Belacan, Politicians and 'Otak Udang'

 

 

I was quite upset when I read the above headline yesterday.  It's not fair and it's tantamount to being racist.  In the first place,  using otak belacan  to denigrate the brain of PAP's P Ramasamy is not applicable.  After all,  he is a Malaysian Indian and certainly belacan is not his staple food seasoning.  It certainly can be applied to  a Malay like the author of this article,  unless he is of the elite Jawi Peranakan extraction, but now registered as Malay.

Secondly it is an insult to a staple Malay condiment like belacan.

In Indonesia the equivalent is trasi , mentioned in the ancient Sundanese scriptures.

 So as not to confuse the origin of trasi/belacan :

Zheng He (or Cheng Ho)  (1371 - 1433), diplomat-admiral from the Ming Dynasty even brought back this condiment to his homeland!   Although today, most of the producers and distributors of belacan in Malaysia are Chinese and the popularity of Chinese Peranakan Cuisine has elevated the status and glamour surrounding the humble belacan.  Growing up in the 50s, 60s and 70s, I recall how people turn up their noses (in more ways than one) at the taste, odour and purchase of belacan.  

In the early books on Malay/Indonesian/Southeast Asian cooking, there seemed to be a bit of 'shyness' in using the word belacan, instead it was described as shrimp paste.

As for the udang geragau, (Singapore Malays called it geragur), my Emak loved to make fritters, a mixture of the shrimps, flour, egg, onions and chillies.  It was not only tasty, but it was cheap and muai, which means just a little bit or expenditure goes a long way.

Nowadays you can't buy geragur for love or money.  But this Melayu belacan (Maznoor Hamid that is) stores a good stock of belacan in her larder to titillate the appetite of both herself and her Anglo-Scottish spouse who cannot get enough of sambal blacan and sambal pedas petai/ikan bilis.  

Ash's stock of belacan

It all started with my Emak's feeding of her skinny Mat Salleh son-in-law because she thinks her daughter is not cooking enough for him, like a typical loving and dutiful wife should.

The source of the addiction to chillie and belacan - my mother!

That is my paean to belacan, a traditional ingredient for traditional Malay cooking and should never ever be used to describe the cerebral failings of anyone, especially politicians - whatever shade of ethnicity - in Malaysia.  There are many other words to choose from, words like  dull, doltish, dim, idiotic, ignorant, asinine etc etc.

Whenever as children, we acted and said something stupid to Emak, she would just exclaim "Bodoh! Kepala Otak Udang!" (Stupid. Prawn-head brains!).  That is because the prawn's excreta is in the head.  That is the only asinine connection to belacan which is made from fermented prawns .  Still the Malays do have a refined alternative to the obscene use of the word "shit-head"!!!!!  

Here is the author of that article in Malaysia Today.

What is PEJUANG?

 May Allah keep our Tanah Air in excellent physical and spiritual health this Ramadan.

Incensed

 Found this new (for me) word  when I was reading the news from UK this morning.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

The headlines read:

Headline from the Daily Mail.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/13/plymouth-shootings-may-be-a-sign-the-incel-culture-is-spreading

INCEL.  That's the new word.  This septuagenarian has been bombarded by so many new fangled  words, acronyms and terminologies from techno-language, from msg (not mono-sodium glutamate) lingo and even smiley speech, so this one is just another stopover on my learning curve.

So off I went to the Internet because it would be futile to search in my reliable 1960 OED dictionary unless I have the January 2021 edition!

INCEL.  It means ....

From Merriam-Webster

From the Cambridge Dictionary

Well, it has to do with that crotchety obsession of the the 21st century - Sex!!  And it has its very own cultural connotations like the word woke.

Now, what would my lovely Macik Ayik ask me if she was still here today. 

Sex tu apa 'nak?

[ In the late 1950s my Emak would despatch me to Macik Ayik and Pacik Mat's house in Kampung Bukit Panjang for the December school holidays.  They had no children and I loved being with them because Macik Ayik especially, pampered me no end.  On December 25 1956, I was sitting on the amben and chatting with Macik Ayik and I said to her .

"Macik, hari 'ni Hari Christmas"

She gave me an indulgent smile and asked. "Christmas tu apa 'nak?" ]

'Nuff said.

Looking at the political culture that has been breeding in my Tanah Air, (especially during the pandemic) and the the bog-standard quality of our political leaders and leadership ......

....... and the cretinous reputation of our MPs in our revered Parliament recently ......

...... this news today is to be expected.

Today's headlines.

I reckon there are some or maybe all parts of our politicians that cannot be reached - it's like sloshing in a bottomless pit of  the seven deadly sins:  of pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth!

Maybe it is time for this septuagenarian to contribute another word close enough to INCEL relevant to our particular political culture.

I do fancy this word - INPOLIMP - which refers to those who are are stricken with the  Involuntary Politically Impotent virus - a neurotic obsession about political impotence.

I shall borrow the Merriam-Webster template to define INPOLIMP which includes :

(a) ...... extreme resentment and hostility towards those who are sexually (politically) active.

(b) ....lack of sexual (political) power - many of them placing the blame on women ( the incumbent government).

(c) ...... who express rage at women (the ruling and other political parties) for denying them sex (perks to plunder plus the Premiership) and who frequently fantasize about violence (statutory declarations) and celebrate mass shooters ( votes of no confidence and party-hopping).

INPOLIMP  brings with it a waft of self-righteousness  and victimhood disguised as a fragrant incense supposedly to  give  power  and consent back to the Rakyat.

But why is AsH so incensed?  Aren't you??