Multi lingual Road Signs

Sarawak is a land blessed with abundance and diversity. Ours is a land rich in natural resources. Whilst the diversity of flora and fauna is among the highest in the world and a treasure trove, the diversity of her peoples is equally unrivalled and also amongst its greatest wealth.

Caption: Jalan College or College Road. Jalan is a Malay work for Road. College is an English word and it is the name for the road leading to the Batu Lintang Teachers' College, a premier institution from the British colonial days.

From the multi-ethnic diversity, we have richness in cultures and languages. Perhaps the richest of them all is tolerace among its many races.

Caption: Lorong Foochow 1N or Foochow Lane 1N. Foochow is a South Chinese dialect group which migrated to Sarawak at the turn of last century under a scheme proposed by Rajah Charles Brooke, the Second Rajah. The lane is nicely labelled in Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese.

The beauty of Sarawak is often reflected and exemplified by the road signs in multi-languages in all the major towns. Such beauty is unsurpassed elsewhere in Malaysia or Southeast Asia and should be zealously guarded by all Sarawakians.

Sarawakians need to treasure such thing around us and not take it for granted.

Cave Endemic as Indoor Plant

Limestone hills at Bau near to Kuching, Sarawak

Limestone hills offer many microhabitats and niches such as open rocky surfaces, drip lines, cave interior, etc. As such, many different kind of plants have evolved and adapt to the different niches. As a result, many limestone plant species are endemic – meaning restricted in distribution to a particular area and no where else in the world.

In Sarawak, limestone hills are mostly found in Kuching and Miri region. Limestone plants are difficult and problematic to establish and grow because they require basic (high pH) substrate or soil, are slow growing and seeds are difficult to germinate because they might require unique and specific mycorrhizae fungi.

I have the opportunity to collect and grow Begonia from Bau limestone cave as indoor plant. Cave plants make ideal and good indoor plants because they need low light intensity.

Here I will share how I establish the limestone cave begonia which I have grown for three years now.

First of all, choose limestone rock of a suitable size.

Next, collect begonia from limestone caves. Try to collect the plants together with the natural substrate or soil in the vicinity of the plants.

Then place the begonia together with the substrate on the limestone rock.

Place the limestone rocks in a container filled with water. The capillary action will pull the water up the limestone rocks. This will help to establish a limestone cave-like habitat as the cave is always everwet with water dripping.

Such method of establishing limestone plants can be used for artificial limestone landscape in your garden or on walls. A mist fan or mist-forming nozzle can be added to create the cave ambience.

The Nut of Dabai

Dabai or botanically known as Canarium odontophyllum is an endemic (restricted in distribution) species of Canarium of the family Buseraceae found only in Borneo. It is known as black olive by the Sarawakian Chinese. It is a nutritious fruit and tastes something like avocado. The skin and flesh are edible after soaking in warm water. The fruit contains protein, fat and carbohydrate, thereby making it an ideal food.

There is also a species of Canarium grown in China for its flesh like dabai which is known as Chinese Olive.

In Sarawak, dabai comes from the Rejang and fruits twice per year.

The seeds were sometimes used for playing games in Sarawak in the past. When I was young, I always like to crack the hard kernel to obtain the nut inside to eat. It looks like almond but tastes like a cross between pistachio and macadamia nuts.

Besides dabai, other species of Canarium also produce edible nuts, known variously as Canarium nut, pili nut, kenari nut, Java almond or Galip and are traded commercially. Plantations of Canarium indicum exist and are among the most important nut-bearing trees in eastern Indonesia (Celebes, Irian Jaya, Moluccas) and Papua New Guinea as well as the SW Pacific while Canarium ovatum is cultivated for its nuts in the Philippines respectively. The nuts are sold either blanced or unblanchded.

Perhaps someone should come up with a truly unique Sarawakian desert: gelato with embawang flavour (Borneo mango -Mangifera panjang) garnished with dabai nuts. Also, the dabai nuts can be coated with caramelised sugar or honey and sold as exotic tidbits from the Rejang or Borneo.

King George VI Memorial Ground

The Sarawak Stadium in Kuching built in time for World Junior Soccer cup and saw Brazil team in action.
Modern Indoor Stadium (Stadium Perpaduan) at Petra Jaya, Kuching with the old and new Sarawak Stadia in the background.

Older generation of Sibuites might remember the King George VI Memorial Ground or affectionately known simply as Padang or Sports Padang to Sibu folks. The sports ground exists no longer but in its place is the present Sibu Town Square.

Who is King George VI?

King George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the British dominions from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1955. He is the father of the present Queen Elizabeth.

There are a number of geographical features, roads, and institutions named after George VI in London and around the world. These include King George Hospital in London; King George VI Highway and King George Station in Surrey, British Columbia; George VI Sound in Antartica; and the King George VI Chase, horse race in the United Kingdom.

In 1955, several years after his death, a statue of the king in his Garter robes was erected just off the Mall and Carlton Gardens. It was announced in 2005 that a statue of his consort Queen Elizabeth would join his at that location towards the end of 2008. Another statue of the King can be found in the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens.

