Ronggeng-Ronggeng By Lee Kok Liang

Ronggeng-Ronggeng is a short story written by Lee Kok Liang, who lives on the island of Penang and his family has been domiciled for four generations. Besides being active in writing, Lee was also engaged in politics. As a well-known writer, many of his writings have been published in magazines and anthologies. For example, his first collection of short stories is ‘The Mutes in the Sun and the Other Stories’ in 1964 then, his novel, ‘Flowers in the Sky’ came out in 1981. After that, a second collection of his short stories, ‘Death is a Ceremony and Other Stories’, was published in 1992, before his death. His novel, ‘London Does Not Belong to Me’ is due in 2003. Although Lee was educated in Chinese and English, his literary works still reflect his identity as a truly Malaysian in many of his short stories such as, ‘Return to Malaya’. Lee proves that one’s language background will not affect his/her identity. This work of his does contribute to the Malaysian Literature in English as it reveals the importance of identity and attachment of one’s root.



Ronggeng-Ronggeng presents the story with rural and semi-urban backgrounds-villages and town areas. All events in the story are in realistic tradition presenting the identity of Malaysian such as cultural shows Ronggeng, Bangsawan, Hokkien Opera, and Westerns. The significant of the story can be seen through their lifestyle including the way they dressed.

Our reading of this short story gives us a strong feeling that the writer is trying to present the importance of not forgetting ones origin and to achieve that, Lee Kok Liang has created a protagonist named Che Siti, who represents a very Malay character through the story and she has to sacrifice a lot to earn a life. She has to work as a dancer at Ronggeng-Ronggeng in order to feed her mother and younger brothers. She had gotten married once but, unfortunately her man left her for a richer woman. Pity on her but, there is one man named Mat had taught her the rhythm and steps of the ronggeng. Furthermore, she still had her beauty by the time. This package helps her to get a lot of customers during the ronggeng. Here is where the issue of women exploitation comes up. It can be seen clearly in this story when women had been use as an ‘entertainment’ for men. Women have to do the ‘Ronggeng’ to get the money even though, deep inside Che Siti’s heart, she doesn’t want to work like that.

Therefore, in order to achieve the outcome of making the story to stand out as a prominent figure as well as to make the central theme speaks for itself, the narrator has chosen to present the story from an omniscient point of view. Through the utilization of this perspective, the narrator is able to give us the highlights the inner feelings of the characters. Consequently, this leads the readers to obtain a deep understanding of the characters’ feelings, without having the narrator to intrude much because the narrator has the freedom to move in and out of the characters’ minds. In other words, readers are then allowed to have access to the perceptions and thoughts of all the characters in the story. Other than that, the narrator uses him omniscience to trek deeper into a character that we otherwise do not really come close to understanding. For example, there are plenty of inner monologues throughout the story, especially the main character of the story, Che Siti . Here are some examples:

~ She loved gold- a beautiful anklet on her foot would bring out the texture of her skin. And how the other girls would be so jealous. And the men would look at her foot instead of her breasts.
~ Siti looked at the men closely and saw that he was young. And he was not bad-looking at all, despite the gold tooth. He had a high nose, unlike most Chinese and very kind eyes. They said the Chinese worked hard and saved a lot of money. Was this one rich?
~ As he lifted his arms, blond hairs stuck out like coconut fibers from his armpits, and he smelt. Are white women like that too? But how could they? They had looked so pretty in the pictures and in their pretty shoes, with such slim straps and very sharp heels, just the stems of flowers.

Apart from that, the writer utilized the sacrificed of a woman by explaining about what is the hardship that Che Siti had to go through. For example, every night, her feet hurt and her legs ache because of the dancing. In fact, according to Mat, she was the most serious girl of the lot and saved most of her earnings. She had the idea that if she tapped lightly her shoes would last twice as long. It is then strengthen again by Che Aminah, who is Che Siti’s friend when Che Aminah asks her to get a new shoes but she refused and said, she still can use it instead of buying a new expensive one. In this part, it is very clear about the physical restriction according to the gender. As in this story, women have to wear high heels to look beautiful in the eyes of men even they have no money and ‘ronggeng’ women have to wear tight and short kebaya to make the men glanced at them during the dance. The issue of sexual harassment also appeared while Che Siti dancing with the drunken white soldier, Johnnie.

The value of having identity is portrayed throughout this story. Lee nativizes the text by including the local slang and the national language in the story to create a sense of origin that still slightly remains in the protagonist and other characters in this story such as “-lah”, “ronggeng”, “sarong”, “kebaya”, “songkok”, “pondok”, and “bangsawan”.

Poem "Becoming A Woman" By Hilary Tham

When I was twelve, my mother initiated me
into the mysteries of becoming a woman
with a pound of rice-paper, the unadvertised
kind made from stalks and leaves, the stubble
after the harvest.



She taught me the art of crumpling,
stretching, folding the sheafs inot
a likeness of Modess-factory-rejects.

"You will bleed
at a special time of the moon."
she told me. "Use these
to preserve modesty and the secret
of your femaleness."

Her mother's way she passed to me
with the few words she had received
at her initiation.

Each full moon I curse the tides
within my body. I abandoned
tradition's rice-paper.

I have forgiven the moon since
Our children came, spores of sunrise
In their new born hands.

