Monday, October 03, 2005

Ramadhan and Some East Coast Comedy


When I read the Sunday papers this morning I almost fell off my chair. Laughing. Kelantan's big chief has announced that the state intends to stage a reality show of its own. Well sort of. They apparently want to hold a singing/composition contest. Open only to mothers. It will be a lullaby composition contest to sing husbands to sleep. The rationale is that when husbands come home tired the wives should sing lullabies to them. This will then cause them to have a good night's sleep. And when they awake in the morning they will feel refreshed and happy and this will "help build a great relationship between husband and wife." In the statement he also said that the contest is in line with singing allowed by Islam, which was to strengthen family ties.

No this is not a fairy tale. It is true and it is happening right here in Bolehland.

And now I need some clarification. Isn't the month of Ramadhan about abstinence and fasting? Then how come each year when the fasting month rolls around we see all those banners/billboards/media ads showing people new and innovative ways of gorging out on food? The fasting month hasn't begun but the Ramadhan buffet ads are out all over the place. Watch out soon for the billboard to appear outside our Istana Budaya, our palace of culture advertising break fast buffet at low low prices. A multi million Ringgit edifice supposedly to develope and show Malaysian performing arts reduced each year to being just a very expensively built gerai makan.

16 comments:

Tigrrr said...

Hey Patrick,

AP picked it up and Yahoo News put it under the 'Odd News' category. Good grief! I was hoping it would pass quietly, looks like Nik Aziz triumphs again at giving Kelantan (and Malaysia) the recognition it doesn't deserve.

Sharlini

lecram sinun said...

Patrick, reading your post I fell out of my chair laughing as well. I find "developments" since I left more and more curious... and actually pretty damn entertaining.

Trashed said...

Why these people got nothing else to do izzit ? Already no entertainment in Kelante, now expect wife to lullaby to sleep.

But not bad also. If got 4 bini, can rotate songs like jukebox. Hmmm, if got 4 wives, sure alwsays tired lah ... no need lullaby.

Anonymous said...

Hi Patrick,

First time here.Just finished reading all your archives.Neat blog you have here.

patrickteoh said...

Hi Anonymous. Thanks for the compliment. Come and visit again sometime.

Helen said...

Hey Patrick,

".....(Singing lullaby)help build a great relationship between husband and wife."

Sigh, wonder what Nik Aziz will say when the Kelantan population starts plummeting....

patrickteoh said...

Hi Helen. What will he say? Nothing I guess since he will be sleeping soundly to the sound of his wife's lullaby and looking forward to another morning of great happiness and familial fulfilment.

Hey you have a great blog. I just went to visit. I will go back and read it in detail. I like the stories about Ipoh. Can you take a photo of those two Ngau Lam sisters in the stall opposite the old Odeon cinema and post it? They were my favorite sis...I mean ngau lam stall back when I was little. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

OK, will post some pics of those sisters for you. Yeah, I still go there occasionally and miraculously, the sisters still maintain their slim figure!

Anonymous said...

yesss, someone else noticed the food insanity!

patrickteoh said...

Thanks Helen. It would be good to see what they look like now. I remember when I was a teenager I used to eat at their ngau lam stall almost 3-4 times a week. I thought the food was great but of course my opinion could have been tainted by my lusty thoughts of the sisters lah. Especially the younger one:-) Amazingly, the last time I saw them which was a few years ago, they still looked the same, had the same hair style and wore the same style sam foo's. But the ngai lam wasn't what I remembered. Well, who cares. Ngai lam can get anywhere else, right? LOL

Hi Itchymicchi. Everyday there's more and more Ramadhan feasts advertised and publicised in the media. Some can put Bacchus to shame man. Somehow I think it is wrong. I wonder if it is the same in Kelantan or do they submit to the truer meaning of Ramadhan? Anyone?

Anonymous said...

Hmm, would there be any jazz singers in the making? ;-)

What a nice site! Finally the man whom I used to listen to at 12 midnight for all those ghost stories has a website of his own!

I'm looking forward to reading more and more! Cheers Patrick!

Anonymous said...

Are you sure Nik Aziz is not 'misquoted' or his comments take out of context?? I simply cannot believe the all the ludicrous things he has said on national paper!! Absolutely preposterous! Did you read about what he said about polygamy last time? So that the many single/divorced women in Kelantan can get married... Unbelievable..

Can't comment much on Ramadhan feast..dosa..nanti kena ISA for inciting racial disharmony...

Palmdoc said...

Fasting month? Judging from all the food stalls out and about, one would think its some "feasting month" going on ;)

patrickteoh said...

Kat, with the current standards of Malaysian journalism and the media being owned by those in political power who knows? He probably was misquoted. Still funny though. And to live here we definitely have to have a serious sense of humor:-) LOL.....

Anonymous said...

"serious sense of humor"

now that's funny! :P

i haven't seen any dumb buka puasa ads, but i've heard an irritating one on radio where a character lists the food available on a buffet.

Anonymous said...

Uncle Patrick, don't tell me u actually fall for this 'news'.

FYI, the man has a very weird sense of humour, and you should know that among the listeners is one spy who stringe for those absurd news, and voila, entertainment for the masses.