of mosquitos, culture and chilli crabs

Posted at October 5, 2009

Nyamuk di seberang laut nampak, gajah di hadapan mata tak nampak.

I believe everyone is guilty of this, yours truly included. We get so wrapped up with what’s happening elsewhere, what other countries and their people are saying about us that we often mull on the things that we have no control over, instead of focusing our efforts on the things that we can do. It is human nature to be on the defensive when attacked, especially if the subject matters are close to the heart.

However when it comes to defending something or someone, certain strategies are required to win the argument or battle. If you have no strategies in mind, at least have some background knowledge of what you are fighting for. When Anthony Bourdain went to Singapore and proclaimed “Ampang Yong Tau Foo” a Singaporean dish, a lot of Malaysians almost died laughing because we know better. I suppose I don’t need to tell you that Ampang is somewhere in Selangor, Malaysia…

But the fault lies with Bourdain and his show’s researchers, not that of Singaporeans. Unless his researchers are Singaporeans, then different story lah. I don’t even put blame on the shop’s proprietors. Maybe they were from Ampang, Selangor then moved to Singapore and opened up their food business. There’s nothing to get angry about. You do see a lot of food places in KL and PJ advertising that they serve “Penang(TM) Char Kuey Teow” don’t you? Or “Batu Pahat Nasi Beryani”? I’ve consumed a lot of so-called “Batu Pahat Nasi Beryanis” outside of Batu Pahat, and I can tell you that none comes close to what my home town has to offer. You don’t see me waging wars against the copycats, do you? You just inform those who do not know that while the dish that they are consuming is not bad, they could get better. That’s all.

I’m just bored with certain Indonesians who hate Malaysians because Malaysia apparently stole and continues to steal Indonesian culture. Not all Indonesians mind you, but since it is a very large country with a huge population, it’s a massive percentage. Then there are talk of Malaysians wanting to claim the Indonesian earthquakes and tsunamis for their own because Malaysia steals everything. That is really.plain.stupid. An essay on the similarities between Malaysian and Indonesia would take too much effort and time that I do not have to write, so go Google for them. I’m sure you’ll uncover some gems if you’d be bothered to learn and understand.

Unfortunately I can’t avoid all these frivolous and sometimes wicked thoughts because I keep a search for the keyword ‘Malaysia’ on my Tweetdeck. The jibes continued well after the recent Southern Sumatra earthquake that devastated most of Padang. Err, hello shouldn’t you focus your energies on helping your fellow countrymen?

I’m also bored with certain local public figures POSSIBLY ( ;) ) putting my citizenship to shame. I did not vote for Datuk Seri Dr. Ng Yen Yen to be Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism. Heck, I did not even vote for the party that is the majority in the ruling government that decided to place her as Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism. But since she is a minister AND a Malaysian, one would assume she would know that chilli crabs is not a famous Malaysian dish. She could have said butter/ cheese/ marmite/ grilled crabs but she decided to go for the chilli one. I don’t even like chilli crabs so you can imagine my WTF when some Singaporeans hate me because I’m a Malaysian and Malaysia apparently decided to lay claim on chilli crabs.

Least my arse be hauled off to jail or something, Datuk Seri Dr. Ng did say later that her words were taken out of context. By the way I would have assumed that Hainanese chicken rice came from Hainan, China. Also Museum Negara is a bit run-down leh…

But I think we have bigger issues to worry about, no?

Assorted Blah
« « Previous: black eyed peas @ sunway lagoon for arthur’s day!

Next: original bootcamp malaysia: s03e01 » »


Related Posts


If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Comments

12 Responses to “of mosquitos, culture and chilli crabs”

Leave Comment

(required)

(required)