Old timers would remember the place as a venue for many sports meets such as the Annual Inter-House, Inter-School and even Inter-Divisional Sports Meet. Many races were held and many sports records were also broken here.

It was even the venue for remote controlled plane and kite flying sessions as well as bicycle races. There was a case whereby a cyclist (a secondary student) died after substaining head injury following a bicycle race accident. The padang was even used by some as a venue for dating.

The Ground was later rechristened Padang Sukan Tun Datuk Patinggi Tuanku Bujang following Independence. Today it has made way for development of Sibu Town Square and is replaced by Stadium Tun Ahmad Zaidi at Bukit Lima Road.

I have a very old photo of the padang area before it was built which shows belian plank walk leading to the Malay Kampungs. I will try to scan and post it here later.

The Sibu Town Square with Wisma Sanyan in the background (site of the former King George VI Memorial Ground)

Rambutan and how Sibu got its name

Rambutan and how Sibu got its name

I always like to compare having a rambutan tree in our Sarawakians’ house compound to that of an apple tree in an English backyard garden. Most owners of landed property in Sarawak would most likely choose a rambutan tree in very much the same way as the English would choose an apple tree for his garden when they intend to grow a fruit tree.

Just like the apple tree, the rambutan tree is such a sight to behold when it is laden with ripen fruits.

The domesticated rambutan is scientifically known as Nephelium lappaceum and belongs to the family Sapindaceae (to which lychee also belongs). There are many wild relatives of rambutan in Sarawak and Borneo.

Sibu is named after the wild rambutan called Sibau (Iban). The Malays refers to it as Sibo. Very old colonial map has Sibu spelt as 'Siboe". How it later appeared as Sibu on the map is anybody's guess but it could be a mispronounciation or more likely Sibu is the English spelling which is meant to be pronounced as 'Sibo'. (Many words in Iban and Bahasa Malaysia that end with "au" end with an "o" in the Sarawak Malay dialect eg bakau is bako, pulau is pulo, limau is limo and so forth.) It is interesting to note that older generation of Hokkiens and Malays still refer to Sibu as Sibo.

It is possible that Sibau was once abundant in and around Sibu town, particularly on the often inundated bank of the Rejang River and the peat swamp areas.

Sarawak is not alone in having a town name after the wild rambutan. There is also a place in West Kalimantan, Indonesia called Putus Sibau

Rambutan or "the hairy fruit"

Ever wonder why the fleshy part of the rambutan fruit is difficult to detached from the seed unlike longan even though both belong to the same family? The reason is because the fleshy part of rambutan is developed from or is part of the seed coat (testa) unlike the fleshy part of lychee which is not derived from the seed coat. So, the fleshy part of rambutan is also known as “sarcotesta”. Even in the best rambutan variety whereby the flesh part detached off from the fruit much more easily, the seed coat is still attached to fleshy part.

The seeds of rambutan is said to be rich in solid fat which can be used to make soap and candle but is not popular as it is not commercially viable. Rambutan can also be made into jam but has not been popular.

It is interesting to note that Obama missed rambutan and will try it with fried rice when he intends to visit Indonesia where he spent part of his childhood.

Another lesser known wild rambutan species which is more spiky than hairy but is gaining popularity is the Pulasan or Nephelium rambutan-ake.

'Pulasan' or Nephelium rambutan-ake

There is another species of rambutan which is hardly hairy at all: Nephelium maingayi. Its Iban name is 'mujau' and the melanau called it 'serait'.

Borneo 's Hidden paradise - more posters

Sarawak - Borneo's Hidden Paradise

Sarawak's Coconut Candy

A few days ago I saw for the first time the coconut candy which I enjoyed eating when I was a young boy. I have not come across anyone selling it until then though I have heard that it can still be found. I quickly bought a packet which costed RM1.30. A smaller packet would costed us 10 sen back then. It is made of coconut slices and dried in the sun with dyeing optional (usually red). Then they are sprinkled with castor sugar.

Well, I continue to enjoy such childhood delight after so many decades, the truly Dulce de coco ala Sarawak.

Chopsticks, Chinese Characters and Civilization

There are many great ancient civilizations centred in Asia and the two notable ones are the Chinese and Indian civilisations.

It is interesting to note that these two civilizations have a great influence on their neighbours' culture. For instance, Chinese characters are or were used by the Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese while Sanskrit scripts were adopted by countries neighbouring India such as Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Chopsticks were first used in China but have spreaded to countries such as Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia and even Tibet.

Thailand is unique in that it adopted the Indian Sanskrit scripts but uses the Chinese chopsticks - a crossroad of two cultures.

I am going to touch on the Chinese characters and chopsticks below:

Chinese characters:

Chinese characters, also known as a Han character (simplified Chinese: 汉字; traditional Chinese: 漢字; pinyin: Hànzì), is a ideogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi), Japanese (kanji), less frequently Korean (hanja), and formerly Vietnamese (hán tự).

The number of Chinese characters contained in the Kangxi dictionary is approximately 47,035, although a large number of these are rarely used variants accumulated throughout history. Studies carried out in China have shown that full literacy in the Chinese language requires a knowledge of only between three and four thousand characters.