Fasting, Feasting By Anita Desai - Reviews (Part 1)

Anita Desai

In her novels, she has explored the lives of outsiders within Indian society and within the West.

Her fiction has covered themes such as:
-women’s oppression and quest for a fulfilling identity,
-family relationship and contrasts,
-the crumbling of traditions.

In Desai’s literary world, East and West have been treated as mirror images of each other.





Fasting, Feasting Novel

Story told from the point of view of Uma in India and Arun in America.

Depicts the struggles of Uma, Aruna and Arun to strike a balance between their parents’ expectations and their own personal realization.

Compares and contrasts:
-Two cultures
-Two societies
-Two families that represent their culture and society

PapaMama and Children

PapaMama:
-Discuss, plan, plot, control, govern the activities of their children, e.g. marriage, going abroad for studies.
-Does not consider possibility that children could have their own lives

Uma: Victim of patriarchy – repressed, suppressed and imprisoned at home; Wants life beyond confines of home

Aruna: Caught in mad pursuit of perfection; neurotic – controls family

Arun: Feels trapped by the education that is meant to liberate him; wants to be left alone

The Pattons

Mr and Mrs Patton:
-not really doing duty as parents
-let children do what they want

Mr Patton: quiet and self-centred

Mrs Patton: no identity or purpose in life; cannot handle family

Rod: obsessed with physical needs

Melanie: self-imposed starvation; lost in a free world

Fasting, Feasting: Question 1

Question:
In what ways do the two terms of the title—"fasting" and "feasting"—apply to family life and society in general in India and the United States?

Question 1: Answer

Title:
-food as metaphor for emotional sustenance

Fasting:
-Deprivation in Indian culture and religion
Uma: deprived of attention
Arun: deprived of freedom of choice
Miramasi: religious aestheticism

Feasting:
-Consumer society; Excess and opulence in American lifestyle
Mrs Patton: provide for family - shopping for food.
Rod: obsession with body

Fasting, Feasting: Question 2

Question:
What differences and similarities are there between the Indian and American families?

Answer: Draft
-Similarities:
-Differences:

Similarities and Differences

Indian

-Patriarchal
-PapaMama control children’s lives
Uma
Aruna
Arun
-Family is everything
-Tradition and cultural beliefs strong

American

-Patriarchal
-Children given the freedom to choose their way of life
Rod
Melanie
-Disintegrating family values
-“Corrupt” way of life

Fasting, Feasting: Question 3

Question:
What roles and expectations are open to women and men in the India and America of Fasting, Feasting?

Answer: Draft
-Men: Indian vs. American
Roles and expectations
-Women: Indian vs. American
Roles and expectations

Roles and expectations of men and women

Indian

-Men: to be in charge of family; provider
Papa: “God”; autocratic
Arun: not happy
-Women: subservient, oppressed; marriage
Mama: no identity
Uma: suppressed
Aruna: not happy
Anamika: killed

American

-Men: to be in charge of family; provider
Mr Patton: not responsible
Rod: obsessed with body
-Women: free to be and do what they want
Mrs Patton: providing for family – shopping
Melanie: neglected

Revision: More questions?

What kinds of freedom and what specific freedoms do the characters seek?

What instances and images of imprisonment and entrapment occur in the novel's two parts? To what extent is entrapment of one kind or another envisioned as an inescapable fact of life?

How does Desai establish Mama and Papa's identities as separate persons and, at the same time, as the single, and singular, Mama and Papa? In what ways do "they have the comfort of each other," as Uma later realizes?

Arriving By K.S. Maniam (Personal Review)

Arriving by: K.S. Maniam

The Story

• Focused on the Malaysian Indian male named Krishnan.

• Always spend time at a Chinese coffee shop with 3 of his Chinese friends and a Malay friend named Mat.

• Got accused by Mat as a “ pendatang”.

• Became confused and lost after wondering about the notion of “ pendatang “

• Nearly surrendered to this notion.

• Came back to his senses after remembering an experience of him with Mat and Mr. Cuthbert.

• Accepted the fact that he is a “pendatang” like Mat has said but he also thought that he is a local like Mat too.



The Theme : Self-Identity

• Conflict of self-identity ; the search for the meaning of “ pendatang “

• Related to the effect of Diaspora ; Unhomeliness.

• A person who was affected by this effect will be in a state of in-between-ness, not a part of a something, not whole.

• This is the experience that Krishnan went through.

• Had to find the meaning of “ pendatang “ in the in-between-ness

What Is Literature?

INTRODUCTION

Literature noun (U) 1. stories, poems and plays, especially those that are considered to have value as art and not just entertainment.

They are cultural documents which offer a deeper understanding of a country or countries (Basnet & Mounfold 1993). Other linguists say that there is no inherent quality to a literary text that makes a literary text, rather it is the interpretation that the reader gives to the text (Eagleton 1983). This brings us back to the above definition in the sense that literature is only literature if it is considered as art.


WHY USE LITERATURE?

Literature is authentic material. It is good to expose learners to this source of unmodified language in the classroom because they skills they acquire in dealing with difficult or unknown language can be used outside the class.

Literature encourages interaction. Literary texts are often rich is multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions.

