It is Saturday noon and I can hear the clear and distinct sound of the muezzin from the mosque near where I am residing. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world, thanks to the hardwork of Indian and Arab merchants who came here to trade. Admiral Zheng He, an admiral of the Chinese fleet made many forays into Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java. Admiral Zheng He happens to be a Muslim also. Many of these Chinese are to be found in West Jawa in Tangerang Regency. Especially well know are the Chinese called Cina Benteng to be found along the shores of the river Cisadane which flows into the sea of Jawa. Indonesia once had the biggest Chinese diaspora but since the 1950's many among them have preferred to return to the Chinese mainland. The customs practised by the Chinese Indonesians are a blend and mix of both Chinese and indigenous Javanese customs and traditions. Tradition known as Ciswak meaning in Indonesian as "Ritual menolak bala or bencana" in English translated as a ritual to ward off bad omen and disasters.
I have to take a short nap, the noon heat beating down on Malang city is almost suffocating. But before I take my absence, read this as a story as I may have got some of my facts wrong.
My two years in Kuala Lumpur from '71 to'72 was an eye opener and completely new experience. Although both countries share common borders and almost equal composition of ethnic groups, I did face many difficulties from a student's perspective. The two main obstacles were language and the second was food. Of the two, the earlier one posed major obstacles for me. For one thing colloquial Basa Malaysia and colloquial Basa Indonesia is as different as Mars is from Venus. And I was there to study and not to fraternize with the locals. So a major part of my life could be said to be that of the erstwhile Lone Ranger. I went around KL on my own, went meaning using my pair of legs and seldom I engaged in a tete-a-tete fearing my foreigness would be found out. I did not dare enter Chinese restaurants for fear of being shamed by my inability to converse in Chinese (Cantonese was then very prevalent in KL). So I walked and walked looking for eating places served by brown looking men (viz. the Malays). At least I did take the trouble to pick up some commonly used colloquial Malay.
Hence I discovered places like Batu Road, Petaling Street, Sultan Street, Pudu Road, Pasar Road, Imbi Road, Bukit Bintang Road etc.etc. At that time the names of roads were still in English. I was once caught in an embarassing situation and it amplified the differences between the two countries though seemingly similar in everything but yet dissimilar in everything. It happened when I wanted to buy newspaper and I walked along Batu Road and in one of the alleys I saw a Malay vendor who was selling what I was looking for. I said to him politely, "Pak berapa ongkos untuk koran ini" (it happened to be Utusan Malaysia) and he looked at me in a perplexed manner, and said "Anak ni baru muallaf ya?" I knew what he meant but I just hastily picked the newspaper and left hurriedly. He had mistook the word koran for the Muslim's holy canon the Al-Quran. In Indonesia koran means newspaper.
On weekends I would leave the hostel situated along Davidson Road and jaunt all the way to Pudu Road and Pasar Road. You could tell this was easily a pecinan (chinatown). There were swarms of Chinese all aroung. The only difference was the cacophony of sounds hitting my ears were entirely double dutch to me. Even the songs blaring from the shops located along the busy thoroughfare were playing Chinese pop melodies in a language that was alien to me as trying to figure out an ancient Germanic language. The sad part of it all I never got to taste the delicious and fragrant Chinese fare served in KL because I was just to proud to admit that I did not understand a single word of Chinese.
Above I have appended a video of a very popular motivational speaker in Indonesia. He has a doctorate and his roots are in North Sumatera. I am not a Buddhist but a Christian but I find many of the things he says in his seminars are very insightful and encourages a person to go beyond his comfort zone and take down the boundaries of prejudice, animosity, ill-will and slef-glorification that a person has erected all round him/or her. Dr. Ponijan comes from a small village, his family were poor but that did not deter him from pursing his dreams. He is humble always self-effacing man and not one bit pretentious. The thing here is to not self-judge and write people off just because someone else is of a different faith. Remember what God says in the Book of Acts, "God has no favorites.........".
With this I take leave and see all of you another day. Stay safe and always do what is right even if it is the most unpopular thing to do.
I have to take a short nap, the noon heat beating down on Malang city is almost suffocating. But before I take my absence, read this as a story as I may have got some of my facts wrong.
My two years in Kuala Lumpur from '71 to'72 was an eye opener and completely new experience. Although both countries share common borders and almost equal composition of ethnic groups, I did face many difficulties from a student's perspective. The two main obstacles were language and the second was food. Of the two, the earlier one posed major obstacles for me. For one thing colloquial Basa Malaysia and colloquial Basa Indonesia is as different as Mars is from Venus. And I was there to study and not to fraternize with the locals. So a major part of my life could be said to be that of the erstwhile Lone Ranger. I went around KL on my own, went meaning using my pair of legs and seldom I engaged in a tete-a-tete fearing my foreigness would be found out. I did not dare enter Chinese restaurants for fear of being shamed by my inability to converse in Chinese (Cantonese was then very prevalent in KL). So I walked and walked looking for eating places served by brown looking men (viz. the Malays). At least I did take the trouble to pick up some commonly used colloquial Malay.
Hence I discovered places like Batu Road, Petaling Street, Sultan Street, Pudu Road, Pasar Road, Imbi Road, Bukit Bintang Road etc.etc. At that time the names of roads were still in English. I was once caught in an embarassing situation and it amplified the differences between the two countries though seemingly similar in everything but yet dissimilar in everything. It happened when I wanted to buy newspaper and I walked along Batu Road and in one of the alleys I saw a Malay vendor who was selling what I was looking for. I said to him politely, "Pak berapa ongkos untuk koran ini" (it happened to be Utusan Malaysia) and he looked at me in a perplexed manner, and said "Anak ni baru muallaf ya?" I knew what he meant but I just hastily picked the newspaper and left hurriedly. He had mistook the word koran for the Muslim's holy canon the Al-Quran. In Indonesia koran means newspaper.
On weekends I would leave the hostel situated along Davidson Road and jaunt all the way to Pudu Road and Pasar Road. You could tell this was easily a pecinan (chinatown). There were swarms of Chinese all aroung. The only difference was the cacophony of sounds hitting my ears were entirely double dutch to me. Even the songs blaring from the shops located along the busy thoroughfare were playing Chinese pop melodies in a language that was alien to me as trying to figure out an ancient Germanic language. The sad part of it all I never got to taste the delicious and fragrant Chinese fare served in KL because I was just to proud to admit that I did not understand a single word of Chinese.
Above I have appended a video of a very popular motivational speaker in Indonesia. He has a doctorate and his roots are in North Sumatera. I am not a Buddhist but a Christian but I find many of the things he says in his seminars are very insightful and encourages a person to go beyond his comfort zone and take down the boundaries of prejudice, animosity, ill-will and slef-glorification that a person has erected all round him/or her. Dr. Ponijan comes from a small village, his family were poor but that did not deter him from pursing his dreams. He is humble always self-effacing man and not one bit pretentious. The thing here is to not self-judge and write people off just because someone else is of a different faith. Remember what God says in the Book of Acts, "God has no favorites.........".
With this I take leave and see all of you another day. Stay safe and always do what is right even if it is the most unpopular thing to do.
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