Warm greeting to you all. Well what a fantastic start Ginny and Brylie along with their team gave us. Not easy to arrange events for two of the main festivals here in Malaysia so close together Chinese New Year and then Thaipusam. We finish February with a talk about Feminism in Islam and I see by the numbers of bookings you are all also looking forward to discovering more about this subject. Thanks to Joanne for making this possible by introducing us to her friend who is here attending a gathering of 200 people from 55 countries, all part of a global movement advocating justice and equality in the Muslin family. I feel we will be in for another treat. Our program for March starts on the 4th with a lecture from Noah Jackson, some of you might already have read the article about him in the Expat magazine this month. This event looks like we will be in for another fascinating morning of discovery. We are hoping to have a Travel Tips morning this we will let you know about by email. We are looking for more members who can share with us their travels around Asia. We are losing some of our intrepid travellers. So no more relaxing holidays you will have to be thinking how to put a program together for us. Our last event for March is on a very different tone, about abuse of women in the home which is still happening out there, so relevant for us to see how other country’s cultures try to help with this heart breaking problem. The Executive Director of Woman’s Aid Organisation will be giving us a talk on how they have been working with these abused families over 26 years helping to give them the courage to start a new life for themselves. I hope we support this talk. Everyone should feel safe in their own home. We start April with the very popular talk on Malaysian Names and Titles by Colette Hassan. She has forgiven us for double booking on the 4th February when this talk was originally planned to take place. So thank you Colette. This is the time for our memberships to be renewed. Renewal and application forms can be downloaded for our website. Without renewing membership you will not receive the Newsletters so could miss all the interesting events we have planned for you. Annie will also have the forms at reception area before the next meeting. Explorers groups have restarted after the long holiday break. The members have some very interesting trips arranged. If anyone is interested in joining these groups please contact Dawn Babcock. All the Committee members’ contacts are listed on page 2 of the Newsletter. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have. Elise Hill PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
REPORTS FROM PREVIOUS EVENTS Chinese New Year Talkat the Old China Café with Pearlly Chua On Wednesday, February 4, MCG members chose to welcome the year of the Ox in style and so gathered to attend a talk and lunch in the pleasant olden-day ambience of the Old China Café. The turnout was good. At least 51 members joined in at this festive event. The Old China Café used to be an old guild hall where the Selangor & Federal Territory Laundry Association had its seat. The guild was set up at the turn of the century and moved to this part of Chinatown in the 1920s. Much of the association’s original furnishings have been kept, including framed photos of its founders dating back to 1917. This creates an atmosphere in which you almost feel as if you were actually a part of the then era. What made the experience even more real was the moment when our guest speaker Pearlly Chua walked in. She was dressed in traditional Nyonya attire, that being a beautiful batik sarong topped with a transparent kebaya complete with antique silver belt and gold kerongsang (a set of 3 brooches that hold the kebaya together) and coiffed in a chignon like the Nyonya ladies of yesteryears used to. Pearlly is known as the actress who performs an award winning “one-woman” play entitled “Emily of Emerald Hill”. She now has since performed it publicly for over 130 times. Emily Gan, the protagonist in this monologue is a Nyonya who lives on Emerald Hill in Singapore. Audiences get a peek into her daily life and hear her life story. The play will be staged at the Precious Old China Café, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur, on May 8 till 11 of this year. Personally I would recommend it. I have seen it a couple of years ago and found it impressive how Pearlly skillfully entertains the public in a monologue in two acts. This morning she again appeared as the elegant, delicate Nyonya, all in style, totally dressed up with beautiful jewellery, hairdo and make-up. She gave us an overview of all customs and rituals traditionally adhered to before and during the 15-day festivities of Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival is observed according to the flow of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. It culminates with a Lovers’ Day or what is now known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day on the 1st full moon of this 1st Lunar month called the Chap Goh Mei – the 15th day. Pearlly informed us that for Chinese New Year the Chinese travelled back to their family home. A week or two before, family members do spring cleaning of the house, so the old is cleared and the New Year can start. For many Chinese who practice Taoism, this is the time to appease three important deities worshipped in the house for the prosperity of the family. They are the Jade Emperor, the