No Race Issue, Only Rice.
Last night I had my dinner at the famous nasi kandar stall along Jalan Kapitan Keling (formerly Pitt Street). The stall is just next to the mosque. This place is well known to nasi kandar lovers all over Malaysia. Actually there are two stalls there. One starts from lunch till about 11pm. And the other will take over from then till early in the morning. It is said the one that starts at 11pm is better. But honestly, to me they are both the same as long as you get there when the food is just cooked, fresh and hot.
Anyway, this is not about nasi kandar. It is about what I witnessed there. We talked about racial harmony, Bangsa Malaysia, tolerance, living with one another regardless of race or religions. All these are just mere terminology if we never put into practice.
While having my nasi kandar, a Malay family of 5 came and sat next to my table. The wife and children were seated while the father went to queue up to place the order. Then I saw him waved to the waiter to come over. He then told the waiter to ask an old Chinese man sitting near the queue if he wanted a drink. The Chinese man said that’s ok, but the Malay guy insisted and told the waiter to get him a teh tarik. And if that’s not enough he asked the Chinese man if he would like some chicken but the Chinese man again said it’s ok.
I turned around and I saw that the Chinese man was having just curry on the rice and some fried cabbage and a glass of plain water, probably tap water.
My point here is that, the Malay man did not see the color of the skin of the Chinese man. He saw a poor old man who could use some proper food. He sees through the skin into the pain and sadness. And probably hunger. He sees another human being in needs.
After I paid my bill and walked away, I felt so bad that I’ve not noticed the Chinese old man. But I guess I was not the only one; there were like 30 to 40 other customers who did not notice the old man too. Anyway, that’s no excuse. The question is, would I have done the same?
When I reached my car, an old rugged Malay “jaga kereta” man came over and directed me to reverse my car. I always see that Malay man there but I’ve not “seen” him. Like the Old Book says, “Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not?” Sometimes we can be blind even we have good eyesight. And our ears are often deaf to the cry of those who are in needs around us.
When I looked into man’s eyes, I saw pain, sadness and hunger.. I then took out my wallet and gladly gave him a few ringgit and asked him to go and have a good meal. Thanks to the anonymous Malay man, and many other unsung good Samaritans out there. These are the people who don’t just preach, they walk the talk about racial harmony, Bangsa Malaysia, tolerance, living with one another regardless of race or religions.
Maybe there is a lesson we can all learn from Nasi Kandar. Whether we are Malays, Chinese or Indians we love our nasi kandar. We sit next to each other, we eat the same food, some like it a bit spicy and some not too spicy but it’s still nasi kandar and we love it. There is no race issue at the nasi kandar stall, only rice.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Daniel…touching and so real. Yes we take too many things for granted. For too long, we see only what we want to see and hear only what we want to hear. As such we are responsible for the slide this country is in. We need to be more proactive, empathise and take back what we lost.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Hi Zorro, most people percieve that most Chinese are rich and majority of Malays or Indians are poor. That’s on paper but if you walk down the street you’ll see a different story. I forgot to mention that at the same place I also saw a young Indian guy with thick gold bracelet around his wrist, and huge gold rings wrapped around six of his fingers. So here we have , a poor Chinese old man, a helpful Malay man and a well to do young Indian man. I’m sure that’s not an accurate presumption but then that’s what i saw that night.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Daniel bro, my hat\\\’s off to you for the beautiful piece you just shared with us!!! Really proud of you bro! In my dealings with fellow Malaysians, especially the Malays, I always found them to be truthful, honest and ever friendly. In fact most Malay business people ( nasi lemak or pisang goreng stall operators etc) I came across were very nice and courteous people (perhaps it was because I was courteous to them in the first place). They could just let you have your food even if you did not have the correct change or did not have enough money to pay; they just waved you off and said \\
November 4th, 2008 at 12:14 am
It is so true that perception of Malay is poor in Malaysia is deliberate attempt of government to justify discriminatory policy toward minority citizens in term of education, employment, and keep various racist law in placed. One with some intelligent just need to look at the formula government used to measure wealth among different ethnic group can easily see the distortion in it. Same scenario does play out in USA where African American is regarded as poor and discriminated regardless of the reality.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Different folks served nasi kandar for different needs. In Apcet II hearing in KL High Court today, we heard that nasi kandar treat was given to Apcet II people. Nasi kandak al cheapo!!
November 4th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Poverty does not discriminate anyone based on race and religion, it is the government that perpetuate the myth only the master race is poor in Malaysia, based on a distorted calculation of individual wealth and generalisation of few individual who are well connected to ruling party as representation of all non-Malay are rich, it \’s all part of the political brinkmanship of a corrupt coalition.