Archive for February 2020

Hey yall,

I'm excited to share this find with you! This book is super useful for anyone clueless about Malay culture and elucidates many rituals and practices that Malays have. There book is also packed with fun trivia and facts.

The title, 'Malay Weddings Don't Cost $50', stems from a racist rant from Amy Cheong on Facebook. In 2012, she mocked Malays for low cost weddings held in void decks. Her remark - "How can society allow ppl to get married for 50 bucks?" - drew backlash and she was issued a police warning, and was later fired from her job.

Besides wedding rituals and preparations, there are also chapters on childbirth, distinctions between Malays, folk tales, Malay films, funerals etc. You may know that Malays who have passed are buried in soil, but did you know that they don't use coffins?? Now you know.

Some of the rituals or practices are not even being practised anymore, so it's great that the author Hidayah Amin preserves these old traditions with a written record, for future generations to learn about their ancestral past and as a bridge for different cultures.

Let me share some of the info with you!

Turun Tanah / Jejak tanah (tread the ground)

The Javanese influenced ritual welcomes a seven month old baby to set his foot on the ground for the first time. One part of the process is as such. The baby is shown items like the Quran, a pen, book, comb and money. It is believed that the item chosen will give some indication of what kind of person the child will grow up to be - pious, intelligent, handsome, rich.

I was tickled to know that Malay families do this practice of putting a few objects and letting the baby choose. I never knew! Is the Caucasian equivalent (in popular culture) to let the child pick between Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle? For the Chinese, I think similar items such as a pen, book, or abacus are shown to the baby.

Stereotypes of the Malays

This one is a little bit like horoscope. Basically there are traits associated with different types of Malays, and the author advises you to take this information with a pinch of salt as it is a generalisation of an entire group of people. Still interesting tho! It's like how you would categorise a person from a certain area/state they come from. For example, some people from a certain province may be more brash in personality, while others are more soft-spoken. Like it or not, it is human nature to categorise, but that doesn't mean that these judgments are accurate.

From the book:

Javanese: hardworking, kind-hearted, gentle, soft-spoken
Banajrese: brave, aggressive, authoritative (men)
Bugis: seafarer, brave, warrior-like, risk-taker, entrepreneurial
Malays: kind, gentle, laid-back, relaxed (unfortunately often mistaken as lazy)
Acehnese: religious, more God-fearing than the rest of the ethnic groups
Cocos Malays: ignorant about religion, very Westernised in thought and actions
Minang: creative, entrepreneurial, adventurous, of a matriarchal society
Baweanese: seafarer, religious, Baweanese women love gold jewellery, husbands are dedicated
Westernisation of Names
This chapter on names and surnames was very interesting to me! Globalisation makes the world seem a little smaller, and trends take place, according to the prevailing language spoken.

"Some Malays with long names often shorten their names for convenience. Nowadays, there are Malays who give their children English names. Some even adopt the English version of their names. Sharifah is now Sherrie. Surya prefers to be called Sue. Melhan is Mel for short."
Halal Food
The food that Muslims cannot consume is actually very reasonable, and not as limiting as people may think. Take a look:

-Carrion or dead animal that has been clubbed to death, gored or killed by another animal.
-Pork and lard (considered unclean)
-Flesh-eating animals like bears and tigers
-Birds with talons and animals with fangs, like eagles and snakes
-Amphibious animals like frogs and alligators
-Domesticated animals like dogs and cats
-Blood

Right? Most of us don't eat animals like alligators or bears. The list seems more like to protect you from consuming strange, unsuitable or unclean animals (and maybe some to protect animals too). More to protect than restrict after I read it. What do you think?

Also, the idea of a kinder way of slaughter is important. The animal is not to suffer unnecessarily. Muslims may not eat animals that were killed via boiling and electrocution. Also, the author notes that Jewish kosher laws and Muslim halal laws are almost similar*. I think that while food is important to us, we should also consider the animal lives that were sacrificed. I am in favour of kinder and thoughtful killing of animals for their meat.

*On this note of drawing comparison to another religion, I didn't know that Malay boys had to go through circumcision. I always thought that this practice was for Jews!
Potong Andam
A dying ritual to determine the virginity of the bride. I don't really get this ritual because (a) the results are only known to the Mak Andam (the woman who beautifies the woman for the wedding) and the bride herself. Usually people (heads of families, husbands etc) want to ascertain the purity of the bride before marrying, but since the outcome is secret, what is tehe point?