Literature expands language awareness. Asking learners to examine sophisticated or non standard examples of language (which can occur in literary texts) makes them more aware of the norms of language use (Widdowson, 1975 quoted by Lazar 1993).

Literature educates the whole person. By examining values in literary texts, teachers encourage learners to develop attitudes towards them. These values and attitudes relate to the world outside the classroom.

Literature is motivating. Literature holds high status in many cultures and countries. For this reason, students can feel a real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected literature. Also, literature is often more interesting than the texts found in course books.

PROSE FICTION

Prose consists of writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other than simple grammar); "non-poetic writing," writing, perhaps. The term sometimes appears pejoratively, but prosaic writing simply says something without necessarily trying to say it in a beautiful way, or using beautiful words. Prose writing can of course take beautiful form; but less by virtue of the formal features of words (rhymes, alliteration, meter). But one need not mark the distinction precisely, and perhaps cannot do so. Note the classifications:

Narrative fiction (narrative prose) generally favours prose for the writing of novels, short stories, and the like. Singular examples of these exist throughout history, but they did not develop into systematic and discrete literary forms until relatively recent centuries. Length often serves to categorize works of prose fiction.


A short story comprises prose writing of less than 10,000 to 20,000 words, but typically more than 500 words, which may or may not have a narrative arc.

A story containing between 20,000 and 50,000 words falls into the novella category.

A work of fiction containing more than 50,000 words falls squarely into the realm of the novel.

A novel consists simply of a long story written in prose; yet it developed comparatively recently.

DRAMA

A play or drama offers another classical literary form that has continued to evolve over the years. It generally comprises chiefly dialogue between characters, and usually aims at dramatic / theatrical performance (see theatre) rather than at reading. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, opera developed as a combination of poetry, drama, and music. Nearly all drama took verse form until comparatively recently.

Greek drama exemplifies the earliest form of drama of which we have substantial knowledge. Tragedy, as a dramatic genre, developed as a performance associated with religious and civic festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known historical or mythological themes. Tragedies generally presented very serious themes and treated important conflicts in human nature, but not necessarily "tragic" ones as currently understood — meaning sad and without a happy ending. Greek comedy, as a dramatic genre, developed later than tragedy; Greek festivals eventually came to include three tragedies counterbalanced by a comedy or satyr play.

POETRY

A poem is a composition usually written in verse. Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise words choice, and metaphor; they may take the form of measures consisting of patterns of stresses (metric feet) or of patterns of different-length syllables (as in classical prosody); and they may or may not utilise rhyme. One cannot readily characterise poetry precisely. Typically though, poetry as a form of literature makes some significant use of the formal properties of the words it uses — the properties attached to the written or spoken form of the words, rather than to their meaning. Metre depends on syllables and on rhythms of speech; rhyme and alliteration depend on words that have similar pronunciation. Some recent poets, such as E. E. Cummings, made extensive use of words' visual form.

Poem AT THE TABLE By Hilary Tham

"Selfishness? I'm very good at that," the beautiful young
woman said, turning her searchlight eyes
from the good-looking waiter
momentarily in my direction.
I am disconcerted by her braggadocio.
Only the most vulnerable go on the offensive
to distract possible enemies. The fortified
send their words like ambassadors
on caparisoned horses to negotiate
alliances, common ground to build
enduring structures, civilization.



I hope she will arrive at Rabbi Hillel's wisdom:
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, then what am I?
And if not now, when?
But I do not quote Hillel to her.
An insecure country does not
let unknown messengers cross its borders.

WRITERS' RETREAT IN TUSCANY By Hilary Tham

The women here, five to every male, hang
their hopes on the thread of a man's yes or no; changing
course like a river meeting hard rock. Secret hopes, flowering
unbidden, like hawkweed on stony slopes, at the foot
fall of Endymion wandering by. I sense unspoken
invitations, subtle skirmishes for place on the tour bus.



Everywhere I look, stone walls and marble statues,
bearing Time's marks and erasures, crumbling walls,
stairs to an Italian garden, now a road where buses, cars
carry tourists to invade your hill towns, Siena, Certaldo,
San Gimignano. In the country of love, your sad gates open
to overnight guests without reservations.

Each midnight, I walk on the terrace for my last cigarette,
check the skies for stars I know. I watch the lights
of distant hill-towns, with people bedding down
in their own beds, or another's, while the grapes ripen
on the vines and olives turn dark with oil, and night
winds bend around the straight cypresses.
I am filled with gratitude
for what I have: the quietude of balance, the heart's
being free of wanting, knowing out there
beyond the hazy slopes of convoluted olive trunks
and grape vines, my love remembers holding me,
as I remember holding him, each absence a gift of affirmation,
desire placed on hold waiting renewal. Beyond my terrace wall
a drift of voices, amazed at stone shaped by human hands,
structures that endure.

"Grandmother" by Kemala

Grandmother by Kemala and translated by Hafiz Arif

No one knows her exact age.
She herself isn’t really sure.
She is very old. And apart from God,
she most loves the mats she weaves.
She takes the thorny mengkuang from the deep
jungle.



She knows the cruel sting of its thorns and the pain
of torn flesh as the thorns strike deep.
She has boldly drunk the ancient waters of this
love.

Grandmother clears the thorns from the green
leaves.