most senior in this divine hierarchy, next comes the Kitchen God followed by the Earth Guardian. The altar table - the seat of the Jade Emperor - is placed in the centre of the living room. The Kitchen god is placed in the kitchen and Earth Guardian is placed on the floor below the altar table. The owner of the Old China Café had set up a beautifully decorated altar and Pearlly explained the symbolic meaning behind all the decorations, the different types of food and offerings. All was done to please the minor deities. Plenty of gifts of food and ‘money’ are showered upon them so that abundance can be expected for the coming year, she told us. The gifts are to bribe the Kitchen God and the Earth Guardian, so they would report only the good deeds of different members of the family to the Jade Emperor. We tasted different traditional cookies usually served and were also presented with a tangerine each. Pearlly explained what the different types of cookies were made of and the tedious process of preparing some of them. Tangerines and oranges are symbolic of gold. So if you give your friends and family oranges you give them gold. According to custom, one would return the gesture resulting in an exchange of these seasonal fruits in even numbers. In case you want to present 4 oranges you can do so by giving them in pairs. Pearlly further explained that the number 4 pronounced as ‘sei’ in Cantonese sounded like the word death and therefore was not to be uttered at all. The topic of death must be avoided during Chinese New Year. So children are especially instructed not to use those words. On the Seventh day of Chinese New Year Yee Sang or Lo Sang (raw fish salad) is a must- have on the dinner table. On the fifteenth day – Chap Goh Mei being the last day of the New Year there is a display of fireworks and a street procession called Chingay. This is still practised in Singapore and Penang. Performers dress up as various Chinese mythical characters while acrobats perform balancing acts. Young ladies carry colourful lanterns led by lion and dragon dancers parade the streets with Chinese musicians clearing the way with loud music. Pearlly ended the talk with invitation to lunch. Here we enjoyed different types Nyonya delicacies prepared by the kitchen of the Old China Café, the highlight being the Lo Sang. We wished each other long life and a prosperous New Year while tossing the Yee Sang together. A mixture of finely shredded fresh and pickled vegetables and pears, flavoured with five-spice powder and plum sauce topped with raw fish slices were tossed by all at the table using chopsticks. It is believed that the higher the food is tossed the better the prosperity and luck for the year. The delicious spread included spring rolls, top hats, blue-bell flower coloured rice cooked in fragrant coconut milk, fried chicken, a rich omelette and mixed fried vegetables completed the menu. Luckily we could wash it down with some nice Chinese tea that took care of digestion and elimination of fats. In conclusion more prosperity was added to our year of the Ox with a thundering Lion Dance. Ardy Timmer
Thaipusam.. A talk at the Temple of fine arts All of us living in Malaysia have had our curiosity aroused at the time of Thaipusam and have a lot of questions about the festivities. The talk at the ‘Temple of Fine Arts’ unveiled all the deep symbolism and mysticism surrounding Thaipusam. Cheryl shared with us the amazing photographs she had taken of the various acts of devotion and her personal experiences during past celebrations. Thaipusam is a festival celebrated by Tamils in Malaysia. In fact the celebrations in Malaysia are larger than even in India. Thai is a month in the Indian calendar[jan/feb] and pusam is the constellation of stars that coincides with the full moon. Thaipusam is celebrated on 3 days of the full moon. Full moon represents full realization. Shankar explained …in the Hindu Pantheon there are 6 main deities and these deities are manifested in thousands of forms. All human relationships and emotions are personified to have a personal link with the creator. These are clothed in a lot of symbolism. During this festival which lasts 3 days devotees pay homage to LORD MURUGAN. He is considered the manifestation of valor, beauty, youthfulness, vitality, masculinity, and the abode of happiness. The symbolism around Lord Murugan is fascinating. His vehicle is the peacock. The peacock feathers look like eyes symbolizing the many eyes of the lord, he can see everything. The blue color of the peacock represents the sky. All pervading, all encompassing, infinite. Lord Murugan has a banner with a Cockerel on it. This represents time. In other words the Lord is above time and space. Lord Murugan carries a Vel. This is the symbol of spiritual wisdom and destroyer of evil. It is wide at the top and narrows down. Be broadminded and all inclusive, but be very focused in reaching a specific goal, it seems to say. The spiritual essence of Thaipusam is to destroy negative qualities in us and bring forth good qualities so that we become as close to our creator as possible. Thaipusam is a period of intense self restraint and in extreme cases body mortification. Devotees fast for a period of 40 – 45 days before Thaipusam. They eat one meal, wear no footwear, practice silence, no comforts, chant God’s name and read scriptures. Usually they fast with a motive, asking the lord for a blessing. But by the end of it , the intrinsic