Chinese characters are also considered to be the world's longest continuously used writing system.The Chinese script spread to Korea together with Buddhism from the 7th century (Hanja). The Japanese Kanji were adopted for recording the Japanese language from the 8st century AD. Adaptation for Vietnamese (Chữ Nôm) emerged in the 13th century. It is usually said that about 3,000 characters are needed for basic literacy in Chinese (for example, to read a Chinese newspaper), and a well-educated person will know well in excess of 4,000 to 5,000 characters.

Just as Roman letters have a characteristic shape (lower-case letters occupying a roundish area, with ascenders or descenders on some letters), Chinese characters occupy a more or less square area. Characters made up of multiple parts squash these parts together in order to maintain a uniform size and shape—this is the case especially with characters written in the Songti style. Because of this, beginners often practise on squared graph paper, and the Chinese sometimes use the term "Square-Block Characters" (simplified Chinese: 方块字; traditional Chinese: 方塊字; pinyin: fāngkuàizì).


The actual shape of many Chinese characters varies in different cultures. Mainland China adopted simplified characters in 1956, but Traditional Chinese Characters are still used in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Singapore has also adopted simplified Chinese characters. Postwar Japan has used its own less drastically simplfied characters since 1946, while South Korea has limited its use of Chinese characters, and Vietnam and North Korea have completely abolished their use in favour of romanizes Vietnamese and hangul, respectively.


In Japanese there are 1,945 Joyo kanji (常用漢字 lit. "frequently used kanji") designated by the Japanese Ministry of Education; these are taught during primary and secondary school. The list is a recommendation, not a restriction, and many characters missing from it are still in common use.
The one area where character usage is officially restricted is in names, which may contain only government-approved characters. Since the Jōyō kanji list excludes many characters which have been used in personal and place names for generations, an additional list, referred to as the Jinmeiyo kanji (人名用漢字 lit. "kanji for use in personal names"), is published. It currently contains 983 characters, bringing the total number of government-endorsed characters to 2928. (See also the Names section of the kanji article.)
Today, a well-educated Japanese person may know upwards of 3,500 kanji. The kanji kentei (日本漢字能力検定試験 Nihon Kanji Nōryoku Kentei Shiken or Test of Japanese Kanji Aptitude) tests a speaker's ability to read and write kanji. The highest level of the kanji kentei tests on 6,000 kanji, though in practice few people attain (or need to attain) this level.
Written Japanese also includes a pair of syllabic scripts known as kana, which are used in combination with kanji. Not all words in modern Japanese can be expressed with kanji alone, requiring the use of kana in written communication.



Korean


In times past, until the 15th century, in Korea, Literary Chinese was the only form of written communication, prior to the creation of hangul, the Korean alphabet. Much of the vocabulary, especially in the realms of science and sociology, comes directly from Chinese. However, due the lack of tones in Korean, as the words were imported from Chinese, many dissimilar characters took on identical sounds, and subsequently identical spelling in hangul. Chinese characters are sometimes used to this day for either clarification in a practical manner, or to give a distinguished appearance, as knowledge of Chinese characters is considered a high class attribute and an indispensable part of a classical education.


In Korea, 한자 hanja have become a politically contentious issue, with some Koreans urging a "purification" of the national language and culture by totally abandoning their use. These individuals encourage the exclusive use of the native hangul alphabet throughout Korean society and the end to character education in public schools.
In South Korea, educational policy on characters has swung back and forth, often swayed by education ministers' personal opinions. At times, middle and high school students have been formally exposed to 1,800 to 2,000 basic characters, albeit with the principal focus on recognition, with the aim of achieving newspaper-literacy. Since there is little need to use hanja in everyday life, young adult Koreans are often unable to read more than a few hundred characters.



Vietnamese


Although now nearly extinct in Vietnam, varying scripts of Chinese characters (han tu) were once in widespread use to write the language, although hán tự became limited to ceremonial uses beginning in the 19th century. Similarly to Japan and Korea, Chinese (especially Literary Chinese) was used by the ruling classes, and the characters were eventually adopted to write Vietnamese. To express native Vietnamese words which had different pronunciations from the Chinese, Vietnamese developed the Chu Nom script which used various methods to distinguish native Vietnamese words from Chinese. Vietnamese is currently exclusively written in the Vietnamese alphabet, a derivative of the Latin alphabet.

Chopsticks:











The Chinese were the first to use the chopsticks but today chopsticks are used by the Japanese, Koreans, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Thai and so forth. because of their use of chopsticks, such countries are sometimes called "the chopstick civilisation".


There are also a variety of chopsticks ranging from those made of stainless steel to ivory chopsticks used by the Emperor of China to the disposable bamboo chopsticks used throughout Asia Pacific nowadays.



The Japanese have even modified the chopsticks they adopted from the Chinese with a tapering end. The Minister Mentor of Singapore once remarked in Japan that Japanese are so good in copying and modifying other cultures as exemplified by the chopsticks.


