CNY: Baling Town 2012

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Intro

Baling is a province in Kedah state. It is a neighboring province with Betong of Thailand. So, we could also listen some Southern Thai dialect being spoken here alongside with Northern Malay dialect. I love this place although it's not as nice as London, Melbourne or NY... Last time we talked about this town among fellow Kedahan friends when we chat about our provinces and territories. This is the place where I get my driving license and it is a peaceful town, hehe.

Baling Bus Station 

Quite rare buses, sehari sebijik bas berulang pi mai sini... hahahahahaa...........

Baling Town Fire Department

As to say, we are very proud of our sultanate and state. We love it and we show it through flags and our lifestyle : )

Baling Hill

Natt Baling

We call bazaar as natt in our regional language. This one is a weekly bazaar in the town where it could be divided into few sections such as food and cake stalls, vegetables and greens, clothes and daily stuffs, meat and fishes, religious books, medicine and ointments and etc.... 

Natt Food Stall

Usually they sell drinks and light foods like noodles, chendoi and stuffs. The second pic is actually the pic of Thai speaking family. They speak Southern Thai dialect which is actually identical to our grammar but only the words are substituted into Thai, hahaha.

Foods at Natt

Many interesting foods but we just tried these noodles. The first one is Laksa and the second one is Mee Hoon Sup. These noodles are Chinese influenced but being different in term of ingredients used like Laksa's gravy is made of fish. I don't eat it anyway but I would tolerate the smell for other family member because not all are the same in a house : )

Dried Seafood Section

This section is for dried seafood like dried squid, dried fish, dried anchovies of different grades, spices, onions, garlic, and etc.

Pure Honey

Pure honey or mesan lebah. I am still afraid of those bees though they are not flying around after sunken in the liquid.

Vegetables

Kitabs

Some kitabs or books in Jawi script. People will buy these kitabs and learn many things such as morality, law of the life, and etc from these through teachers explanation in the madrasas around. It is called as menadah kitab which means begging with the books. I planned to also do this when I finish everything during my free time. The books such as cure for the heart was bought in this kind of bazaar. It does not cost a lot but just few ringgits. We just have to analyze the sentences in the books because it used Arabic influenced Malay language and it could be quite difficult to understand them.

Restoran Roti Canai Buhari

Lil Sis and Me

Minat sunggoh hang dok begambarq laguni noh, chemuih sangat aihhhh!!!!

Diary

My camera is not working after we returned from Petrijaya at Jalan Kulim. It's reader card having a problem and I don't know what is the reason. I tried to fix it but still does not work. I've got to ask the shop where I get it on how to fix it. It's the camera that I bought to do coverage for local newspaper as a stringer here but I didn't get the salary because I quit few days later after having transportation problem and I don't think I am suitable to be a reporter as dad's wish : ( 

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

Mid Term Break: Sightseeing in Acheen and Armenian Streets

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Colonial style houses at the row of Yap Temple

Thursday, 14 Zulhijjah 1432 H (10 Nov 2011) 10:00 am

We came to some heritage trail because Georgetown of Penang Island is recognized as a heritage site by UNESCO and this institution I am studying in is in Penang Island, hehehe. I went back to Bukit Gambir but I didn't return to my hostel. I just wait for the bus to Georgetown. Feel bored and empty but I bring some books with me so I read them while waiting for bus. I went off from the bus at Little India. I had visited the area and I feel not interested to be there anymore. I just walked my way to the side of Yap Temple which is a Chinese clan temple.   

Yap Temple

Yap Temple 

 Another angle of Yap Temple

I walked into the temple... The environment around is heavy with jossticks smokes and they had arranged some offerings for ancestors with fruits and some candles in the shape of lotus. I didn't take pictures to respect the temple because it seems that they are having an occasion though they didn't prevent me from snapping pictures as long as it is not in flash mode. Few Chinese nationals or perhaps Taiwanese are also looking around the temple. Penang Chinese community is still maintaining pre-Cultural Revolution cultural traits of Chinese community because they were not involved in Cultural Revolution event in China. To describe the internal part of the temple, it's just an ancestral temple with ancestral name plaques and some idols of god at the altar. They also provide jossticks and offering stuffs like papers to be burn with some charge or donation. Just walking around in the temple for about 10 minutes because nothing much to see except in the other building at the side they sell porcelains and pictures.

