Embong & Kembong: What's In A Name?

In the Arab-influenced Malay world, a name is everything which when translated into real terms means upholding one's dignity. Hence all Malay names of Arabic origin mean something beautiful, luminous or illuminating, virtuous, strong or humbling oneself before God. Examples are Nur (light), Karim (pure), Abdullah (slave of God), etc. On the other hand many Malays retain their pre-Islamic Malay names which largely have no other meaning than being just names or the obvious. In some cases, some old Malay names, usually abbreviated, are meant to denigrate their owners in an attempt to deflect praise or unwanted attention of the hex kind. Thus we have Wok short for Burok, Lat for Bulat and Tompang. Examples of Malay names with obvious meaning are Hitam, Puteh and Manis. Other names have no obvious meaning - Embong, Baharum, Nong Chik.

Since names are supposed to uphold your dignity, woe is a Malay with a no meaning or derogatory name! They go through life being liable to be the subject of amusement or furrowed brows.

There's a story of a Kelantan student in Cairo whose name happens to be Nik Abdullah bin Nik Mohammad. Now Nik, along with Wan, Raja and Tengku, in Malay society, belong to the high-born. But in Cairo Nik is an obscene word or so I'm told. Imagine the mortification Nik Abdullah had to endure every time an Arab hints or poke fun at the contradiction in his name!

A fellow student from Terengganu whose name is Embong, on the other hand, whenever he is asked what his name means, would quickly invent an acceptable answer such as "Warrior."

Kembong? That's the name of a fish.

Don't confuse Kembong with Cik Siti Wan Kembang though as the latter's hidden meaning might open another Pandora's box of cultural baggage, if you ask me!

Kartaka, or is it Kartika

I've been meaning to poke at this hornet's nest or pandora's box of a topic but for one reason or another kept postponing it until now. And heck how do you spell this Indonesian sounding name? That the girl - young woman - has high cheekabones doesn't help to allay some of my long held prejudices either.

Now, see, this court order to cane her for consuming alcohol is derived from the Quran, so you can't argue with that. But I will. For the rest of this entry. No, I will argue for it. No I will argue against it.

Along with drinking alcohol, not in excess mind you, only a sip, the wearing of indecent clothing such as trousers also entitles you to 40 lashes. See, the holy prophet never wore them. He also ate lamb and its grubby gravy with his fingers in a common large plate along with his family and guests. Luckily no H1N1 during those times. Only B1N1, all 43 of them. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

There are a host of other crimes which entitle the perpetrators not only lashes but also stoning, all to be carried out in public, mind you, reminiscent of the blood sports in ancient Rome with the difference being that the Arabic is punishment meted to a hapless and helpless wrongdoer while the Roman is punishment meted out to a wrongdoer who was given a chance to fight out of the punishment. Personally, if I were an Arab, for example, the holy prophet, a caliph, or even a present day syariah court judge who may be a Malay more versed in Arabic ways than English,
or even God of the holy Quran, I'd prefer the Roman methodia than the hududia. Heck, what fun is there in spectating on a schooldropout being tied to a post and getting lashed than watching him fight off a Perhilitan-caught seladang or Malay wild boar on the roar, in the raw? Hey gentile readers, elect me as the president of a republican Malaya and you'll get a chance to see just that!

When I first read Kartika was going to be lashed for sipping alcohol I cringed at the thought of hundreds of thousands of fellow Muslims who had imbibed similar and got away with it. Do they cringe too? Do they come forward and stand shoulder to shoulder with Kartika the martyr? Or do they choose the right to remain silent and not incriminate themselves? Are they cowards for doing so? Or are they just being savvy and saving their own skin for more pleasurable purposes? If all were to stand in arms with Kartika we could form a new political party and since we probably are the majority - for which we may have to include a host of other lashing deserving crimes as well - we could win the next general elections and change the rules of the game to go the Roman way, f'nstance.

And don't forget the trouser-wearing womenfolk as well. Hear they are in the majority. Don't be fooled, the kain-wearing woman has got at least a pair of blue jeans or a track bottom in her wardrobe.

And as to the psychology of Kartika not wanting to appeal, the popular reading is that she wants to be a martyr, she is being sarcastic or satirical, or she is resorting to the stock tactic of preempting punishment in the hope that she won't be punished or at least win public attention if not sympathy. Finally, it is akin to self-flagellation as a form of guilt riddance. Cathartic, as the well-informed young might say.

