Author Archives: wcw

Changing face of Malaysia – in Lee Kuan Yew’s eyes

The cover of Lee’s book ‘One Man’s View of the World’.

The political demographic landscape has dramatically changed and will continue to move even more drastically in the coming years.

I HAVE just finished reading Lee Kuan Yew’s book – One Man’s View of the World, a collection of his analyses on various subjects across the world.

There is no denying that the former Singapore Prime Minister is a man of intellect. He is still sharp and insightful. He uses simple languages to offer his thoughts on subjects that would have turned out dull if presented by academics and diplomats.

Naturally, like many Malaysians, I started reading the chapter on Malaysia first, of which a part was conducted in a question-and-answer format.

There was one paragraph that stood out, which was his recollections on attending the meetings of the Council of Rulers in his capacity as Prime Minister of Singapore when it was still a part of Malaysia.

What he wrote is relevant to this day, and is something for all of us, especially those from the younger generation, to ponder upon even as we debate about the nation’s future following the outcome of the recent general election.

Between 1963 and 1965, as the PM of Singapore, he wrote that he had to attend the meetings of the Council of Rulers in Malaysia.

“The rulers who attended would all be Malays, dressed in uniforms and accompanied by their sword bearers. All the chief ministers had their traditional Malay dresses on and I was the sole exception.

“This was not mere symbolism. It was to drive home a point: This is a Malay country. Never should you forget that.”

But LKY’s memory has failed him somewhat. He was not the only non-Malay present. The Chief Ministers of Penang, Sarawak and Sabah were also non-Malays.

The Penang Chief Minister was Wong Pow Nee of MCA, who was the state’s first Chief Minister when Malaya was founded in 1957 and served until 1969 when the state fell to the then opposition party, Gerakan.

The first Sarawak Chief Minister was Stephen Kalong Ningkan, who was in office from 1963 to 1964. Sabah’s first CM was Donald Stephens, also from 1963 to 1964, who was then succeeded by Peter Lo Sui Yin. Stephens formed the United Sabah National Organisation while Lo was from the Sabah Chinese Association. So, in the period that Lee was referring to, he was certainly not the only non-Malay present.

Fast forward to 2013. Today, the only non-Malay and non-Muslim attending the Rulers Conference is Lim Guan Eng, the CM of Penang.

Chinese representation in the Federal Government, with the exception of those appointed from the ranks of non-politicians, has been reduced to zilch.

At the 13th general election, Umno performed slightly better to win 88 seats while the other component parties representing the Chinese – MCA, Gerakan and SUPP – suffered a bruising defeat.

The reality is that the majority of Chinese refused to vote for the Barisan Nasional, with the final analysis showing only 16% of the Chinese electorate went Barisan’s way. The Chinese vote is never permanent, and they have been known to swing their support at different elections.

But the strong swing against the Barisan was premised on the belief that they could help to form a new federal government if they threw in their lot with Pakatan Rakyat.

Many even returned from abroad and hoped to be part of history. They wanted to punish Umno but in the end, it was the Chinese-based parties they ended up punishing.

Not many were prepared to accept the reality that there were only 45 Chinese-majority seats in the 222-seat Parliament and even if every single Chinese had voted for the Opposition, there was no way the Barisan could be removed – unless the Malays decide to vote out the ruling coalition.

All that debate over the kind of electoral system, the gerrymandering process, whether it was Chinese or urban tsunami, and the rural advantage is academic when compared to the harsh political reality.

Last month, The Malaysian Insider news portal quoted Ibrahim Suffian of the Merdeka Centre as saying that its survey showed that the majority of first-time Malay and young Malay voters gave their support to the Barisan, suggesting that the Opposition has not done enough to convince young Malays that their future was secure with PAS, PKR and DAP.

Given the changing population profile, Malays will form an even larger chunk of new voters in future polls than the nearly two-thirds, or 64.17% of new voters, registered this year. In analysing the voting patterns of young and first-time voters, the Merdeka Centre, as part of its study of the recent general election, found that based on the electoral rolls used on Election Day, there were some 2.7 million more voters, and the influx of new voters was more pronounced in mixed and urban seats.

It grouped these voters into five voting channels with each representing an age group. Of the five channels or groups, the youngest group of under 30s was 64.17% Malay. The voter turnout overall for all races in this group of first-time and young voters was a hefty 83.22%. Of those, just over half, or 52.96%, voted for Pakatan.

Suffian’s advice to Pakatan was that the coalition would have to continue refining its position on Malay rights and cobble together a plan with an emphasis on job and wealth creation. The Pakatan, especially the PKR, will have to stand up to fight for Malay rights and positions if it wants to win the Malay votes. It has to compete with Umno, in other words.

The PAS ulamas, in the run-up to the party polls, have already served notice to their delegates to reject the so-called Anwarinas, PAS leaders said to be aligned to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which the hardcore have blamed for the party’s loss of Kedah and many other seats.

For an astute analyst like LKY, he would not have been surprised at the outcome of the general election.

There is much resentment in Putrajaya, until today, over how the Chinese voters had turned away from Barisan.

The Chinese, mostly in urban areas, on the other hand, see their decision as an outpouring of frustration over the many injustices with regard to opportunities from scholarships and university entrance to government contracts.

The Chinese also feel Malaysia has become more Islamised and is in danger of losing its moderate Malay identity. Money politics and corruption, which appear to have become entrenched, have also led to a sense of resentment.

The right-wing Malays, on the other hand, see the many compromises that have been made from the beginning of the nation, even over the name change from Tanah Melayu to Malaysia, the provision of citizenship and the guaranteed use of Chinese as a medium of instruction in schools, making us the one country beside China and Taiwan to do so.

As much as many of us want to see the future of Malaysia from a more Malaysian prism, the reality is that ethnicity will continue to be a factor with the Malay population growing bigger while the Chinese population continues to plunge.

In 2011, the national census revealed that Malaysia’s population doubled in size from 13.7 million in 1980 to 28.3 million in 2010.

Bumiputras numbered 17.5 million, or 67.4% of the population, while Chinese made up 24.6% of the population at 6.4 million, Indians 7.3% of the population at 1.9 million while “others” made up 0.7% of the population at 200,000.

Foreigners made up 8.2% of the population at 2.3 million – much more than the Indians.