Islamic Museum

Penang Islamic Museum 

Penang Islamic Museum was actually the residence of Syed Ahmad al-Attas. He is an Arab merchant from Acheh of Indonesia today. He became a leader for the community in Acheen street mosque during the Penang Riot of 1867. I read the Chinese character at the street sign, it is written as 打石街 Tashi Jie. It was restored around 1993-1994 in a pilot restoration spearheaded by state government through municipal council implementation. Federal government also helped with technical assistance by French government.

 90 years old handwritten Quran

Naqshabandi credential letter to Sheikh Omar Basheer the mufti of Pulau Pinang by Arabian government before the order was banned by Pulau Pinang government

Hajji Fatheel Basheer collection of artifacts, he's a "Malay" figure who had been given the task to develop Malay village in Ayer Itam, Pulau Pinang since 1931. These artifacts was exhibited in Penang State Museum in 1964. The long one is walking stick of 1922 belongs to Zechariah Basheer, Palestine Spoon a Saucer brought home from Palestine by Sheikh Omar Basheer in 1310 H, and incense container of 1908.

Sheikh Omar Basheer diary written in Arabic which is a surviving document about Penang Riot of 1867
 

Traditional circumcision set. Muslim boys are usually circumcized when they reach 13 years old which is the tradition of patriarchs Abraham and Ishmael a.s

Wooden boxes with Quranic verses carved on them and wooden door

 

Terengganu inscription replica in Malay written with Arabic script about the introduction of Islam in the state

Stuffs involved in traditional medication production used by Syed Ahmad al-Attas family such as pots, grinders and trays

Ceramics where some of them were produced in Iran around the late of 17th C

Crafts made from leaves and metal

Incense pots which is apart of Arabian culture and the lowest part of the rack is betel leaves' set which represents Malay culture

The above part of the rack are Jambiah which is Arabian tribal weapon and it is a kind of knife. Lowest part are Malay daggers or keris and parangs for self defence

Wood carvings with Quranic verses usually being decorations in masjids and holy places

 Musical instruments like arbab, gambus, and flute. Arbab is also used as Thai and Lao musical instruments while gambus is Arabian style musical instrument. The flute is used in Northern Malaysian Peninsula as well. This is some differences between Northern and Southern Malaysian states in term of cultural traits.

Penang Prominent Peranakan Arab Figures

From this museum walk, I get to know few prominent figures of Arab descent. Not all of them are with the title syed (lord) but some are with the title sheikh or have no title at all.

Sheikh Omar Basheer

This guy is a Muslim scholar with his clan name Basheer. An Arab descent, I guess his mother or grandmother is a native. He is from Khalidy Naqshabandi order and this order is classified as illegal by religious authority. I am not really sure about the reasons because sometimes religious authority could also be influenced by politics. There are politics in every place. Khalid was a teacher of the Naqshabandi tariqa in Mecca. Sheikh Omar Basheer had propagate the tariqa and suluk form of retreat in Penang. This order is also popular in Indonesia, Johore, and Kedah. This figure had issued a legal ruling to stop Muslims from joining secret societies in Penang. British administration also referred to him in matters of Islam and Malays affair. He was an imam in Acheen street masjid and a teacher in Ayer Itam masjid. Before that he was a Qadhi (Jurist) in Demak, Java Island and he returned to Penang because of his wife and two children death. He passed away in 1881 and was buried in Ayer Itam, Penang.  