spiritual bliss that they experience is what makes it all so beautiful. On the day of Thaipusam devotees celebrate. Feasting does not mean over indulgence, it is the celebration of having the will power of fulfilling a vow. On Thaipusam devotees undertake a pilgrimage to the Batu Caves ,while engaging in various acts of devotion and thanksgiving . They shave off their hair – symbol of defacing your ego and pride. Get pierced . Basically mortification of the self denying the body as ourselves and affirming our spirit. Devotees carry Kudams [pots] filled with milk to the batu caves. they show their devotion and love to the Lord by bathing the Lord with milk, water and turmeric. The procession starts at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, in the heart of the city and proceeds for 15 kilometers to the caves, an 8-hour journey culminating in a flight of 272 steps to the top. People do charitable tasks as well. They distribute food and water, cool the roads where the devotees walk barefoot and so on. The talk had us spellbound. Cheryl’s pictures brought everything to life. It took quite a few reminders to get the group to break up and go for lunch. The lunch at the Annalakshmi was a fitting finale to a vey interesting morning. Freshly prepared and a large variety to choose from, and served with a lot of humility and love. A real privilege for all of us who attended. Sapna Walia
Getting SMART about Flooding! Flooding is one of Kuala Lumpur’s perennial problems that has been well documented since 1881. The worst on record occurred in 1926, at Dataran Merdeka, when even the vaults of the Chartered Bank were flooded. When the water subsided, the sodden banknotes were laid out to dry on the Padang, under armed guard! Eighty one years later, in 2007, the same area was again submerged under 2-3 metres of water causing such severe damage that businesses still have not returned to the complex underneath the square. In December the MCG were guests of the SMART Motorway Control Centre to learn how the flooding problems of KL are being resolved. Our host for the morning Public Relations director Wan Azhar explained in his introduction that the Malaysian Government had tendered for solutions to KL flooding problems. One of the proposals was to plan a canal system around the city so creating a Venice of the east. That romantic scheme was not selected. Instead the SMART option was chosen, because not only did it address the issue of flooding, but also KL’s other major problem – traffic congestion. SMART is the acronym for Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel, which is a dual functional tunnel, being capable of carrying both traffic and flood water. The 9.7 km long water tunnel starts at the estuary of the Ampang River in Kampung Berembang and runs underneath the city before it ends at a storage reservoir in Taman Desa. A four-km double decker road tunnel is incorporated within the stormwater tunnel. The project cost close to 2 million ringgit and took four years to complete, opening to the public in June 2007. This major engineering feat has involved the co-operation of Gamuda Berhad, the Malaysian Mining Corporation Berhad, the Malaysian Highway Authority and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia. It is the longest stormwater tunnel in South East Asia and the longest multi purpose tunnel in the world. The SMART tunnel operates in three different modes. Under normal conditions the tunnel does not carry any water, when the second mode is operational, floodwater is diverted into the lower tunnel and traffic flow continues as normal on the upper two chambers. Activating the third mode closes the tunnel to traffic as automated gates are opened to allow the floodwaters to pass through. After such incidents 2-4 days are allowed for the chambers to be thoroughly cleaned and routine safety checks completed before the motorway is reopened. Our meeting took place in the Control Room, which has a bank of seventy screens that monitor the tunnels that are overseen by shifts of three personnel around the clock. Twenty four-hour surveillance means that assistance can be given to drivers when required and the team is standby to change the function of the motorway at short notice. Mr. Azhar answered our numerous questions and told many anecdotes to explain the process of building, operating and maintaining the SMART tunnel. He also informed us that there was a hope that this world record engineering achievement could be shared and showcased in an information centre at the site. Diana Cooper BOOK CLUB REPORTS Title: The Reluctant Fundamentalist The story tales place in a restaurant in Lahore where the two men share a meal. During the meal, Changez relates his life story detailing his success at Princeton, and how he gets a job with a prestigious American firm specialising in ruthless appraisals of ailing companies targeted for takeover. He becomes one of their best employees, enjoying the financial rewards and social recognition it brings him, but at the same time acknowledging that these rewards also come from his adopting the values and attitudes of the American corporate culture. He relates the course of his unusual relationship with Erica who has been badly affected by the death of her childhood sweetheart and now seems unable to engage in another love affair. In September 2001, when he felt pleased by the attack on the World Trade Centre, he realises that he has more in common with the immigrants in America, than he will ever have with his American colleagues. This is one of the turning points of the novel and sets him on course to return to his roots in Lahore. The tale then becomes ever more tense as he leaves his highflying job and goes home to work as a university lecturer. With most of the group present, we had a very lively and passionate debate about many aspects of the story including the interpretation of the clues, and the ending of the novel, but we were unable to reach a consensus. Read the book and decide for yourself! Fran Jones