The following are the universal etiquette on using chopsticks taken from wikipedia:

Chopsticks are not used to make noise, to draw attention, or to gesticulate. Playing with chopsticks is considered bad mannered and vulgar (just as playing with cutlery in a Western environment would be deemed crass).
Chopsticks are not used to move bowls or plates.
Chopsticks are not used to toy with one's food or with dishes in common.
Chopsticks are not used to pierce food, save in rare instances. Exceptions include tearing larger items apart such as vegetables and kimchi. In informal use, small, difficult-to-pick-up items such as cherry tomatoes or fishballs may be stabbed, but this use is frowned upon by traditionalists.
Chopsticks should not be left standing vertically in a bowl of rice or other food. Any stick-like object pointed upward resembles the incense sticks that some Asians use as offerings to deceased family members; certain funerary rites designate offerings of food to the dead using standing chopsticks.



Chinese etiquette
In Chinese culture, it is normal to hold the rice bowl up to one's mouth and use chopsticks to push rice directly into the mouth. If rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the West, it is acceptable and more practical to eat it with a spoon or fork.
It is acceptable to transfer food to closely related people (e.g. grandparents, parents, spouse, children, or significant others) if they are having difficulty picking up the food. Also it is a sign of respect to pass food to the elderly first before the dinner starts.
It is impolite to spear food with a chopstick and/or play with the chopsticks.
It is rude to use the chopstick to dig for food in the common dish.
Chopsticks should not be left sticking on the rice because it symbolizes "feeding" the dead and death in general.



Japanese etiquette


Food should not be transferred from one's own chopsticks to someone else's chopsticks. Japanese people will always offer their plate to transfer it directly, or pass a person's plate along if the distance is great. Transferring directly is how bones are passed as part of japanese funeral rites.
The pointed ends of the chopsticks should be placed on a chopstick rest when the chopsticks are not being used.
Reversing chopsticks to use the opposite clean end is commonly used to move food from a communal plate, although it is not considered to be proper manners Rather, the group should ask for extra chopsticks to transfer food from a communal plate.
Chopsticks should not be crossed on a table or vertically stuck in the rice, as this symbolizes death.
It is rude to rub wooden chopsticks together after breaking them apart, as this communicates to the host that the user thinks the chopsticks are cheap.

Korean etiquette


Koreans consider it rude to pick up the rice bowl from the table to eat from it.
Unlike other chopstick cultures, Koreans use a spoon for their rice and soup, and chopsticks for most other things at the table. (Traditionally, Korean spoons have a relatively flat, circular head with a straight handle, unlike Chinese or Japanese soup spoons.)
Unlike the rice eaten in many parts of China, cooked Korean rice can be easily picked up with chopsticks, although eating rice with a spoon is more acceptable.
When laying chopsticks down on the table next to a spoon, one must never put the chopsticks to the left of the spoon. Chopsticks are only laid to the left for deceased family members.
The blunt handle ends of chopsticks are not used to transfer food from common dishes.
When no communal chopsticks are available, it is perfectly acceptable to pick up banchan and eat it without putting it down on one's bowl first.
Also, there is an old saying suggesting that the closer one's hand is to the tips of the chopsticks, the longer they stay unmarried.


Vietnamese etiquette


As with Chinese etiquette, the rice bowl is raised to the mouth and the rice is pushed into the mouth using the chopsticks.
Unlike with Chinese dishes, it is also practical to use chopsticks to pick up rice in plates, such as fried rice, because Vietnamese rice is typically sticky.
It is proper to always use two chopsticks at once, even when using them for stirring.
One should not pick up food from the table and place it directly in the mouth. Food must be placed in your own bowl first.
Chopsticks should not be placed in the mouth while choosing food.
Chopsticks should never be placed in a "V" shape when done eating; it is interpreted as a bad omen.

Icon from the past

We have just celebrated our National Day. I have chanced upon the above coin and it reminds everyone of us, Sarawakians, about our unique historical past. Let's continue to wish Sarawak a smooth journey forward!!

The old and the new

Kuching is a city of contrast. Not many cities in Borneo have as interesting a history as Kuching. old colonial buildings dating back to the Rajah Brooke reign stand juxtaposed next to new ones.

Every Which Way - Migration in Asia

The immovable peasantry, bound by tradition, loyalty or inertia to the timeless village, is one of the abiding myths about Asia. In fact the history of Asia is a history of movement. From the very beginning, Asians have been moving into, out of, and around the region, whether as economic migrants, political refugees, or cultural proselytisers.

Asians, like the rest of humanity, are probably descended from the first human who evolved in Africa. But even if there was parallel evolution of Homo sapiens within Asia itself, they would have, over the eras, migrated many thousands of miles.

Linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence all points to a wide dispersal of Asians. Austronesian languages and seafaring culture prevail from Madagascar, off the coast of Africa, to Hawaii and Tahiti in the Pacific; prehistorians suggest that many of these voyages of migration occurred within the last five thousand years, from origins in Southern China, the Philippines or eastern Indonesia.