She passes through difficult days of smiling,
laughing like the water in which she boils her
leaves,
before she dries and straightens them.

She loves the dazzling colours of the forest,
learns answers to the riddles of life from the criss-
cross of flowers.

Knows the meaning of love
and ordered devotion.
The mat is done.
She flings it forward.
It is beautiful.
Lost in thought, she is happy,
and grateful.
Then her customers come. Their sting
is worse than that of the mengkuang.
How deep the meaning of love.
How high the price of parting.

(In-sights-Malaysian poems)

Short Stories & Poems Link

SHORT STORIES:

The Stolen Bacillus
http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.6/bookid.1423/

A White Heron
http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/jewettheron.html



Poems:

Miracles by Walt Whitman
http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=225

Once Upon a Time
http://ol.pi-noe.ac.at/e5_station8.pdf

(you need adobe reader for once upon a time)

Hope is a thing with feathers
http://www.greatest-love-poems.com/Dickinson/Emily_Dickinson_hope_is_a_thing_with_feathers.htm


Heir conditioning by m. Shahmugalingam
http://www.viweb.freehosting.net/vilit_M-SHAN.htm

“MALCHIN TESTAMENT” By Salleh Ben Joned (Personal Reviews)

The purpose of writing a poem is to convey meanings through it and to show how a culture being celebrates in certain ways. As in the poem “Malchin Testament” by Salleh Ben Joned, this poem generally shows how Manglish being used in certain Malaysian society.

After reading through this poem, the poem “Malchin Testament” by Salleh Ben Joned has successfully celebrates Malaysian cultures by showing how English language being used among Malaysian people especially Malay and Chinese people that I will show later in this essay.



The main point that I would like to discuss is the personae in this poem. The personae show the voice of Malaysian people, how certain people used English language by their own unique ways. This can be seen through this poem because the used of words like ‘our’ and ‘we’ shows many people, not one. For examples:

“we say ‘cool’ eeben wen it’s hot lah” (stanza two)
“we true malaysians, you no,” (stanza three)

The most important part in this poem is the connection of the poem and its title. ‘Malchin’ itself means Malay (Mal) Chinese (Chin) and ‘Testament’ itself means showing clearly that the used of Manglish by certain people in Malaysian society like in this poem. Manglish or sometimes called Mangled English is the colloquial version of the English language as spoken in Malaysia and it is a portmanteau of the word Malay and English, also possibly Mandarin and English. In another words, Manglish means a blend of Malay and English which implicitly suggests that any such mixture is a mangled version of one language or the other language. For example:

“we tekan words like our leaders” (stanza four)
“tekan ebri word, ebri ting” (stanza four)

As what have been showed in examples above, the Malaysian Manglish is sometimes known as Rojak or Rojak Language (Bahasa Rojak) or “salad language” (rojak is a spicy mix of fruits and vegetables and very popular in Malaysia). The "salad" idiom is actually used throughout Southeast Asia to disparage code-switching and other linguistic mixtures. Sometimes, Manglish itself is differs with the Rojak language by the usage of English as the base language and how they pronounce certain English words by their own ways like in stanza four “tekan ebri word, ebri ting”. Manglish is also more similar to Singlish - Singaporean English.

In addition, Manglish shares substantial linguistic similarities with Singaporean English (Singlish) even though distinctions can be made particularly in vocabulary. Some of Chinese in Malaysia speak singlish as singlish is less influenced by Bahasa Melayu. Initially, "Singlish" and "Manglish" were essentially the same language, when Singapore and Malaysia were a single geographic entity - Malaya. In old Malaya, English was the language of the British administration while Malay was spoken as the lingua franca of the street. Thus, the Chinese would revert to Malay when speaking to Chinese people who did not speak the same Chinese dialect to get better communications among them. It appears that Manglish exist in Malaysian culture starting when Malay and Chinese nativize certain English words by using it in their own ways in order to make it as their language.

Theoretically, English as spoken in Malaysia is based on British English and called Malaysian English. British spelling is generally followed. However, the influence of American English modes of expression and slang is strong, particularly among Malaysian youth. Since independence of Malaysia, Malay or Bahasa Melayu, has been the country's sole official language. While English is widely used, many Malay words have become part of common usage in informal English or Manglish. For examples:

“we say ‘cool’ eeben wen it’s hot lah” (stanza two)
“talk this law lah, that law lah” (stanza six)
“ebritime talk English lah” (stanza thirteen)

As state in examples above, suffixing sentences with lah, as in, “we say ‘cool’ eeben wen it’s hot lah”, which is usually used to present a sentence as rather light-going and not so serious, the suffix has no specific meaning, but sometimes it’s use to affirm a statement, similar to "of course". Frequently used at the end of sentences and usually ends with an exclamation mark (!). It is derived from and has the same meaning as the Chinese expression when saying something more informal. However, Chinese dialects also make abundant use of the suffix lah and there is some disagreement as to which language it was originally borrowed from. There is also a strong influence from Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, and Tamil, which are other major dialects and languages spoken in Malaysia.

