PROGRESSING AS YOU WOULD LIKE IT

AS IT WAS IN EARLY APRIL 2010

SOME OF THE PIECES THAT BECOME PART OF THE JIG SAW PUZZLE THAT FORMED PART OF REBUILDING

THE VERANDA IS NOT THERE YET BUT THE VIEW OF THE BAMBOO CLUMPS BY THE SIDE OF THE RIVER ASSURES THAT THIS WILL BE A FAVORITE SPOT LATER

BY LATE APRIL THE STEPS FROM THE VERANDA IS ALREADY AT ITS PLACE

AS TODAY 24 APRIL 2010 THIS IS THE STAGE OF COMPLETION. NEXT WE WILL SEE THE WINDOWS FIXED AT THEIR PLACES. SEE THE FACADE AT THE VERANDA.

THE RAMBUTAN TREES BY THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE NOW HAVE FLOWERED AND SOON WE WILL SEE THE FRUITS. A WELCOME INDEED WITH THE COMPLETION OF THE HOUSE

MY COUSIN SATAR

Like me you too would have a kin or a friend by the name of 'Satar'. Mine happened to be a first cousin who lives in the same town but I guess he must be wandering all over the place since I have not met him for quite a while. Now with our sons and daughters earning their keeps away from the home town, parents too have the golden opportunity to visit places. I know he has a son working in Kota Kinabalu and I am not surprised that he is there most time.

Continuing on our recent visit to the East Coast, we were surprised to meet 'Satar' at most places in Trengganu. Now this is no 'Pak Satar' but a name given to one of Trengganu's delicacies. Being on the fringe of the coastlines, people are not far from the sea and therefore fish is abundant and ingenuity comes to mind to prepare all manner of dishes. On the road heading towards Kuala Trengganu passing idyllic Malay kampong and alluring named resorts, we came across this banner which prompted us to stop. We had to take a U turn to get back to the stall.

The above picture shows 'satar' as it is cooked and prepared for purchase. It is a fish dish cooked wrapped in a banana leaf over a low fire barbecue. Fish meat preferably from 'ikan tenggiri','kerisi', 'gelama','selar' with 'kelapa parut' onions etc is wrapped coned shaped and sandwiched between bamboo sticks before cooked over the charcoal fire. We had a taste of it but prefer the 'keropok lekor' and the dark red sauce that comes with it awaiting at Losong in Kuala Trengganu. The 'keropok lekor' is about the best you can find there though you will find 'keropok' sold all over the place.

Our brush with 'satar' though brief signified the earnest desire of the people to earn a living. The lady that attended to us while preparing and serving 'satar' also managed the next door shop selling crafts. Handicrafts especially of bamboo and 'mengkuang' made by the neighbors are left at her shop and you have a good choice to buy not-often available items at a very good price.For sure you will be surprised when compared to offers at tourist complex or up markets. More ever the items are not mere displays but of utilities value.

PANTAI TIMOR - KOPITIAM

Sesuai dengan tempatnya, nama kedai pun dipapar dalam tulisan jawi

Hai Peng kopitiam merupakan sebuah kedai yang unik dan dihiasi lengkap dengan barangan lama. Kita seolah-olah berada di zaman lima-puluhan dan tidak kurang hingar bingarnya

Satu sudut kecil penuh dengan barangan untuk dijual dan pameran. Kami diberi tahu ramai pekerjanya terdiri orang Melayu Trengganu

KELANTAN, TERENGGANU, PAHANG DAN JOHORE merupakan empat buah negeri terletak mengadap Laut China Selatan dan sering menerima musim tengkujuh. Apa pun dua buah negeri di utara sahaja memiliki unsur-unsur budaya yang menarik dan menjadi pilihan para pelancong dalam negeri atau luar negara. Heran juga mengapa kelebihan itu terbatas kepada sempadan Terengganu - Pahang khususnya.

Ramai antara kita berkunjung kesana, masing-masing dengan tujuan tersendiri; baik menziarahi, menemani anak-anak yang terpilih mengikuti pengajian atau rombongan kahwin dan sebagainya.Hubungan silatulrahim adalah digalakkan dan jesteru berkunjungan dan berjumpa dengan ahli keluarga dan rakan-rakan lama menjadi satu ikhtibar. Jesteru kami mencari masa dan kesempatan pada hujung minggu lalu melawat Cerating, Kemaman, Kuala Terengganu dan Kota Bharu. Seperti biasa bila dah lama tak berjalan-jalan banyak yang kita lihat mengkagumkan.

