Place Names

Usually a river would be the boundary to demarcate the neighbouring states or countries. In the case of Perak and Penang the Krian River serves as the boundary. But the area between Parit Buntar in the east and Sg. Acheh, that is south of Sungei Krian/Nibong Tebal the land is under Penang. Sg. Krian is not the boundary for this part. The boundary for this part of Perak/Penang is at the cross road of a small town known as Simpang Empat where on the Penang side is known as Permatang Kling.

How did it happen?

It goes back to 1825, a bit of history from Joginder Singh Jessy's History of Malaya 1400-1959.The penghulu of Kurau was Nakhoda Udin was suspected of being a pirate. He was arrested by the British and handed over to the Raja of Ligor who claimed that Udin was not a pirate and that Kurau was part of Kedah (now Province Wellesley or Seberang Prai Selatan).And since Perak feared the Siamese it was not challenged but Governor Fullerton even endorsed it.

Hence , the northern part of Krian belonged to Penang and the east-west road became the boundary.

Next time when you take the old trunk road to Penang keep a look out for this border town.

Names of Places

It will be a matter of time before the name of the town "Batang Berjuntai" will be well forgotten. Now, the name is written with a bracket after the new name "BESTARI JAYA"!!!! Apparently the new name was approved by the State Government in 2007.

In May 1966, almost 50 years ago, I reported for work at Socfin headquarters in Bangsar. The late Tan Sri Dato V. M. Hutson who was then the Industrial Relations Group Manager, carried out the customary briefing regarding my posting. He informed me.." You will be posted to Sungei Tinggi Estate, BATANG BERJUNTAI as a probationary assistant. The Company driver will take you to the estate and the journey may take 2 hours." Yes Sir was the reply. In my mind I was wondering where is this God foresaken place? I had never heard of this place!!Am I going to spend time with my "batang berjuntai "- (in hokkien .."shaking in between the legs"). Batang Berjuntai then was a one street town and there was a provision shop known as BB store where we obtained our supplies of food provisions.

How the town got its name is anybody's guess!! Probably there was a huge tree with one of its branches having a phallic shape and dangling. Anyway in those days we were innocent and the name just came off our lips without any other naughty connotations. Nowadays, the town has expanded in line with the development of the state and more people are uttering the name. So, the mere mention of the name can be the butt of jokes and may even incite sexual harassment!! And so the name Batang Berjuntai must be replaced. The authorities must have proposed several names but they chose "Bestari Jaya." Did they ever think of "Batang Bestari"?

Well, the name will taken off sign boards and be forgotten like the railway line that once connect this town to Batu Arang 100 years ago. NO MORE BATANG BERJUNTAI!!!!!

The Immortals

DO YOU KNOW ????

18 LOHANS - From Wikipedia

The 18 Lohans are also known as 18 ARHATS. It is not of Chinese origin. Originally, the arhats composed of only 10 disciples of Gautama Buddha. This was inceased to 16 and later on when Buddhism spread to China another 2 was added during the Tang Dynasty. Modern Chinese Buddhism now depicts 18 Lohans . The first paintings of the Lohan was done by a Chinese monk, Guan Xiu. in the year AD891 in Chengdu. He saw them in his dream and when he woke up he painted them. The eulogy and synopsis is too long to produce here but you can go into the internet to know more.

These 18 Lohans must not be confused with the 8 IMMORTALS (Pat SIAN).

EIGHT IMMORTALS (PAT SIAN)

Another form of reading a person's horoscope is to see who is your patron. Once, I took my late mother to Kek Lok See temple in Air Hitam. That was many many years ago before I was married. Maybe my younger brothers and sister were with us. While we were looking at the paintings and enjoy feeding the tortoise at the famous tortoise pond my mother as usual would go about praying. Now, I wish to narrate what my mother told me. She went to the alter of the 8 Immortals to pray. She took a bundle of burning joss sticks and placed one to each of the 8 immortals. She had to repeat the sequence until the last joss stick. The immortal that receives the last joss stick is your patron. My mother was shocked and almost fainted when it was Li Tie Guai. The idol depicted him as a beggar carrying a double guord. She was frightened with the thought that her son was to be a beggar.Then she approached the temple keeper for interpretation. To make her happy and to assure her all the good things the temple Ah Pek must have spun a good story line that her son would not be a beggar!!

Actually Li Tie Guai is known for helping the needy, the sick and those in distress. He became a beggar because when his soul came back he could not find his body as it was burnt. He was forced to enter the beggar's body.

If anyone of you know who is your patron is, then let's share it. If not, we try to get one for you following mother's way, not necessarily at Kek Lok Si, but at 36A!!!

Cheers!!!!!!

Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals

News of cruelty against animals hit the newspapers just after Hari Raya, early September. There is no need to repeat on what was reported. Actually it is about a private boarding home or "hotel" for cats where cat owners can leave them under the care of the operator for a fee. In this case the operator was negligent and about 200 cats were starved and some died. It was the statement by the DG of Veterinary Services Department that the Animal Welfare Act would be introduced that drew my attention and prompted me to narrate an incident written by S. Durai Raja Singam in his book "Malayan Tit Bits" : .......
Many years ago the magistrate at Pait Buntar was trying a case of ill-treatment of a bullock which had a sore neck
After the police sergeant had given his evidence, there was no defence from the bullock owner. But the case did not end there.
The police sergeant was called back into the box, and instead of a compliment for the arrest the following dialogue took place;
Magistrate: You arrested this man at Selama. Now, how far is Selama from Parit Buntar?
Sergeant : Twenty-two miles
Magistrate: And how did you come here?
Sergeant : By bullock cart.
Magistrate: Using the same bullock?
Sergeant : Yes
Magistrate: Well, you too are fined $5 for ill treating a bullock.
The court broke into laughter. It was a case of biter bit.

