Selamat pagi kak, tu nasi lemak,” I greeted the nasi lemak aunty, whose stall was only behind my house. Nasi lemak is my favourite food, especially the ones with hot white rice, sambal paste pressed on top of the triangle rice formation, mixed with anchovies, with little strips of egg and cucumber, and wrapped in a pandan leaf, under a newspapers wrap at the outermost. Second place would be Nasi Kerabu, then Nasi Dagang, then other Malay food. Only then it is dimsum and then steamboat. Maybe it is because of the novelty each time I eat Malay cuisine, or maybe it is because I have been lucky enough to not taste any terrible ones. Why I love Malay food I feel really good whenever I eat at a Malay restaurant or stall, I somehow get treated better. The nasi lemak aunty normally serves me first even if I did not necessarily come first – “he looks hungry” she would explain to his waiting customers, and I did look hungry – and she would always still entertain my repeated questions on what “lauks” are in the tupperwares with warm gestures. Perhaps there is a sense of pride and embrace for another ethnic group - who may or may not be familiar with your culture - to enjoy the food you prepared for them. I also eat with my hands sometimes. It is fun and I do get to “feel” the food more than with cutleries, like what my Malay friends told me. Whenever I get down with my hands, I get looks of surprise, shock and then pleasure from the other diners at the Malay restaurants. I get the same from eating at where my Indian, Bidayuh and Ibanese friends brought me to – they want you to like their food. Hell, I would feel good if my non-Chinese friends loved Chinese cuisine. I would bring him/her only to the best. Food is what we Malaysians are most proud of. Are we really that different from one another? But when I walked back to my house, I felt a deep contrast between the experience I just had with what I read on the news. On papers or online, the news paints a bleak picture on how we can never agree on anything. We dress different, we speak different, we go to different schools, we pray to different Gods, and our kids play in different places. Not only can we not agree, we often feel it imperative to denounce others for their differences and demand for their removal or abolishment. That is perhaps why people do not even read the news anymore. Reading the local news have evolved into a saddening venture. It is hard to comprehend the continuous desire by irresponsible quarters (politicians, many of them) to highlight how different we are from one another, and quite sadly, it seems that our politics will drive on that “wedge” for a long time. The alienation and animosity that was created had produced a culture of fear domineering our nation more than anything else. Nelson Mandela never agreed that hate between humans was a natural human instinct, instead hatred was only a genesis of teachings - by people who intend to divide us. Why “food” is our staple answer The absurdity on how Jimi Hendrix, religious statues, “revealing clothes”, heavy metal, religious hymns and many other religious, social, racial or cultural practices can be deemed “confusing”, “misleading” or “offensive” to certain quarters, have ruthlessly narrowed down the areas in which there aren’t any controversies among Malaysians. Food, therefore, is the one area (not quite also, since curry powder is somewhat contentious now) that can be shared without the racial and religious divisiveness. It is the safest route. In fact, it is where we embrace each other by cherishing and opening up opportunities for tolerance to finally become acceptance. Notwithstanding that, it does seem like we are stuck with the food reference all the time when we asked this difficult question: “What are you proud of Malaysia?” Well, we cannot say we love Malaysia for its nature – its green, strategically located, natural disaster-free part of the world - because nature is sort of given to us by God, rather than anything we substantially produced together. Be something bigger If one had been an ardent reader of Malaysian news from an international perspective, apart from food, one would probably remember Malaysia as a politically divided, racist, xenophobic, homophobic and anti-Semitic nation. However, all ordinary Malaysians would agree that the alleged “division” was only talked about – and thus “caused” – by the ones “at the top”, commonly in reference to the irresponsible politicians, or the ones who had been given too much funds, time and media attention (hint: Isma, Ridhuan Tee, Ibrahim Ali). We are really not like that, and I know this to be true. But it will take time and efforts to prove who we really are. We are blessed that we have food – exotic aesthetics, heavenly to the taste buds, inspirational – as a good starting point to display what Malaysians are capable of, and most importantly, what similarities we truly possess. But it is only just that: a starting point. And we must move away from that and be something so much more. – August 26, 2014. * James Chai is a first-year law student. - See more at: themalaysianinsider/sideviews/article/what-are-you-proud-of-malaysia-james-chai#sthash.AeVPWvFA.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 08:36:22 +0000
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