Sunday 25 September 2005

Anak Melayu di Kota Inggeris

It was a funny kind of evening – not funny haha, but just funny strange. The gentleman who was my companion for the evening was polishing off his nasi lemak and downing his second glass of teh tarek, while I looked on in amazement at how Malay or much more Malay he is than me, in terms of the generous dollops of sambal that he had on his plate. He has not had nasi lemak for a long time, he said, in perfect Malay. The only Indonesian restaurant in Shizuoka, Japan, serves almost everything but nasi lemak.


We discussed my syair and I was very impressed with his input. He did Sejarah Melayu and there were some common grounds there.

In the background, Art Fazil was singing “Anak
Melayu di Kota Inggeris” and whenever he does this, I find it difficult to concentrate on anything else. Thus my plate of rice and mild korma was only half eaten. I must have listened to Art’s wonderful lyrics and composition hundreds of times but it never failed to encapsulate how I feel about being in this Kota Inggeris.


I find myself humming this chorus all the time (that is when I am not singing Alleycats, lah!)

“Pasu bunga berbaris-baris,

disusun oleh si anak manis,

Aku Melayu di Kota Inggeris,

rindukan petai dan sambal tumis!

Anyway, back to my gentleman friend from Japan, who shall remain a Dr T in this entry – is very interested in the Malay community in London – being an anthropologist and all that. And when he emailed me from Japan before his trip, I made arrangements for him to meet up with some people and finally, after his busy schedule, we met up at Mawar – a more Malay surrounding you will not find, I tell you. Its nasi goreng kampong is to die for and the teh tarek, as Dr T will testify is just out of this world and on Saturday nights when Art is singing, you will not want to be anywhere else.

Dr T wanted to know how we adapt to life in this Kota Inggeris, the kind of activities we do etc, etc. And who better than Art Fazil, who recently organised the first London Malay Festival, bringing together Malays from Cape Town, Sri Lanka, the Philipines, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Madagascar, Thailand. Dr T should have been around then cos, it was quite an event.

In spite of the fact that they had very little time to organise the festival, Art and co (Ishak and Mimah and daughters and others) did not do too badly. I did my bit by introducing Cik Mat Belanda and his puppets, which were a hit as Cik Mat is our modern day Penglipur Lara who told stories, using his puppets. Cik Mat came all the way from Rotterdam to entertain us on that day – he even demonstrated several ways to make ketupat nasi. I have known Cik Mat for a long time. My trips to Holland will not be complete without a visit to his house for his delicious asam pedas ikan semilang. I marvel at his dedication... he is a sort of cultural ambassador there – organising cultural shows and introducing Malaysia.

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Anyway, there was a fashion show with models from the Malay world, parading in Malay costumes, silat, dances and many more.

Truly enjoyed that. There was a talk on Malayness and the Malay world by Prof EU Kratz from SOAS. And food, needless to say from Mawar..the festival would not have seen light of day without the final push from Faizal Philip, Mawar's owner! Hat's off to him!

ketupat Posted by Picasa


Anyway, I digress...(but this is the beauty of blogging, I can digress whenever I like, its my blog. And i can even have typeos....see what I mean?)

Dr T’s interest made me think. People like us, who have been away for a long time, have now become objects of research. Hey, wasn’t I the one who used to do the research and now I am the subject of research? Art Fazil did mention that by 2012, he’d like to see a Malay museum set up in London. Suddenly, I see this horrible image of myself all crumpled up and wrinkled in one of the showrooms!

27 comments:

Ely said...

very very nice! its so nice to see malays having such a huge gathering, wish we have it here too!

Atok said...

sounds like your meeting with Mr T went smoothly. too bad, our (Mr T & me) meeting had to be cancelled due to unforseen circumstances. but at least he met our friend H. so, dah balik jepong ke dia?

atenah said...

you wrinkled? no lah *kau sentiasa ayu dihatiku*

just read yr article in MM and came here straight. he he he ada mention si Ananda and si Ratu Makan Sakan buat lagu huh?

hopefully next year our blogging gang can launch into a bigger *project* eh Kak Teh?

AuntyN said...

Kak Teh wrinkled? Comei selalu tu, don't worry lah. By that time macam macam ada untuk preserve tak bagi wrinkle.

Anonymous said...

kakteh, typos tu your trademark lah!! so dont worry .. i also make many mistakes. my inggeris not so good, you see ..hehe..