Going by current trends, the projection is that the non-Malays will continue to drop further with some saying that by 2050, there could be 80% bumiputras in Malaysia and just 15% Chinese and about 5% Indians.

In fact, LKY, in his own words, predicted “eventually, the Chinese and Indians will exert little influence at the polling booths. When that day comes, with no votes to bargain with, the Chinese and Indians cannot hope to bring about a fair and equal society for themselves”.

Naturally, there will be those who disagree with this assessment as they strongly feel that race should not be the sole criterion in an election as Malaysia matures democratically.

They will point to the urban Malays who voted for the Opposition, citing the victory of PKR leaders in urban constituencies of Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

Race-based political parties, they believe, would fade away to make room for multi-racial parties.

But still, it is difficult for politicians aspiring for power to run away from the interests of the predominant race in this country. It’s the same in other countries as well.

In the book, LKY was asked if Malaysia becomes more homogenous, would there be a likelihood of the Malay privileges being let off, to which he replied: “You believe the majority will support leaders who want them to give up their privileges?”

And what about the Pakatan? LKY said “when it comes to the crunch, however, PR will not be able to do away with Malay supremacy” and “the moment the bluff is called and it is handed the full power to push ahead, it will either be torn apart from within or be paralysed by indecision”.

“Any party that takes the place of Umno and becomes the main party representing Malay interests will not act very differently from Umno.”

LKY cannot be faulted for his pragmatism, even if one does not agree with his politics.

The political demographic landscape has dramatically changed and will continue to move even more drastically in the coming years.

For the Chinese community, it will have to learn to be more strategic and also to be more realistic in its assessment of the community’s role in the country, as LKY had quite candidly observed.

What’s in a word?

A lot, it seems. For starters, it’s much cooler to be a mixologist than a bartender.

I HAVE to confess that I have never heard of the word until recently. I thought they were just known as bartenders but now, many are known as mixologists.

Mixology is generally accepted as a slang term to refer to the “refined and in-depth study of the art and science of mixing”. A bartender or bar chef who has become an expert on mixing drinks is therefore known as a mixologist.

Well, to me he’s just mixing drinks and some of them do it pretty well, but I am still trying to figure out what the science behind it is.

But hey, there is a scientific ring to the term mixologist and it certainly sounds more authoritative and respectable than bartender.

Then there is the barista, who is essentially the person who prepares the coffee for you at Starbucks or Coffee Bean.

According to a report on the Internet, a barista is an Italian term for the bartender who works behind a counter, serving both hot, preferably an espresso, and cold drinks.

Certainly, barista sounds better than a kopi tiam waiter who has to take your order for kopi kaw with thick condensed milk.

Well, what’s in a name? Plenty! It’s much cooler, especially among the younger set, to sign up for a job that sounds respectable.

An advertisement for an administrative assistant is likely to elicit more responses than one looking for office boys. In the 1960s, they were known as peons but that’s an outdated term now.

I am told that even at nightclubs, patrons are no longer looking for guest relations officers (GROs) but club ambassadors. Night club hostesses? No way, that’s so 50s!

In schools, it’s not vogue to be known as the headmaster or principal – a school director surely sounds better.

Americans are notoriously famous for such title creations. In the United Kingdom, a manager is essentially someone who heads a department or office but in the United States, they would refer to this person as a vice-president, which does sound more powerful.

I had thought an evangelist is someone who preaches the Christian Gospel until I learnt recently that evangelist can also refer to a technology geek “who builds a critical mass of support for a given technology, and then establishes it as a technical standard in a market”.

In my time, the cosmetics salesgirl was simply someone who sells beauty products but now they must be known as beauty consultants. Beautician just isn’t good enough.

Life was so much simpler then. Housewives were just housewives. Then they became home makers and eventually home ministers!

During the 60s, hospitals used to be called sanitariums (or sanatoriums). Most dictionaries define sanitariums as places for “improvement or maintenance of health, especially for convalescents”.

Then they were called hospitals – which, according to the spirit of the word, meant a place where there’s hospitality.

By the 80s, hospitals were meant for the poor while the richer patients went to medical centres – where the charges are higher, of course. The term “sanitarium” is no longer used in most parts of the English-speaking world now.

Overnight, massage parlours also turned into spas and wellness centres, which sound more clinical but certainly no less seedy.

There are also many words that are unique to a particular country and are unlikely to be found in any dictionary. In Malaysia, we have the term “gostan” which is neither a Malay nor an English word. It’s actually “go astern” which, in simpler English, means reverse.

Then there is the popular term “going outstation”, which is uniquely Malaysian and Singaporean. It’s an old colonial British term to describe an officer travelling out of base when he goes from one station, or posting, to another. Certainly, for Malaysians, there’s really no station to go to except to travel to another state.

And now I have learned a new term – twerking – which an online dictionary described as “rhythmic gyrating of the lower fleshy extremities in a lascivious manner with the intent to elicit sexual arousal”.

Well, in simple language, in my time it was just sexual thrusts hiding behind what are supposedly dance movements.

As for me, whether one is a reporter, journalist or a writer, the term that best refers to people like us is the one used by columnist Karim Raslan who calls himself tukang cerita or story teller. We certainly have plenty of cerita to share each time we get into the writing mood.

Farlim, the old tai kor’s place

Almost all those in Farlim live in high-rise flats.

The township that is home to Air Itam’s high-rise flats is steeped in history.

LOOKING at the skyline of Bandar Baru Air Itam or more popularly known as Farlim among Penangites, with its many high-rise apartments, many among the young would probably have no inkling of the history of this township.

The land where Farlim is located was previously known as Thean Teik Estate, which was named after Khoo Thean Teik.

Thean Teik, literally translated as “heavenly virtue”, was no ordinary person. To the Chinese community, he was a businessman who used his social and clan associations to protect his business links but to the British, he was simply the leader of a notorious triad.

At the age of 34, he established himself as the Big Brother or tai kor of the Khian Teik or Tua Pek Kong secret society.

A typical day at the Thean Teik Estate prior to the 1982 demonstrations.

Historian Dr Wong Yee Tuan wrote in his article “Uncovering the Myths of Two 19th Century Hokkien Business Personalities in the Straits Settlements” that Thean Teik and his younger brother Thean Poh, even formed an alliance with the Red Flag, a Malay-Acehnese secret society.