Also, the bride must consent to the ritual before it is carried out. So I wonder if this practice was just to pressure brides in the past?

(b) Furthermore, there is much controversy over this ritual because the status of the virginity is told simply from the way the bride's hair falls. The ritual (probably from pre-Islamic days) also clashes with Islam as it connotes that you believe and rely on supernatural powers, which is not allowed.
Malay Proverbs (Peribahasa Melayu)
These are super interesting!

Hangat-hangat tahi ayam
Literal translation: Like fowl dung (initially warm but soon cools off)
Meaning: Someone who is initially very enthusiastic in doing something, but gives up too easily halfway.

Ketam menyuruhkan anaknya berjalan betulLiteral translation: Like the crab asking its young to walk straight
Meaning: Someone who gives others advice, but yet does not himself practise or follow the same.

Ringan sama dijinjing, berat sama dipikulLiteral translation: Carry light and heavy things together
Meaning: Togetherness in joy and sorrow

The author shares a creative modern day peribahasa too:

Seperti tetikus tanpa wayar
Literal translation: Like a wireless computer mouse
Meaning: Someone who is free to roam, without restrictions imposed by his parents.
There's a chapter on Hantu (ghosts) and an entire glossary of different ghosts, including pontianak, kitchen ghosts and murderous ghosts. I decided to skip this because too many details will give me nightmares 😅

•·················•·················•

Overall you can say I definitely learned a whole lot from this book. I'm sure you will enjoy it too!

The foreword of the book is by the late President S.R. Nathan. In his words, "this is a delightfully engaging book to be read from time to time and treasured always." I completely agree!

Happy Reading!

Skye

Hello and welcome back!

I borrowed this book about Chiam See Tong from the library, alongside Latte to Lathi and it was a GREAT read! I started it in the evening and was so entertained by it that I had to finish the book in one sitting. I was done with it at 1.30am.

I am not the most educated about the political scene in Singapore but it never hurts to start somewhere. I don't want to be so politically ignorant.

There is always some tension and maybe even fear when politics are discussed in Singapore. I must say I was apprehensive about reading this book in public so I read it at home. 😂 Nevertheless it was a wonderful decision to read this book.

Introduction:

Chiam See Tong is a name you must have heard of in Singapore, even if you are not sure what he exactly he did.

He used to run for elections as an independent party before becoming the second opposition MP of Singapore with the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), which is no mean feat. He then served Potong Pasir for 27 years. He has since retired from politics following a stroke. He was also ousted from his own party but I have not read up on this yet.

This book chronicles his life and how he came to be part of Singapore's political landscape.

CST studied in ACS and represented his school in many sporting events, winning many medals. Studies were not his forte. His life was also very different from the students in the nearby Chinese schools where protests on anti-colonial issues were staged. Some escalated into violent riots.

It was not until he studied Engineering in New Zealand that he got introduced to issues such as Marxism and various social and political matters. His new friends introduced him to Chinese language films, music and revolutionary ideas, a stark difference to the Western films Chiam was consuming in his teens. Chiam started to develop an interest in politics. He later became a teacher, then a lawyer, before his foray into politics in Singapore.

Memorable Parts of the Book

Funny Campaign Tactics

Francis Tay, an activist with opposition parties and founding member of SDP, had great ideas for the opposition's campaigns.

"He was known for a popular ploy of his in tapping on reverse psychology, which he would use when trailing Jeyaretnam (first opposition MP of SG) on the Workers' Party's walkabouts. He would keep some distance behind Jeyaretnam and shout out to the people around him while pointing to Jeyaretnam: "Stupid man! Can be a judge but don't want! Join politics for what!"

This caught the attention of bystanders who would otherwise not have given further thought to Jeyaretnam, It alerted them to the fact that he was a qualified professional - a magistrate and a district judge in the late 1950s and 1960s."

I laughed out loud at this. Hilarious but probably effective!

Tay did the same for CST, except this time he would say something like "Stupid man! Can be rich lawyer but don't want."

Mud-slinging

During election periods, politicians can expect quite a lot of mud-slinging and even personal attacks on their character or actions. (Side note: This actually happens all year round in Taiwan)

It was an eye opener for me because I've only been able to vote once so far. The things respected statesmen can say... are rather horrifying. 😂 Innocent sounding comments can be taken out of context and twisted to frame someone in a negative light. Being a politician is not easy at all and definitely not for the fainthearted.

