Unfortunately, our timing was not very good as the durians have not ripened yet. But our hosts invited to visit again when the time is ripe.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Question? Why are there so many durians on the ground?.JPG)
Answer: Monkeys pluck them and chuck them on the ground. They would return in a few days when the durians start to rot and then eat the fruits. Of course the monkeys did not pile the durians into a neat pile like these. Our hosts did that.Another question. How can you tell if a durian was plucked by the monkeys or if it dropped off naturally. I did not observe until we talked about it later; and so I will leave it to Chun Chew to explain.
To deter the monkeys, they strapped zinc sheets to the tree trunk, but apparently it wasn’t very effective.
.JPG)
Quiz:
Here’s a little quiz before I sign off. What is the lamp on my forehead for; and what is the object that I am holding in my hand used for? Hint: Our hosts used them for their work which starts at 4 am every morning.
Here’s a little quiz before I sign off. What is the lamp on my forehead for; and what is the object that I am holding in my hand used for? Hint: Our hosts used them for their work which starts at 4 am every morning.
35 comments:
I think rubber tapping starts at 4am in the morning.
It's one of the most dangerous job. Snakes are aplenty in the rubber plantation. Same for palm plantation. Snakes are deliberately released into those plantations to prevent mice from destroying the farming.
The rubber tapper wears the lamp on his/her forehead so that he/she can see the trunk of rubber trees. The object in Chun See's hand most probably is a special knife used for tapping of rubber latex.
>How can you tell if a durian was plucked by the monkeys or if it dropped off naturally?
Although I am not a kampong boy, I have observed how monkeys pluck coconuts before in Malaysia. They need to keep turning the fruit in one direction until the stalk tears. Hence, fruits plucked by the monkeys will have sprayed stalks while those that dropped off by themselves will not.
I believe monkeys will pluck durians the same way too because they simply don't know any other way of plucking a big fruit. Being born in the Year of the Monkey, I guess I can say I understand them better.
Isn't it so nice to go across the causeway again to the rubber plantations, etc - and can still remember the interesting things nothing else found in modern Singapore.
Not only rubber, I think the pineapple plantations are also gone. But luckily they had the first rubber tree preserved in the Botanical Gardens, in the form of its descendant. Will go there for second shot.
I think Yong Peng is famous 'cos that is where the tour buses stop, haha.
Like the major towns along the trunk road, it was one of the battlefields during WWII. Since Chun See went to kampong, I wonder whether he crossed the famous Yong Peng Bridge. Does the bridge still exist? Here is a photo in 1945.
I need not explain how the monkeys did the job. Victor got it right in his explanation. When a durian is ripe, it will fall off naturally, detachs neatly from its stalk joined to the branch. Talking about snakes in the jungle, I just saw a programme in discovery channel, describing a type of small snakes which are one of the deadliest in the world (in term of venom) found in S.E.A. Were we afraid? not really, our rubber-tapper friend and his wife seemed to know their plantation like the backs of their palms, and I suppose that included the dangers lurking within it. My sister and I took cover most of the time inside the car avoiding the fierce mosquitos, while my brother-in-law and chun see bravely took pictures of the place, particularly the durians.
Palm oil estates also breed snakes. I believe it is because of the dense undergrowth below each palm tree. Somehow Indian workers at these estates have a knack for looking out for snake nests and snake on the move. In these estates, workers wear boots (trousers tucked inside the boots) and not shoes.
The only way to get rid of snakes in estates is to have a slash-n-burn fire. You find plenty of snakes running out into the open because of the smoke. So workers usually make a clearing from the edge of the estate to the dwelling area.
Too bad I did not know about the Yong Peng bridge. Otherwise surely would take some photos. But I think we crossed it on our way to Batu Pahat for a short visit.
Yong Peng is now a must stop for tour buses. But pls do not eat there. Food is expensive and lousy. In town there are lots of good coffee shops; and of course the roadside chendol stalls. But the famous saito yu fishball was a let-down. Our Spore fish balls better in my opinion.
I think the reason there are a lot of snakes in oil palm plantations is becos lots of rats feed on the oil palm dates that fall to the ground; and they in turn attract the snakes. Not sure about rubber plantations though. Our hosts did not mention snakes but they did say they are immune to the mosquito bites.
We also visited 2 vegetable farms. One of them was actually an oil palm plantation. The mature trees have just been cleared and young ones planted. Whilst waiting for them to mature, the farmer plants long beans in between the rows of palm saplings as a cash crop.
Next post, I will tell you more about the rubber tapping activity.