More interestingly, the alliance was further strengthened when Thean Poh gave his daughter in marriage to Red Flag leader Syed Mohamed Alatas’s son, Syed Sheikh Alatas, as the latter’s second wife.

The friction between the Red Flag/Khian Teik alliance and the White Flag/Ghee Hin alliance eventually erupted into an open gang war, known as the Penang Riots.

As students of history, we would have read of the Hai San-Ghee Hin clashes. Thean Teik was aligned to the Hai San gang.

They mobilised thousands of coolies and started the street fights, the worst in 19th-century British colonial rule, in order to regain control of the opium farms.

Khoo Thean Teik was no ordinary man. To the Chinese community, he was a businessman who used his social and clan associates to protect his business links.

At that time, Thean Teik was also a director of the respectable Khoo Kongsi, the clan house of the Khoos, but that did not stop the authorities from sentencing him to death.

But Thean Teik had enough clout and influence. The British colonial government even feared that his execution would lead to another riot and quickly reduced it to life imprisonment. But he was released after seven years. Another report claimed that his sentence lasted for only 18 months.

Thean Teik made his fortune and prospered by buying up vast tracts of land that came to be known as Thean Teik Estate.

Much of the money came from immigrant labour trading and opium distribution, permitted by the British. In Perak, he was also involved in gaming and pawn-broking, which made him even richer.

He was a chairman of the Penang Chinese Town Hall and a trustee of the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi, his family clan temple.

Dissatisfied: About 300 residents protested against Farlim Sdn Bhd's development project in October 1982.

Residents of Thean Teik Estate protesting against Farlim Sdn Bhd’s development project in October 1982.

In fact, due to his invaluable contributions, a large estate in Air Itam owned by the family clan association, where Farlim now stands, was named after him.

A report in the Straits Times weekly (Oct 1, 1890) recorded his death and funeral with great detail.

“He was taken to his burial place last Wednesday with all the pomp and splendour which money could command to make it the grandest funeral yet seen here,” according to the report.

“A general holiday in town enabled crowds of sightseers to swell the multitudes, who gazed at the flags and banners, bands of music, gilded shrines, pigs, goats and accompanying the richly decorated coffin and taking an hour to pass.”

But the violent past and the link to Thean Teik Estate took a different form in 1982, when riots broke out at the Thean Teik Estate as developer Farlim Sdn Bhd began groundwork.

The protest led to the death of Madam Tan Siew Lee and injury of four persons, turning the confrontation into major national news.

The Star front-paged the news on Oct 30, 1982, with the headline “One Dead, 4 Hurt in Brawl” with the report that Tan was shot in the neck by police when they tried to stop a crowd of between 100 and 150 residents from attacking construction workers at the Thean Teik Estate.

The injured included three workers. One was hit by a hoe on the head during the protest in which the crowd was reported to be armed with parang and sticks. Police had to use tear gas to break up the protesters.

Police moving in after firing the tear gas to break up the demonstration in Thean Teik Estate.

I was then 21 years old and still studying at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. I knew Thean Teik Estate like the palm of my hand, having used the winding trail connecting Kampung Melayu, where I stayed, to the neighbouring estate countless times.

I was familiar with the many vegetable and chicken farms in the area with its rural setting, which often gave me a sense of isolation.

Gripped by the newspaper reports of the clashes, I had wished I was at the scene to file my reports of the violence at my kampung instead of being stuck at the campus in Bangi, Selangor.

Having had a taste of journalism in 1980, when I briefly worked for The Star in Penang after I finished my Sixth Form, I became addicted to the world of journalism and could not wait to get back to work.

The demonstrations were emotional with some activists attempting to make it look like a fight between the downtrodden peasants and a rich developer, with the police siding the rich. But the reality was land had become scarce by then, and many Penangites were beginning to realise that farms had to eventually make way for flats.

Today, Farlim is home to thousands of people, almost all living in high-rise flats. And many more such buildings are being built.

No one is likely to bother about the link to the past — the connection to a wealthy businessman, of a bygone era, who led a triad and staged a full-scale war in the streets of Penang; and the violent protest just over three decades ago that captured our national attention.

Oh, we’re so gullible

Criminals are all coming to Malaysia and we seem to be easy pickings for the con artists.

WORD must have gone out to criminals all over the world that Malaysians are easily some of the most gullible people around. In their lingo, they probably say we are suckers, and what is sad is they are right.

There is also the perception that Malaysia’s international entry points allow for easy and unimpeded access to criminals and foreigners who come here not as tourists but for suspicious activities.

We also seem to be easily taken in by those who are white, or seem to look white, and believe they are all respectable well-off individuals, never mind that they come from financially stricken European countries.

A few may believe they also have better genetic stock, if we believe the stories from that bald Bosnian who also thinks he is good-looking and of great intellect.

But when it comes to con jobs, colour does not really matter. The con artists from Nigeria, who probably award diplomas for scams and other con jobs, have swindled many not only here but around the world too.

A few years ago, there was this con job where the perpetrators would convince a targeted victim to believe that the piles of banknote-sized paper in a trunk or a safe were real money which had been dyed black or another colour supposedly to prevent detection by Customs.

The victim was then persuaded to pay for special chemicals to wash the “money” with a promise that he would share in the proceeds. The best part is that there were enough Malaysians, greedy and mental ones, who bought into this ridiculous scam.

And with the Internet boom, we started to get those outrageous e-mail from long-lost relatives of some corrupt civil servants, sometimes claiming to be from Zimbabwe, who want us to invest in some questionable deals. We would be promised a hefty commission to help the scums who supposedly could not take the money out of their country.

But this approach appears to be over-used now as even the most naive Malaysians are not buying into these silly cheating scams. So the African con men have re-invented themselves.

You have to credit them for their innovation. Outrageous as it may sound, they have taken on new identities as white men residing in the United States or Britain.

I can’t fathom how an African guy staying in a rented flat in Sentul can pass off as a suave, witty and charming Hugh Grant with impeccable English and a Chelsea address.

But each year, millions of ringgit go into their dirty hands because our gullible women, despite meeting these scoundrels via the Internet, never ask to talk to them and see them face to face via Skype or Face Time. It seems the sound of their voice is good enough.

