7 GREAT EXPERIMENTS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Muhyidin said don't experiment. He should not after the RM250million cowgate failure which he is not mooing. That amount of money would be enough to build the Labuan-mainland bridge!

To build or not to build the bridge depend on economics (only?) he said. Evidently, he doesn't see beyond his nose as the case with PPSMI also. The last time we didn't take care of an island, we lost Pulau Batu Putih thinking that it is but rocks.

Pity the people of Sabah and Sarawak, Najib got it all for Klang Valley, Iskandar, Felda in compact and following his mentor's footsteps, the slumberjack's Penang second bridge, glass mosque ... He is thick skin if he wants to stay on for PRU13.

Najib asked deadwoods to quit voluntarily but who wants to admit! The sign of a weak leader is indecision. And he knows only his nose bridge if not the scenic bridge will be on. Behold, both of them need bridges to cross the Rubicon!

But experiments must go on for science and humanity to progress especially to usher into 2013. PRU 13! Beware the (t)ides of March 2013!!

JAPANESE STUDIES ON ISLAM AND CULTURE OF NUSANTARA

Islam:
Akashi, Yoji. 1969. Japanese military administration in Malaya – its formation and evolution in reference to sultans, the Islamic religion, and the Moslem-Malays, 1941-1945. Asian Studies VII(1):81-110

Fujimoto, Katsuji. 1966. Maraya no zakato ni kansuru ni san futowa nit suite (Some fatwa rulings on zakat in Malay). Shinsen 32:34-
1968. Maraya ni okeru zakato seido no genjo (The present situation of the zakat system in Malaya). Kansai Daigaku Tozai Gakujutsu Kenkyusho Kiyo (Bull Inst Orietal and Occidental Studies of Kansai Univ). Kansai Univ, Suita, Japan

Ito, Takeshi. 1978. Why did Nuruddin Ar-Raniri leave Aceh in 1054 AH? BKI 134

Izutsu, K. 1964. God and Man in the Koran: Semantic of the Koranic Weltanschauung. Keio Inst Cultural and Linguistic Studies, Keio Univ, Tokyo

Izutsu, Toshihiko. 1966. Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur’an. McGill Univ Press, Montreal

Nagata, J. 1977. The Chinese Muslims in Malaysia: New Malays or new associates? A problem in ethnicity. In Means G (ed) The Past in Southeast Asia’s Present. Selected Proc Canadian Council Southeast Asian Studies, Ann Conf 1977

Nakamura, Nakamura, Sharon Siddique and Omar Bajunid (eds). 2001. Islam and Civil Society in Southeast Asia. Inst Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Nakamura, Rie. 2000. The coming of Islam to Champa. JMBRAS LXXIII(1):55-66

Nakamura, Mitsuo. 1983. The crescent arises over the banyan tree: a study of the Muhammadijah movement in a Central Javanese town. Gadjah Mada Univ Press, Yogyakarta

Sakuma, T. 1926. The light of Islam. All Muslim National Association, Shanghai, China

Tasaka Kodo. 1952. Champa Kaikyoshi josetsu: Tonan Ajia Kaikyoshi Josetsu no ichibu toshite (Introduction to the history of Islam in Champa: The introduction of Islam in Southeastern Asia). Tohogaku (Eastern Studies) IV:52-60

Tsubouchi, Yoshihiro. 1976. Islam and divorce among Malay peasants. In Shinichi Ichimura (ed) Southeast Asia: Nature, Society and Development. Univ Press Hawaii, Honolulu pp24-43
1977. The changing function of religion among rural Malays. In Seminar on Problems of Rice Growing Villages in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

Culture:
Abe, Tomiji. 1992. The Islands of Fire – An Account on Java and Bali (1944). Chuo-Koron-sha, Tokyo

Anon. 1941. Konsaisu Marai-go shinjiten (Kamus Bahasa Nippon-Indonesia). Tokyo 334pp; 5th ed, 1943

Anon. 1942. Kamoes Harian Nippon-Indonesia, Indonesia-Nippon. Jakarta 191pp; 2nd ed 1942

Fujimoto, H. (nd). The South Indian Muslim Community and the Evolution of the Jawi Peranakan in Penang up to 1948. Inst Study Languages and tudy Languages and Culture Asia and Africa, Tokyo

Wurm, S.A. and Hattori, Shiro (eds). 1983. Language atlas of the Pacific area, part 2: Japan area, Philippines and Formosa, mainland and insular Sout-East Asia. Pacific Linguistic C-66