Syed Ahmad al-Attas

The mansion which is now the museum is his residence. He was an Arab spice trader from Acheh and Acheh is an Indonesian province in Sumatera Island. The mansion was build around 1860s. Mr. al-Attas has two wives. His first wife is a Malay noble woman of royal court. His second wife is a Chinese woman, the daughter of a Strait Chinese black pepper merchant whose name is Khoo Teang Poh (Qiu Tianpao). So, some Arab descents had also been classified as Chinese or associated with Chinese face, lol. I don't know what happened to this guy's children but I know many prominent leaders with this clan name such as the founding member of Malaysian People's Movement party (GERAKAN), Mr. Syed Hussein al-Attas. He formed the party around 1968 as an offshoot of Labor party and nowadays the party is the party with majority Chinese members working with the National Front parties while the founder of this party is a Hadrami Arab.

In 1870s, this Syed Ahmad guy became a staunch supporter of Achehnese movements to expel Dutch imperial power from Northern Sumatera. He sponsored weapons and guns to those people, perhaps his mother is Achehnese so those people are technically his maternal brothers. The residence was not only a mansion but also a place of secret meeting among Achehnese leaders.

In 1930s until 1960s, the mansion had became a place of recycle by Chettiars (Indian). In 1995, the mansion became a place to enhance the love toward art and history through its architecture. It was used as a heritage center. Now, this guy's house became Islamic museum and I walked inside the house.

Place Name: Muzium Islam Pulau Pinang

Address: No. 128 Lebuh Armenian 10200, Penang

Contact: (phone) 604-2620172/2503021 (fax) 604-2644692

Web: www.penangislamicmuseum.net

Visiting Hours: Everyday 9:00-17:30

Closed: Tuesdays

Ticket: Adult, RM3, Kids, RM1, the uncle gave me discount as I am a student, RM2 yaye! 

Closing The Post

Finished the visit... The upper part of this museum is still in renovation so I have no chance to visit it. Anyone having some free time come to visit this museum and show us what's new up there, haha

Through His will I wish to have some trips to Alor Setar to get some more information. After I've finished this degree I would also like to plan a travel to Gujarat in India as well as Yemen. For now, I have no political and economic interests like others because I live like other non-Bumis. So, I don't care about Malay rights or identification in my documents because I didn't get any benefit from that. I have to work hard to survive like others and only believe the God as my Protector and Friend.

My experience, when I was in Sekolah Agama Rakyat (State Religious School) after mum brought me home from Perlis (I had already been tied with Buddhist sacred thread but I didn't consider the proclamation of refuge to Buddhism teachings yet until I reached 15 years old), those Selangor Javanese officers in religious department also had treated us like foreigners. It was because we are not natives in Selangor state although if we checked back the Javanese officers background, perhaps they're also of immigrants from Indonesia of 1970s. We didn't get textbooks assistance too and we have to buy everything. We weren't rich people with many siblings but nobody believes us or perhaps playing do not understand. Nowadays, we don't believe any free thing. We have to pay and work for everything and thank You dear the God because You made me return to our path because it is not the fault of the path but fault of human-being with negative thoughts : )

Last time I didn't even put "Malay" in my documents though my late grandpa had registered my dad as a "Malay." If he is still alive today perhaps I would ask him why we have to be registered with our mothers identity like Jews? We are not Jews and I don't want to be one because we indeed are not Jews though some of them in the East are our cousins. I just ticked "others" and I hate the question for racial background in documents and forms. I don't know what is the benefit of checking people's racial background when we are the citizen of the same country???! Those of non-Malay background could not get any help or assistance? Any difference in treatments?

There are many kind of non-Malay natives who had been here since few hundred of years before independence like the Siamese, the half native Portuguese speaking Luso Christians of Malacca whom are Catholics, the Baba and Nyonya of Chinese descent, the Ibanese, the Dusun-Kadazan of Borneo, Orang Asli Semenanjung and many others. They were all recognized according to their ethnicity but Peranakan Arab were not recognized while being forced to have hidden identity (including lying on their obvious background to get business tender). 