In addition, the ‘lah’ word used at the end of a sentence can also be described as a particle that simultaneously asserts a position and entices solidarity. We took note that 'lah' is often written after a comma for clarity, but there is never a pause before it. This is because in the original Malay, 'lah' is appended to the end of the word and is not a separate word by itself. In Malay, the 'lah' word is used to change a verb into a command or to soften its tone, particularly when usage of the verb may seem impolite. For example, "to drink" is "minum", but "Here, drink!" is "minumlah". Similarly, 'lah' is frequently used with imperatives in Singlish, such as the command, "Drink, lah!" (Come on, drink!). The 'lah' word also occurs frequently with "Yah" and "No" (hence "Yah lah" and "No lah"), resulting in a less brusque sound, thus facilitating the flow of conversation. This form is more used by Chinese in Malaysia. The poem “Malchin Testament” itself shows how the ‘lah’ word being used over and over again. The ‘lah’ word is often used with brusque, short, negative responses, and used for reassurance.

Although the ‘lah’ word can appear nearly anywhere, it cannot appear with a yes-no question. Another particle should be used instead. For example:
“Where are you ar?” (This is especially of Chinese origin.)
Most of the Manglish grammar described here is of Chinese origin since Malays do not converse in English daily, while the Indians use a different form of Manglish. The Chinese influence in Manglish, however, can be seen among other races in Malaysia, especially when conversing with Chinese-speaking people. This principle can be generally applied to all forms of non-standard English spoken in Malaysia.

Another point of view that I want to show is about the tone in this poem as one of other poetic devices. The tone itself in the poem “Malchin Testament” shows that we are so proud being Malaysian with our own unique cultures especially in using English language on our very own ways even though not all Malaysian people use Manglish. This statement can probably be shown through this poem in stanza three,

we true malaysians, you no,
we pree people, you no: pree
to make English not english
but our very own, you see

The most interesting part is how the writer makes the reader to recite his poem by the way he wants. In the poem “Malchin Testament”, we can see that the writer bold certain syllable, so the reader will recite his poem by beating the stressed syllable. For example, look at the stanza three above on the word ‘people’. The writer bold the second syllable in the word people, so the reader will have to pronounce that word inappropriate ways. The word ‘people’ should be pronounce by stressing the first syllable. We can see that the writer have bold the stressed syllable in the wrong places and it can be seen through this poem with other examples. This is what actually happening in current Malaysian society in using Manglish by our own unique ways. This can be seen through the following stanza in “Malchin Testament” poem,

we tekan words our own always
we tekan the’du’ in education
cause we pree to do what we like
with word meanings and dikshen

In stanza above, I’m consuming that it shows how we use and stress words like we wants, not according to the rules or standard English language, because we are free peoples and it means independence from others to do what we like with language and convey our very own meanings through what we said.

Before I end my discussion here, I would like to state that the personae in this poem does celebrates Malaysian culture especially through the harmonies of Malaysian Malay and Chinese people using English language by their own unique ways and so does with some examples and facts that I have showed in this essay like how Manglish – language as the main aspect and issues in “Malchin Testament” poem show us that language as main literary device celebrates Malaysian culture.

Thank You...!!!

"Neighbours" By Robert Raymer

Robert Raymer was born in Pennsylvania, studied in Ohio at Miami University, and lived in Colorado and Wisconsin (USA) before moving to Penang, Malaysia, in 1985. He has backpacked solo to 34 countries, taught tennis, modeled, played Santa Claus for an international school, managed a stage crew for Penang Players (an amateur theater group), danced the tango in the Oscar-winning French film Indochine, and was an extra in three other Hollywood films shot in Penang.

He has written a play (adapted from the story "Neighbors"), four novels, and four screenplays. His short stories and articles have appeared in such publications as The Literary Review, Thema, Press, Aim, London Magazine, Frank, Going Places, Silver Kris, Far East Traveler, The Expat, The Writer, and Reader's Digest. He was the editor of Silverfish New Writings 4 (2004). Since 1996, he has taught Creative Writing at Universiti Sains Malaysia.He lives with his wife, Jenny, their son Jason, and his son Zaini. He is now rewriting two novels - two in Penang.

Neighbors is part of his soon to be published collection of 'Malaysian' short stories called Lovers and Strangers - Revisited. Robert Raymer records his empathy, his sympathy and, his bewilderment and wonder (often all at the same time - and in the same sentence) at the firecrackers of Chinese New Year, the tears of a Malay woman in a taxi, the chapatis and tea served in a cramped house, and a nervous mat salleh meeting his new Malay in-laws in a kampong.



SHORT STORY TITLE : NEIGHBOURS

"I suppose there's a mess in the back seat," Mrs. Koh said, shaking her head. She stood in front of Johnny Leong's terrace house. Her face was flushed and her arms were crossed, as she waited impatiently for
Koh and Tan to get out of the car. They had just returned from the hospital. "You had to volunteer our new car, didn't you? Why didn't you borrow someone else's car like I told you, or wait for an ambulance? Now it's probably ruined. Ruined!"

Koh didn't bother to respond as he got out of the car. He rubbed his back and stretched it a little. His attention was drawn to the mournful sound of someone playing the saxophone.

Both Koh and Tan were Johnny's immediate neighbors. The Koh's terrace house was to the left side of the Leong's house, while Tan, a bachelor, lived to their right. The medium-income housing area was new, less than two years old. Malays, Chinese and Indians lived together in relative harmony - a mini Malaysia. The streets were narrow, and since the monsoon drains were uncovered and there were no sidewalks, they had to walk - and even talk - in the street, moving only to let a car pass.