Similarly, the linguistic links between Japanese and the Altaic languages of western and central Asia also imply early migration while “Aryans” apparently invaded India from the north and the Tai peoples moved into Thailand, Laos, Burma, and Vietnam from southwestern China. Although these movements date from “prehistory” (before the time of written records), many great Asian migrations are historical.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of Chinese civilization is the creation of "China” itself; today well over one billion people occupy a vast area and consider themselves Chinese. In fact, the original “Chinese” (often called “Han”) inhabited only a fraction of the area now claimed by the People’s Republic of China, and many, perhaps most, “Chinese” today are descended, at least in part, from other stock.

“China” grew both through migration and sinification. Within the last 2500 years, million of Han moved south from their original heartland in the Yellow River valley, beyond the Yangtze River and as far as Yunnan and Tibet (annexed to China relatively recently). As they moved, they conquered local populations and by intermarriage and the imposition of Chinese culture, turned the descendants of these people into “:Chinese’ themselves. They became not “cultural minorties”, but actual Han: Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka and many others.

Only the Vietnamese, ruled by China for 1000 years retained their own identity. After they became independent, they began their own great southward drive of migration ands assimilation. As recently as 500 years ago there were almost no Vietnamese in the Mekong delta area; the southern half of the country is essentially populated by the descendants of immigrants or Vietnamised minorities. History also records significant modern migrations in the Malay world, particularly from the Menangkabau Highlands of Sumatra into the Malay Peninsula.

By the 19th century, driven by colonialism and capitalism, the human flow was in full spate. Fleeing economic hardship and social unrest in south China, millions of peasants sailed as “coolie” labourers – virtual slaves – not only to all the countries of Southeast Asia, but beyond, to Africa and the Americas. They built railroads in the United States and worked the guano mines of Peru. From India, migrants fanned out to become moneylenders in Burma, labourers in Malaya and Fiji, and bureaucrats and professionals throughout the British Empire.

Less visible in the historical records was the even larger movement of Asians within political units: from Java to Sumatra and the outer islands of Indonesia; from Ilocos to the Cayagan Valley in the Philippines; from the Chao Phraya plain into Isan in Thailand; from upper Burma to lower Burma, from Szechwan to Yunnan. The more we look, the more we find, down to “micro-migrations” from one village to the next.

Over the past 50 years this local movement has accelerated, especially towards cities such as Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila, most of whose inhabitants are just one or two generations removed from their rural origins.

But even international migration, slowed temporarily by post-war nationalism, has picked up again. There are more than a million Filipinos working in west Asia, Hong Kong and Japan; ten thousands of Chinese students overseas; Japanese managers and tourists throughout Southeast Asia, Borneo's Dayak oil rig workers in the North Sea, Thai farm workers in Israel, and Cambodia refugees selling doughnuts in California.

Today, more than ever, to understand Asia you have to understand people in motion.

A man for all seasons

In the mid-1970's, if you heard that the Prime Minister of Thailand was having supper with the son of a royal prince, the country's best known novelist, a pioneering journalist, a Hollywood actor, and a trained classical dancer, you might well have assumed that M. R. Kukrit Pramoj was dining alone.

Few Asians of modern times have excelled in as many fields as Kukrit. He has the advantage, of course, of being born into minor royalty, which provided him with the advantages of a good general education and training in khon (Thai classical dance). As a teenager, he was sent to England for further education and ended up with a degree from Oxford in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. On his return to Thailand he joined the civil service and later moved into banking and teaching.

In 1945, Kukrit entered politics and was elected to parliament where he rose to the rank of deputy minister three years later. In parliament he spoke out against an increase in MP salaries and resigned when the measure was passed.

Thai politics' loss was Thai literature's gain, however. In 1950 Kukrit founded the Siam Rath newspaper and rapidly became famous for the wide range and elegant style of his writing.

Several of his best-known works were originally serialised in Siam Rath, including a "capitalist version" of the Chinese Classic The Romance of the Three Kingdom, in which he mercilessly satirised Thailand's military dictator.

In Phai Daeng (Red Bamboo), Kukrit adapted Giovanni Guareschi's comic classic of the cold war, The little World of Don Camillo, about an Italian village where the wisdom of the local priest generally prevails over the ideology the communist mayor. In the Thai version the priest has become a Buddhist monk, but the message is the same: if we look in our hearts, we have more in common than the "ism" that divide us. As in his acclaimed short story collection Lai Chiwit (Many lives), Kukrit celebrated the simplicity and "natural justice" of a Thai way of life already beginning to disappear in the 1950's, and a source of great popular nostalgia today.

Kukrit's literary masterpiece was probably Si Phaen Din (Four Reigns), a popular novel of a woman who, along with her children, has to adapt to the many changes occurring in the turbulent first half of the 20th century. He called upon his own familiarity with the royal court to provide fascinating insights into Thai society at the very highest level.

At the same time, Kukrit continued to produce regular essays on political and social topics, one of which resulted in his arrest for libelling the American ambassador. Ironically, a few years later he was flown to Hollywood to appear in the movie "The Ugly American" as Prime Minister of the mythical Asian country of Sarkhan who has to confront an American ambassador played by Marlon Brandon. In both life and film, he comported himself in the face of foreign power with dignity.