Horii, K. (ed). 1989. Social Changes and Ethnic Issues in Malaysia: Conclusion of 20 Years of Bumiputra Policy. Inst Developing Economies, Res Paper No 386 (In Japanese)

Ishii, Yoneo (ed). 1991. Encyclopedia of Indonesia. Doho-sha Publ, Tokyo (in Japanese)

Ito, Takeshi and Reid, Anthony. 1985. From harbor autocracies to ‘feudal’ diffusion in seventeenth century Indonesia: the case of Aceh. In Leach E et al (eds) Feudalism: Comparative Studies. Pathfinder Press, Sydney

Iwao, Seiichi. 1987. The Japanese Immigrants in Island South East Asia under the Dutch in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Iwanami-Shoten, Tokyo (in Japanese)

Kato, Tsuyoshi. 1978. Change and continuity in the Minangkabau matrilineal system. Indonesia no 25 pp1-16
1989. Nasab Ibu dan Merantau. Dewan Bahasa Pustaka, K Lumpur (transl. Azizah Kassim)

Kikuchi, Saburo. 1969. (Is Pu a transliteration of Abu or Mpu? A problem in the ancient history of Champa. Ajia Afurika Gogakuin Kiyo (Bull Asian and African Linguistics) II:103-6

Mabuchi, Toichi. 1964. Tales concerning the origin of grains in the insular areas of Eastern and Southeastern Asia. Asian Folklores Studies, The Soc Asian Folklores, Tokyo

Maeda, Narifumi. 1967. The Orang Hulu: A Social Anthropological Study of Endau Jakun. (A draft). Centre for South East Asian Studies, Kyoto Univ, Japan
1976a. A Jakun terminology. Tonan Ajia Kenkyu (Southeast Asian Studies) pp834-53 (in Japanese)
1976b. Familial forms of the Jakun (Orang Hulu) in Malaya. Tonan Ajia Kenkyu (Southeast Asian Studies) pp463-83 (in Japanese)
1976c. Marriage and divorce among the Jakun (Orang Hulu) of Malaya. Tonan Ajia Kenkyu (Southeast Asian Studies) pp740-57 (in Japanese)
1978. The Malay family as a social order. In Frederick LJ (ed) Proc Sem Problems of Rice-Growing Villages in Malaysia.Southeast Asia Studies no 16 pp216-45

Masamichi, Royama. 1967. The Philippine Polity: A Japanese View. South East Asia Studis, Yale University, New Haven

Miyamoto, Masaru. 1974. Fieldtrips to Buhid areas in Oriental Mindoro. Quarterly Rec Soc Anthropology 7(2-3):17-34
1989. Folk legal culture among the Rungus in Pitas, Sabah. Sabah Mus, Kota Kinabalu

Mizuno, Masami. 1985. Population Pressure and Peasant Occupations in Rural Central Java. University of Kent at Canterbury, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Occasional Paper no. 4

Murai, M., Pen, P and Miller, C.D. 1958. Some Tropical Pacific Foods. Univ. Hawaii, Honolulu

Murata, Yukuo. 1977. Rural education and its development; a comparative study of Thai and Malay villages. In Seminar on Problems of Rice Growing Villages in Malaysia, 1977, Kuala Lumpur

Nagazumi, Akira. 1973. Indonesia and Indonesians: Semiotics in Politics. Asian Profile, Aug pp91-102
1989. Bangkitnya Nasionalisme Indonesia: Budi Utomo 1908-1918. Grafiti, Jakarta

Nakamura Hisako. 1983. Divorce in Java: A Study of the Dissolution of Marriage among Javanese Muslims. Gadjah Mada Univ, Yogyakarta

Narisumi, Maeda. 1977. The Malay family as a social circle. In Seminar on Problems of Rice Growing Villages in Malaysia, 1977, Kuala Lumpur

Oota S. 1943. Ancient Arts in Java. Subun-do, Tokyo

Shinichi Ichimura (ed). 1976. Southeast Asia: Nature, Society and Development. Univ Press Hawaii, Honolulu

Shiraishi, Takashi. 1981. The Samin reinterpreted. Seminar on Multilingualism in Indonesia, August 1981, Pacet, Indonesia
1987. Reading Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s Sang Pemula (The Pioneer). Indonesia no. 44, Cornell Univ, Ithaca
1990. Dangir’s testimony: Saminism reconsidered. Indonesia no 50 pp95-120
1992. Readings in Southeast Asia. South East Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca vol. I 188pp
1994(ed). Approaching Suharto’s Indonesia from the Margins. Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca
_____ and Furuto, Motoo. 1992. Indochina in the 1940s and 1950s. SouthEast Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca vol. II 196pp