We are encouraged by environmentalists here in the UK not to buy products made from oil palm as the plantations are taking over huge areas and denuding them of any other life. I stopped overnight at KL airport earlier this year and the new airport seemed to be set in an endless sea of oil palms. When I travelled in peninsula Malaya in the 1960s I seem to remember just endless rubber plantations and some tin mines but can't recall so many oil palms.
While in this small town, I was wondering to myself how this insignificant town comes into being. Then I realise that Johor is in fact famous for its numerous plantations, rubber in particular. As a kid, my father told me that the korean war (early fifties) had brought considerable wealth to Malaya through the export of rubber, and Malaya was known then to be the greatest rubber producer of the world. From the newspapers reports (in the fifties), the jungle in the yong peng district was a hotbed of communist terrorists activities, so much so new villages were built to isolate these terrorists and today our rubber-tapper friend lives in one of this new villages.
Zen, Yong Peng has a long history dating before the Japanese surrender. The Japanese instigated trouble between the Chinese and Malays in July 1945 culminating in racial riots which spread from Batu Pahat to Yong Peng. Sadly many lives were lost in this conflict. You are right, Yong Peng was a hotbed for communist activities. You can read more of this in “Ching Peng – My Side of History” (published in 2003). A close friend of mine served in the Malayan Emergency after his stint in Palestine. He was actually in Baling when negotiations for Ching Peng’s surrender was made. He’s an Englishman in his 80’s who spends more time in Singapore than Melbourne.
i always thought the squirrels are the ones which cause damage to the durian fruit. during my walks, i have often seen squirrels on durian trees but not those animals which victor claims relationship. maybe the monkeys, being smarter, attack the fruit when it is ripe.
Hui Chen is one tough Malaysian lady. She had to help out the family at a tender age (less than 10 yrs old). Woke up every morning at 4am to help out in rubber-tapping, meanwhile still attending a chinese primary school. The family was so poor that she had to borrow old text books and used her pencil until the very last grasp. Realising that her future was actually heading towards a dead-end should she remained in YP, she decisively packed up her belongings and headed for Singapore at a young age of 13. She financed her secondary education through working part-time as a maid. After leaving school she started her working life, but in the meantime took a corresponding course in Chinese Language from a famous chinese university, and eventually graduated with a degree. She later married her former classmate and had two children, a boy and a girl. The son is presently working as a top executive in a media company and her daughter was married with two children. Now at the age of 70, still alert with good eyesight, she drives around giving tuition to many students, some from elite schools. Before leaving for YP, Hui Chen changed her Singapore dollars for two thousand ringgits to be given to her 90 yrs old mother and brother. She is indeed an epitome of a Malaysian girl made good in Singapore.
I was told during the height of the Malayan Emergency, all Chinese residents were told to cook on the street and not in their house. So make-shift kitchesn in tents were built outside their house. This was to facilitate the police to make checks. At that time Johore has many CTs and it was feared that the Chinese were sympathetic to the CTs.
The government tried many approaches to stop the local villagers from supplying food to the CTs, such as fencing vulnerable sections of villages to the more radical strategy of moving the entire village to another “safe area”! This mass relocation of villagers and their livestock achieved positive results in cutting off the regular food supplies to the CTs camped in the nearby jungle. Not all villagers were CT sympathisers; many gave out of fear of reprisals from the CTs or their local village agents.
Tengku met Chin Peng leader of CTs in Baling in 1955 in which Mr David Marshall (chief minister of Singapore) was present. I saw the photo of the meeting in ST of the meeting, and Chin Peng if I am not mistaken was wearing a long white sleeve shirt (no difference from an office worker working in an aircond room). I was puzzled to this very day how could a terrorist chief hiding from security forces in thick tropical jungle, constantly moving about under harsh weather condition, can appear so neat! Not only this, he disappeared so quickly as he arrived, and the security forces couldn't even see his shadow after he slipped back into the jungle. No wonder up to this very day, the Malaysian govt refuses to let this 85 yrs old man, borned in Malaya, returns back to die in his own country.
Some jokers pull a fast one on the Indians, saying that they are a nation of '.... charmers'. But after reading peter's comment on indian workers' skill on 'managing' snakes, I begin to believe that these jokers are not too far away from the truth.
According to our rubber-tapper friend, those durian plucking monkeys are a smart and mischievious lot. Why do they pluck unripe durians and throw them to the ground, letting them rot and to consume later? My guess is surely those mischievious primates know the taste of ripe durians, having grown up in the forest. Perhaps I think they may like the taste of fermented durians just like some people who love to eat sour food.