But it was only after the democratic revolution of 1973, which unseated another military dictator, that Kukrit came to play prime minister in real life. A few years earlier he had become a senator, he had then helped draft the new constitution and had been chosen as speaker of the house. But in the infant democracy it was difficult for any party to sustain a majority; so when the government of M.R. Seni Pramoj, his brother failed in early 1975, Kukrit rose a last to the top of the political tree.

As prime minister he established the Tambon Council Fund for rural development, made the first visit of a Thai head of government to the People's Republic of China, and negotiated the withdrawal of American troops from Thailand at the end of the Vietnam War. But after just 400 days his coalition collapsed and Kukrit fell from power, replaced by his brother again. A few months later there was a right-wing coup and democracy disappeared from Thailand for another decade.

From there until his death in 1995, Kukrit continued "sniping from the sideline" at various governments, calling upon them to live up to traditional Thai ideals and democratic values. In 1987 he so strongly criticised the organisation of the internal security command which he suggested would create a military "politburo or praesidium", that 250 Thai rangers stormed his house. The public outcry over this blatant abuse of power was an important step on the slow road to the restoration of democracy in Thailand.

But in the end, Kukrit will not be remembered primarily as politician, nor even as merely a literary figure. He represented the "vital centre" of modern Thai life, trying to combine the best of the past and the present, of Asia and the West. A prince committed to democracy, an anti-communist who attacked military dictators, an Oxford graduate who helped revitalised traditional Thai dance, eloquent in several languages, dignified both on and off the screen, Kukrit was indeed Thailand's man for all seasons.

Philosopher’s stone and its legend amongst the Ibans

Talking about philosopher’s stone one is reminded about Harry Potter.

In many cultures around the world, it is interesting to note that “philosopher’s stone” or “elixir of life” exists in legends or stories.

The philosopher's stone, in Latin lapis philosophorum, is a mythical substance that supposedly could turn inexpensive metals into gold and/or create an elixir that would make humans younger i.e. perpetual youth. It was a longtime "holy grail" of Western alchemy.

The word ‘elixir’ and ‘alchemy’ is Arabic in origin. The elixir (Arabic name for miracle substances, "al iksir) of life is sometimes equated with the philosopher’s stone is a legendary potion or drink, that grants the drinker eternal life or eternal youth. Many practitioners of alchemy pursued it.

In ancient China, various emperors sought for the fabled elixir with various results. The search for the elixir has given rise to Taoism whose teaching focuses on the idea of elixir. In the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Taoist alchemist Xu Fu with 500 boys and 500 girls to the eastern seas to find the elixir, but he never came back (legend has it that he found Japan instead). The ancient Chinese believed that ingesting long-lasting precious substances such as jade, cinnabar or hematite would confer some of that longevity on the person who consumed them.
Many of these substances, far from contributing to longevity, were actively toxic. Jiajing emperor in the Ming Dynasty died from ingesting a lethal dosage of mercury in the supposed "Elixir of Life" conjured by alchemists. British historian Joseph Needham compiled a list of Chinese emperors whose death was likely due to elixir poisoning. Chinese interest in alchemy and the elixir of life declined in proportion to the rise of Buddhism, which claimed to have alternate routes to immortality.

In Borneo and Sarawak, amongst the Ibans, there is a legend that the philosopher’s stone can be found inside a ‘melaban’ tree. Scientifically, ‘melaban’ belongs to the genus Tristaniopsis in the Myrtaceae or jambu family and there are quite a number of species of Tristaniopsis in Borneo. Most members of such family are characterized by smooth, peely bark and these peely bark is most beautiful in the ‘melaban’. It is the peely bark that gave rise to the name ‘melaban’ which means ‘to fight’ in Iban and the legend associated with 'batu melaban'. As soon as the new bark emerges, the older bark will fall off. According to the legend, a stone called 'batu melaban' or philosopher's stone is found inside the tree and could bestow perpetual youth to the fortunate person who discovered it.

The family Mrytaceae is an element of the southern hemisphere in our tropical rain forests. Most members of the family are absent north of the equator but are abundant in South America, South Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Note: Photos of melaban (Iban name) or selunsur (Malay name) can be found at
http://rubberseeds.blogspot.com/search?q=selunsur

There are numerous melaban trees at Lambir Hills National Park in Miri, near the waterfall.

China-born Catholic priests in Sarawak

The Catholic Church in Sarawak (or East Malaysia) was started by the Mill Hill Missionary based in London during the reign of the Second Rajah. Unlike the Catholic priests in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore who are mostly French missionaries, most of them in Sarawak were or are Europeans from Austria and the Netherlands.

However, before the ordination of local Chinese as Catholic priest, most of the Chinese Catholic priest were China-born. I remember a few of them serving in Sibu such as the late Father Joachim Pang and Father Anthony Lam as well as Father Thomas Taam. There was also a Father Kee who after staying for some time in Sarawak could not adapt to the local climate (his nose bled frequently) and decided to move to South Korea.