You see, in the early 1900s there was already a law on Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Mind you on working animals! Wonder what has happened to the "hotel operator"!!!!!

Mustapha Hussain - Malay Nationalism Before UMNO

It was RPK's Malaysia Today that I read about Mustapha Hussain. I am not a historian nor a political analyst to comment. However, I have something to share to those who may not be aware. It is a paper on Malayan History - Kaum Muda - Kaum Tuah: Innovation and Reaction amongst the Malays, 1900-1941 by William Roff presented at the First International Conference of South East Asian Historians Singapore 1961. Here are some excerpts from the paper.

"It was in 1937 that Ibrahim Yaacob and Ishak bin Haji Muhammad formed the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM - Young Malay Union). Members were recruited mainly from the students of Sultan Idris Training College, the Agricultural College at Serdang and the Trade School in Kuala Lumpur. Sutan Djenain one of the original refugees from the collapse of the 1926 rbellionin Java, acted as liaisonbetween the KMM and the Malayan Communist Party. The political platform of the KMM was vague, and never elaborated in any contemporary document. Its chief components were a generalised anti-colonialism (expresed in the slogan 'non cooperation'), independence for Malaya, and union of Malaya within a Greater Indonesia (Indonesia Raya)."
This extract is not meant to counter any opinion or historical events.
I am attracted to this article because of the following:
a) am a graduate from Serdang - never knew that late Mustapha was in Serdang
b) Sukarno was against the formation of Malaysia in 1963 when Greater Indonesia was
hatched in 1937

Comments or additional info are welcomed!

A THOUGHT FOR OUR DEPARTED ONES

It could be anyone of us. But the trajic loss of a fine young man who is my nephew (late youngest brother's youngest son) makes me look back and try to understand more - is it a co-incidence, or as the Muslims would say ,its takdir (fate). A wandering mind sometimes could even speculate on whether it could be bad feng shui, a believe common among the Chinese when bad luck or misfortune happens. (Picture taken on during Chinese New Year, 2 months before my father passed away)

To those younger members of the family, let's go back to my mother's generation.We all seem to know more about our maternal side, purely because there are no blood brothers and sisters of our father living in Malaysia. All that we knew was that they were poor and living in harsh conditions in China. And all that they looked forward was financial support from my father who was very filial.

The story begins. My mother, ( The picture taken one week before her passing away taken during nomination day when my nephew Ong teng Boon stood for elections ),better known as "Ah Tet or Sa Chee" came from a big Choe family-comprising 4 males and 6 females.My grandfather was a rich and successful tin miner but misfortune struck and he became poor overnight like all tin miners during his time when tin slumped. Fortunately the 2nd and 3rd sons found employment. Not only was he finacially down my grandmother died and that was the moment when my mother, a young girl of 16/17 had to leave school and assume the role of mother for the family. She was the 3rd. eldest girl and had to look after the welfare of all - the older ones and the younger ones. What a herculean job!!

Now let's get to know my mother's siblings. The eldest boy/brother disappeared into the jungle and never returned-presumed dead. The eldest girl got married and later died. The eldest girl as she grew older became mentally handicapped while the 2nd girl was married but died later. Hence, Ah Tet had to hold the family. An incident occured when the 5th.girl was to be given away for adoption.My mother was dead against it and refused to let her younger sister go as she wanted the family to be together. My 5th. aunty who is now in her 80s since then was ever grateful. Fortunately my 2nd. uncle, an "ang moh sai" because of vast relationships with orang putihs became a very sucessful and rich businessman supported all the unmarried siblings and lived under a single roof. But trajedy struck when he lost his wife (my aunty)when she gave birth to the youngest child (son). This generation is now left with 3 iron ladies, Ah Siew (no.4), Ah Koid (No. 5) and Ah Moy (No. 6-youngest).

Here comes the next generation of Choes and Ongs-brothers and cousins. I lost 2 Choe cousins who were at their prime-one was an up coming businessman and the other a very vociferous unionist/politician. Both were the eldest sons from the families of 2nd and 3rd uncle. From the Ong's side we lost our youngest brother-a promising law professor. Oh yes let's not forget my cute sister younger to me, Poh Choo, who passed away as a young child maybe 2 years old.

Time flies and our generation of cousins - Ongs and Choes have now gone their own ways with families. Many of us have gone past 55 !! Hardly do we meet -Where have all the flowers gone !!

To kick start our next generation of 2nd. of cousins, the Choe side saw the first trajedy when the youngest son - Derek lost his eldest child. The Ong family came in 2nd trajedy - the loss of King. SAD!!!

The story ends with the head of Choe family, my grandfather with whom I was close. Choe See Peng (translated into Hokkien - make into 4 parts, became the butt of jokes on my late mother), lived a life of contentment never misses his bottle of liquor- be it beer, stout or brandy, lived to a ripe old age. As the saying goes some one must inherit some of his genes. I suppose he and I have something in common - he was a miner and I a planter, he had his ups and downs and I too have mine. I still have my bottle!! Ripe old age ?????? Takdir!!!!!!!

May our departed loved ones rest in peace!

So is it also a co-incidence that I write this during the month of the Hungry Ghost?????

Happy reading, don't shed a tear. Life goes on. Bye.