In this book you will read about how the opposition collaborated to increases their chances of winning. There are some things I never knew - such as SDP printing their own party newsletter called the Demokrat. The Demokrat was a bilingual publication that cost 30 cents. Issues focused on topics like education, public housing policy, CPF etc and most importantly offered alternative analyses of thought apart from what was published in mainstream media. This was especially crucial since you could not discuss matters at depth in a short conversation during walkabouts, and also when mainstream media merged into one entity (SPH).

I would love to read these issues actually. I wonder if we can find these materials in the National Archive.

Choice of words

In the book, there are some curious choices of words used. For example, instead of the word 'stronghold', 'stranglehold' is used instead to help convey the idea of domination. 😂 It's not every day I see this written about the dominant party so I must say I chuckled to myself.

NCMP

I also learnt more about how the NCMP (Non-constituency MP) scheme came about. In this scheme, three best performing losing opposition candidates would be entitled to sit and vote in the Parliament. This move mostly outraged the candidates and they stated that they would not accept the position if the situation arose. Some people called this new scheme the 'second class MPs'.

There are plenty more stories in the book, from how Chiam became a teacher, how he courted his wife Lina, and how he improved his campaigning methods each time. Of course, there are mentions of how he hangs out at the coffee shop to talk to members of the public, something that residents will speak of fondly. He also went on a road trip, driving from London to Singapore, with his wife in his iconic Beetle, which will later be part of his campaign efforts too. One of my favourites would be how supporters waited with bated breath and later celebrated Chiam's win in the GE 1984, with 60.28% against Mah Bow Tan for the Potong Pasir Constituency. An underdog victory and story is always heartening!

This was also very sweet to me:

"A few days before polling day, Chiam met an old man on his rounds. In Hokkien, he said, "You don't need to come here anymore, we already support you. You should go campaigning more at the ang mo chu (white people's houses)."

I also laughed at this:

"Once when Ricky Toh went to see his MP of his own constituency (PAP), he felt like he was 'meeting God'. In an austere looking office, the MP was seated in front of the portraits of the president and the first lady, and the national flag flanked his grandiose table - the chasm that separated Ricky and him."

On a more sombre note the ISA section of the book was very depressing.

There's also a photo insert section in the middle of the book. It's funny when you discover that all these serious looking men in the government used to look so boyish and rakish in their younger days.

•·················•·················•

Overall I think this book was a good introduction to CST. It is written by the assistant secretary-general of Chiam's SPP (his second party after SDP), so some bias is understandable. It also provides an alternative perspective to mainstream/textbook history. After all, as the saying goes, history is written by the victors. In this information age we should consider different sources and make our own judgements.

If you have the slightest interest in Singapore politics or history, do check out the book! The last political book I read was 'Hard Truths'. Would love to read more!

Happy Reading,

Skye

Hey guys!

I must admit that I picked out this book from the library because of its cute illustration... without knowing it was a non-fictional book about a Singaporean girl's mission trip to Nepal. 😂 Classic case of judging a book by its cover indeed.

Though I am not Christian, I like to learn about different faiths. Therefore it was still a very enjoyable read for me!

What's it about

Author "Jea Ng" left her comfort zone in her twenties, and headed to Nepal to spread the word about her faith. She joins other women from an international community, undergoes a training program and treks long journeys to visit far flung villages. Sometimes, these treks can be long and arduous. In her words, it took 5 days to get to a village Sanogaun, but only 5 hours to take a plane back home to Singapore. Jea also experienced Nepal's biggest earthquake of magnitude 7.8, and witnessed its destruction.

I would imagine this book has greater impact for those who are Christians as there are lessons about faith and passages from the bible, but nonetheless I enjoyed the stories about how she experienced life in urban and rural Nepal!

For the unsure, Nepal is situated between India and Tibet, and has eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mt. Everest. It is a beautiful and colourful country with warm locals.

•·················•·················•

These are some things I found memorable from the book:

Faith Day

On the second day of arriving in Nepal, the team had a 'Faith Day'. They were blindfolded and dropped off in different parts of the city with just 100 Nepali Rupees (USD $1). Their tasks were to ride in a bus or tuktuk, get to know a Nepali, drink a cup of Chiyaa (Nepali tea) and to get home by 3.30PM. There were no numbers on buses, nor were there street names, and most of the team did not speak Nepali. What a cold sweat-inducing adventure that must have been!

