12- !#$%&'()#+,-(.,/*0 - the malaysian culture group 11 nov-final.pdf · atmosphere of a classic...

NOVEMBER MONTHLY LECTURE PAGE 4

BUNGA TELUR WEDDING FAVORPAGE 5

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!BOOK GROUP REVIEWS

PAGE 7

Malaysian Culture GroupMCG The

NOVEMBER 2014

N E W S L E T T E R

Welcome The Open House resulted in a lot of enthusiastic new participants in all the wonderful events and special interest groups that our organization has to offer. I’m sure there will be something to interest and engage you, and if not, please offer suggestions to one of our committee members. This is a group that needs your participation to thrive and welcomes member involvement.

Helen Mastache, Newsletter Editor

Reflections of an Octagenarian,

with Dato’ Bertie Tallala has been rescheduled for

3rd of December.

Details on page 6 of this

newsletter.

....................................................................................President’s Message Page 3

MCG EventsNovember Monthly Lecture:

...................................Natural Dyes and Pua Kumba Weaving Page 4

...................................November Event: Malay Wedding Experience Page 5RESCHEDULED: Dato’ Bertie Talalla at

...................................................US Ambassador’s Residence Page 6

Reports and Reviews.............................Report: Explorers at Hock Tin Soy Sauce Factory Page 7

Book Group 2: Emperors Once More ................................................. Page 10Book Group 3: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers...... Page 11Book Group 3: A Perfect Gentleman .................................................. Page 13

.......................................................Report: Enak! at Restoran Santa Page 14

...........................................................................................MCG Committee Page 17

Table of Contents November 2014

Dear MCG members,

I really feel energized by members old and new who have shown an interest into helping MCG thrive and who have joined the Events Planning Team and the Communications Team. During an informal lunch they shared their interest, experience and their desire to pick up new challenges.

Events Planning Team: There were some concerns how to organize events and about the risk of being overwhelmed, but in the subsequent EPT meeting the experienced and the new members brainstormed equally. New ideas were vetted, and we planned the events pipeline for the coming months. A short training was given to familiarize new participants with the process steps and systems (Google and Anyvite) used to organize an event. I look forward to see this team growing to new heights!

Communication Team: The Communication Team is new for MCG. We have a Newsletter Editor, Facebook Administrator and Web Administrator roles (the last is a vacant position). The Communication Team will look at the way we communicate with members and the general public through the three channels. We would like to add a position responsible for writing articles for external publications, such as the expat association magazines. The team will also review how to work more efficiently and how to support each other. The next steps are to create a common understanding of the new website (we are getting there) and the newsletter. Then we will see who chooses to help in which areas, and can start sailing.

MCG Values: Values drive any organization and give the feeling of belonging. We touched upon this in the committee meeting on Oct 16. Making new members feel welcome is such a value. I did get feedback from members that knowing other members’ names and connecting new members with existing members is important. The committee thinks that a name/membership card will meet the requests of members and will see how this can be realized. It will also serve as a confirmation of the membership. Of course, we will need member support to commit to wearing the name cards at meetings! We had an ice breaker before the Event on the 25th Sept and it was well received by all. We will repeat that a few more times.

Events: The unusual happened in Oct when the lecture by Dato’ Albert (Bertie) Talalla at the US Ambassador’s residence had to be postponed due to illness. Luckily it is now rescheduled for December 3, 2014. Priority will be given to those who previously signed up and other members will be invited as openings become available.

And if you have suggestions for MCG, do let me know. Member’s suggestions are like gold!

Alexius

President’s Message

November Monthly Lecture

Natural Dyes and Pua Kumba Weaving

by the weavers of Rumah Garie Longhouse, Sarawak

DATE: Thursday, 6th November, 2014 TIME: 10.00 am for 10.30 am startPLACE: Meritz Condominium, Jalan Mayang, K.L.C.C.COST: Members RM15, Guests RM25RSVP: http://anyvite.com/ue6kfesrfg

Our speaker this month is Welyne Jehom. Welyne is a post doctorate researcher at the Gender Studies Programme, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya. Her present research is based on the Women and Pua Kumbu Weavers of Rumah Garie Longhouse, Nanga Kain, Sarawak.

Pua Kumba is one of the many types of hand weaving practiced in that region. It is a warp ikat process which involves the tying of the pattern into the threads before putting the threads onto the loom for weaving. It is a very old and traditional type of weaving in the region of Southeast Asia which produces very beautiful cloth.