I had also snapped some pictures of Acheen Street Masjid but I don't know what's wrong with the system. It doesn't want to accept the picture. I had long tried to access the masjid and recording it into documents. It is known as Malay Masjid but the founder of the masjid is Mr. al-Attas. Never mind, nations are all brothers and sisters. But we should not lie to others. That's what I am trying to say. Just tell the truth, it is difficult but at least it makes us feel better.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

Memory: brother Kurnia and brother Idris 2010

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!

Always forgotten about these pictures although had been thinking to keep it here last time. This computer can't extract these pictures from the archives as the license is expired. Luckily that they are still there in my mail sent box. I think these pics were taken around late October of 2010 when I was in first semester doing this master. These brothers whom are brothers Kurnia and Idris are among earliest people whom I know when I returned back to USM. We live in the same hostel which is hostel in Bukit Gambir area. They are friendly guys but I just feel shy out of them due to my Chinese accent sounds weird. I dun feel shy to brother Idris since he's from Western China himself but just feel shy to non-Chinese inhabitants who also are the member of hostel's musalla congregation in which most of them are Malays.

I speak in Chinese with one of my classmate too, which is sister Ong. She's a non-Muslim though but she shares same faith with previous me last time. I don't consider myself as different from Chinese or Indian whom most Malays consider as 'immigrants' while we are the same Malaysian, haha. We have other Malay classmate which is Has but I don't feel comfortable with her.    

Bukit Bendera

 Penang view from Bukit Bendera

Black fur monkeys.

Brother Kurnia and brother Idris. Hope to see you again brother Kurnia. Thank you treating me fried noodle at Bukit Bendera. I will always remember that. Just feel sorry because I am a citizen of the host country who should honor both of you but it turns out that you honoring me, haha. I didn't get the chance to treat you. I am sad. Usually I would do that when people don't see me but both of you were right in front of me.

Penang Botanical Garden

 Monkey motherly love to its child.

Naughty monkeys. I am afraid of these primates, hahaha.

Lotus pond.

Short jungle trekking.

It was actually the idea of brother Kurnia. He suggested us to go for some sightseeing visiting places like waterfall or seaside something... to fill our free time during holiday. But it turns out that brother Idris had earlier explored Penang Botanical Park and most of places in Penang. I feel quite embarrassed because I had been here for about three years during my bachelor and I never went out from USM compound after our freshman, hehe. I just went out to Georgetown with our bachelor classmates during bachelor first semester, and few times to Sungai Petani either alone or with my classmate and only friend, Amir. Another one who sometimes accompanied us is Apai who lived in the same hostel with us but I wasn't really close to Apai. He's close to Amir.  

I think brother Kurnia has a great skill in photography because most of his pictures look good. Those monkeys were taken by him. Pictures taken by me always have that blurry image because of the wiggle, lol. These are the only pics that I have for these respective brothers since I tried to avoid people when people start to realize my existence although I wanted to hang around more with them. Feel not comfortable when people coming close to listen what language that I used when talking to brother Idris especially those Tabligh kids. Maybe they never have any experience mingling with non-Malay compatriot while in schooling time that made them feel strange? What is wrong when we speak other languages? I guess in Malaysia there is nothing to be surprised of because we adopt multiculturalism. If those from Indonesia or France feel weird, I still can accept it because they do not adopt multiculturalism to the extend like what is happening in Malaysia. I always see Malay or Indian speaking in Hokkien Chinese in Penang and I don't think that it is a peculiarity.

Please help to pray for brothers and sisters in Xinjiang and other Muslim majority provinces in China. I think brother Yunus whom I came to know in Bengal mosque is a Hui from Xinjiang. I wish their well-being and hopefully they could observe Ramadan fast without any problem. Avoid conflict with authority if possible, pray for the authority to also receive mercy and guidance from the God, insyaAllah. Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

Recap: In Bangkok, I had no idea about it at all!!!

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!

continue...

Before we could see proper Bangkok, we could also see uneven underdevelopment and development around Dusit area. I read about Dusit too while doing some research and planning the trip, but I don't know how to return to the area after I reached Bangkok Hualampong station. 