Ke Garne

Ke garne is translated to "what to do?" This is a mindset that Nepali have, a way of expressing resignation when electricity stops, water stops, or whenever something does not go to plan. The Nepali accept the situation and move on.

Kumari (The Living Goddess)

Kumari are young girls believed to be an incarnation of a Hindu goddess that protects Nepal. Both Hindus and Buddhists worship her. Girls aged two to four have to undergo a selection process and go through rituals before they are considered a goddess.

Kumari's feet are considered holy and should never touch the ground, so caretakers carry her from place to place. They do not go to school or play with other children. In the past, even the king has to receive her blessings to rule the country. Kumari are believed to be all-knowing and all-seeing.

Once kumari begins menstruation, or loses blood from a cut on any part of her body, it is believed that the goddess has left her. The kumari will then undergo a ritual and she would return to her normal life and live with her family.

•·················•·················•

I also enjoyed the beautiful coloured photo inserts in this book. It really brought to life the stories. Here are some of the pictures!

The author follows 'Aunty' around for a day. Aunty does many chores at home and in their farm, gathers wheat, grinds them for 4 hours, before making a dough for roti. I loved this slice of life section!

Other things the author observed:

Aunty uses plants she has picked from the ground to scrub her pots and pans.

She collects water that flows down the mountain. When a water point runs out of water, villagers use an alternative water point. Nothing is as sure as the sun - gas and electricity supplies can suddenly stop.

She also cleans the floor of the house with cow dung, which the author finds absolutely bizarre.

Time in Nepal also flows differently - people do not adhere to a strict timing. Church only starts when everyone is gathered at a 'magical' time, and sometimes even a plane flight may not take off at the stipulated time and instead be delayed for 5 days. A journey by car or bus can also take ages to complete, and bus accidents where the bus falls off the cliff are common. Gulp.

It truly is very different from our lives here in Singapore. I think we truly do take many things for granted. I remember the time water supply was cut in my home for an entire day because of a broken pipe. You could not wash your hands, flush the toilet, or take a shower! It was an absolute pain!

This book is a great reminder for us to appreciate what we have instead of complaining all the time about inconveniences.

•·················•·················•

Overall I had a fun time learning more about life in Nepal. It takes guts to immerse yourself fully in a new culture with nothing much more than your faith!

Recently the books I borrowed from the library has been ultra-compelling and I can't wait to share more about them with you. Stay tuned!

Love,

Skye

Hey guys!

Just a little update here.

I'm glad to say that I have finished recording another original, called 'Earlier'!

HOWEVER, this time I wanted to challenge myself further, and therefore I will be embarking on an ambitious animation project to accompany the song release.

I was actually going to be really lazy and just release a simple album cover style kind of static video on YouTube, despite already having developed the initial sketches of characters and story lines for the video. Then I chanced upon this video, which I found really useful.

Basically the video tells you to just DO. Just create. (In other words, SHIP! DELIVER! JUST DO IT!)

"Thinking is a form of procrastination though it may seem very productive." E.g. You may think that you are carefully biding your time, thinking of the best solution or thinking up the best plans. However you're honestly just procrastinating. Get to work.

If you're like me and have multiple passions and ideas, then "All you're doing is laying a single brick brick of a million different houses and expecting that one day it'll magically become a mansion. It's not gonna happen." Focus and pour in efforts into one venture for the fastest evidence of improvement.

Well, I want to make things happen! I'm done with the song, so I need to figure out how to improve my videos.

I decided to make a more detailed storyboard today (which I have since completed), and tomorrow I will get started on some of the illustrations. Of course, my drawing skills are not up to par, but they will have to do for now. I'm hoping that the skills will get honed along the way.

I'm prepared to fail spectacularly, and that's the beauty of it - it frees you of the fear and allows you to just create whatever you want to. Great feeling of liberation.

I hope that you guys will work hard on your own goals! Don't lose heart if you're not as disciplined as you wished you were. Everyone starts somewhere, the important thing is to simply begin.

Lots of love,

Skye

P.S. Anyway, side note but I've recently been hooked on this song, Tears by Narelle! Been looping it as I work.

ABOUT ME

Socials

POPULAR POSTS

Advertisement

Blog Archive