Thursday 15 November 2007

Day 24 - 25 Nov 7 - 8 Parit Buntar Part 4

One of the places David took me to was a toddy plantation where we sat on plastic chairs under the shade of coconut trees drinking toddy and chatting with more of his friends. The Toddy Plantations are, I guess, not exactly licensed to sell for on-premise consumption, but what the heck. I realised this was the pub culture of the area and it was utterly fascinating.

Many of the people in the area are fishermen and when they have no maintenance work to do while on shore, they really do have a lot of time on their hands. There is a rising drug problem, but on the whole, the fishing community do what many urban people do on Friday evenings - kick back and relax with friends over a few drinks.

So, the setting is in the fresh outdoor air, with a padi field as a backdrop, the music of birds the background to casual conversation, steamed fish, grilled ray, roast duck or whatever anyone has brought on the table for all to share... No loud blaring music, no smell of stale cigarette smoke lingering on your clothes, and all for RM 6 per 2-litre bottle!

And the conversations were familiar too, even if topically different. We all laughed at the types of drunks - the sad and weepy ones, the sleepy ones, the aggressive ones, haven't we met them all in pubs in cities? - talked about my ride, the life in the village, and we heard a few good (ahem) reasons why some of them didn't turn up for David's Diwali gathering when David admonished them. If I closed my eyes, imagined a smell of beer and spirits, maybe some stale smoke, and the dry artificiality of air-conditioned air, I could have been in a pub in KL. The loud voices, the laughter, though - they were the same.

We stayed an hour or so and I sampled the fresh toddy (sweet and lower alcohol) as well as the morning's collection (sharper taste with higher alcohol content). Then off we went for a siesta at a sauna by the padi fields.

Well, David did the sauna thing, while I had a quiet snooze in a hammock. The place is run by a Chinese family in a Malay kampung. The steam boiler is fired by coconut husks - the family sells the nuts they harvest and the husks are a good, high-calorie source of heat. The coconut tree is certainly a marvellous multi-use plant. Here too, they know David and we bumped into yet more of his friends. One of whom was indeed at the party the night before and needed to steam out the alcohol he had consumed!

Everyone who knows David has greeted him warmly. Chatting with one or two of them on the side, he has been described on more than one occasion as having a big heart. Indeed the man has. And then some.

As we drove around the Parit Buntar environs, David slowly let his Tour Guide persona ebb and the other, more personal, side of him rise. I had told him I was keen on seeing what made him tick, and that idea slowly dawned on him. He took me around not to educate me as he would a tourist, but he began clearly to want me to share in his life. He was showing me Parit Buntar and her residents because in them was a reflection of him.

What is, or who is, a Malaysian?

This ride is about re-discovering the values that underpin our Malaysian identity and by so doing, unearthing one definition of 'Malaysian'.

I will explore this a little further for this topic deserves that bit of effort, to add to the mountain of words what academics, sociologists, anthropologists, even politicians (professional or coffeeshop) have created.

Meanwhile, if we broadly accept that being Malaysian includes possessing and living these attributes:
a can-do attitude that overides whatever limits life may put in one's path,
a sense of brotherhood that cuts through racial and creed barriers,
a pride in our country that is beyond nationalism,
a warmth and kindness and a desire to befriend and help others,
then I put it to you that I have met and stayed two days with a true Malaysian.













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