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.

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

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!