Please join us for what should be an interesting lecture on the many processes involved with producing these beautiful cloths.

http://anyvite.com/ue6kfesrfghttp://anyvite.com/ue6kfesrfg

DATE: Wednesday 12th November 2014TIME: 09.30 am for 10.00am start, please note earlier start timePLACE: Badan Warisan, 2 Jalan Stonor, KLCOST: RM100.00 (members only event), maximum 15 participantsRSVP: A personal Anyvite will be sent out to all members in a few days, please

RSVP via this invite.

Come and join in the fun learning about colourful Malay wedding traditions in the wonderful atmosphere of a classic Malay house.

We will be treated to demonstrations in the art of tepak sirih as the speaker shares some of her personal collection of betelnut sets with us. This is a very important part of the Malay wedding ceremony.

Other demonstrations will include bunga rampai (wedding potpourri) plus preparation of hantaran which are the wonderfully decorated gifts exchanged by the couple.

No wedding would be complete without the welcoming ceremony and blessing. The food will be reflective of wedding cuisine. All guests will receive the traditional thank you gift of the bunga telur before leaving.

November Event

Malay Wedding Experienceat Rumah Penghula Abu Seman

Dato’ Talalla stands in front of an old photo (c. late 1940‘s) of the Talalla family with Sir Robert Brooke-Popham

DATE: Wednesday 3rd December 2014TIME: 09.30 am for 10.00am start, please note earlier start timePLACE: US Embassy ResidenceCOST: RM15 members onlyRSVP: http://anyvite.com/o4qdtfvwgf

Reflections of an Octagenarian, originally scheduled for October at the United States Ambassador’s Residence, has been rescheduled for the 3rd of December. If you wish to attend this event please register via the hyperlink above.

There are limited spaces available for this event, if you click on this link and there are no spaces available please contact the Events Planning Team at [email protected]. You will be put on the waiting list.

Bertie was born in this wonderfully historic house and has many interesting stories to share with us about his family and times until the house was sold to the US Government. One of his brothers, Billy Talalla, arranged the sales transaction and was later allowed to hold his marriage there as he married one of the Embassy staff.

Dato’ Albert S Talalla read History & Pol. Science at Trinity Collage Dublin University BA (Hons).His distinguished diplomatic career has taken him all `round the world: Manila, London, Canada, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana. He has served as Ambassador to China, North Korea, West Germany, Greece, the United States and Mexico.

This is a wonderful opportunity to spend time in an historic bungalow built in the early 1920's.

GOOD NEWS!

DATO’ BERTIE TALALLA’S

TALK RESCHEDULED

http://anyvite.com/o4qdtfvwgfhttp://anyvite.com/o4qdtfvwgfmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

EXPLORERS @ HOCK TIN SOY SAUCE FACTORY

The October Explorers group, organized by Orla Govaerts and Barb Angell, visited three interesting local attractions off Jalan Gombok. The first stop was to visit Mr. Tony Yap's Hock Tin traditional soy sauce factory. Tony's grandfather started this business over 60 years ago and it has passed down from father to son up to this, the third generation. It is one of the few remaining factories in the world that produces soy sauce by the traditional fermentation and brewing method. Modern manufacturing produces the product in a couple of weeks, whereas the traditional method takes many months, uses

less ingredients and results in a purer product with a superior flavor.

The factory employs more than 20 staff, one of who has been in the business for over 50 years and who is fondly referred to as "The Chief". You can tell this is a pleasant place to work. Hock Tin sauces use raw materials (soy beans) from China that are put into large earthenware pots and left in the sun to ferment. This lengthy process makes the beans more easily digestible. It is quite a spectacle to see all these pots arranged in the sun in various states of readiness. The Hock Tin product range includes soy sauce, black

Explorers October 2014Traditional Soy Sauce Factory and Kwan Ti Temple

EXPLORERS @ HOCK TIN SOY SAUCE FACTORY (CON’T)

sauce, white sauce, chili sauce, paste and vinegar. Tony personally showed us around, answered all our questions and let us stir some of the pots.

Our next port of call was the paper goods factory across from Hock Tin

Sauces. There we saw a paper technician working on some elaborate paper offerings for the adjacent Kwan Ti temple. We saw one massive paper house that was made as an offering to the gods on behalf of a Chinese Taoist family's ancestors. It had moving parts and lights and seemed so

ornate that it is hard to believe that this beautiful creation will be burnt on the fourth day of the celebration.

