DanielYKL

 

The last week or so there has been a lot of ‘hoo hoo hah hah’ about boycotting from eating at the mamak nasi kandar shops. [The snub is purportedly to punish Indian Muslims for taking part in a street protest on March 14 to demand that new Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng withdraw his plans to abolish an affirmative action programme which favours the Malays. - THE STRAITS TIMES ] Malaysia today

I spoke to a few friends and they told me that they really did boycott from eating at the mamak shops. One of them told me that he always go to the mamak nasi kandar restuarant to have his dinner and watch the EPL games there. Now he have his dinner elsewhere then goes back home to watch the games. But then he said it’s no fun to watch the games by himself. When a goal is scored, there is no one for him to cheer or shout with. Well, you can’t have the best of both worlds!

Another friend told me, “Why boycott lah? You just order one ‘teh tarik’ and you can sit there the whole night and watch your favourite football matches?” Good point! And a typical Penang Kiasu Leng! And this guy voted for DAP - he told me so.

Another friend told me, it makes no difference to him. He seldom go to the mamak stall as the food there are always recycled and left there for hours and hours. Even if he goes there, it’s just to have a teh tarik. Nothing to do with the March 14 protest march.Well, should you boycott or not? That’s the question.

The way I see it is this: What has the mamaks got to do with the protesters? Yes, it was believed that the majority of the protesters are mamaks - so we boycott the nasi kandar shops? But do these few mamaks represent the mamak nasi kandar restaurants or stalls? Furthermore, the word around is that those people were paid RM 80 -100 to attend the protest. Now if you believed in that, then these people went there just for the money. They have no idea what they are protesting for. They just went for a fun walk (and get paid for it), and when they see the FRU coming they “cabut.” This is what one eyewitness said in the blog;  “One thing though - there was a slight awkwardness in the marchers… and unfamiliarity… as if they were not from Penang, at least not from the island. They looked a little out of their familiar territory - just an observation.”  ANIL NETTO.  These people are not even from Penang? So do they represent the mamak nasi kandar shops? One owner said that they have nothing to do with the march. They were too busy taking care of the restaurants. Apart from all that, did you notice that all those working there are either Indians from India, or Nepalese or Bangladeshi? And I don’t think they are bothered with the protest march! Watch video.

So again what has the protest got to do with the mamak nasi kandar shops? BTW, I voted for DAP. And I still go to my favourite mamak’s place with my friends on Saturday or Sunday nights to enjoy a night of English football and teh tarik, tosai, roti canai, roti nan, etc etc… Let’s not start this racial thingy. If we do that we are no better than them!