Proof emerging that the DEA cooperated with the Sinaloa Cartel to allow drugs into the US in exchange for intelligence against other cartels. Which has got to figure in to why HSBC only got a slap on the wrist for laundering a billion dollars for them.
Kangkung, Ipomea aquatica, is a crawling vegetable with hollow stems, allowing it to float on the water, from whence it gets the name water spinach. There’s no relation – in fact it is in the Convulvulaceae or morning glory family. It is a mainstay of kampung cuisine, growing freely in the canals and marshy places. Although peasant food, it has its etiquette: the stems should be cut such that each stem has a leaf, and the leaf should be uncut. The orang tua on my wife’s side will not eat kangkung that has been chopped indiscriminately. Its dignified lowliness, its crawling, floating wayside abundance, allows it to represent humility when evoked in the following pantun.
Batang jati kangkung
Tumbuh rapat di dalam taman
Suka dipuji gemar disanjung
Bukanlah sifat orang budiman
“Morning glory of the water /
Growing thickly in the garden.
Love of praise and pride in honors /
Is not the way of the gentleman.”
________
Malay pantun courtesy of UKM Malay Civilization Database
English translation mine.
Black pepper is the quintessential spice of the Spice Route, the ancient trade routes across the Indian Ocean that have brought merchants and travelers to the Nusantara since antiquity. Pepper was once as valuable as gold, and even now, it is the world’s most traded spice. Piper nigrum is well suited to cultivation in Sarawak: pepper represents roughly 5% of total agricultural exports, and virtually all of it comes from Sarawak. Sarawak produces more than 90% of the world’s supply of white pepper. White pepper, like red and green peppercorns, comes from the same plant as the common black corns. The difference is in the processing: with white pepper the peppercorns are submerged in running water for a period of time. That bleaches the color and gives white pepper it’s milder flavor.
Anak rekan pergi ka pantay
Masak ikan berkua lada
Chukop makan chukop pakay
Mau di simpan tidak kan ada
Down at the beach, a band of youths
In black pepper sauce they fry their fish.
From hand to mouth, enough to get by.
Enough to save? A distant wish!
Black pepper is used in Malaysian cooking, as the pantun suggests, but it isn’t a particularly distinctive ingredient. (I’ve often wondered how KFC could win over Malaysians so thoroughly with their 11 herbs and spices, when any Malay woman would need 11 herbs and spices before they even considered what to cook.) The fresh green peppercorns are a lot more exciting. At our house, we like to grind them up for sambal with fermented durian paste and anchovies.
Black pepper isn’t the most important Piper around either. A close relative of black pepper is Sirih, the betel-leaf, Piper betel. Chewing the leaf together with lime and the nut of the Areca palm yields a mild buzz while quelling the appetite and staining the teeth red. It is among the oldest shared cultural practices across South and Southeast Asia, with evidence of it’s use going back thousands of years. Chewing betel is still very popular in Sri Lanka and India, where it is called paan. Paanwallas sell chews by the side of the road, with extras like honey, tobacco and spices. Like hot dog vendors! Ask for one with everything.
Burung jentayu terbang beriring Mati dipanah gugur ke lumpur Sirihku layu pinangku kering Sudikah dimamah barang sekapur?
Together take flight a flock of Jentayu
Felled by an arrow one drops from the sky
Would you care to sit for a chew
Though my sirih has wilted, my betelnut dried?
In Malaysia, the habit is waning. It’s considered country, unsophisticated. Old grandmothers will still chew surreptitiously, but men have turned to cigarettes instead – a very bad trade, constant spitting and tooth decay notwithstanding. Still, even now, the betel leaf has some cultural cachet. Sirih appears in pantuns, proverbs, and in the classic phrase “sekapur sirih”, used as a literary preface or for opening remarks. Exchanges of wedding gifts may be sent on platters of betel-leaf, or for the very old fashioned, a quantity of leaves may be stipulated in the gift exchange. I’ll know the habit is gone for good in Kuching when my neighborhood grocery store stops stocking them. Folded bundles tied with vines: 50 sen a packet!
Sirih and pepper are climbing vines, but there is another Piper that just sits around: Kadok, or Sirih Duduk, Piper sarmentosum. It makes a lovely groundcover, a tasty raw vegetable, and the name of the archetypal village idiot, Pak Kaduk.
Hinggap merpati di dahan senduduk
Gugur pinang ditiup badai
Jangan seperti malang Pak kaduk
Ayam menang kampung tergadai
A pigeon rests on a bough of senduduk[1]
Down fall areca-nuts blown by the wind
Don’t be a fool like old Uncle Kaduk
Losing the village a hen for to win
Kaduk is eaten as ulam, the Malay answer to the vegetable platter. Instead of ranch dressing, the kaduk – already hot and bitter – is dipped in sambal and eaten with rice. Since it is a perennial shrub, there are always leaves ready to eat. If the kitchen is empty, you can step outside and graze.
Kijang menghantuk di rumpun buluh
Makan kaduk di dalam padi
Tuntut ilmu bersungguh-sungguh
Kerana hidup tunangnya mati
Upon grazing the kaduk from fields of paddy
The drowsy deer stands amidst the bamboo
Surely the bride of this life is death
So seek ye knowledge in all that you do
Makan berulam si daun kaduk
Sambal belacan asam kelubi
Dulu nyaring bunyi beduk
Kini azan lantang di TV
Eating a dish of raw leaves of kaduk
with shrimp paste chili sauce doused with kelubi
Where once rang out the sound of the beduk [1,2]
Now the azan is played on the TV
All pantuns are sourced from the Malay Civilization project of the National University of Malaysia.
