A little while ago, the Malaysian Music Awards were on TV. At the moment I tuned in, the winners for the Rap category were being introduced. Pop Shuvit, they call themselves. I cringed to see these jokers come on stage with their pants sagging, jewerly blinging and hair done up in cornrolls. They rap in […]
Tag Archives: malaysia
Bup Kudus
A religious controversy came and went here in Sarawak before I even heard about it. The Bup Kudus, the translation of the Holy Bible into the Iban language, was banned two weeks ago, and dis-banned today. The Sarawak Tribune I picked up was so information-poor, I could not discern from the article why they banned […]
Strange Fruit, pt 2: Mata Kuching
The next fruit I present to you is the mata kuching, literally, cat’s eye. It’s about the size of a quarter, with a thin peel that covers a juicy greyish meat that covers a hard shiny dark brown seed. The fruit is sweet with a musky, almost salty aftertaste. They are inexpensive in season. They’re […]
A Kuap by Any Other Name
If Malaysia is the land of odd fruit, then Sarawak must be the capital. I have just as much fun looking at it all as I do eating it. This one is called a Kuap Terap, according to the guy who sold to me. My Malay dictionary doesn’t have it, Google doesn’t have it, SR […]
Malaysian Nasheed
[UPDATE: I have gone on to translate a fair number of Malaysian nasheeds and pop tunes. You can browse them with the nasheed and nasyid tags, check out the language category, or do a site search for things like lyrics.] I just can’t keep up with the number of new music groups singing nasheed here in […]
Wireless Dial-up
I have finally, finally established an internet connection from home. I’ll spare you the sordid details, but the end result is I’m using a Fixed Wireless Terminal as a telephone. It’s a glorified cell phone really; large and boxy enough to be non-portable. But it can connect to Telekom Malaysia at 115kbps. Not too shabby.
Happy Chinese New Year
Malaysia has a very large Chinese population, about 1/3 of the country, and the New Year (year of the Ram, apparently) is a big holiday. The town is lit up with those pretty red lanterns. Downtown, the main drag is strung with lights and lanterns from the spreading canopy trees in the boulevard to the […]
Hijrah
I keep promising to go away, and yet here I still am, blogging as before. How can I miss you if you won’t go away, you may be saying to yourself. Well, this time I mean it. I’m waiting for the shipping company to arrive as I type this who will pick up our 27 […]