It doesn’t matter that many of these African con men cannot even write well in English, but then many Malaysians also cannot do this now anyway!

According to says.com, “Malaysia is worse than Mexico in cyber crime. According to Sophos Security Threat Report 2013, Malaysia is the sixth most vulnerable to cyber crime.”

It said that listed among the 10 riskiest countries, Malaysia is also reported to be highly exposed to cyber crime with a reported RM1bil lost.

Then there are the Iranians. There are lots of Iranians in Kuala Lumpur and many of us can’t tell if they are rich oil sheikhs or drug smugglers.

The media is also filled with reports of Malaysian women who end up as mules for criminals who duped them to smuggle drugs – and all these women claimed they believed they were given free tickets to go on a paid holiday but had to pass the bag to someone while on transit.

Lately, we have South Americans entering Malaysia to target the homes of Malaysians. My brother walked into his home one day to find Latino-speaking individuals ransacking his house. Have we come to that?

Yes, they are all coming to Malaysia – the South Americans, the Nigerians and other Africans, and the Iranians.

As one writer, Norman Sukumaran, correctly said in the blog “OutSyed The Box”, “We have lost the fight against Indonesian overstayers and illegals, (but we) cannot now become a haven for Africans, Iranians and South Americans whose sole purpose to enter Malaysia is for criminal purposes.”

These criminals have given their countries a bad name and their decent, hardworking fellowmen who are students and professionals have found themselves lumped into the same category.

But who can blame Malaysians for feeling this way? We are already sick and tired of local hoodlums and the last thing we need are foreign criminals targeting us too.

Grand Old Man of Penang

Yeap family home: The Homestead in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Penang in 1984.

A SERIES on the roads of Penang would not be complete, even considered unjust, without the mention of Jalan Yeap Chor Ee.

Yeap was known as The Grand Old Man of Penang.

His was a classic story of an immigrant who came from China penniless but worked hard to become one of the richest men in Penang of his time.

Stories of what we termed as Old Money would eventually become a memory of the past.

Yeap Chor Ee was a businessman, philanthropist, banker, commodity dealer, land owner, community leader and educationist.

In short, he had his fingers everywhere.

According to a report, he arrived in Penang, off a boat from Nan An, Fujian, China at the mere age of 17, with “little money and big dreams.”

He started his life in George Town, then a bustling port city, as a barber’s assistant.

Older Penangites, in their 80s, still recall his nickname as Thi Thau Ee or Barber Ee.

He was supposedly quite deft with his hands and plaiting the pony tails or towchang of the Chinese immigrants was a specialty.

Centre of education: Yeap’s ‘Homestead’ is now Wawasan Open University.

After five years, the entrepreneur in him saw Yeap working his way up to start his own provisions shop – which he named Ban Hin Lee or a “ten thousand flourishing profits” – at the age of 24.

His business grew from sugar trading to other commodities including rubber, rice, tin, tapioca and coconut oil.

According to one report, it was his association with Java’s sugar king, Oei Tiong Ham, that led him to eventually control a significant share of Malaya’s sugar market.

As a natural fit to his trading business, Yeap set up a financing arm in 1918.

By 1935, the business had grown so big that he incorporated the Ban Hin Lee Bank – the state’s first home grown bank, with its headquarters at Beach Street, the financial district of Penang.

Until today, he remains the only individual in peninsular Malaysia and Singapore to single-handedly fund the setting up of a bank.

He married a local girl, Lee Cheng Kin, and they had two sons, Datuk Yeap Hock Hoe and Yeap Hock Hin.

One for the album: Yeap Chor Ee posing for the camera.

Yeap posing for the camera.

Everyone in Penang knew where they stayed, an elegant mansion called Homestead – at 54, Northam Road – on what was then known as the Millionaires’ Row.

Northam Road, which is called Ang More Lor (White Men’s Road), has been renamed as Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah and many of the mansions that belonged to the millionaires back then still stand, although some are now used for commercial purposes.

The area has seen much development over the years, with high-rise buildings coming up, which has taken away much of the grandeur of the past.

Despite his lack of education, Yeap understood the importance of teaching the young to read and write.

He supported institutions and set up several charitable trusts just before his death in 1952 at the age of 85.

By then he was known as The Grand Old Man of Penang.

Today, Homestead has been donated to the Wawasan Education Foundation, which has led to the setting up of the Wawasan Open University, the country’s first private non-profit university.

Educational philanthropist: Yeap, aged 83, in 1950 handing a

Yeap, aged 83, in 1950 handing a “princely gift” of $100,000” to then British Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia Malcolm MacDonald as a donation to University Malaya.

Of course, the Yeap family also owns other properties in the state, including a row of nine shoplots in Penang Street and King Street which have since been converted into the Yeap Chor Ee memorial museum stretching from Penang Street to King Street.

The museum showcases, among others, photographs of the interior decoration of the historical Homestead.

Interestingly enough, the road named after Yeap is nowhere near his points of greatest influence within George Town itself, be it near his residence or the bank he set up.

Instead, Jalan Yeap Chor Ee, named in honour of this great man, is on the other side of the island.

The road connects Green Lane, now called Jalan Masjid Negeri, to Jalan Bukit Gambir and Jalan Lembah.

This quiet neighbourhood link road has since become quite a busy road as traffic continues to grow on this part of the island.

On a personal side, my wife, Teh Tsui Ling, worked at the Ban Hin Lee bank headquarters in Beach Street for 11 years.

She was introduced to me by a colleague, senior editor Lim Cheng Hoe, who used to work with her at the bank.

The first time I saw her was at the nearby Komtar food court.

The old Ban Hin Lee headquarters is now a CIMB Bank.

My wife continued working with the bank at its Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur branch when we moved down to the Klang Valley after we got married.

Ban Hin Lee Bank merged with Southern Bank in 2000 before SBB was taken over by CIMB in 2006.

Many who worked with the original Ban Hin Lee Bank have fond memories of its very personal approach to banking in line with its founder’s philosophy.

Officers recall visiting clients, many of whom have rags-to-riches stories like Yeap, at a very personal level over a cup of coffee to accompany them to the bank, carrying huge sums of money in paper bags.