Across the street, Miss Chee, a secondary school teacher, unlocked her gate and let out her white Pomeranian Spitz. Miss Chee was tall and thin, with short black hair and razor sharp bangs. Upon noticing Mr. and Mrs. Koh standing in front of Leong's gate, she waved and crossed the street to join them. She was halfway there when she realized that Tan, the new math teacher at Penang Free School, was standing with them. She blushed, but already it was too late to turn back; he might think she was being rude or was purposely avoiding him.

Mrs. Koh was bent over, looking through the side window of the car. She didn't see any mess, though she was convinced that­ the evidence was there some­where waiting for her to find it. She looked up to see Miss Chee approaching. Before anyone else had a chance to speak, she blurted out, "Heard about Johnny?"

Taken aback, Miss Chee asked nervously, "Were he and Veronica fighting again?"

Mrs. Koh's beady eyes lit up like shiny coins.

"Did you hear them fighting this morning?" She turned to her husband with an I-told-you-so look on her face.

"Wait a minute, were they fighting?" Tan asked, glancing at Koh.

"No, they weren't fighting," Koh said, glaring at his wife. "I told you that already. I was outside all morning, and I would've heard them."

"I didn't think so," Tan said, and adjusted his glasses. "When Veronica and Lily passed by my house, they seemed fine. In fact, they both smiled and waved liked they usually do."
Mrs. Koh twitched her nose. "Veronica didn't say where they were going, did she? Gambling, that's where! Every Sunday she plays mahjong and I'm sure she's in debt!" she said, and paused to catch their surprised reaction. "She once tried to borrow money from Koh."

"She only wanted five ringgit-lah - to buy some vegetables," Koh said, shaking his head. "She didn't have time to go to the bank."

"You're not her bank either, otherwise she'd be borrowing from you all the time," Mrs. Koh said. "Thank heavens you didn't give her any."

"You wouldn't let me, and she's our neighbor!"

"It's bad enough she always collecting advance money for her catering, and now that Johnny's dead-"

Miss Chee's mouth dropped wide open. "Dead?"

"He's not dead yet," Koh said to his wife. "He's still breathing."

"Dead? Still breathing?" Miss Chee's mouth went slack, as she looked from Koh to Tan for some answers.

"He's as good as dead," snapped Mrs. Koh.

"I don't understand," Miss Chee said quietly, in frustration. "Who? Who are you talking about? Johnny? Is he all right?"

"All right? He's all wrong," Mrs. Koh said. "Him and his whole family!"

"Johnny tried to commit suicide this morning," Koh said to Miss Chee.

"Wah! Why?"

"Because Veronica ran up all those gambling debts!" Mrs. Koh said.

Koh glowered at his wife. "We don't know that. We do know that he drank weed-killer. He was drinking it with his beer."

Mrs. Koh planted her hands squarely on her hips. "Drinking! That's all that man ever did - sit around and drink. And that - that Veronica! The way she lets that daughter of hers run around like some tramp!"

Miss Chee's eyes opened wide. "Lily? She's an all-A student." She leaned toward Tan and said, "Lily is my best student."

Tan nodded and smiled politely. He again adjusted his glasses even though he didn't need to.

Miss Chee asked Tan, "When did you find Johnny?"

"Just before noon," Koh replied. "Isn't that right, Tan?"

"Yes - about noon."

Mrs. Koh nodded. "Koh told me he heard Johnny groaning exactly one hour after Veronica took Lily gambling. I happened to look at my watch when they went by."

"I didn't hear the groaning until after Tan called me from his gate," Koh said, gesturing with his closed fingers to Tan, as if to salute him. "If it wasn't for Tan, Johnny might already be dead-lah."

"And you had to put him in our BRAND NEW CAR!" Mrs. Koh said. "Just imagine if he died there. All the bad luck it'd bring, and with the New Year just around the corner! We'd have to sell it, and it's not even two months old!"


Dr. Nathan, an Indian dentist who lived next door to Miss Chee, waved as he slowed down his car, not wanting to hit any of them. He pulled into the driveway. Instead of locking his gate, he smiled and waved again, and then crossed the street to join them. He extended his hand to Koh, who was one of his patients. Koh was a full head taller than him and had a full head of hair, unlike Nathan, who was balding on top.

"A fine Sunday afternoon," Nathan said.

"Not for Johnny," Mrs. Koh replied, "he's dead."

"Alamak!"

"He's not dead, yet," Koh said, and shook Nathan's hand. "Tan and I had to take Johnny to the General Hospital. He tried to commit suicide by drinking Paraquat. We managed to contact his son, and he's now over there. Veronica and Lily haven't been told yet. We don't know how to contact them."

"For heaven's sake," Nathan said, looking as if he had just pulled the wrong tooth. "I never realized. Just last New Year - yes, it was just last New Year - Johnny had that party and everyone was there, having a grand time."

"Especially Koh," Mrs. Koh said, eyeing him. "He was so drunk I had to drag him home."

"I was not drunk - just celebrating."

"Celebrating, ha! That's what you call it - you had a hangover for two days and had to miss work!"

"I was on annual leave," Koh corrected.