Wurm, S.A. and Shiro Hattori (eds). 1983. Language Atlas of the Pacific Area, part II, Japan Area, Philippines and Formosa, Mainland and Insular South-East Asia. Australian Acad Humanities in collaboration with Japan Academy

Takahashi, Akira. 1970. Land and Peasants in Central Luzon. East-West Center Press, Honolulu

Takayama, Ryuzo. 1977. Long house community of the Iban. In Rural Communities in East Malaysia. Committee South-East Asian Studies, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Tokyo Institute of Technology pp23-30

Takeda S (ed). 1968. Jagatara Episodes – The Footmarks of Japanese in the Dutch East Indies. Tsurukawa-Insatsusho, Nagasaki (in Japanese)

Takeshi, L. 1984. The world of Adat Acheh, a historical study of the Sultanate of ACheh. Ph.D thesis, Australian National Univ, Canberra

Tanakadate, Hidezo. 1944. The Seizure of Southern Cultural Institutions. Jidai-sha, Tokyo (in Japanese)

Tomizawa, Hisao. 1981. A structural analysis of the Sejarah Melayu – an essay on a Malay dynastic myth. Japanese J Ethnology 46:55-79

Tsubouchi, Yoshihiro. 1972. Land and residence among Malay peasant in the East coast. Southeast Asian Studies 10(1)
1975. Marriage and divorce among Malay peasants in Kelantan. J Southeast Asian Studies 6(2):135-50

Umeda, Teruyo. 1966. Maraya no josei: Kedah shu ni okeru genchi chosa (Women of Malaya: a field study in Kedah state). Tonan Ajia Kenkyu 3:122-37

Uno. 1940. Religious rites and ceremonies concerning rice planting and eating in Malaysia. Tokyo (Text in Japanese with abstract in English)

Wada, Hisanori. 1987. Asia: A History of Races in the South-East Asia (a textbook for University of Air). Univ of Air, Tokyo (in Japanese)

BEYOND ECSTASY: KAMA SUTRA

SLOPPY ALOP ON SOAKY SLOPE

"Sloppy ALOP on soaky slope" - a nightmarish tounge twister for tax payers, officials, politicians, and environmentalists.

Nestled among the greeneries at about the highest point of a ridge that divides Hulu Langat and Ampang is ALOP, short for Ampang Lookout Point. It is under Kajang Municipality.

Apart from getting a good view of KL from the lookout point, visitors come to enjoy the cool air, food and lodging. Alas, ALOP has been closed for the last 2 years according to a jaga.

Recently, a massive landslide at the lookout point renders it unsafe. For one thing, the massive building of the lookout point was built too close to the edge of the slope. During heavy rains the slope becomes soaky. Hence, without proper foundation, embankment and drainage it is foreseeable that double-trouble will come sooner or later.

This harks the grand enquiry. Is it the end of ALOP? What is the post-mortem on the mess they are in? Who are responsible for the debacle?

Indeed, we have not learn from the power of geography!

SAGO GRUBS - EAT THEM RAW!

If you want to eat sago worm (bL), ulat mulong or siet in Melanau raw or fried, experience it at Mukah. It is likened to a 'micro-cow' because of its high protein (17%) content and plenty of fat.

The heartland of sago palms (aR) in Malaysia is in the Mukah district of Sarawak. An there also is found the heartland of the Melanaus especially around Mukah, Balingian, Igan and Dalat. They cultivate sago in the swamps and along river banks providing them income, food, shelter and material culture. Their culture has co-evolved around sago as evidenced in their dance and music also.

Usually one can buy live siets in plastic packets at the daily market (aL) at Mukah. To buy a kilo is expensive at RM25! The pasar is just by the river bank (aR).

The worms are actually caterpillars of kumbang sagu (striped beetle). The beetle bore boles in harvested sago logs floating in the river (aL) or rotting trunks in the farm and lay their eggs which hatched into caterpillars. Enterprising villagers would rear them in sago fibre waste (aR).

The fried ones (aL), with butter, salt and chilli api taste better and crunchy. To eat a live one, grip its head with two fingers, bite off the body, munch and swallow. The head is discarded. Ah, I have quite forgotten the taste! It was years ago. There are cases eating them raw can cause allergic reactions - rashes, vomitting and fever.

Another kind of leaf-eating caterpillars of seasonal availability usually fried and eaten (aR), has bitter taste and not as good as the fried grubs.