In memory: Yeap's statue was unveiled infront of his old house, the

Yeap’s statue was unveiled in front of his old house, the “Homestead” in 2007.

Another interesting snippet about the bank’s headquarters, which is now a heritage building, is that it housed the office of the first Chief Minister of Penang, the late Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee.

For visitors entering Penang via the ferry, this iconic building is one of the first they see as the ferry heads towards the island.

My connection to the Yeap family took an interesting turn recently when The Star refurbished its Penang Star office building in Pitt Street, now called Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

The 107-year-old heritage building, where I first started work as a rookie reporter, is now home to the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra, comprising the most talented musicians in the state.

And the chairman of the PPO is Datin Seri Irene Yeap, an architect by training, who is the wife of Datuk Seri Stephen Yeap Leong Huat, Yeap’s eldest grandson.

The story of Yeap Chor Ee and his legacy will live on forever in Penang, deservingly for sure.

Hysterical hostility

Some of our politicians seem to be seeing shadows behind everything where there is none. From their perspective, there is intrigue, a hidden agenda and suspicious motives everywhere.

THERE seems to be no end to politicking in Malaysia. We thought the campaigning that reached its peak in the run-up to the general election in May would slowly wind down once the people had decided. But that was only wishful thinking.

We still are in election mode, judging by the endless bickering, growing suspicion over what everyone is saying, and the perception of a hidden agenda behind each issue.

After the polls, there were more ceramah and protests. Taking disputes to the courts was not enough in the battle to conquer the court of public opinion. And we all thought, naively, that everyone would just take a breather.

We all suffer from political fatigue. To be blunt, most of us probably feel nauseated. Surely the politicians, who are humans too, would want to get a break and make up for lost time with their spouses and family members. But no, they can’t seem to stop.

Everyone is talking about crime, the increase in the cost of living and the looming financial slowdown.

Well, we are also talking about Bosnian sperm.

But there seems to be a wide disconnect between our lives and that of our politicians, regardless of their political affiliation.

We do not see any of them explaining to us why our ringgit is weakening and how we should face the problems, even if there are external factors beyond our control. Those with children studying overseas are probably watching the exchange rates with eagle eyes and they certainly want to know what the future will hold.

Malaysians would also like to hear how we should gear up for the softening market as businessmen grapple with escalating costs and declining revenue and profits. It is not just a worry for those who run companies but also for their workers.

Instead, politicians are trying to outdo one another, trying to score points by making some pretty outrageous demands just to get their name and pictures in the media.

The main political parties in the country’s ruling coalition – Umno, the MCA and the MIC – are all holding their party polls very soon. PAS is having its internal polls too while the DAP is conducting a fresh election after its earlier vote tally blunder, which it continues to blame on a technical glitch.

In the case of the three main Barisan Nasional parties, we are talking about elections at all levels – from the branches to the divisions right to the top hierarchy.

We are pretty sure, judging from the activities on the ground and the desperate insecurity demonstrated by some politicians, that they are not doing much these days except to ensure their party positions are secured, or to get back a position.

Many have attempted to be champion spokesmen of their communities, flexing their political muscle, with some espousing views that smack with racial overtones.

Even the movies are not spared as politicians make laughable statements when they have not even watched the films and are unlikely to do so. But speak they must, and so they do.

Some of our politicians seem to be seeing shadows behind everything where there is none. From their perspective, there is intrigue, a hidden agenda and suspicious motives everywhere.

Reaction to the movie Tanda Putera is one example. The hysterical hostility towards the movie is unbelievable. I was among the earliest to be invited by Datuk Shuhaimi Baba, the director, to watch the show and to give my views.

I told her there should be more films like this because the world is beginning to think that we only watch movies about gangsters, ghosts and wife-beating husbands.

In Tanda Putera, the Chinese were not blamed for the riots but the communists and political activists were. This is the big difference which the politicians do not want to understand.

So is the unnerving reaction to The New Village. It is a period movie about new villages set in 1949, when most of us were not even born and the country was caught in a fight with the communists. We are now in the year 2013, yet we are still grappling with the ghosts of the past!

The communists in China have all become capitalists, drinking fine French wine, enrolling their kids in British boarding schools, keeping mistresses and becoming corrupt, as ordinary politicians in a democratic system do!

The only thing commie about the ruling elite in Beijing now is that they still carry party membership cards and uphold the red ideology to avoid a real election! Anything else red would be red wine and Manchester United.

We are still unsure if The New Village will ever make it to our cinemas. After all the party polls are over, perhaps.

Maybe by Christmas, although by then it would really be good luck to the producer because who would care about new villages in December and January as many of us would want to go on holidays and celebrate the year-end!

The holiday season is all about parties – celebratory ones, not political parties – and we just want to be silly, more than some politicians, as we usher in the coming year.

And we really hope that in the coming year, we will finally see the end to mindless politicking.

And can we please appeal to our politicians that they remember why we voted them in – to run the country, make us feel safe, plug financial leakages, seriously fight graft, postpone expensive projects and, if possible, stop using taxpayers money to put your faces on billboards?

Jelutong: Home to a thriving coastal village

Penangites regard Jelutong as a main road to the Jelutong suburb. — Zhafaran Nasib / The Star

TO THE Penangites of today, Jelutong is simply a main road to the Jelutong suburb. It is also simply the expressway connecting George Town to Bayan Lepas, though the Jelutong Expressway is now renamed the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway.

In terms of publicity from a wider national perspective, Jelutong is also identified with outspoken lawyer-politician Karpal Singh who came to be known as the Lion of Jelutong. Sometimes, he is also referred to as Tiger.

Karpal, who saw himself as the voice of the mainly working class constituents in Jelutong, served as MP in the constituency for more than 20 years before losing the seat in 1999.

Jelutong was once regarded as a notorious area with gangsters and thugs, until the 1980s. It was surely one area many motorists passed by carefully, lest they knocked down a local resident. Apparently, street justice would be quickly meted out to anyone who broke the rules.

Jelutong Road: Jelutong was once regarded as a notorious area with gangsters and thugs, until the 1980s. — Penang Postcard Collection 1899-1930s

It did not help that another notorious area — Perak Lane — is a major road off Jelutong, with regular gangland fights and police raids.

But much of what the younger Penangites see of Jelutong today is vastly different from the Jelutong of old.