We were very lucky to have Cheryl Hoffmann in our group who demystified many aspects of the Chinese culture. She explained that such a big paper house would take a team of paper experts at least two weeks to complete. That, along with the other paper offerings, the fees to the temple and the Taoist priest, the Chinese Opera performers and the several days of banquets for family and friends can cost the donor up to one million ringgit! It is quite an investment, so only done on this scale by the wealthy and for very special occasions.

The Taoist temple itself is also a fascinating experience and well worth a visit; a feast for the eyes with carved pillars, painted doors and an extensively carved ceiling. For good Feng Shui, there is an open space in the roof to let the rainwater fall in and gather before it drains away. Some ladies sought their fortune with the

Chinese joss sticks, which are always available at a Taoist temple.

After these tours, Tony took us back to his factory for a tasty lunch prepared by his sister. We had chicken, prawns, fish, rice, noodles, vegetables and fruit as well as the char suey served earlier. It was a real treat for the taste buds as we tried different Tony's Hock Tin sauces with all the lovely food. While Hock Tin sauces are sold directly to restaurants and catering establishments and are not for retail sale, we were given the opportunity to purchase some after lunch. Most of the group grabbed the chance to have these special products to cook with at home.

It was a great day out, quite diverse, educational and entertaining. Thanks to everyone who came and joined us, especially to Cheryl for enriching the experience with her vast knowledge of both the paper factory and the temple.

Barb Angell & Orla Govaerts

EXPLORERS @ HOCK TIN SOY SAUCE FACTORY (CON’T)

On the eve of a crisis summit for world economic leaders in the year 2017, two Chinese Methodist ministers are killed in an apparently motiveless execution in Hong Kong's financial district. Luck makes Detective Alex Soong one of the first officers on the scene. Soon, however, Soong begins to suspect his involvement to be more than incidental and the crime itself more than a senseless assassination, an instinct proven correct when he is contacted by a mysterious figure, and when more brutal massacres follow.

With the eyes of the world fixed on Hong Kong, Soong must race to intercept his

tormentor and thwart a conspiracy born from one of the bloodiest confrontations of China's past, the Boxer Rebellion, which now threatens to destroy a fragile world order.

A small group of Group 2 members met on the 24th September to discuss this book and all agreed that it was a good read, however, it was felt that the character of the protagonist, Alex Soong, was not as developed as it could have been and it will be interesting to see how the author manages to do this in the other two books in the trilogy to follow.

Sue Nelson

Review: Book Group 2

Emperors Once More by Duncan Jepson

Review: Book Group 3

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary

for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo

Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang, who calls herself Z, as Westerners cannot pronounce her name, arrives in London to spend a year to learn English, a wish of her parents so that she can improve their shoe company’s international relations. She struggles her way through the new world, culture, and through the puzzles of tense, verb and adverb. Out of loneliness and desperate for friendship, acceptance and love, she falls for an older Englishman.

They spend much time together in his garden, where she comes to realise the enormous differences between China and the West, the vast gulf between these civilisations.

This book is a journey through language and a love affair. The story grows in complexity with Z's growing vocabulary. The book took us through a nushu* diary of new life experiences, connecting that experience to a new English word learned. Coming from a censored country, and a protective family, Z was at first shocked by the nude sculptures in his garden, but soon she was exposed to a world which was perhaps too explicit for some of our prudish book group

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readers. Some even called it a bit "raunchy". Xiaolu Guo had some difficulties with literary censorship, but managed to preserve her fiction's integrity and honesty with publishers, who may have expected a more demure kind of book. Xiaolu Gua describes herself as a much heavier and angrier person than people imagine and that she is more of an anarchist than classical writer.

The novel balances its linguistic high jinks with a darkening sadness. There was humour, which arose with verbal misunderstandings, but the book has a dark tone, describing many lonely and desperate characters. Intimacy clashing with privacy. Dependence versus individuality. Melancholy versus contentment. Being surrounded by drifters, Z struggled with her own identity crisis but, through her relationships and her travels through Europe, she somehow learned to function as an individual. This allowed her to dream and experience freedom and a future, different from her families bonds.

England was the place where Z grew into a woman, had her most confused days, her greatest passion, her brief happiness and quiet sadness.

Would we suggest this book to other book groups? Yes, as it really brings above water interesting and actual topics for a great group discussion.