Title: Madeline, the story of Noor Inayat Khan We discovered that this book, a biography of Noor Inayat Khan, a British Special Operations Executive in World War II born in 1914, was out of print, after we had chosen it for our Dec Book Club meeting. Nevertheless, we managed to get together enough copies, and although the general consensus was that this book did not merit selection for a monthly read, we had a fruitful discussion. There is no doubt that Noor was an unusual woman, and in her short life—she died at the age of 30—she enjoyed and suffered from experiences that were diverse and broad, even by the standards of the early twentieth century. Her father, who came from a princely Muslim Indian family, was a well-known musician and teacher of Sufism, and travelled from India to the US, Russia (where Noor was born), England, eventually settling in France. The early chapters of the book focus on Sufism, which had been dropped in the original publication of the book, because the publishers of the copies we read wanted to focus on this aspect of Noor’s background. Our book group felt that the original publishers were more in tune with what the reader may enjoy.Noor’s idyllic upbringing in France, surrounded with music and Sufi gatherings, ended abruptly with the death of her father when she was 13. Her mother went into a prolonged and terminal decline, opting out of life altogether. Noor, a gifted musician and bright young woman, took responsibility for her younger siblings, and succeeded in studying child psychology at the Sorbonne and music at the Paris conservatory. She also wrote poetry and stories for children, some of which were broadcast on radio or printed in magazines, as well as having a book published. Noor fled France with her family in 1940 to London where she joined the WAAF, and later the SOE. An attempt to escape in Paris failed, and she was sent to Germany in 1943, and shot in Dachau in 1944. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross. She was a naive and sensitive woman, not suited to the role of a spy, but was nevertheless sent undercover to France as Madeleine, a radio operator. Her capture was inevitable, but she showed such resolve when interrogated by the Germans that she gave away no information, although her notebooks were found, she having misunderstood what it meant to file The writer of this biography, Jean Overton Fuller, was a friend and contemporary of Noor. While she gave thoughtful background to Noor’s life, she introduced herself into the book at a late stage, which seemed out of place. She was neither unbiased observer nor central character to the book. Her admiration of Noor sung out through the pages, while someone a little more detached could have presented a more balanced view. Overton Fuller has written a number of biographies most notably of Francis Bacon, but this book demonstrates that although the subject matter may be worthy a book, her treatment of it does not constitute a good read. If anyone is looking for an outstanding first hand account of the SOE, let me recommend Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks. Hilary Wynter Title: Eat, Pray, Love In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want – husband, country home, and successful career – but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion particularly over the issue of whether or not to have children. The end result was a bitter and painful divorce swiftly followed by a disastrous affair all mixed up with a nasty dose of depression. To recover and find herself again Gilbert decides to spend a year abroad or rather 4 months in 3 different countries. She sets out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy (Eat), devotion in India (Pray), and on the island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence (Love). The majority of our book group thoroughly enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love. They liked its humour, Gilbert’s witty writing style and felt that, although not as deep a book as might be expected, it was a good light read that got you thinking about the way we lead our lives in this complicated modern world. Many people enjoyed the travel aspect of the book, the wonderful descriptions of the food in Italy and of the three sections ‘Bali’ was the most popular.
NEWSLETTER REPORT Newsletter This is the March issue of the newsletter. The next issue will be in April 2009. The deadline for sending in your articles/photos is March 8. Please email your write ups to The write-ups should not be more than 350 words. They should be in Times New Roman font size 11. Jaishree Balasubramanian
BOOKING POLICY FOR EVENTS Reservations Wait List Payments Cancellations Refunds Eligibility Event Participation Eligibility Your co-operation with the Booking Policy would be much appreciated by the Events Planning Team.
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