It was once a coastal village where the Jelutong tree or dyera costulata — which can grow up to 60m tall — grew in abundance, hence the name.

There was a thriving fishing community and the mangrove swamps provided a good source of livelihood to many residents; not only for its fish and crabs, but as a source for the woodcutters and charcoal makers.

Bakau Street (Mangrove Street), a minor road off Jalan Jelutong, was the centre for the making of firewood and charcoal.

Kedai Kopi Tai Min along Jalan Jelutong with the nasi kandar stall adjoining the old building.

Hugely popular: The family-run nasi kandar business (adjoining the building above) which operates at Kedai Kopi Tai Min on Jalan Jelutong is now run by Anwar Amir, whose grandfather sailed to then Malaya from India. — Filepic

Older residents also remember that fireflies were common in the area.

There is a different ambience today. The wooden houses with attap or zinc roofs soon gave way to high-rise buildings and shophouses although some residents have refused to give in to the growing tide of development. Along the busy main road, one can still see a soy sauce factory or two standing like a monument to the past.

My colleague, who once wrote about the six-room attap mansion that his family grew up in, would still tell stories about the bucket latrine system that was still present right up to the 1990s.

The family house has since been demolished and he was surprised, on a recent visit, to see that many old temples along the road have been demolished and the deities have now moved into modern-day dwellings.

In talking about Jelutong Road, another connection must surely be Sungai Pinang.

The first industrial boom in the late 19th century saw the expansion of supporting industries such as food-processing. The Khie Heng Bee Mills became one of the largest industrial concerns on the island.

Nearby the city centre: The first industrial boom in the late 19th century saw the expansion of supporting industries such as food-processing. The Khie Heng Bee Mills became one of the largest industrial concerns on the island. — Streets of George Town, Penang

It is at Jelutong that this river meets the sea. For those of us in Penang who go swimming in the beaches of Batu Feringghi and Telok Bahang, Sungai Pinang, which begins as a pristine tributary in that part of the island is quite different once it reaches Jelutong.

When I was growing up in Penang in the 1970s, the river was terribly smelly. Today, it is still classified as a Class IV river with its water heavily polluted with residential, industrial and commercial liquid and solid waste.

Most of us saw the river simply as a large sewer then even though at that time, people would still hang around the area to buy fresh catch from fishermen returning from the sea.

It is hard to imagine that this estuary was once an active waterway used by the Acehnese, Malay and Indian traders.

According to the Penang Postcard Collection 1899-1930s by Khoo Salma Nasution and Malcolm Wade, located near the river mouth, there was a small resting place at the site of the present Masjid Maqbul.

“According to oral tradition, the Acehnese came to Penang before Light’s time and sold their wares in an open space called Teluk Jelutong, now called Kampung Pulau, at Perak Road,” they wrote, adding that villages flourished along the river.

The former Khie Heng Bee Mills building is still visible today, a reminder of the first industrial boom in the late 19th century, which saw white rice milled and boiled in large vats before being loaded on to boats, according to Khoo Salma.

There was even an “aerial tramway” or cable car, which was used to transport grain and copra between the drying area on one side and the mills near the waterfront, at the sprawling site.

This is the part of Jelutong that is close to the city centre but at the other end of the main road nearer to Gelugor, there is a different Jelutong.

Here, you still have the bustling Jelutong Market near the area where there is a big number of Malays and Indian Muslims.

This is why Jelutong is also home to the nasi kandar.

According to many Penangites, one of the best nasi kandar stores is the one operating at Kedai Kopi Tai Min, directly across the police station.

This newspaper previously report that the “Chinese coffeeshop in Jalan Jelutong is always brimming with a multi-racial breakfast crowd. It has been that way since the famous nasi kandar stall opened here some five decades ago”.

The family-run nasi kandar business is now run by Anwar Amir, whose grandfather sailed to then Malaya from India.

Interestingly enough, there is also a shop in Damansara Jaya named Restoran Syed Abu (Nasi Kandar Jelutong), a testimony to the popularity of the shop on the island.

In the old days, one has to go through Jelutong Road to get to Bayan Lepas and beyond but now most motorists bypass the main road and use the expressway instead.

Still, there is a quaintness about this part of Jelutong which is actually the beginning of Jelutong Road. Nearby is Bukit Dumbar, a reservoir buried beneath a hillock that was used as a picnic spot for the nearby schoolboys but as a lovers’ haunt by courting couples in the night.

And this is also where the Nicol David International Squash Centre is located.

Beauty of being Malaysian

While our nation is a country of endless possibilities, it is also a land of endless contradictions.

IT’S Merdeka Day. No Malaysian can possibly pass through the day (yesterday, to be precise) without a thought for our first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

That spellbinding image of Bapa Merdeka raising his right hand and leading the nation in shouting “Merdeka” seven times at the newly built Stadium Merdeka on Aug 31 1957 is etched forever in the minds of every Malaysian.

Nostalgia aside, I also wonder what the Tunku would have thought about the country and us, Malaysians, if he were alive today.

Yes, the slogan “Endless Possibilities” will soon be a buzzword but this is also a Land of Endless Contradictions.

But, as I wrote last week, I love these mind-boggling confusions. Malaysia is surely a more interesting place to live in than the clinically sterile Singapore.

Well, for starters, the Tunku would think we must have gone bonkers if we expect him to pester his Indonesian counterpart for help to ship in Indonesian maids and construction workers to Malaysia!

Bung Karno, as President Sukarno was called, would have freaked out and declared war on Malaysia, and not just a Confrontation!

But here we are, in 2013, and we expect Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to go to Jakarta, or any place where President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is present, to ask him if the maids are coming soon.

Here’s the weird part about us Malaysians. We whine and grumble that there are too many foreigners in this country and in the same breath, we complain that the government is slacking by not getting us enough foreign labour.

Now, we are launching a campaign to send the illegals back – and we all know full well that those we send back will return the following week.

We used to blame the foreigners for every single crime in this country and now we are also blaming them for voting the ruling coalition back to power.

So who do we blame for the spike in crime now? The poor Indians – someone has to be the scapegoat, and for good measure we also blame the Tamil movie industry with its violent plots for influencing this 1.7 million minority group in our country to turn to a life of crime.