They arrived in Sarawak in the 1950's through Hong Kong at a time when China was undergoing a turbulent period. They were mostly in their 20's at that time and many died here and never returned to their homeland.

One of the China-born priests I remember well was Father Joachim Pang. Father Pang has a keen interest in Chinese education and helped developed Sacred Heart Chinese Primary School in Sibu and St Paul's Primary School in Kuching.

Born on June 16, 1921, in Changchou, Province of Jilin, northeast China, he was the only son in a family of four siblings, including three younger sisters. He attended the seminary of Jilin but after the war in 1945, the seminary was closed down due to lack of funds. So, he took up a teaching post in a mission school in the same province for two years. Despite the turbulent times in China, Pang managed to complete his priestly studies and on July 6, 1952, was ordained in Hong Kong. At that time, the Vicar Apostolic of Kuching, Bishop John Vos, requested the rector of Huanan Major Seminary to send some Chinese priests to Sarawak. Father Pang chose Sarawak as the place to start his ministry. On July 17, 1952, he arrived at St Joseph’s Church in Kuching.

Tales from the rain forests

Why the termite will not attack a geronggang tree (Cratoxylon spp.).

Once upon a time, there was a great flood. All the animals in the rain forests were affected and each tried to seek refuge in whatever ways they could. The termite was no exception and tried to seek protection from different trees but to no avail. Finally, the geronggang tree agreed to give protection to the termites and thus saved the termites from the flood. After the great flood, the termites was ever grateful to the geronggang tree. That is the reason why termites never attack the geronggang tree to this day. The moral of the story is: one good turn deserves another.

How the Cobra obtained its venom

Once upon a time, there was a tyrant ruler in northern Sarawak. One day his subjects decided to present something offensive to the ruler to teach him a lesson. They decided to present him a pig's head. When the ruler saw the offensive gift, he immediately cursed and sweared the gift bearer into a snake. However, with the help of the ipoh tree (Antiaris toxicaria) by biting on its bark, the snake was able to kill the ruler using the newly acquired venom to the delight of the oppressed people. To this day, the cobra still has its venom.

Notes on Ipoh tree from wikipedia:

Antiaris toxicaria (Upas or Ipoh) is an evergreen tree in the family Moraceae, native to southeastern Asia, from India and Sri Lanka east to southern China, the Philippines and Fiji; closely related species also occur in eastern Africa. It produces a highly poisonous latex.

It is a large tree, growing to 25-40 m tall, with a trunk up to 40 cm diameter, often buttressed at the base, with whitish bark. The leaves are elliptic to obovate, 7-19 cm long and 3-6 cm broad. The fruit is a red or purple drupe 2 cm in diameter. The latex, present in the bark and foliage, contains a cardiac glycoside named antiarin, which is used as an arrow poison in blowpipes among the tribes of Borneo.

How the python lost its venom

Once there was a headman whose daughter was getting married. He decided to throw a lavish feast for the occasion and invited all the animals in the land for the feast (Gawai). After the great feast, all the animals left the party one by one except the python. The python decided to stay on for some drinking and merry-making session. After all the tuak drinking session, the python was intoxicated. The python started to vomit and its venom disappeared. Today, python is the only snake without any venom in the rain forests.

Notes on Borneo python from wikipedia:

The Borneo Python

There are two species of pythons on Borneo, the more well known of which is the bigger, in fact arguably the biggest and definitely the longest snake in the whole world, Reticulated Python(Python reticulatus). The other species is Python breitensteini the endemic Borneo Python, a.k.a. Borneo Short-tailed or Borneo Blood Python. It was until quite recently regarded as a sub-species ot the Sumatran Short-tailed Python and carried the name Python curtus breitensteini.

The Borneo Python is a short and stout snake seldom exceeding 1.5 metre (5 feet) in length. It is non-venomous but can give a nasty bite and some individuals are more agressive than others! Some will tolerate handling without trying to bite while some, even baby ones, will strike readily! Over the years working and living in plantations I have found them to be just as common as reticulated pythons, and unfortunately, as they move more slowly they are more often caught (for the pot!) and more are seen as roadkills!

Growing temperate crops in the tropics

As a child, I was always fascinated by temperate crops. I always wish that they could be grown in Sarawak. Below is the infomation on growing grapes in the tropics. I do hope someone out there will provide additional infomation.

GRAPES IN WARMER CLIMATES.

For a long time it has been known that the 'wound effect' can replace the cold requirement in grapes. This means that the plant is pruned very severely every year. In the tropics more than 90% of the previous season's growth is removed by pruning. This severe cutting back helps the plant to break the rest period. When the fruit is harvested the plant is pruned. In three or four weeks, new growth appears and in three or four months new fruits ripen. The grapes in the tropics give two regular crops each year. Once this principle was realized, grape-growing spread throughout India, Thailand and other tropical countries.