"Same thing - you missed work!"

Nathan cleared his voice and asked, "Who found Johnny?"

Nodding her head sideways at Tan, Miss Chee said, "Mr. Tan did. He heard Johnny groaning."

"I can't take all the credit, Miss Chee. Your name is Miss Chee, am I correct?"

"Why yes, it is," Miss Chee said, and her smile widened. "My friends call me Alice."

"My friends and my patients call me, Nathan," Nathan said, and offered his hand to Tan. Tan shook it and introduced himself.

"Anyway," Tan continued, "it was Koh who was the first one inside the house. He also called the ambulance."

"But we decided not to wait," Koh said. "The hospital was asking all these foolish questions that we couldn't answer, so we took him in ourselves."

"In our BRAND NEW CAR!" added Mrs. Koh.

"Really? You have a new car, I never realized," Nathan said. "I haven't had a new car since I bought my Proton Saga - our first national car, mind you. We've certainly come along way since Independence, haven't we?" Nathan's smile over­flowed with pride. "Now Johnny, he was a good neighbor. Yes, a good neighbor, even though he stills owes me for treatment. Root canals aren't cheap, you know."

"That reminds me," Koh said, "my tooth has been hurting again."

"Oh, dear. You mustn't wait, or you could find yourself in a lot of pain. That's what happened to Johnny. He waited until the pain was unbearable."

"Should I call your office for an appointment or …"

Two passing motorcycles drowned out Koh's question and Nathan's reply. Miss Chee's dog barked and feigned a chase. After a few frantic steps, it turned around and came back to Miss Chee.

"Ramli's kids!" Mrs. Koh said, staring down the street after them. "Race here, race there. And last week I saw one of them teaching Lily how to ride. I don't know why Veronica lets her daughter - at that age - run around with boys. I'd never let my daughter do that! And today, of all days, she takes Lily gambling."

Nathan scratched his left ear. "Oh dear, I never realized Veronica gambles."

Mrs. Koh was nodding, as she added, "Every Sunday. She once asked me to go with her to her cousin's house in Air Itam. That's where she gambles."

"You told me you had no idea where Veronica went," Koh said, frowning, annoyed. "Johnny's son was trying to reach her."
Mrs. Koh defiantly crossed her arms and said, "It's none of my business where she gambles."

"You should never gamble with your teeth," Nathan said, and nodded to Tan. He took out a business card and passed it to him. "If you ever need a reliable dentist, I live right across the street. Koh here knows where my office is. You can't get more reliable than a neighbor," he added, chuckling.


Ramli, an elderly Malay who sold satay at the night markets, was walking down the middle of the street in their direction. His back was ramrod straight. He nodded to Tan, one of his regular customers, and joined them.

"My eldest daughter tells me Johnny hasn't been at school the past three days," Ramli said. "Then yesterday she saw him walking along the main road carrying his helmet - without his motorcycle. Imagine that!"
Miss Chee asked Tan, in a low voice, "Is Johnny a teacher, too?"

"No," Tan replied, "he's a janitor at my school."

"A dead janitor," added Mrs. Koh.

"Dead? Don't talk about dead. No joke-lah!" Ramli gazed from face to face, as though he had missed the punch line to a sick joke. Still, he hoped some­one would explain it to him. "So, who's dead? Huh?"

"Johnny, but he's not dead - at least not yet," Koh said. "But he did try to kill himself by drinking Paraquat."

"Paraquat? Ya Allah!" Ramli said, and his dark brown eyes rolled upwards to heaven.

"Koh heard him groaning around noon," Mrs. Koh said. "One hour after Veronica took Lily gambling."

"Wasn't it Tan who heard the groaning?" said Miss Chee. She glanced at Tan for confirmation.

Koh nodded. "That's right. If it wasn't for Tan, Johnny might already be dead."

"It has to be about money-lah," Ramli said to no one in particular.

Everyone was looking at him.

"Why else would he sell his motorcycle?"

"He's right-lah," Koh said. "Why else? Unless he was involved with another woman. Was he?"

Tan and Ramli shrugged.


"Wouldn't surprise me," Mrs. Koh said. "Gambling, drinking, womanizing - what a family!"

"Now I'll never get that root canal bill paid," Nathan said, and grimaced.

"I'm sure Johnny has some insurance somewhere," Tan said, trying to be helpful.

Koh frowned as if he had stepped on someone's chewing gum and just found it stuck to his shoe.

"Well if he does, he didn't buy it from me," Koh said. "I must've asked him a half dozen times. What good did it do me? And I'm his neighbor!"

"Tell me about it! One of my sons had offered to buy his motorcycle for its license plate number. Willing to pay him good money, too," Ramli said, "and now look what he did - sold it to someone else. A stranger, too."

Miss Chee was watching her dog go back and forth across the street. She sighed in exasperation and said, "It's a good thing Veronica has that catering business to fall back on - if worst comes to worst." She caught Tan's gaze. "Are you buying from her, too?"

"Well, no - not yet," Tan replied, "but I was thinking about it."

"It must be difficult living on your own like that."

"I've been doing it for fifteen years," Nathan said, "and I can cook, too."

Miss Chee smiled politely. "Now if Johnny doesn't make it-"

"He won't if he drank Paraquat," Ramli said. "That one's a sure killer."