AKU PILU, VAN GOGH MENANGIS

Semenjak lebuhraya Plus dibina dan adanya R&R, pekan Tg. Malim tidak lagi menjadi tempat persinggahan mid-way yang popular seperti tahun2 lampau. Pau Tg Malim pun ramai dah tak teringin.

Dulunya Tg Malim bersejarah dengan Sultan Idris Training College (SITC, kini UPSI).

Puluhan kali lalu Tg Malim tetapi hanya 4-5 kali berhenti melihat2 pekan tersebut. Ahad sudah sempat singgah di Tg Malim agak lama.

Isteri saya (dan adik-beradik) masa kanak2 kerap  menaiki keretapi ke Tg Malim dari Butterworth. Bapa dan emak  akan memandu kereta dan menunggu mereka di stesen Tg Malim.

Sejak rail double-track siap digunakan 5 tahun dahulu, stesen keretapi lama tidak digunakan dan kini terbiar. Pilu melihat keaadanya.

Paparan lukisan Van Gogh (1853-90), pelukis Belanda terkenal.




Yahya Imail, pengurus kantin yang terakhir.

Quarters railway terbiar (kiri); stesen baru berdekatan yang lama (kanan)

Jutaan manusia berbagai bangsa-rupa telah turun-naik atau melalui stesen Tg Malim - Mat Saleh, buroh India, polis Sikh, pegawai kerajaan, penuntut/pengajar SITC, pelancung dll.

Stesen Tg Malim membawa kenangan untuk SITC dalam sejarah pendidikan, politik, dan pengorbanan. Masa silam keretapi merupakan pengangkutan yang mudah. Antara mereka yang terkenal akan rasa hiba (yang masih hidup) bila melihat stesen Tg Malim ditelan zaman:

O.T. Dussek - pengasas dan pengetua pertama
Abdul Rahman Muhammad, 1950an
Abdullah Sidek (Anggerek, Khadam Melayu), 1929-1931
Ahmad Abdullah (Cikgu Mat) ,1923 (pengajar)
Ahmad Kamal Abdullah (Kemala), 1958-1962
Ahmad Murad Nasaruddin (Darum), 1928-1929 (penterjemah)
Awang Had Salleh (Kals Khalid), 1951-1954
Embong Yahya (Ngumba), pertengah 1950an (pengajar)
Harun Mohd Amin (Harun Aminurrashid), 1924-1926
Hassan Muhammad Ali (Hasbi Asmara, Hasbima), 1948-1950
Kasmani Ariff (Wang Tunai), 1931-1933
Maarof Mahmud (Merak Mas), 1937-1939
Mahmud Ahmad (Teruna Jaya), 1926-1929
Masuri Salikun (Masuri S.N.), 1946-1949
Mohd Noor Yusof (Pangeran Derma), 1949-1952
Muhammad Yasin Maamor (Pungguk), 1929-1931
Shaharom Husain (Dharmaya), awal 1940an
Shahnon Ahmad, awal 1970an (pengajar)
Suhaimi Muhammad (William Polmer, Suria Negara), 1957-1959
Yahya Abu Samah (Yabas), 1949-1952
Zainal Abidin Ahmad Za'ba), 1924-1939 (penterjemah)

Sejarah, memfaatkan keunikan dan budaya jaga harta tidak ada erti pada KTM. Pertalian sejarah dan imbasan lampau antara generasi silam dengan  yang baru/akan datang dibiarkan terputus begitu sahaja.

Melayu sukakan yang baru, lupakan sejarah. Baju baru, istana baru. 

GANGNAM FOR ISTANA

13 is Dollah's number. And PRU13 is here.

After the 13th Agongs' stay in the first istana the current one got a RM180million palace.  How fortunate! How many  centuries the Buckingham Palace been around?

Who was the architect of the previous istana?

The old istana will be open for tourists to be greeted by pahlawan guards at the main entrance.

Hope there will be more things to see, tempat bersemayam- beradu, keris-lembing and all that. Apart from silat, and to be in vogue, Gangnam by the pahlawans or Psy and his troupe once a while perhaps!

AMONG UMNO (WOMEN) STALWARTS, 1960s

In the early years, women UMNO members played their roles well especially among the ordinary rakyat. I know that for a fact. "Nak pergi kutip duit (ahli) UMNO", my mother used to say.

The recent PAU12  was poetic, ego boosting, rhetorical, theartrical to the point of satirical. Were they afraid to shoot their foot if many issues are raised?

To reminisce stalwarts of the 60's and their contributions:

Source: Victor Morais (ed). The who's who in Malaysia, 1965. J. Victor Morais, K.L. 489pp