Pertama sebuah kedai kopi di bandar Cukai Kemaman mendapat perhatian. Ianya merupakan antara 'kopitiam' yang terkenal di Malaysia dan salah satu yang terawal, dibangunkan pada tahun 1940 . "Old Town Kopitiam" satu-satunya berasal dari Ipoh kini menjelma di semua bandar besar nampaknya ingin 'ride on the bandwagon' atau menarik peminat yang kini gemar minum kopi dan menikmati nostalgia lama. Apa pun mari kita lihat apakah kecanggihan 'Kopitiam Hai Peng Kemaman? Melihat gambar-gambar berikut ini jelas memperakui kehebatan kedai kopi ini di bandar Cukai Kemaman dan seringkali mendapat perhatian khusus dalam majalah terkemuka. Sebenarnya kami pernah kesini beberapa tahun yang lalu. Jelas keistimewaannya masih kukuh dan hebat. Pelanggannya bertambah ramai. Bandar Cukai pula membangun dengan pesat.

Meja bulat marmar menghiasi ruang utama Hai Peng. Nampaknya pelanggan datang bukan sahaja dari Pekan Cukai tetapi dari berbagai tempat. Banyak juga pelancong disini .

Boleh pilih! Nasi dagang, telor rebus setengah masak, roti bakar, mee, beehoon goreng, pulut inti, nasi lemak antara yang disaji




Bersama dengan anak saudara yang menetap di Cukai Kemaman. Kelihatan dibelakang Bangunan Hai Peng.



Kesempatan berkenalan dengan Pak Mansor orang Trengganu yang sering ke Hai Peng bersama rakan-rakannya. Orangnya kaya , memiliki 17 orang anak dan 32 orang cucu. Masa muda kakitangan Jabatan Perikanan dan kini kerap juga ke laut memancing ikan. Kami berharap akan berjumpa lagi . Kalau kita ramah dan ingin tegur menegur banyaklah kawan baru. ( lihat paip dibibirnya)

(apa sekali pun kita sedar perniagaan ini telah berlangsung selama 70 tahun dengan mencapai prestasi yang baik dan tentu sekali menarik pelanggan sepanjang masa. Jesteru begitulah pendekatan berniaga, sabar dan berusaha dengan layanan yang sebaik mungkin disamping kebersihan tinggi. Ingin menemui kedai kopi Melayu menuju kearah ini - Zam)


(Brief summary esp for a friend in Canada who may recollect some old memories)

(Last weekend we were on the East Coast, after an intended trip to the National Park did not come through. A stop over at Cerating saw us crossing just across the border Pahang/Trengganu to Cukai Kemaman for breakfast at a 'kopitiam' already famous on the East Coast. Intended to put up at Club Med Ha,Ha, but made no earlier reservation. Instead at Cerating Impiana. Pl see the photos to view the uniqueness of this old kopi shop established in 1940 yet thriving with the combined modernity of recent time and offering home delicacies served with with fresh coffee of the house.)

notice the tin containers used for serving half-boiled eggs

The open terrace and our coffee maker man at his job

FOR MY CONNOISSEUR FRIENDS

The house as seen from the front

back view with the bedroom at the nearest corner

The house from the back with more open space surrounded by greenery

These are the latest photos taken on site. They show the structures completed with pillars, 'rasuk' and roof trusses fixed and now waiting for the roofs to shade and cover the whole house. Signs around shows that the rambutan trees are starting to flower and bear fruits. It won't be long before we can pick 'nyior gading' as this is the type growing by the side of the house. Imagine what the children and grand children can do under the house. They will certainly have space to run around. We just thought of a space to keep all our books too and perhaps operate a small library for the community.

..............................................................

MORE OFTEN WE REFER TO PERSONS WHO KNOW ESPECIALLY ABOUT FOOD. But this is of art and specific to Malay home and its building. Only last week we saw the house arising again, with its high pillars taking their positions fulfilling a dream of seeing an old home where we grew up as children taking shape again. Perhaps I should reveal some of the hidden secrets behind the home. I remember my father enlisting a neighboring carpenter or 'tukang kayu' to build the house in 1949. Pak Eid a stout and well-built man was certainly the right person for the job. An ex-prison personnel he was strong enough to cope with the hefty job. We cannot compare present facilities as available to the house builders. Then it was brute strength and skill. The blade of the plane or axe sharpened to its best was the modest tool required by most carpenters. Even the saw of varied sizes was the needed tool. Now machinery or electrification helps to solve most matters. Pak Eid was assisted as far as I can remember by no more than three persons. It was not an easy job constructing a wooden home of that size. All the wood had to be selected and bought from Baling, Changlun or Kuala Nerang where the best were then available. You can imagine those towns in 1949 . Timber supply was their resources.

