Monday, April 09, 2018

Mahathir: No fish? Prawns will do!

Mariam Mokhtar, one of my fave writers, penned an interesting piece where she cleverly weaved the topic of Makan, and Malay idioms on Makan such as Makan darah. Makan diri. Makan gaji. Makan jalan. Makan rasuah. Makan suap. Makan tidor, the recent rendang saga, and corruption in Malaysia.


Naturally she attacked both Mahathir and Najib, but seems to biased me (wakakaka) at least, to be a wee light in her criticism on Mahathir, because Mariam believed the old bloke has been more repentant, wakakaka - I doubt it.

Anyway, an extract of her article sparks an idea in me to bring out an old Chinese saying (in Penang Hokkien of course) to share with you. The extract of her article follows:


The corruption destroying Malaysia is not an overnight phenomenon. The seeds were sown during the tenure of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but the 93-year-old has admitted his mistakes and is willing to right his wrongs. That is no mean feat. A man, as arrogant as he, is willing to eat humble pie and work with his former adversaries, to save and rebuild Malaysia.

My dearest Mariam, vis-a-vis your take above, there is a Penang Hokkien saying which goes "Boe hoo, hare pun hoe".

And you would have noticed the immersed Malay word of 'pun' in that saying, which typifies many Penang Hokkien sayings as they are near-baba-nyonya.


That saying "Boe hoo, hare pun hoe" means "If there isn't any fish, prawns would do fine", implying the fish must be far more preferable and maybe more tasty and even more expensive than prawns. Thus we gather the prawns would be the less desired seafood than fish.


no fish? 


prawns will do 

The saying must have arose in the earlier days of my grandparents when fish were definitely far more expensive than ordinary prawns.

That saying sums up the dilemma of a desperate Mahathir who is only willing to eat humble pie and work with his former adversaries, not so much to save and rebuild Malaysia, but because he has no other significant (powerful) friends or allies. Maka, kalau ta'ada ikan, udang pun boleh (jadi).


If he couldn't marshal his old faithful (from the powerful UMNO) to his personal banner to serve his urgent needs, he thus seeks help from his political enemies, arch foes like Lim Kit Siang, Anwar Ibrahim and even Old Nick himself.


The Faustian Pact
Faust's pact with Mephisto (Old Nick)
Dealing with the Devil

And that's the sad story of a desperate old man.

By the by, Leviticus 11:10 regard prawns as non-kosher (haram).


In the Jewish Bible the full phrase on prawns is sheketz hame lachem, which means 'they shall be a detestable thing to you.'

'You' means the Jewish people.

The learned Jewish commentary on prawns was/is that:

No, God does not 'hate' prawns, but He does instruct the Jewish people that they should not eat it as one part of their particular spiritual regimen to be a 'holy people' and a 'light unto the nations.'

He made prawns tasty for non-Jews, so they should enjoy prawns as He intended. For Jews, we now have fake prawns , made from kosher fish, to satisfy our desire for the taste of prawns.


Making something that's detestable to Jews but tasty to goyims?

Hmmm, looks as if the Jewish God is protecting His Chosen People, the Jews but f**king up goyims (gentiles or non-Jews). But that's the story of racist Judaism.


14 comments:

  1. I love dr m comment on tmj

    No comment

    Hahahahahaha

    ReplyDelete
  2. An Indian Viper and Prawns just boggles the mind how it can end up as a nice seafood dish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "prawns" in the spirit of Mariam Mokhtar's article

      Delete
  3. One must admire kaytee spirit. Everyday must say something in defending najib.

    Kaytee.....what else you know about me? Dont be lazy lei. Who is liang qian chiu? Ask ong ka chuan.

    Kaytee.....civility.....nah, my smelly foot la. I bet kaytee has never been air itam native

    Never show pictures. Never give references. Kaytee must be a phantom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. your name is Batu, surname Api, wakakaka

      Delete
  4. As a blogger, kaytee should be proud of his heritage. Tell us how smart kaytee is. Not just hearsay. At least be as brave as rpk.

    By the way, when u come back to penang from australia, learn how to pray. You may need it kaytee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and me an atheist? aiyoyo, how you try so hard for years to convert me to your monotheistic belief a la Rukun-Negara No 1, wakakaka

      Delete
    2. Again hor....when you come back, pray that something wont go wrong. Karma....karma....karma

      Delete
  5. Please lah, u r no linguistic etymologist!

    So DONT bullshit lah.

    "…the immersed Malay word of 'pun' in that saying, which typifies many Penang Hokkien sayings as they are near-baba-nyonya."

    If u have ever been back to yr mothers ancestral home in Fujian, u would have notice the utilisation of the noun "pun" in their daily communication!

    Or r u going to say these Fujian natives' vocabulary have been influenced by the Melayu?

    What a cockagroo!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ktemoc indulging in his usual anti-Semitism (Western term for anti-Jew) even in an article on Malaysian politics.

    There are practically Zero Jews left in Malaysia, by the way.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes , I can see Mahathir has admitted at least some of his past mistakes and failings, a very difficult act for a man of his age.

    Anyone who has dealt with elderly people will know that.
    You ever tried to get an old grandmother to admit to her mistakes ?

    Far better anyway than Najib claiming he is the best and cleanest Prime Minister in the world, ( with Ktemoc fellating him daily)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ktemoc did not fall far from his MO1 apple tree...both dedak giver and dedak receiver have this fondness to ride the high moral horse...cakap cantek cantek about being good, best, fair, have integrity, clean, honest bla bla bla...what a load of bullcrap !

      Delete
  8. Hmmmm……prawn!

    I happened to have a conversation about that crustacean with a Jewish business associate many moon ago.

    1) there was/is no prawn native to the land of Jerusalem. So prawn is alien to the semitic people there!

    2) what the old Testament referred to is the prawn harvested from the river Nile - which apparently was a elitist food for the ancient Egyptians. But, the ancient Egyptians have died out long long time ago.

    The Torah Jews refused to eat them bcoz they r mud crawler & named it sheketz hame lachem.

    3) the modern Arabs, inhabiting the land of Nile show zilch restriction in consuming prawn, a later day influence of the Europeans.

    4) never heard of anything as u quoted "He made prawns tasty for non-Jews, so they should enjoy prawns as He intended. For Jews, we now have fake prawns , made from kosher fish, to satisfy our desire for the taste of prawns"!

    Is it yr wordsmith play intertwined with yr "no-hating-Jew" hypocritical chant? Wakakakaka

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes i wonder why kaytee hates jews hah. What did jews do to kaytee? You mean kaytee jew girlfriend abandon him.

      I tarak faham. Oh by the way, i am very doubtful of his source. And his existence

      No picture, no title, no resume or job description? Tan chee koon love child perhaps?

      Delete