But the Tunku would have loved the over 100 TV channels available today with most of them showing re-runs of muscular men wrestling with giant catfish and giant snakes.

In his days, there were only two channels although the TV sets came with many knobs to tune in to other channels.

The Sports Toto draw was aired live every Sunday afternoon with Faridah Merican, now Datuk, hosting the “cabutan”. Malaysians were so bored then that watching the drawing of numbers became routine on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

But the Tunku would have been perplexed by what is shown on TV these days, though with his open mind, he probably would have cracked a joke or two over it.

Scantily-clad dancers gyrating on Astro’s MTV channel are a given but when it comes to the newspapers, the rules are totally the opposite. In print, armpits and navels cannot be exposed, in case the images send some of us into a sexual frenzy!

Well, it may be hard for many of us to believe but this is the Land of Countless Contradictions, and the exposure of armpits, mind you, is definitely regarded as “terlalu menggairahkan” (too arousing). We have been lectured on this often enough.

I am also sure the Tunku would be howling with laughter at some of the ridiculous antics of our politicians.

The golden age of our local cinema movies was during the time of the Tunku when we had P. Ramlee, the Vespa, curry puff hairstyle and the pop yeh yeh at nightclubs. We are talking class here.

But now, we have relegated ourselves to watching local movies of gangsters and hantu (ghosts) while movie makers attempting to make serious, clever movies on history find themselves subjected to threats and bullying – by politicians who have not even watched their movies!

Here’s the best part! A movie about a rapist who beats up his wife and visits a nightclub, wins the best movie of the year award, with the leading character being almost hero-worshipped.

And that’s not all, the Singaporean actor also wins the best local actor award!

If you are confused, I don’t blame you, because many of us are confused, and that’s why we keep on doing confusing things.

That’s not all – the Tunku was always a football fan. This is the man who turned the Merdeka football tournament into a premier event in the region.

That was the best of the best. It was pure “gaya, mutu dan keunggulan” (style, quality and elegance), as a commercial from back then used to say. We beat the South Koreans, the Myanmars and practically any other foreign team that set foot on our soil.

Now, everybody can beat us. But no one at the Football Association of Malaysia is held responsible, even as the guys from the Maldives, who are trying to save their island from sinking, are ranked higher than us. Macam biasa aje, bro!

And if we talk about freedom, the Tunku would be floored because after 56 years of independence, lovesick Malaysian women are losing millions of ringgit each year to African Romeos posing as handsome and wealthy Englishmen.

It is simply incredible that these con men in Puchong or Sentul are able to convince our gullible ones that they are living in the English countryside and are looking for Malaysian love.

But don’t get me wrong! I love this country! I repeat, lest some super-sensitive politician makes an issue out of this column, I love this country.

Well, there’s one thing we consistently do very well at every Merdeka celebration – we produce the best TV commercials for these special occasions.

And most Malaysians still can laugh at ourselves, or at least at the politicians. Happy Merdeka Day!

Remembering Tunku

Loving family: Tunku Abdul Rahman with his family.On the left is Sharifah Intan.

IT WOULD surely not be appropriate if a series on the streets of Penang and the origins of the names does not include the first Prime Minister of Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman – more so on National Day.

Tunku chose to retire in Penang and not the federal capital because he simply loved the island.

Although Tunku’s royal line was from the Kedah Sultanate, his connection to Penang came early, when he was sent by his mother, back in 1916, to be educated at the Penang Free School.

Ayer Rajah Road has been aptly renamed Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman because he lived his last years in that leafy, affluent neighbourhood.

(Brief caption):PIC FOR WONG CHUN WAI. Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman general view. /CHAN BOON KAI/THE STAR/(29th Aug 2013)

Tree-lined avenue: Leafy Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman used to be known as Ayer Rajah Road.

The Tunku also had a bungalow along the beach front in Batu Feringghi.

The name Ayer Rajah was in reference to Teluk Ayer Rajah, a bay between George Town and Tanjung Tokong.

According to Penang writer Khoo Salma Nasution, by 1796, 10 years after Captain Francis Light founded Penang, over 2,000 acres of the area had been cleared.

As a rookie reporter in The Star’s Penang office in 1980, I had my first meeting with the Tunku at this residence.

I cannot remember clearly the date but, accompanied by a senior reporter, I was totalling in awe of meeting a living legend up close and personal.

Devoted family man: Tunku carrying great grandaughter Sharyn Lisa, Sharifah Intan’s daughter. With them are Sharifah Hanizah (in blue) and Tunku Khadijah.

Here was the person I have read about not only in the newspapers but also in my school textbooks.

At that point in time, he was not just a former prime minister but also the chairman of the board of directors of The Star. But it wouldn’t be right to say he was also my boss.

I was then waiting for my university entrance results. So my initial stint in The Star was short and only renewed four years later upon my graduation in 1984.

Meeting the Tunku became part of my regular beat.

I would head to the residence when he wanted to give a statement, or when he had visitors paying him a courtesy call. On such occasions, he would add value to the news reports by dispensing some advice, often on the need for moderation and for all the races to live together in harmony.

He had many visitors and they ranged from ordinary Malaysians to VVIPs.

Since some of the assignments were seen as having little news value, it was left to rookies like me to handle.

And the one message that came from him was simple, consistent and clear – all Malaysians must live in peace and harmony, and there’s no room for political and religious extremism.

Tunku was a man of another era. He was open about his love for horses and his trips to the Penang Turf Club were well documented.

His point of view: Tunku’s best articles from his column with The Star was handpicked for this book in 1971, and republished again in 2011.

The Star certainly owes much of its initial success and growth to Tunku. His column, Looking Back, which began in 1974, was featured every Monday, and quickly gained popularity and a loyal following.

His recollections of the fight for freedom enabled Malaysians to gain first-hand insights into the struggles and challenges that took place.

He may not be a historian but as a direct participant in our nation’s history, his writings were powerful.

Occasionally, I had to go to his house to collect his article, typed in huge letters by his secretary, owing to his diminishing eyesight.

He often used a magnifying glass to check the facts and spelling, before passing the articles to me.

Those were the days before the computer and the Internet.

As fate would have it, our two lives would inevitably be intertwined, no matter how minute, for a long time to come, and beyond his natural life.

In 2011 I wrote the foreword of the book, Looking Back – Monday Musings and Memories, which was a collection of his best columns.

