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Tales from Klang Valley: Episode 3

Don't you find it ominous when you make to enter a restaurant and find that somebody's vomited what looks like the remains of a Coney Dog on the doorstep?

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A lot of new housing developments are called Taman So-and-so. So-and-so is usually filled in with either one or a combination of these words below:
a) Jaya
b) Bahagia
c) Perdana
d) Indah
d) Damansara
e) Heights

Or they try and make it sound like you live in a foreign (Western) country by calling things Berjaya Times Square, Central Park, The Troika or Presint (precinct). Oh and the Tour de Langkawi. (For God's sake, does anyone here even speak French? Did they even reach the borders of this country? How the French must be pissing themselves at some jumped up brown people trying to be what they think is sophisticated by giving something a French name).

Not only do you have to live in badly planned over-hyped area with poor access, you get saddled with some stupid, inane name that sounds like any other million and one housing area. Not that we used to live in a much better area. Old as it was, I still lived in a place only denoted by a number.

As bad as it sounds, I'd rather live in a place called Balakong or Machap Umboo if it means living somewhere that is instantly recognisable rather than having to have a lengthy conversation to explain which part of town I live in.

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I was browsing (non-pirated) DVDs in a store the other day and came across a copy of Passion of The Christ. On the front, was a sticker saying 'This film is not suitable for Muslim viewers.' Really? What will happen to me if I do watch it? Will I be shouting "Hallelujah!" and "Praise the Lord!" from the rooftops? Wll my soul be damned to hell if I watch anything Christian-related? Do you suppose the unsuitability of this film applies if the viewer is a Buddhist, or Hindu for instance? Dear me, these Malaysian Muslims are a weak lot, aren't they? So sensitive to even the faintest hint of Christ. We so need to be insulated from the goings on of the wider world, don't we?

Just as I was extricating myself from christian pollution (I had actually touched the case of the DVD you know) my faith was severely tested again when I came across a copy of Schindler's List. What?!? That piece of Zionist propaganda that was banned in Malaysia when it was released many years ago? When did it get unbanned? Are they going to start selling Babe: Pig In The City too? Do you suppose if anybody did a film about the murder of gypsies and the disabled by Hitler they would ban that too? Sorry, what did you say? It would get the green light because it wouldn't garner any sympathy for the Jewish people or show them to be humans? That it's not really about too much violence and Hitler? Oh, I see.

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In other, albeit a few weeks old news, Culture, Arts and Heritage Mimister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim (what's the Dr. for anyway) has called for a stop to the Negeri Sembilan State Museum's Hantu & Jin....? (Ghosts & Djinns...?) exhibition. He and a mufti of the state of Perlis have raised objections over the exhibition as quote 'not being beneficial to the community and could cause society to live in fantasy' unquote.

Boo! You boring old farts!

As if your mama didn't bring you up on tales of how the hantu polong would get you if you if you were a bad boy, or the numerous orang bunian that used to plague the Karak Highway? What about the Hungry Ghost festival, or the Taoist having marriage ceremonies for the dead? Face it, ghosts and its ilk are part and parcel of Malaysian life. Isn't part of the role of a museum to document the culture and history of its people?

To the Negeri Sembilan museum's credit, all they said was 'Yeah, whatever, we're doing it anyway.'

Note to Lily: The insertion of a politician's name is not an attempt to get myself into the list of Malaysia's 50 Most Influential Blogs. Hee. But maybe the note to Lily is.

Comments

Lily G said…
I think Rais Yatim tu penakut kot he he
Kere said…
Hah, likely so. He's probably traumatised when he was chased by a couple of kids dressed up as hantu raya.

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