Er, how do you think you feel being a member of a belief system which prescribes lashing and stoning and swimming in the sputum of the fasting as forms of punishment?

I rest my case.

MSL Update: A Spate of Premature Deaths & An Amputation

Both premature births and premature deaths may be the result of avoidable human error such as smoking and alcoholism, but unlike premature births from which babies may outgrow their initial setback to become normal human beings, premature deaths are irreversible and, well, easily avoidable with a bit of forethought.

Since the last post I've noted a number of deaths occurring among notable Malays, namely, a member of the nasyid singing group, Rabbani, aristocrat Tunku Ismail Jewa (aged 72) and an alternative healing practitioner, Dr Azizan of Alor Star, who died in 2002 at age 52. A close relative said he died from a combination of illnesses including "dibuat orang." The note of irony is intended.

As for the amputation, I just got word last week, another MCKK64 college-mate, Kamaruddin Sulaiman, is now warded in a hospital in KL waiting for one of his limbs to be amputated due to diabetes.

Like with the late Captain Yusof Ahmad, I had on one or two occasions inquired on his smoking habit only to be met with stiff, and I mean, stiff, counterarguments. All smokers more than know the dangers of smoking, and it is not that they cannot give it up, they just don't want to, period. By an astounding process of disassociation, they reject the connection between the general statistics and their particular selves and their smoking habit and the high likelihood that they will incur any one or more of the many illnesses associated with smoking.

Despite the many tales of woe, smokers continue to puff gaily without any thought for the morrow or their marrow. The number is increasing especially among the young.

New Fatwa Allows Dogs To Be Taken Inside Mosques

Two modern Muslim women reinterpreting Islam correctly by feeling free to keep dogs in a responsible manner.


The following is a report in The Guardian, UK, on September 25, 2008. It is one of the most heart-warming stories to have appeared on the modern Islamic cultural stage. Now let us hope that this courageous move will help to enlighten more Muslims in Malaysia to recognize and appreciate the honorable position of dogs in Islam. According to one Islamic interpretation, dogs is one of the animals in Islamic traditions to enter Paradise. Inter alia, the story of the companions and their dog/s mentioned in the Quran is cited to back up this interpretation.

You can also see a video version of the above report at YouTube. Just enter "Guide Dogs Within Islam."

A blind Muslim student yesterday became the first person to be allowed to take a guide dog into a UK mosque.

Mahomed-Abraar Khatri, 18, can now enter his place of worship in Leicester with canine companion Vargo after the Muslim Law (Sharia) Council UK issued a fatwa in response to his request.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association described the decision as "a massive step forward for other blind and partially-sighted Muslims". Previously, all dogs were banned from mosques because the Islamic faith historically sees them as being for guarding and hunting only. However, the position was softened because guide dogs could be classed in the "working dogs" category. The animals are still barred from entering the prayer hall for the sake of hygiene but are allowed to guide their owners to the area where shoes are placed, the fatwa says.

A special rest area has been set up in the entrance of the Bilal Jamia mosque for Vargo while Khatri is praying. Previously, the teenager, who attends the RNIB College in Loughborough, had to be accompanied to the mosque by a sighted helper.

His father, Gafar Khatri, said: "Since Mahomed-Abraar has had his guide dog, Vargo, he has regained his independence. Obviously it is early days but his confidence is growing daily."

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association hopes the fatwa will set a precedent, encouraging other blind and partially sighted Muslims to consider owning a guide dog. It is also hoped that mosque leaders in the UK and abroad will follow suit and allow guide dogs inside.

After issuing the fatwa, Muhammad Shahid Raza, director of the Imams and Mosques Council UK and secretary of the Muslim Law (Sharia) Council UK, said: "I hope that all existing mosques will follow Bilal mosque in serving the disabled people in a similar way by providing facilities to them. I also believe that, in all new mosques, such facilities for disabled people will be an essential part of their design."

MSL Update: Umno leader Jamil Amin, 50, died; Pas leader died ...

A former Simpang Renggam, Johor, Umno leader, Jamil Amin, 50, died in a road accident July 28, adding to my growing MSL list.

And yesterday Friday July 31, Penang state assemblyman for Permatang Pauh, Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman, 60, died after being admitted to IJN for, what else, heart complications.

Same old tired question - had he done all he humanly could or had he taken his health for granted? Now what about issuing a new fatwa to arrest such heart arrests? This would be more helpful than banning yoga, methinks.