The book was published by MPH Publishing and The Star.

The Tunku’s association with The Star was so strong that many believe, to this day, that Star stands for Suara Tunku Abdul Rahman.

I wish it is true, but it isn’t.

It was the paper’s founder K.S. Choong who selected the name for the newspaper which made its debut on Sept 9 1971 which was long before the Tunku came on board as chairman. But such a link is fated and we are thankful.

I am also fortunate to work with th Tunku’s grand daughter Sharifah Intan, a former deputy executive editor of The Star.

Sharifah’s daughter, Sharyn, is now a columnist with this newspaper.

I count it a privilege to have his family member as my colleagues.

Tunku’s cook, Salmiah Md Isa, who cooked for him for over 20 years, since she was 16 years old, is also a colleague at the Menara Star headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

She was originally hired as a nanny for Tunku’s children in 1968 but took over as a cook in 1970 when he retired in Penang.

The official cook in Kuala Lumpur did not want to join him in Penang and the job was suddenly entrusted to Salmiah.

Some of Tunku’s favourite dishes, she recalled, were ikan masin goreng, gulai Siam, kailan goreng belacan and, of course, curry, particularly fish curry.

Thanks to Salmiah, invited guests to The Star still get to enjoy some of Tunku’s favourites.

Tunku was a simple man who did not care about protocol.

He would sometimes go marketing at the Pulau Tikus market, located not far from his home, by himself.

He even dropped by a few times at my father’s roadside hardware stall in Cheapside, Chulia Street, instead of the many shops in the area which were more comfortable.

He told his bodyguard that he liked my father, who was born in Langkawi, because my dad could speak impeccable Malay with a Kedah accent.

I remember seeing the Tunku at his stall often when I was a boy.

As the nation celebrates National Day today, I must count my blessings to have been given the opportunity and honour of having met this great man.

A crazy kind of love

Despite our country’s imperfections – from imitation DVDs to politicians who don’t play politics to kopi-O drivers – we all still love Malaysia.

I LOVE Malaysia. It is truly a land of wonders and contradictions, and I think even our founding fathers would be, well, amazed if they were still around today.

We must be the only nation in the whole universe who watches pirated movies that start off with a notice from the distributor warning us why we should dump these imitations.

Behold, the quality is bad, the narrator alerts us in Chinese as we are shown two clips of the same car chase in a multi-storey car park, comparing the “imitation” with the “original”. And, of course, the super-duper quality movie we get to watch once this promo is over is still an illegal copy.

Then we have leaders, politicians and their family members who expect to be accorded VIP treatment all the time. They demand VIP passes from promoters of concerts so they can show off their status.

Funny, but many of us also demand the same VIP treatment ourselves, lapping up the VIP passes only to learn later that these so-called passes are no longer exclusive as there are hundreds of them.

I love Malaysia. We have thousands and thousands of Datuks, making this beloved land of ours the country with the most titled people in the world.

At the rate we are going, we will also top the list for having the highest number of honorary doctorate holders.

If you can’t get into medical school, it’s okay. Just buy a Dr title, whether online from a university somewhere in the south Pacific or approach a self-professed sultan from an obscure island off the Philippines. Almost everyone is now a Datuk Dr and nothing less.

For laughs, we know we can always count on our politicians. Malaysia again scores top points for politicians who regularly warn each other not to “play politics”.

As a journalist, I am confused by this. If politicians do not play politics, then what do they do? Play doctor? Play football, or simply play jester?

Recently, I came across a politician who accused this newspaper of instigating one politician against another. That’s a fresh angle to get attention at the expense of the media.

Since when have debates about our politicians, who are public figures, become private matters that the media should not report? Politicians are quarrelling all the time, anyway, or else they wouldn’t be politicians.

I also love our policemen. They deserve better. They are not the best paid in town and yet we expect them to be super heroes who work around the clock.

We expect our cops to be soft with our criminals, hug them, buy them dinner, play Candy Crush with them and give them massages, hoping that the scums would end up confessing their guilt.

Are these Malaysians who advocate such loving, tender touches for criminals really from our Malaysia, truly Asia?

As pressmen, we are also confused by the cops’ fondness of using certain terms at their press briefings. They love using terms like “certain quarters” or “pihak tertentu”. We must be the only country in the world that uses such a term. Why certain quarters, not half or three quarters?

Our cops also love playing at being diplomats. They will never say the criminals are from Indonesia, Thailand or Singapore. It’s always “negara jiran” or neighbouring countries, keeping the reporters guessing.

Are our policemen worried the mere mention of nationalities would spark off a major diplomatic war?

It’s even more confusing when the cops simply use the term “Africans”. Hello, that continent is really big, stretching from Timbuktu to Capetown.

They also seem to love using the words “we promise to get to the bottom of the case” and “we will not compromise”, but I suspect it’s the work of unimaginative reporters who use the cut-and-paste approach when filing their stories.

Here’s the best part. It’s almost a standard line among families of suspected criminals shot dead to declare that their relatives are victims of mistaken identity. They are their loved ones and they are angels, certainly not gangsters.

Really? Then why did everyone at the funerals carry swastikas and set off crackers, and why was the hearse adorned with wreaths shaped in numbers ranging from 04 to 08 to 36?

Malaysians have also become super sensitive these days. I don’t know if that’s the effect of the full moon but, for sure, it can’t be the recent meteor showers as that was a non-event.

We have become more religious, which is good, but our behaviour does not seem to correspond with our spirituality.

We deplore graft but we seem to think it’s okay to ask the driving instructor if it’s possible to “guarantee” a pass. A “kopi-O” licence is assured when we are prepared to part with some “duit kopi”.

And finally, we have now decided to play the national anthem at our cinemas. It’s long overdue. In fact, why isn’t the anthem played before football matches or any big sporting event?

Worse, there seems to be reluctance and uneasiness among some Malaysians over this move. These are the people who cannot understand that standing up at attention to sing the Negara Ku with gusto is to love Malaysia. It is not about loving the government of the day or a clarion call to join a political party.

So after 56 years of independence, many of us are still confused. Many are still caught up in a time warp, quarrelling over issues that should have been resolved or resolved in the 1950s. But for all its imperfections, we all still love Malaysia!