Marisa van Zyl

*Nushu or Nüshu writing is a rare script created and used exclusively by women in a portion of the Hunan province in China

Review-Book Group 3A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (con’t)

The Perfect Gentlemen is a witty and sensitive memoir by Imran Ahmad. It details his experiences growing up in the UK as a Pakistan-born Muslim. The memoir spans the decades from the 1960s through to mid-1980s. Imran started writing this book while living in post 9/11 America, in order to gain better insight into his own experiences as a Muslim boy growing up in a Western society. His journey of reflection and writing reinforces the importance of religious and racial tolerance.

This book was first published in the UK using the title Unimagined. In his talk at MCG a few months ago he noted that it was because he

would not have imagined his life unfolding the way it has.

“Life can take some unimagined twists and turns. I thought I would work for Unilever until I retired. I thought I would be married to the same person for the rest of my life. I thought I would live in America permanently. Nothing went quite as I expected. ”

On the last page, he also refers to the “unimagined changes in my thinking.” Most MCG members can certainly relate to that sentiment!

Jean de Verteuil

Book Group 3

The Perfect Gentleman by Imran Ahmad

Report: Enak!

Restoran Santa

Restoran Santa was the setting for the October 8th Enak! Having nothing to do with Santa Claus, the restaurant is named after Santa Singh, the owner’s own father and inspiration. A popular eatery frequently featured in Time Out KL, it is well known for its soft, tender chapattis, made fresh twice daily, using imported whole meal flour from India.

In an effort to avoid the peak lunch hour, seventeen Enak!ers met at 11:00 am. In reserved seating our group enjoyed the

chapattis of note, keema (minced spiced mutton), mutton curry, chicken masala, mixed vegetables, chole, dal and rice. Most of us found the spice level not as hot as anticipated. The friendly staff served us quickly, making sure all our dining needs were met.

Mr. Kulwant Singh, the proprietor who was awarded Food Personality of the Year by TimeOut KL in 2013, spoke to us about his passion for cooking, which made him leave his job in the insurance industry to open his

ENAK! Wednesday October 8, 2014 Restoran SantaNo. 11, Jalan Tun H.S. Lee50100 Kuala LumpurPhone: 019-269-9771

restaurant fourteen years ago. When asked how many chapattis he sells in a day, he said he never counts! Our grand total, including delicious iced lime juice came to only RM11 each! In all, we agreed the curries and famed chapattis were very tasty and deserve a return visit.

After lunch, we took a quick peek at Ernest Zacharevic’s (of Penang fame) biggest mural, new to KL—a kampung scene featuring a child in a traditional pirog boat. Continuing our tour of the Lebuh Ampang neighbourhood, Mary introduced us to her

favourite sari shop where she and Suparna modelled some stunning ensembles. We then went on to a traditional medicine shop, where herbal pills are made. Our last stop was a third-generation basket shop, old dusty and intriguing.

All in all, it was great fun lunch, spending time in a neighbourhood that is still holding on to its heritage.

Hosted by Rissa Larsen & Suparna Kundu

Report: Enak!Restoran Santa (con’t)

Left: The TimeOutKL Food Awards review of Restoran Santa’s renowned chapatti.Below: Mr. Kulwant Singh, proprietor

ENAK! EXPLORES

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

•MURAL BY ERNEST ZACHAREVIC;

•SUPARNA IN A TRADITIONAL BASKET SHOP;

•WHISKS OR WOK BRUSHES? NO ONE IS QUITE SURE WHAT THE PURPOSE OF THESE ARE...

•MEMBERS PERUSE THE BEAUTIFUL FABRICS

•MARY MODELS A SARI.

VICE PRESIDENTAMITA SHAH

[email protected]

TREASURERKATHERINE GAJEWSKI

[email protected]

BOOK GROUPSLESLIE MURI

[email protected]

PRESIDENTALEXIUS COLLETTE

[email protected]

EXPLORERSMARGO ROSENBERG

[email protected]

ENAK!SUPARNA KUNDU

[email protected]

SECRETARY

[email protected]

MEMBERSHIPSALLY NELSON

[email protected]

NEWSLETTERHELEN MASTACHE

[email protected]

MCG COMMITTEE

LIBRARIANALISON HARRISON

[email protected]

WEBMASTER

[email protected]

EVENTS

[email protected]

VACANCY!

VOLUNTEER NEEDED

(That’s you...)

VACANCY!

VOLUNTEER NEEDED

(That’s you...)

VACANCY!

VOLUNTEER NEEDED

(That’s you...)
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