Grape vine management in the tropics is a problem: vines tend to be short-lived, produce small crops, and require special care. Grapes like a period with temperatures below 0鳦. Attempts in the tropics have not been very successful; plants continuously grow, produce clusters, rebud, remain evergreen, and eventually burn out. However, there are tricks that have been developed for use under dry tropical conditions to simulate a dormancy period. If the vine is forced into two growth cycles, one in the wet season and the other in the dry season, it will produce. By pruning at the beginning of the wet season, a growth cycle is initiated in which a small crop may result. Following this, the vine is pruned again to induce another cycle of growth. It is during the dry season that the main crop results in quality grapes. Irrigation is used in conjunction with pruning to assist the plant during this cycle. (It is a very common practice to leave too much wood on the plants when pruning and this causes poor quality and premature burn-out of plants). In the dry warm climates of Peru, India and places in Brazil, [the dry season has] simulated a dormancy period.

Muscadine grapes are native to Florida and do not require much cold. They grow as single berries rather than in bunches, and they are very resistant to pests and diseases. Most muscadines are eaten fresh.

Reminiscence of bygone days - The Sarawak House

When I was a young boy, the tallest building in Sarawak was the Sarawak House.

It was an outstanding landmark - a complex that consists of a hotel, a shopping arcade, a multistorey car park, a cinema and a restaurant, all in one. As a young child, I was, of course, impressed.

The hotel was called Premier Hotel and the restaurant, the Blue Splendour. I liked the names given to buildings in Sibu in those days (eg there used to be a discotheque was called "Confetti" and a restaurant called "Villa by the Grand" at the Grand Merdin Building - these are by-the-way thinggy, anyway).

I recall in the 1970s and early 1980s, "Blue Splendour" restaurant (together with other similar restaurants) was the place where wedding banquets were held, replacing old time favourite restaurants like Hock Chiu Lau. I thought it was a posh restaurant then.

Malcolm MacDonald (1901-1981) , the once powerful British Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia based in Singapore during the days of British Empire, stayed at the Premier Hotel when he came back to visit his good friend, the late Tun Jugah, in the 1970s. Malcolm's father was a former Prime Minister of United Kingdom. Malcolm MacDonald played a central role in the decolonization of the British Empire and wrote a beautiful book, "Borneo People"- a book that I like very much. He was instrumental in shaping the destinies of former British colonies at that time: Burma, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong at the tail end of the British Empire. Someone mentioned that he listened too much to Tun Jugah which was the reason Sarawak ended up being part of Malaysia as Malcolm has the ear of the colonial office in London. But that story is for another posting on another day!

As a young boy, we would climbed up to the upper floor of the multi-storey car park and have a vantage view of Sibu town (rivalled only by the Bukit Aup watch point) or loitered in the hotel lobby for the air-conditioned, a luxury at that time.

I remember the escalator very well. It was the first escalator in Sibu and also Sarawak (I was told). The escalator was just one way: going up from the ground floor to first floor. As a child, my brothers and I would used the escalator to go up and then walked down using the stair nearby and then up again and again.... until the supervisor, an elderly man, reprimanded us. The supervisor had a key and whenever someone accidentally pressed on the emergency button, he would used the key to restart the escalator. The escalator only operated at night and was initially like a "tourist attraction".

There was a popular night hangout called "the Bamboo House" at the ground floor of the Premier Hotel and one could hear Taiwanese singers crooning out their numbers (they were replaced by Filipino singers in the 1980s). In those days when Taiwan was still a poor developing country, Taiwanese were all over Southeast Asia, especially in Sarawak to earn a living, very much like the mainland Chinese today.

I also remember the cinema very well. It was aptly called, the King's Theatre. It was the place where my father took me to watch the movie "The Sound of Music" and other popular movies of the times. Later when I was in school, I continued to watch many movies there including those by Jackie Chan.

One morning, years later, on my way to school, I heard that the cinema was on fire. Later in school, students and teachers would peeped out of the windows to have a look at Sarawak House as my school was nearby and within eyeshot.

The cinema was, however, restored but fire broke out again at least twice a few years later. Legend has it that a lady commited suicide and her ghost continued to haunt the cinema. I have even heard of story that there is a seat in the cinema reserved for the ghost in order to appease her!

The building continued to be the tallest in this land of the hornbill until the 24-storey Wisma Bapa Malaysia in Kuching took over. Today, the Sarawak House still stands majestically in the heart of Sibu even though it is no longer the tallest in either Sibu or Sarawak. That honour has since been taken over by Wisma Bapa Malaysia in Kuching and now Wisma Sanyan, Sibu.

Food for thought - Foochow bagels

Kompia, to me, is Sibu's answer to the bagel.

Kompia is unique to the Foochows, particularly those in Sibu. The early migrant Foochows brought with them the pastry to Sibu from Southern China and there is a legend attached to it.




Some called it Foochow burger but I prefer to called it Foochow bagel.

(From the above two tmages, can anyone distinguish which is kompia and bagel)

Both are oven baked and have sprinkling of sesame seeds on top of it (and with hole in the middle too).

Nowadays, you can find kompia with meat slices or minced meat stuffed in it. But I wonder why nobody upgraded it just like bagel in the United States - filling with a choice of cheese, tuna, salmon, and so forth. Even garlic kompia would be good as garlic can help to reduce cholesterol. I guess it is time for enterprising businessmen to learn from the bagel shop in North America.