Translations mine.
Colin Woodward traces the origins of settlement in the United States to demonstrate that American attitudes, values and politics are highly regional and perpetuate over time. This basis for this is the “Founder’s Effect”, a recognized phenomenon whereby the original settlers of an area have an outsize effect on culture across time. Looking at patterns of immigration and internal movement, Woodward shows the existence of 11 different regional cultural blocks. The unsurprising North vs South is certainly visible, as is the Red State vs Blue State divide of more recent times, but the book’s major revelation is that there exist multiple blocks within those broader divisions that are regional in nature, persist over time, contain their own political and cultural visions and agendas, and are capable of shifting allegiances in pursuit of those goals. It didn’t touch on race specifically or on more fine-grained immigrant contributions but in a way that allowed it to more starkly illustrate the differences among the multitude of white people that whiteness encourages us to gloss over. Regionally based, with different dominant churches, different dialects, different cultural values: It is not much of a stretch to say that America consists of 11 different emerging ethnicities that whiteness and other national myths render invisible.
Theodore W. Allen (1919-2005) told me where white people come from. We like to think we know who we are, and indeed many things about ourselves we can easily define: male, muslim, American. But I am white and I could not explain to myself what that meant. Any meaning I set was either too narrow, too broad, or defined by negation. The Invention of the White Race, newly republished in 2012, makes plain the nature and origins of whiteness over 2-volumes and 700 pages. Reader, I never read it. But on the internet is a synopsis written by Allen himself that condenses his argument down to a mere 146 paragraphs, and I read that. It was mindblowing. I summarize Allen’s summary:
When the Nation of Islam said white people where created in a lab by evil black scientists, they were half right. White people where created in the American Colonies by evil white lawmakers. There is so much more detail in Allen’s online summary: check it out if you don’t believe me.
The first day of the Islamic New Year is a national holiday in Malaysia, but it usually passes unremarked. This year, the State Mosque decided to host a day of activities on the grounds around the mosque. It was grand: there was a marathon, sports competitions, a bazaar, a stage with silat, traditional dance and nasheed presentations, a portable planetarium-in-a-tent, and of course food food food. The highlight for my children was the exotic animal tent, where a pet store had pythons, horned lizards, skinks and lemurs on display … or on your shoulders!
A blessed 1435 AH to all!
___________________________
This is the Gurindam of the fourth issue:
Ini gurindam pasal yang keempat:
The heart over the body rules all;
if it oppresses, every part falls.
Hati kerajaan di dalam tubuh,
jikalau zalim segala anggota pun roboh.
Whenever jealousy has been sown,
shoot forth a multitude of arrows.
Apabila dengki sudah bertanah,
datanglah daripadanya beberapa anak panah.
In cursing and praising pause first to think;
it is there that many sink.
Mengumpat dan memuji hendaklah pikir,
di situlah banyak orang yang tergelincir.
When in anger, act not upon it;
that is how to lose your wits.
Pekerjaan marah jangan dibela,
nanti hilang akal di kepala.
The smallest lie or abuse of trust
is like a mouth dripping of pus.
Jika sedikitpun berbuat bohong,
boleh diumpamakan mulutnya itu pekong.
It is a sign of a man most cursed
who considers not his honor first.
Tanda orang yang amat celaka,
aib dirinya tiada ia sangka.
To miserliness do not give leave;
it is stronger than a pack of thieves.
Bakhil jangan diberi singgah,
itupun perampok yang amat gagah.
Whosoever has reached to greatness
should behave in a way free of coarseness.
Barang siapa yang sudah besar,
janganlah kelakuannya membuat kasar.
Those who love to speak filth
have a spittoon and not a mouth.
Barang siapa perkataan kotor,
mulutnya itu umpama ketur.
Yet our own faults we cannot know
if not to us by others shown.
Di mana tahu salah diri,
jika tidak orang lain yang berperi.
______________________
Gurindam Dua Belas is a 19th century Malay poem written in rhyming couplets with free meter. It has 12 parts, each dealing with a different pasal, or issue. It was composed by Raja Ali Haji (1808-1873), an intellectual of the Riau-Lingga court best known for his history Tuhfat al-Nafis (the Precious Gift). I’ll be posting my translations pasal by pasal.
Driving through the city last month, I was nearly out of gas. With a 2 and a half hour daily commute, it happens a lot and I tend to ride the “Empty” line as long as I can. But here I was riding on fumes in a part of the city I rarely drive through and I couldn’t recall for certain if there was a Petronas station ahead on my right or not. If I continued on my present course, I doubted I could make it to the next one. Approaching the intersection, I just had time to glance down the road. Seeing a glimmer of the green Petronas symbol, I hastily made the turn.
It was a mechanic! The Petronas sign I had glimpsed was for Petronas-brand motor oil. I cursed the sign and the shop and resigned myself to running out of gas at the side of the road. But as I looked ahead, further down the road, out of sight from the intersection, was the Petronas station I had vaguely remembered. I pulled in and refueled.
You may exhale now, I know that was gripping.
But dear readers. What was that first sign? Was it misguidance? Was I right to curse it? I have been unable to put it out of my mind. Was it deceptive? It showed itself exactly as it was, it was I who misread it. Was I misled? I followed the wrong sign, but it led me to my goal.
Glory be to He who guides through error and makes goodness the outcome of evil.