In simple word, pembangunan tak sekata at suburban area... Houses like setinggan along the railway and the roof of people's houses even scrapped the train's window, lol! The train stopped at few minor stations too and there are people selling food like fruits, coffee, and kueh coming in and out the train. Out of the window, I saw people sleeping, having meals, and sitting on newspaper spread over the floor along the rail way side. I saw a monk having his meal on a newspaper under trees too, funny... ahaha.

It reaches Hualampong Station in Bangkok around 12:00 mid day. I just proceed to the information counter and getting the map for the city because I was totally clueless. It is my first time there anyway. And I have to pay 50 bhat for the map. Then I just said to the lady at the counter, "fiuhhhhh, thamrai pud thai nyuung maaaq neee ur." (I can't really speak proper Thai, so difficult!). She just chuckled at my face. 

A canal not far from Hualampong Station.

The couple from Mauritius had approached a travel agent at the station, but I avoided them because I am on tight budget and, alone... I think for a moment and begin to realize that I need to perform Dzuhr prayer so I went up at the left side of the information counter. They have a musalla up there for Muslim and there I met few Muslims waiting for Dzuhr. I didn't notice that there is an automatic clock showing the prayer times. So I asked an uncle in Malay but he thought that I am a Thai so I just talk to him in Thai. 

I felt quite weird because we are from neighboring states, where they perhaps come from Pattani, Yalor (Yala), Naro, or Senggoro (Songkhla) who supposedly to talk in Tani Malay. I regret I didn't take the picture at the musalla, it looks classic with Jawi Malay written in Thai sounding Malay with alphabet ha at a vowels. Then we performed Dzuhr prayer jama' with 'Asr because everyone are in travel. Jama' is a simplified prayer where we combine two prayer times into one. There is a specific topic about this.

Streets sign, and I was actually at China Town area while snapping this.

After the prayer, I began to walk out of the station and thinking on the next step. What should I do in a city I had never been before and it is a foreign city. I have no slightest idea about the city. Should I also change my SIM card by buying a new pack for Thai number? But I am not sure how many days I would be there and my budget is quite limited. It would be different if I work or live there. I just bought some water from a convenient store which costs me around 10 bhat. They also have grilled pork in the convenient store. Never thought that it would be sold... openly but that is Thailand, haha.

 Wat Traimitr, Yaowarat. Non Thai have to pay entrance fee to enter the temple maintenance but it is free for locals.

Then I walked and looking around Hualampong Station. I could see Yaowarat which is their China Town. I saw Wat Traimitr and walked in because I didn't know what to do. Then I walked out after noticing that they demanded non-Thai to pay the entrance fee when looking around the temple complex. I didn't intend to look around the temple complex or any places yet since I didn't have any accommodation. The first thing that I should do is to get some rice because I was so hungry and I ate just scarcely after buying those expansive loaves of bread in Padang Besar.     

Wat Traimitr temple complex from a chinese hardware shop.

Then I made up my mind to return to Hualampong station but I don't want to take the bus because I don't know the roads or areas in Bangkok yet. It would be dangerous if we don't know where we are about to bound and not all of the people are well-versed with the city because we are also like that here, ha ha ha. I decided to take Metro Rail Transit Authority and I choose to go to Silom after I checked my notebook and that is the only area that I had read about before which fit the destination stated at the computer. Silom is the area where red shirts protesting for Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra to be returned to Prime Minister's seat.

 On my way to MRT station.

They have security check where people have to go through scanner and also checking the bag and I am giving full cooperation to this because I know that it is for people's benefit. It is a bit fussy but I think that is good to ensure the security and tourists would feel safe.  But the guard refused to check my bag as I approached him trying to open up my own bag for him to check.

The guards who checked my bag or people in the underground train station are quite friendly and they treated me nicely. So, please don't worry if our brothers and sisters wanted to visit the city. I paid 30 bhat for Silom road in the machine and it gave me a coin to be touched at the gate. 

to be continued...