A Visit to Kampung Sungai Lembu.

My friend, Wah Peng, a well respected member of the the Penang community of Artists especially the Chinese, had arranged for Rashid and myself to join in the Art and Eco community effort at Sungai Lembu, or Cow River located on the border of Penang and Kedah on the Kulim side. It is the most fly infested place i have ever been to and it taught me a humbling lesson on how to exist among flies, invited flies to hover and buzz around you s much as they like as long as they do not eat away at my watercolor paints. I learned from it a communal lesson of how a common problem exist that needs to be resolved by the community as a whole...like the State of Penang has the Clean Rivers issues that is yet being put in the back burner. The reason for the existence of these much flies is the fact that the community is surrounded by chicken and duck farms among other farms like pig farms and such, hence you got an abundance of flies. One solution is move the farms from nearby ;locations to a new and more suitable location. Perhaps provide for good sanitary general house keeping all around not giving the flies an easy ride towards population explosion.
On one occasion I was invited to have lunch with an ADUN or State Representative in charge of the area, a young and bright Malay lady. The event took place at a what seems a community canteen with round tables and blood red table cloths half of which was littered with the former users leftovers covered north, south east and west with hordes of flies and empty mineral water bottles all over the floor being blown by the wind left and right. A special table was set with a most classy Malay lunch fit for a YB, Her Respected ADUN; the fish dishes was out of this world and I thought I have had some good Malay dishes in my life! There five of us all together that was not Chinese in the whole scenario and we served ourselves heartily, at least I did.
What i observed from this experience was that there was a lack of respect or at least the most basic observation of protocol to be observed when we involved a duly elected VIP who can make things happen for your communal efforts; treat your representatives with all due respect and decorum; I had to ask the Chairman for mineral water to be made available at the table too, just in case the YB choke on a fly.
While making every effort to be present in the moment I also came to enjoy the most beautiful landscape while creating bears and foxes, thunder gods and serpents in the white clouds against clear blue skies lined by green low hills stretching from one corner of the eye to another, and line with rubber trees as the basement littered with thatched dwellings here and there; simply rustic. This was where i find my solace from from the rush of City life in Georgetown. This was where I sat, to keep my mind from going insane from lack of anything to do and wanting to be somewhere else, somewhere else, somewhere else...I felt myself being there for the three days that I had spent in Sungai Lembu Chinese School.
I saw it was not n easy effort to put together for such a community and this I believe for the first time, live and learn and they did very well from what i can see, not without shortcomings but still I felt well taken care of by my friends and the people as a whole, I felt like a tourist, however i have visited much more backward and rustic than this in my life, I was not overwhelm. One of my playgrounds while growing up was exploring the hinterland or 'the Ulu' areas of Terengganu and that was in 1960s- 70s. The Malays then was living pretty much like what their ancestors had most probably lived a hundred years before them, if they had any there to begin with, or they could have been the original; sadly most of these clusters of villages are now buried under Tasik Kenyir, one of the largest man-made lake in South East Asia. My point is when I 'evaluate or access a situation, a scene or a person even I based my perceptions on my past experiences as reference files stashed away in the back of my filing cabinet. One of the advantage of willingness to 'Hijrah' is the ability to touch and experience life in all its aspects and possibly to keep an ongoing record of these scenes and adventures like keeping cuts of your old movies. I keeping a documentary type of record or even a diary or some form is the sharing, is the end product; hence, this Blog.
The Chinese dominated community of Sungai Lembu was created by the then British- Malayan Union government to counter the communist efforts in recruiting locals to serve their cause in the jungle warfare or the insurgence movement. These were homes for those who had lived on the fringe of the main stream society and today they inherit a community that is starting to come alive with all kinds of economic, social and  ecological heritage prospects. Sadly enough it will another success Chinese village story to the exclusion of other nationalities and as it is I found most children I encountered could not understand the most basic Malay, English or any other language; definitely not a healthy place to be if your intention is 'Satu Malaysia' or One Malaysia..Now it will not be apparent but in the long term the flaw will reveal itself in the form of racial ignorance; in their adult life the Chinese children growing in such and environment will become culturally myopic. However from my interpersonal communications with the parents most of whom are well educated and high middle class income folks, I felt and envy for them having such an environment still available to raise their children in.
I also had a glimpse of understanding of the role artists such as myself and my friends Rashid and Wah Peng were playing in promoting art and understanding among the villagers. Rashid and I were most probably the first two Malay artists the community had ever encountered up close and personal. When asked if they liked art, one got a blank look of, suspicion and "what are you talking about?", from the children; there was no sense of understanding reflecting from the looks they gave. Only through the act of drawing or sketching does it seems to unlocked the barrier of communication between the Chinese children and the Malay artists.Hardly any showed any interest or initiative to ask questions or even be curious of what being an artist is all about much less being a non-Chinese is all about.
Why should I care? What get involve in such activities when you are made to feel like an illegal alien or a tourist in your own backyard?  Servitude. To serve, to give to return the favor given to you in life that many does not have the opportunity to enjoy. To share with what God given talent that you have with the rest of humanity such that even if one individual had benefit from it, it gives a sense of gratification a fulfillment. "Well, what good did you do today?" "Lets see I did, do a series of sketches witnessed by a group of students, talked to parents about education and to others about how to..."