Nadia said...

ahahahahah kak teh..crumpled and wrinkled? aiiii.....no..i think you'll be one of the models ;)

yea la...nice to hear malay community somewhere than in malaysia. siap ada kedai makan lagi...ehh bila la nak sampai UK ni yeh :)

Kak Teh said...

ely, it was a good show - and a very good effort to bring malays from around the world together..ona small scale but will be better next year.
adiejin - okay!! catalogue them for me..hehehe!
atok- yes, he really enjoyed meeting those people there.
atenah: insyaallah - we will!
jane - when D is done, we go for nasi lemak or kueh teow!

auntyN- tak pa , kita boh cement!
klmuk, you cucup pandai sus out my trademarks!
nadia..here we are indeed spoilt for choice. datanglah!

Lollies said...

ha ha ha Kak Teh. Kalau nak buat wax museum pun kak teh mesti cun punya.

Imagine, you the curator of the museum.

AuntieYan said...

Kak Teh, yang last part tu nak tergelak laa....

But...mana tahu menjadi reality...mana tahu nanti kita boleh tengok Kak Teh diukir dengan lilin, macam museum lilin tu...haa..

AuntieYan said...

Opppss...terlupa pulak, baca jugak your tulisan in Sunday Mail about blogging.....feel proud that you did mentioned 'makciks'...(hope, termasuk Auntie Yan eh?)

Unknown said...

KakTeh,
I agree with lollies, lets build Malay Wax Museum, Kak Teh will be forever smooth wrinkle-free.....:))

Anonymous said...

KT, your article in Malay Mail was a good one :D.

kaezrin said...

nice one..

btw seronok baca to blog or not to blog dlm sunday mail semalam

Sunfloraa said...

Hehehe alah why worry about wrinkles, there is always Botox ;)

I havent heard this song anak melayu di kota Inggeris. Gotta look it up.

anedra said...

2012 is too soon for u to be on display at the Malay Museum in London. That's only 7 yrs away!

for once I managed to read yr sunday mail article *tak ketinggalan zaman this time*. yeah, positivie blogging rocks!

shidah said...

i envy you kak teh! meeting lotsa people with endless story to tell... :)

SimplyMas said...

I am yet to meet my fellow Malays in Bradford, Halifax... Maybe I might take a trip down to the Universities there and hunt them down... Gather them all and kita Malay Festival... Elok kan??? Kak Teh! How to start???

Anonymous said...

Wahh,..so nice!! I bet the food pun best. Kempunan pulak rasa. I fwd your article to hubby, siblings, my anesthetist *grin*, and my dad.

Yes and I couldn't agree more. Blogs does give us positive impact in our lives. I got to make new friends including with YEWWW!! Yeayy!! ":)

Aiyahhh no worried about wrinkles la kak teh. As sunflora kata..botox kan ada!! heheheheh..;)

Ewok said...

not only nasi goreng kampung lah kakteh, the kangkong belachan and ikan bakar mawar pun sodap!

Lydia Teh said...

Nice touch, that bunga mangga. A more Malay icon, you cannot find, (or is there?)

Read your blogging article. Can identify with what you wrote.

Ni said...

kami minat art fazil tu kak teh

Hajar said...

kak teh!! you can never be crumpled or wrinkle!! true melayu stays young for all times! hehe.. coz, takkan melayu hilang di dunia. gosh.. i'm babbling. this new job really makin me go woo woo. hahaha.. anyway, i had hope to see you, tapi belum ader rezeki, eh?

Anonymous said...

kak teh,

last nite saya ada baca pasal blog kat satu paper kat mesia ni lah..then ada nama zaharah osman..[err..mcm ingat2 lupa nama plak..hehhe]..then si kolumnis tu citer psl blog and ada org panggil kak tehhh kat dia..yang ni kak teh tu ke? freelance kan?

-adk-

Anonymous said...

Tegangkan muka dalam masa 10 minit tanpa botox? http://enfutox.cjb.net

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D'JASMIN said...

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luahan said...

love ur article. can i write in bahasa melayu? x bg pun, nak tulis gak!
i m sofi. a writer, malu juga nak ngaku sbb br jual 1 novel aje. tp itulah, sofi nak tulis ttg kehidupan di london dlm my next novel. boleh x u kl sofi nak gunakan ur blog as my guidance?
pl come to my blog, http://anneali.blogspot.com/