Column: Over a cup of coffee

Published in The Borneo Post

Sunday, August 24, 2008
 
 
Penang revisited

SOMEHOW it seems different travelling on the highway up the north of the peninsula from Kuala Lumpur, through the three Pakatan Rakyat–controlled states of Selangor, Perak and Penang.

My destination earlier this week was Permatang Pauh, which almost everyone in any part of the country in Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah know is now the focus of much attention because it appears to be the impenetrable fortress of PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Barisan Nasional (BN) big guns, almost all down there to win it in the Aug 26, 2008 by-election.

It brought us to places that, if it’s not for the by-election, many of us had never been to before or likely to go to in Penang — often described in tourist brochures as ‘The Pearl of the Orient’ or the Second Singapore in its free duty days.

Most visitors arriving by road would either by-pass or pass through mainland Penang, perhaps to get off at the Butterworth KTM rail station before crossing by ferry to the island or drive past Butterworth on the highway to cross to the island by one of Asia’s longest bridges. The airport is on the island, adjacent to Penang’s high-tech industrial area in Bayan Lepas.

It’s from Permatang Pauh on the mainland opposite Penang island, taking you along the highway to Kulim, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur in the south.

I went to Permatang Pauh which is part of mainland Penang with several friends from Sarawak to visit some places and friends. Our van driver — although born on the island of Penang but grew up, lives and works in Kuala Lumpur — is not exactly familiar with the locality, so we actually got lost many times and had to occasionally stop along the way to seek direction from locals.

It was fun though stopping along the way, and political party campaign workers were rather obliging to hop in the van to show us where we wanted to go, for which appreciation was shown with a tip for the service.

There is the main Kulim-Ipoh highway which you have to use sometimes before going off into smaller roads, passing through Malay kampongs and landing at ‘pakan kecil’ or small towns — like Penantin where we were to meet up with some friends in Yayasan Aman (opposite the Chinese cemetery) within the Permatang Pauh district.

Without the help of a local coming along to show us the way, it would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack — we could never have got to the places we wanted to, especially at night.

Thus we became familiar with name places like Taman Ciku, Permatang Pasir, Taman Seri Janggus, Kampung Tok Elong, Penanti, Tanah Lapang Kampong Tun Sardon, Permatang Tengah Hujong and MPSP Mini Stadium in Permatang Rawa, Seberang Jaya.

Getting lost momentarily in the maze of roads that seem to connect to each other can be a fun experience, we found out. Locals are a helpful lot and a small tip to show one’s appreciation is always welcomed.

Nothing’s free anyway but that doesn’t mean the locals are not hospitable. They are, and are indeed a friendly lot, as they always say of Penangites.

Based on the Election Commission’s electorate statistics, there is one Chinese to every four Malay voter, which may well reflect the racial breakdown of the population in Permatang Pauh (with a small percentage of Indians).

The Penang Chinese speak with a slightly different accent, rather melodic, perhaps the result of the influence of the Nyonya-Baba culture that is part of the culture of what was known in the past as the Straits Settlement states — Penang, Malacca and Singapore.

Sarawak Hokkiens find that Penang Chinese give themselves away easily by their Hokkien accent.

Food? Whether it’s at the warung or kopi tiam in Butterworth or Georgetown, the most popular everyday fare of local Chinese is the ‘char kway teow hum’ (fried ‘kway teow’ with clams). It’s rather like regular visitors to Kuching or lovers of local fare insisting on having ‘Kuching kolok mee’ and the ‘Sarawak laksa’.

Penang’s own version of ‘laksa’ has a much different taste –sourish — and one of the most popular places on the island for ‘Penang laksa’ is in Air Hitam.

The three-star hotel we stayed in near Lebuh Farquhar along the city seafront is close to many street food shops, one of which even has a makeshift dance floor with a one-man live music on a nearby stage, surrounded by food stalls offering local and western cuisine. Seafood is plenty and reasonably priced, so are beer and fresh fruit juices. Value for money. No wonder tourists love Penang, its people, myriad of cultures and customs and, of course, glorious food.

Those who take to the dance floor are mostly elderly couples, probably retired persons, for an evening of fun, partaking of food and drinks and actually doing some physical exercise on the dance floor to the background music and songs in various tempos ranging from cha cha cha and limbo rock to rock ‘n’ roll and tango, almost re-living the atmosphere of the 1940s Shanghai before the Communist stopped all the ‘decadent’ culture imported from the West.

It’s a place very much patronised by locals although some foreign tourists occasionally find their way there, more to partake of the seafood including the famous ‘lok lok’ (dipped-in food on sticks). My fellow Sarawakians, including a lawyer whose last visit to Penang was a long time ago, enjoyed the food and entertainment enormously and promised themselves to return with their loved ones at home.

Then there’s the mamak stalls, selling ‘nasi kandar’ that Penang is equally famous for, apart from other local halal delicacies. I used to frequent the ‘nasi kandar’ shop at the corner of a row of pre-War Penang shops near Komtar. Heard that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is one of the regulars.

We wanted to explore more beyond Batu Ferringhi, a world-famous popular beach resort destination with rows of pubs and restaurants along the highway, to sample the king of fruits, the durian, grown in plantations along Jalan Teluk Bahang and then travel round the island to Balik Pulau, Teluk Kumbar, Bayan Lepas, Bayan Baru, Bandar Gelugor and Jelutong before returning to Georgetown.

But there was no time for sightseeing as we wanted to travel back to mainland Penang to listen to some of the BN and Pakatan ceramah to get a feel of how things were, what the issues were, how locals felt about the candidates and so forth.

We saw much of the back lanes, as the Mercedes van carrying its six passengers weaved through various parts of Permatang Pauh, Bandar Bukit Mertajam and Bukit Mertajam in Sebarang Prai.

It made us realise how lucky and indeed proud we are to know that when it comes to landscaping, cleanliness, beauty and charm, Kuching and most towns in Sarawak are equal to none. Rusty corrugated iron or zinc roofs are still common in that part of Penang. We used to see those little structures in Jalan Petanak or even in Abell Road in the 1960s and even 1970s but they are gone now.

Kudos to our Kuching City South and Kuching City North Commission for doing a mighty fine job to keep Kuching City clean, tidy and beautifully landscaped.