Doesn't my MSL beginning to stick now, or am I still/ forever a lone crazy dog barking at the moon, or wrong tree?

MSL Update: Yasmin Ahmad

Yet another prominent Malay bites the dust. It is happening with such regularity that monitoring the death news and maintaining this List (MSL) is becoming almost a full time profession! Still, between the ghoulish and the gnarly, the glint and the glimmer, there is an object lesson in the exercise. Let us hope it is not buried with the rest.

PS: As I've said before in another MSL Update (Razali Ismail), what I'd like to know are the following:

1. Did Yasmin smoke?
2. When was the last time she did her medical check up? Had she done it, who knows the potential for the stroke could have been detected and put right. Mine was today! Heart okay, lungs okay. Blood pressure and cholesterol is threatening to cross the border line. Early detection and treatment will help to ensure a safer passage later years.

MSL: Capt Mariner, Ancient Yusof Ahmad

My former MCKK 1960-64 form mate, Yusof Ahmad, died last night in his sleep. He was 63. I received several sms and a phone call breaking the news. I'll dispense with the common courtesies and go straight to the heart of MSL which stands for Malay Schindler's List which is my own coinage referring to the regularity of prominent Malays dying before the median Malaysian age of 75.

There's no denying of course of God's unseen hand in the timing of our departures but looking at it strictly in human terms which to me is a better form of exercise than ascribing everything to the work of the almighty, then there's a thing or two to say for whatever it is worth, which imo is not much anyway but still worth stating even if for the umpteenth time.

Yusof and I had our differences of opinion particularly about the relevance or even sanity of MSL. The purpose of MSL is to serve as a reminder that to the extent that we can do something about it, death can be brought forward or even prevented in a given context. That is all. The rest then is in God's hand.

Of particular relevance is the question of leading a healthy life style. Now Yusof was both obese and smoking right to his dying day. When I ribbed him about it, he pooh-poohed it saying he didn't care one way or another and would leave it to God. Fine, but then my MSL keeps growing and that's is the issue at hand - that we Malays do not take the matter of taking care of our own health seriously and are dying by the dozen especially if we have reached some degree of prominence. This is not to say low profile Malays are not dying for the same reasons. Probably more of them but being prominent is obviously an added draw if not irony.

Are Schools An Undeclared War Between Student Insurgency & Authority?

(In the staff room at SMK Jerangau playing tutor to 13 year olds wanting to learn English. Yes they do want to learn on the face of it but sharing the same track is a coach load of giggles, pinching, pushing, ribbing and the frequent latah which is as earthy - nay anatomical - as they come. Habsah on the right has three stepmothers. I've visited her at home, the only teacher to visit students at their homes, and got a load of durians dumped on me.) Oops, problem downloading the pic. Will try again.

In the Bilik Rehat (Rest Room?) at the hostel at SMK Jerangau. Topics up for discussion include the importance of English, hysteria and dogs in Islam. The subtext? Jokes and giggles galore.


Students feel entrapped between the compulsion to be at school and the urge to express their natural and age related instincts. They are entrapped between rules and their need to feel free and not being imposed upon. On the one hand they understand and accept the system and they do want to learn but it also creates a sense of us versus them, of them being compelled by authority to do things that run counter to their natural inclinations, of adults expecting a level of behavior which young minds are not mature enough to cope with. Students also sense a difference or conflict between schools and society at large or at home. One folksy difference suggests this. Schools are fond of putting up large words on walls exhorting students to do one thing or another. One, for example, says, stop eating before you feel full. In the home environment, when attending kenduris, students often hear hosts urging guests to eat to their full:"Makanlah sehingga kenyang!"

Now all this dichotomy creates a sense of war between students and the teachers, the authority figures. This results in a game of hide and seek or an incipient insurgency in which students will resort to all sorts of guiles and wiles to break or get even. So you get a two-tiered agenda at schools. Incredibly, the declared purpose of dishing out an education and passing exams does get by and passes muster, but even more incredibly, the undeclared insurgency burbles over right under the very noses of the teachers.

The insurgent warfare flows and switches seamlessly between downright intransigence and jocularity. Both come and are made of the same stuff, more or less. Outright bullying exists alongside consensual bullying. Thus a victim lookalike not only welcomes harassment but may even provokes it. All this is for the purpose of adding an extra dimension to or a distraction from the declared purpose at hand. It is a tableau of coping mechanisms morphed into gang culture.

