March 25, 2018

Sarawakian Local Delights : Nyekak

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the Nyekak is the indigenous durians, usually wild ones,which the Ibans value greatly. It is orange in colour and it has "whiskers" on the stalks. Today the nyakak fetches a good price because it is getting rarer due to over logging of the forests in Sarawak.

Its scientific name is Durio Kutejensis and is probably enemic to Borneo Island. The tree is rather small but can grow up to 30 feet tall. Its flowers are very pretty and are red in colour. This durian is pollinated by honey bees, birds and bats.

Some people believe that it has medicinal value. the fruit is rather small and light in weight unlike the green and commercial ones.

March 24, 2018

Sibu Tales : Liver in the Noodles and other stories




I grew up in Sibu where the butchers' corner was the most significant and popular "part" of the old market. It was where many people would gather to buy pork and share a good conversation. Probably for many it was the place to be seen and heard. So in between the ten or more stalls, two main Foochow dialects, Ming Chiang and Ku Cheng,  would be heard as Sibu then was dominantly Foochow in the past.

There was only ONE Cantonese butcher if I can remember correctly. The son, a former student of the Methodist School, whom we called Ang Ngian, later married the pretty Ah Mek (little sister) daughter of our Cantonese neighbour, whom we called Guong Tern Moo (Cantonese Ah Moo). When we were young, we used very endearing terms like that. It was not considered racist at all.

Because of a close relationship between Guong Tern Moo and my mum, one of her sons became my mother's god son (Buong Kuok). We never squirmed or felt uncomfortable when we called him by his childhood name of Ngong Tii or Silly Pig. According to his mother, he was often sickly so she changed his name and called him Silly Pig. He was healthy after that and every one knew that.

Silly Pig has been like a brother to us and a son to my mother since then . But we all became politically correct later in life and we decided to call him by his proper name. that was when he was almost in his forties!! Believe you me! And sometimes we still have a slip of tongue and say...Ngong Tii. Now in his 60's he is still making his own fresh noodles for sale and has a good laksa stall operated by his wife (the main chef) and his family. You can say that they have a roaring business. Their day starts at 2 a.m. in the morning.

Another memory of the butcher corner is the fact that every body would know what every body bought. A favourite memory is related to the buying of liver. It was rather bitter sweet for a young girl like me to hear, from adult conversation. It really proved that what grandmothers said was true : when adults talk, children should not listen..Stay away.

It involved the buying of liver. Foochows would use the term "Guan dii gang" or carry some liver.

This Foochow man went to the family butcher to buy some liver every day. And the butcher's wife was very impressed . "Wah for your wife?" This uncle did not say anything.

One day his wife went to the same butcher to get some liver for herself. The butcher's wife was perplexed to say the least.

She carelessly asked, "Wah your husband buys liver every day. Not enough ka?"

Well the man was hauled in by the wife's family, there was an "open" trial in front of the butcher's tall and the truth surfaced.

Ugly it might have been but was quite a dramatic episode in Olde Sibu then - he had been buying


liver for another woman.

We Foochows continue to love having slices of liver in our Char Chii Mien which is a very popular dish in most Foochow coffee shops.Image may contain: food
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I can easily say that no matter what the medical reports say, Foochows still get some iron supply from slices of fresh liver every now and then.

I still love buying fresh pork, hanging from huge hooks, from a local butcher in the traditional way. But times may change and butchers will have to sell their meat from an air con shop.


March 19, 2018

Sibu Tales : Making of our First Butter Cake

The first butter we Girl Guides of the Methodist School ever made was taught by Mrs. Temple at the Hoover House. We were all barely in our teens but we were keen to learn something from the West, and taught by an American. For many Mrs. Temple was the first white woman we made friends with. Besides her some of us were taught by Mrs. Coole in Sunday School and many of us had seen Miss Constantine in a distance in the primary school. But Mrs. Temple was the first American woman who really spent time with us, teaching us, coaching us and seeing us make mistakes.