"Either way," Miss Chee said, politely, "I'm sure the good Lord will look after Veronica and Lily."

"Are they Christians?" Tan asked.

"He has a Christian name, doesn't he?" Mrs. Koh said. "So do Veronica and Lily."

"Come to think of it, I don't think they are," Koh said, scratching his head. "In fact, I think they're Buddhists. Or, used to be. With Johnny you could never tell, though. Back in school many of us added Christian names but we weren't Christian. Even you did, long before you converted."

"That doesn't make it right," Mrs. Koh said. "They're being misleading."

Tan said, "I think Johnny told me he was a free-thinker."

Koh laughed. "That's Johnny for you - he liked everything free."

"You should know," Mrs. Koh said, "you were always over there drinking his free beer."

"You're just jealous Johnny never asked you to come along."

"I wouldn't go over there even if Johnny and Veronica begged me to."

Tan was gazing at the round table not far from Johnny's gate.

He cleared his voice and said to Miss Chee, "We used to sit right there and talk. The very night I moved in - even though I was a total stranger - Johnny invited me over. We must've sat up half the night philosophizing about everything under the sun." Guilt crept into his eyes. "Just last night I was over there."

"I saw you." Miss Chee blushed as Tan looked at her with surprise. "I happened to glance down from my bedroom window."

Tan looked up at the window. He then looked at Miss Chee.

"You know, I really think Johnny was just a lonely man."

"You think he's lonely?" Nathan said. "My wife has been dead fifteen years. FIFTEEN YEARS! Johnny can't be lonely, not with a wife and daughter at home. And his son comes visiting often enough."

"Johnny has a son?" Ramli pondered this. "I thought he only has a daughter."

"Danny's his name," Miss Chee said. "He was one of my first students. A bright student at that."

"Yes, we had a long talk at that New Year party," Nathan said. "Danny's a good boy with a good job."

"Good boy, ha!" Mrs. Koh said. "Ever since he became a big shot at the bank he certainly acts like one - living in town and wasting money paying extra rent. What for? A good boy would stay at home and help
his father pay the bills, especially the way Veronica gambles and throws away money on Lily - always buying her the latest styles."

"At least Veronica works," Koh said.

Mrs. Koh twitched her nose. "Her food isn't much to talk about - so bland! And she's always asking for advance money. Why can't her son give her some of his money? Huh?"

"I wish my elder two sons would settle down and find good jobs like that," Ramli said. "Before I was twenty, I had a job, a house and a wife! Back in those days, boys had more responsibilities."

"It sure would be nice if your sons stopped racing up and down the street," Mrs. Koh said. "The noise is deafening!"

"See! See! That's what happens when grown boys stay at home - they get restless!" Ramli said, his arms raised in surrender. "Only a wife will settle them down. A wife and a job will teach them some responsi­bil­ities. If you ask me, Johnny had it too easy. Too easy - has a working wife and only two children. One living on his own like that. Look at me, six of them, and a mother-in-law at home who's driving me crazy! You don't see me committing suicide, do you?"

Mrs. Koh was staring past Nathan's shoulder to one of the houses further up the street. "Who's playing that - that thing, anyway?"

"It's a saxophone," Koh said, fingering his mole hair.

"People shouldn't play those things unless they already know how," she said.

"If he doesn't practice," Koh said, "how can he know how? When I was a boy I had an old trumpet and I used to practice ALL DAY." Koh smiled to himself as he closed his eyes, remembering.
Ramli was straining his neck to see around them. He was looking in the opposite direction, down the street.

"Here comes Veronica," he said, and all of them looked.

Veronica and Lily were walking side by side, each carrying several plastic bags.

Koh turned to his wife and said, "Looks like they didn't go gambling after all - just shopping."

Mrs. Koh twitched her nose in defiance. She peered around their car to get a better look.

Miss Chee asked, "Think she knows about Johnny?"

Mrs. Koh shook her head. "I bet she was too busy spending all her money on that daughter of hers to know anything."

"If you ask me," Ramli said, "Johnny had it too easy. Too easy."

"I hope they don't move," Miss Chee said. "Lily is my best student."

"Don't even mention it," Nathan said, "or I'll lose two more patients."

"Of course they'll move," Mrs. Koh said. "Wouldn't you move if your husband commits suicide right in your own home?"

"I'm not married," Miss Chee replied, and glanced at Tan.

"Hey, what time is it?" Koh asked. "There's a football match I wanted to watch on TV."

"Oh my, it's nearly two," Nathan said, as he glanced at the time. "I haven't had my lunch yet - no wonder I feel hungry."

"Two? Already? I got to run-lah," Koh said, and hurried next door.

Tan asked, "Who's going to tell Veronica?"

Ramli and Nathan both shrugged as they returned to their respective terrace houses before Veronica and Lily arrived at the gate.

"Not me," said Mrs. Koh. "It's none of my business."
END

Malaysia's Literature History

The (Malay Annals), written in the 1500s, is the most important Malaysia literary work and tells the story of a Malacca sultanate. Literature styles in Malaysia changed with the influences of Europeans (Portuguese, Dutch, and English). The classical literary style of Malay was eventually replaced in print with the vernacular language. The first newspaper was written and printed using the (vernacular) spoken language in 1876.