In 1949 I was in Special Malay 2 at SAHC. Too young to appreciate all that was going on. Now where would my father Mohamed bin Abdul Raoff ( Allah bless him) found the resources to build a home at that time? He was a clerk at Sultan Abdul Hamid College and teachers included did not have salaries to think of home building. One bright day, we learnt that a group of teachers at the school had struck rich.They had won a lottery. Amongst the teachers were Pak Hassan, Pak Zain, Pak Radzi, Mr Kit Fang and a few others plus the school clerk. Next we saw several of the teachers driving Austin cars. That included Pak Zain. My father and Pak Hassan left behind for their children a treasure.They built homes. Pak Hassan's home still stands at its original site quite near the College though I guess no one lives there now. Pak Kit Fang, a teacher from Taiping chose a better turning point. He left for Britain to study law and returned home as a lawyer a few years later. I believed he set up his practice in Taiping.

Now with that heritage and background, how could I let the old home disappear.It is mandatory that it has to live on and continue with its traditions and richness/'rezeki ' it has provided the family. The sweat and toil of Pak Eid and more specifically of both my parents must live on, continuing to remind the children and grand children of days gone by. They were hard days. They invested well. When my father died in 1955, we had shelters above us. Imagine otherwise especially during the emergency years.

Cukuplah kisah latar belakangnya.

What has happened in the last ten days or so ? I can only say that the builders have been working hard and fast. Then again most of the pieces are there. It takes the skill of assembling aided by the construction method that we inherited from Pak Said and his friends. See the pictures below to see the current development. I believe it will not be long when we can move in and enjoy peace and quaintness in kampong surroundings.

Earlier the wooden flooring were put in place; the original wooden floors being used again

The original bolts came back at its old place

Spaces for the walls and air holes ( jerejak angin)

How exciting and relaxing. Ducks swimming by just infront of the house.As if already welcoming us to a sanctuary.

Standing steady and firm for the next generation . Hard wood like Cengal was the order for the home

RELOCATING AND ON THE GO

Absence on the blog since the last publication meant that one has been preoccupied. In this case it can mean only one thing: seeing to the reconstruction of the old house.

After being relocated to its new site, the work began only in early March and surprisingly the speed and achievement was a joy to see. It speaks aloud of the Malay home construction method or approach. Yes without nails ever used, the pillars and beams etc for the house framework came up just like a jig-saw puzzle, exacting where they would be placed with speed. Only the heavy pillars and beams took the full strength of the workers to heave them where they would be slotted in. With the main frames in tact, it would not be long before the walls, flooring and window etc take their positions as part of the house.

One of the last picture of the house taken before it was fully dismantled. Here part of the back wall has been removed and the small lorry was there to remove the parts.

It was fortunate that the new site is adjacent to a river meaning that before pipe water could be supplied to the site, river water is utilised for the start of the work.

Four workmen placing the beam where it should be

Observe how the pillars and the main beams stand together holding the house on its new site. With a height of six feet from the ground, it could still mean that the boys and girls can still play to their delights under the house.

One of the beam measuring 33 feet is being pushed upward to take its original place. It would be a surprise to find such quality and size of wood now.

Two rambutan trees stand by the side of the house. With the fruit season approaching it would be a delight to pick the fruits about the time the house is ready for us to move in

THE HAPPENINGS

WE HAVE ONLY EMBARKED on the second month of the year and soon moving into March and already discovering or learning of new things that had escaped us before. Perhaps our experiences never took us across such happenings or maybe they too remained concealed, never touching the lights of day.

Political upheavals aside, when one side can challenge the other dragging all concerned into the fry as seen in the former tin rich state of Perak; now we see another woman disallowing a legal wife to attend to her own husband who sadly has been in hospital outside the country. Rightly thinking such disallowing has no bearing irrespective of the standing. The religious court cautioned and check is undoubtedly a clear resonance of the correct decisions. As usual dissatisfaction, unhappiness or the right to uphold truth as expected would see counter actions. Therefore we see the courts being visited now more often and the magistrates or judges holding their forts even to the point of being dismissed. Do you ever hear of the High Court judge being asked to disqualify himself before? It seems now you can challenge almost anything and hopefully get what you want.