Being very Foochow most of us did not understand the meaning of "creaming" method or the use of butter and sugar in the making of an American Cake.

So it was really an awesome experience for us. We were shown the steps in the making of the cake and then we were shown what an oven was.
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English Butter Cake (Colonial Style)
However, we were then very worried that as we did not have ovens in our homes, we would never be able to make a cake for our mother!!

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Indian curry pot.

Our worries were soon allayed because in the Girl Guides we were taught to improvise. So we were shown an Indian curry pot. The pot was filled with sand and the flat cover was also filled with a bit of sand. When the pot was placed over a fire, the cover was also placed with some hot charcoals. That was our Girl Guide Oven in the open air.

It was an amazing innovation. Soon many of the older Girl Guides were making butter cakes in the improvised oven. Mrs. Temple was an amazing captain.

March 17, 2018

From Police Force to Royal Malaysian Police?

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Sarawak Police was established in 1831.
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Inspector Nathan Ha. 1962  Image result for Sarawak Constabulary


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Sibu 1962

Before 1963, the Sarawak Constabulary was the name of the force which guarded local law and order.
In 1963, the Sarawak Constabulary joined the Malayan Police Force to form the Royal Malaysia Police.

Almost a year after Independence Day, on 24 July 1958, the King of Malaysia, Tuanku Abdul Rahman Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhamad, bestowed the title Royal to the Malayan Federations Police Force.

 In 1963, the Royal Federation of Malayan Police (RFMP), the North Borneo Armed Constabulary and the Sarawak Constabulary were merged to form the Royal Malaysia Police.

The Singapore Police Force became a component unit of the RMP until Singapore's independence in 1965.

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Sibu Tales : Chinese Schools

Where the Fochows settled from 1901 onwards, primary schools would have been set up by the villagers.

Many of the villagers would get together to form a committee and one of the leaders would donate his land to build both a Methodist Church and a primary school.

I would follow up this posting with individual postings on how each primary school developed in the Rajang valley.







This map shows existing Chinese Primary Schools in the 21st century.

So stay tune.






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March 7, 2018

Nang Chong Tales : Padi Field Eels



Padi field eels are going out of fashion in Sarawak. People don't seem to be able to catch them any more. Perhaps they are really getting extinct.
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My late Grandmother, Ngie Mah, used to talk about her days in Minqing. She came from Kay Tou Buoh and was sold to become my maternal grandfather's child bride at the age of 5. However, although she came to Sarawak a little later when she was about 10, she could remember many things from my great grand parents' village in Minqing's Lurk Du where Wong Nai Siong also come from.

One of her favourite stories was how she and her friends would go to the paddy fields to look for eels. Those were slippery  fish which she had no fear of. Although she was not the one to clean the fish, she would always remember how sweet the eel tasted. She would describe how tasty the dishes were and how they were cooked. Ern Chow or red wine lees was a favourite addition to the preparation of fried eels, or braised eels.
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There was no shortage of food if one was creative and willing to forage for them according to her. Her other skill was to look for pangee (or the red crabs ) to make crab sauce.

In Nang Chong she told us that as she raised her children, she and my uncles would try their best to look for different padi field eels )between the first world war and second world war.) She left Nang Chong for Fujian just before the Second World War broke out, in order to build a family house there with the wealth the family garnered from rubber, but unfortunately she lost it when the Japanese came to destroy everything. She was quite broke as she made her way back to Sarawak with my second Uncle and his bride. She also accompanied several young children of relatives from Fujian to Sarawak. God was faithful as He blessed her and all those people who came with her.

I really think that whenever she remembered the food of Fujian, like Hu Liu, she would have some sadness in her heart.

In 2011 I had a chance to visit Pingnan and Minqing where I found eels in the market and also had a taste of several dishes of eels (cooked in different ways).