To be continued.

July 10 & 11: Tun Mahathir, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas & I

Hey, didn't know Pulau Pinang Governor Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas who celebrates his 71st birthday today shares it with me. I turn 63 today. The background article in the NST says he is a fitness buff and is fit as a fiddle. Now that is something! Wonder if he writes nonsensical verse too, hehe!

On another page, a smaller news item reports Tun Mahathir celebrating his 84th birthday at Putrajaya, July 10, yesterday. Hmm, horoscope neighbors. Does it say something too, I wonder. Tun Mahathir is not renowned as a fitness freak but he does write, so.

HOP: Beach Returnees At Two Past Noon

With Pulau Kapas on the horizon and the contrast between shade and sun as counterpoint, these students part walk, part run along the burning beach at Marang to return to their hostel in the swelter of the afternoon heat after performing their Friday prayers last week, jolting a photographer from his revelry under the shade. A sea breeze helps to dampen the effect.

Photographically speaking, the trees provide a framework of silhouettes to heighten the contrast between shade and the sun.

Led Zeppelin's Sinuous, Anacondic, Orgiastic Moby Dick

While driving along the lonely, cow-pad padded Tok Kah road between Jerangau and Kuala Dungun on a hazy afternoon today, my loose-ended mind dithered between letting the imagination or the radio fills in its vacuosity. My fingers kept pressing the button to find the English language station which I had not locked on. The volume was on low. The reception was not as good as it could be. One of the stations had some drum work on and I settled for that. I didn't up the volume right away but the drum beat sounded promising and after a minute I turned it up. Then the exclusive drums began to work its magic. I turned up the volume some more and I was floated up on its strength and expanse. I wasn't sure if it was playing on the English language station or another, let alone the identity of the drummer. After a long, soul-satisfying five minutes of rapturous drum extravaganza, the familiar voice of the English language deejay came on and in his typically many-worded style, said the solo drum work was by Led Zeppelin entitled Moby Dick.

That's it, guys - big it, dig it! If any stimulus can take me on a wing and a song heavenwards, Moby Dick does it for me. It brought me as close to God as possible for the day. The station played a few more of Zeppelin's songs with vocals and guitar work thrown in. Moby Dick is pure drums.

Hear it on YouTube and see what it does to you, if you haven't done so already.

Seeing Eye Dog

I've seen a few programs on Animal Planet etc about how dogs are trained to be in useful relationships with humans. To see these trained and loved dogs is a refreshing and welcome difference from seeing undisciplined and uncared dogs left to roam about or minimally cared.

To me the most impressive example of a working and loving relationship between man and dog, nay between humans and animals, is the relationship between a guide dog for the blind and his owner. The selection, rearing, training and matching of dog to owner is a rigorous and long process drawing upon science and human love. The most telling example of this understanding and cooperation between man and dog is the fact that the dogs are taught to disobey their masters and rely on their own instinct, intelligence and training to save their masters from possible harm. An example of this is when the owner is about to cross the road thinking it is safe to do so as he does not hear any motor vehicle but the dog will not cross if a bicycle is coming across their path.

In 1996, during a sojourn in Australia, I came upon this white Labrador guide dog and its owner walking down the mall in downtown Adelaide. It is my third actual encounter with a seeing eye dog, the other two occasions being in Italy and Germany. The girl in the right of the photo is Adira (Abby), my eldest daughter, when she was eleven.

Introducing Goody Two Blogs!

That's Koh Han (3rd left) after the prize giving ceremony. The guy he beats in the final is to his right. The two finalists in the above 70 kg category are on the right.

Folks, here are two new blogs I'd like to introduce. One is Han's Journey managed by Teo Chin Han, a former student whom I taught English last year at a private college in Kuala Terengganu. He won the inaugral Terengganu arm wrestling contest held at Giant in Kuala Terengganu over the weekend in his under 70 kg weight category. We plan to paddle a double kayak to Pulau Kapas soon. Do visit his blog listed in My Blog List.

Another new blogger is Captain Wong, also listed in my blog list. He shares my interest in the great outdoors particularly kayaking and cycling. He is also an experienced sailor. His house with a nice lawn rises like a lotus flower in the generally swampy and unkempt surrounding just off one of the channels of the Cukai river.

His kayaking and cycling stories is a must read for all kayaking and cycling trippers.