety. We think that images of a Malay graduate wearing his or her convocation gown belongs to the category of images on laminated motivational posters–inspirational, but in the cheesiest way possible (caption: ‘if they can do it, you can do it too!’). We’re sick and tired of watching English TV shows where a Malay lead (Aaron Aziz, Suhaimi Yusof) plays a policeman. We watch Singapore films like ‘12 Storeys’, where a Malay man asks a lead character for free tuition for his son (which means his son’s not good at his studies, and also, that he’s cheap) and ‘Money No Enough’, where a Malay man plays a TV salesman (a pushover who gets bullied by Jack Neo and Mark Lee into giving them free gifts) and wonder when the parade of humiliating stereotypes will end."
So that's it. I thought the context was rather interesting and so is my sis' boyfriend. Try reading his blog. I've linked him under 'BLOODS'. It's just how he blog.
*FYRAZ-Is it the 'Batman&Superman' post that you wanted me to read?
*Singapore Idol's tonight and Farhan's still in. Am I supposed to be happy or not? Yes, I love him but thinking that most people dislike him 'cause he has the look but not the voice would certainly add up the amount of people who hates/dislike him. I was kinda unhappy when I heard that he's still in. Mainly 'cause of those people who hates him but seriously. The fact is that he does have a talent but it's just that he either can't or don't show it on the SI stage (believe me, he can perform better when he's performing on other shows or on gigs) . Ultimately dissapointed. I love his band Heregoesnothing though. Anyway, all the best to Farhan Shah [my second best contestant is Sezairi. He did put up a good performance last week on the theme 'Song the year you were born' (I think so) and the next is Tabitha]
Goshh. Hanisah's tired. So she's signing off.
Peace, Love & Respect,
The Owner
XoXo
Labels: Malays.