The eel is easy to clean and is done in the market. The hawker would take the eel out of the basin and push the head of the fish through a nail. He would then slit the throat, down to the tail, clean the eel and then put the cleaned eel into a plastic bag. One KATI of eels would be only a few RMB. A good meal would be made up of about 2 katis accordhng to my hostess. I would not have liked to forage for my own eels in Minqing.

From where my paternal grandfather came from, Wun Chieh, near King Sar, Fuzhou Province, there was no eel as Wun Chieh was in the mountains. My great grandfather and his father were bamboo growers, herbal foragers and vegetable growers. They did hunt for rabbits and wild animals for game. Chickens and pigs would have been their main protein source.

March 6, 2018

Sibu Tales : Relatives of Mrs. Mary Hoover visiting Sibu


Marshall and Velvet Douglas came to Sibu in March, 2014 to trace the history and footsteps of Mary Hoover in Sarawak. 

Mary Young Hoover was a grand aunt of Velvet who is a descendant of the Young family, who served as missionaries in Malaya. 

Mrs. Mary Hoover, of English origin, initially served in Malaya, and was an expert in Bahasa Malay. She even wrote a small dictionary (English-BM) She was introduced to Rev James Hoover, an American missionary serving in Sarawak. She spent 36 years with Rev James Hoover in Sibu, looking after the Foochow immgrants. She set up the Mary Hoover Kindergarten and the Yuk Ing Girls School in Sibu which became the fore runner of the Methodist School, a premier school in Sarawak.

After the death of Rev James Hoover in 1936, she continued to work in Sibu until the war. During the WW2 she was in Perth, but returned to Sibu in 1946. She was aging then. However she was able to choose 2 of her good students, Tiong Yuk Ging and Tiong Ing Lang, to succeed her as principals of the kindergarten. The Yuk Ing School became Methodist Primary School. Later in 1949, the Methodist Secondary school was set up in Queensway.




Chinese newspaper article about the Douglases' visit.



Ruth Young (sister of Mrs. Mary Young Hoover) and Pamela Young who came to visit Sibu, Sungei Merah. Photo taken on the bridge. 

Velvet chatting with Ms Teng Lung Ming (retired Principal), one of the successors of Mary Hoover, Principal of the Mary Hoover Kindergarten, Sibu established in 1918.

Wong Meng Lei and Pro Steve with the Douglases

Velvet and Marshall Douglas in the Hoover Memorial Garden with Pro Steve

Mrs. Mary Hoover retired after much persuasion by the Foochow Methodist leaders of Sibu. She was in Singapore for a year and then finally chose Perth, where she had a brother. She was visited by many Sibu students who studied in Australia. Many of her GIRLS from Yuk Ing School also supported her.

She passed away in 1962 and was buried in Perth.

The Douglases were given a good tour of the Sibu mission area and followed the footsteps of Rev and Mrs. James Hoover in the Rajang Basin with Meng Lei Wong and a few others.

 Following the visit, Velvet completed her book on the Young Family and had it published privately.

We were glad that she showed us old photos of the missionaries of Malaya and especially those of the Young Family. We had such connections with her through shared history.

Marshall and Velvet Douglas also visited a primary school set up by Rev James Hoover with Meng Lei. They were happy to meet a school security guard who was in full uniform. This wooden school (Boi Ing ) was founded by Rev James Hoover for the Foochow pioneers. It is the alma mater of Meng Lei who came from this village called 24 acres.

Marshall Douglas was a Boys Brigade member in the UK.


NOTE : In Dec 2017, we received the sad news of Marshall's passing, suddenly and unexpectedly he passed away at the beginning of Sept 2017 from leukaemia. May his soul rest in peace.


Soh Mien on First Day of Lunar New Year

 Today 10.2.2024 is the first day of the New Lunar Year of the Dragon. Yes I have cooked the chicken and made the soh mien. Happy New Year!!...