Another preference would be to make police reports over all sundry happenings. You utter a right or wrong remark and someone will make a police report. The sensation places him or her on a special dais, a champion irrespective whether there is action or inaction on the part of the police who is bogged with more serious issues.

Intimacy before wed logs has seriously brought about childbirth to the discomfort of young 'parents' and disarray leading to news report too uncomfortable for us to absorb . All directions have been taken to counter its continuance but it is not the finality until the correct or expectable mean is found. Now a sanctuary for such victims or candidates has been suggested, disclosing that acceptability in a sense rather than opposition and condemnation is a better mean. Yet the roots of high cost in marriages, disallowing on the parts of parents etc have to be overcome.

Lawyers too are at their wits end, searching for actions to be taken where possible to assist their clients. There seems to be no close and shut cases anymore. All avenues are opened. Yes there are challenging pathways ahead of us.

Road accidents also take front page columns. Double – decked buses, speedy drivers, road engineering, emergency lanes and vehicles left unattended by the highways all now become headline grabbers. Yes surely we are pulled aside disturbed by such happenings around; never a dull moment. Maid services with stories hitting the headlines and arousing anger from our friendly neighbor who have thousands or millions of their citizens here and the unacceptable inflow of visitors from the dark- continent are chapters in our current story.

An escape to solitude, away from the maddening crowd naturally becomes a welcomed offer. Where do you stand and where will you go to flee the 'turmoil'?

 

( A sudden urge to pen down the urgency that one feels daily listening and reading the news over the networks)

A WELCOME CRYOUT BUT WHEN WILL CHANGE TAKES EFFECT

TWO DAYS AGO the newspaper discloses two exciting news to those of us who like reading and playing. These are two ordinary pleasures that have hooked us since we were children. Our teachers and our parents have encouraged us since and over the years our moments have been taken up with pouring over words and writings in books, documents, newspapers and whatever materials that comes by. Bilingualism or proficiency in more than one language surely would add justice and gainful ship since you would be opened to the richness of knowledge. Enjoying the games on the school fields, participating as team members or individually and being rewarded with take-home medals or silver cups of varied sizes, cheered by friends and encouraged by relatives and parents help to a no less small way make you a man. We seem to adhere to the Latin phrase "a healthy mind in a healthy body" and no doubt it has paid tremendously all these years.

Now out of the blues, the Minister of Education Malaysia and the Deputy Prime Minister himself has awakened to the befallen standard of participation in games. Be it at the village, school, district, state and national levels our participation in games have fallen on the waysides. Competiveness is not the order of things, much less the desires to participate. Malaysia's grand position at the South East Asia's level and much less the International dimension is nothing to be proud of.

In short, it suddenly dawn after several decades that, our schools have shied away from extra-curricular activities namely games, sports, physical education etc. The school playing fields seems to be reserved only for it ambience. Daily exercises and P.E as part of the school curriculum which helped to identify the muscular students as everyone has to bare himself top up died a natural death. Added to that, teachers with options to teach physical education, sports activities and helped to promote team spirit, sportsmanship and competiveness become a dying breed. Other options take precedence and naturally the school children face the other directions. Not their faults.

Now it is about turn at least. How far will it go? Will the Education Ministry itself help to check the wrought? In no way will it be possible unless it works with other related Ministries and Departments. Nonetheless it is a welcome change and for many of us already with grown-up children, hopefully the grandchildren and future Malaysian youth will shine with colors in their faces, with active muscles and veins helping them to be healthy citizens and no doubt taking them away at regular times from the confines of their rooms and computer machines.

Malaysians outpouring over the delights of books however seems to strike a record of sort, not something we can cry out or shout to the world or even to our nearby neighbor. The newspapers let out a catastrophic secret though not a surprise to many. After several attempts or programs to get Malaysian to read even at allowing RM1000.00 as tax rebate for the purchase of books, the media discovers that we just don't read enough. Statistics show that out of 85 percent who read regularly their preference go like this: 77 percent for newspapers; 3 percent for books; 3 percent for magazines and 1.6 percent for comics. So don't expect to see our people reading or browsing over books while in the trains, aero- planes or at moments when they are free.

The fallacy will be discovered when the school systems realized that they too have fallen short at inspiring our youth to read. The absence of literature classes or even library breaks has caused detrimental damage.

Can we expect another sudden turn around?