Chin Peng and his group (2 other CPM delegates, personal bodyguards and a cook) had to trek 2 hours from their overnight campsite in the southern Betong Salient, near the Malayan frontier, to the agreed rendezvous point at Gunong Paku where they were escorted by British soldiers to Baling. They were billeted in a small brick bungalow within the Baling English School’s grounds, about a minute walk to the meeting room. The other party at the conference were the Tunku (UMNO leader), Dato Tan Cheng Lock (MCA leader) and David Marshall (Singapore’s Chief Minister). My English friend who served at Palestine until Israel’s independence in 1948 was part of the British contingent at Baling. He was then a police inspector and did his tour of duty during the Emergency mainly in the rubber plantations.At that stage Chin Peng's headquarters was
During this period Chin Peng’s headquarters was in Betong, which is in Siam, near the Malayan border of Perak.
Chin Peng has spent most of his life on a wrong cause. At the end of the day, he had only some chinese leftists to support him. The majority race in Malaysia is the malay, who are mostly muslims. They are definitely against such an ideology like communism which does not believe in god. He claims to fight for Malaya's independence, but how to, without popular support from the people. Now he must be living in regret in southern thailand longing to go back to his homeland. I strongly doubt whether our local govt would accept him if he wants to reside here (peacefully). In other words, he become an international 'untouchable'.
Yes, Chin Peng made an application to settle down in Malaysia in 1990 but was rejected. In 1999 he applied for a sightseeing tour to his hometown in Sitiawan but that too was rejected. So he remained in exile in southern Thailand.
I strongly believe should Chin Peng one day become incapacitated, looking more like an invalid, the Malaysian authorities would likely let him visit his homeland, or even allow him to die there -reasons? They want him to appear like a defeated man (a far cry from former charismatic self), a dejected vagrant, devoid of fighting spirit, and yearning for forgiveness. On the other hand the authorities would like to project themselves as: compassionate, magnanimous, and forgiving. This would be a master stroke as a pr exercise to win over chinese votes in elections. Would Chin Peng accepts such a kind offer?
I have doubts that the Malaysian Government would ever allow Chin Peng to return. Even after the end of the 1989 peace accords (between the Malaysian Government, the Thai Government and the CPM), his application to return to Malaysia in 1990 was rejected. The reasons he gave for his application for a sightseeing tour in 1999 – to visit his hometown and pay homage to the graves of his grandfather, parents and brothers – were once again rejected. The government was obviously unwilling to extend compassion to someone they felt could still be a threat in his 70’s.
Edward - Do not forget what Dr M once said - there is no permanent enemies in politics. In fact his statement is quite true. Take for example the vietnamese who should hate the american to the bones - what happens? America and Vietnam are now like buddies, speaking with one voice. What did chairman mao said to nixon. Mao quoted a chinese saying which was something like this: "If we won't fight, we won't be knowing each other well", while shaking hands with each other, despite the fact that US and China fought bitterly not too long ago in the Korean War. Later Nixon was given a VIP reception in the great hall of the people, the attending band played 'America the beautiful', visited the great wall and eventually Nixon became China greatest friend. So in politics today's friend can be tomorrow's enemy or it be the other way round.
Yes Zen, alliances between countries do change over time. Take the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 which was renewed in 1905. This alliance was aimed at the combined threat of France and Russia. In 1914 Japan honoured her military agreement with Britain by declaring war on Germany. Look what happened in the Second World War.
During the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 the United States supported Saddam Hussien by supplying Iraq with intelligence, economic aid as well as equipment and weapons. Diplomatic relations were resumed after it was severed during the 1967 Six Day War. The Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003 were a complete reversal of the US-Iraq relations during the 80’s.
What about the US aid to the mujahideen against the Russian in Afghanistan which began in 1979? The CIA armed and trained the mujahideen guerrillas including Bin Laden. The whole scenario changed since 9/11.
Was it Mao who said to treat your prisoners well because someday they may become your friends? And I believed this is what he did during the Long March and converted many of them to his cause.
Edward - you explain very well all those political maneuverings leading to world wars and smaller scale conflicts. Small countries like Switzerland and Singapore are most afraid being victims of circumstances. Switzerland is expert in keeping herself out of harm's way, by not involving in any defence arrangement with other countries, not even joining the UN (at one time), remaining completely neutral. To make doubly sure of not being assaulted, she has a sizeable standby army (through NS) readily to defend herself, that was why Nazi Germany decided to bypass Switzerland during WWII. Singapore adopts a different strategy by being a 'mouse' in a shop full of porcelain goods. She would ally herself with all friendly countries, joined UN, commonwealth, ANZUK, ASEAN, providing airbase and naval facilities to 'big brothers' countries. So if any country throws a stone at this 'mouse', it will certainly hit the porcelain lined behind it, and these 'porcelains' are none other than friendly countries which are supposed to help Singapore in hours of need - hopefully. Meanwhile, like Switzerland, we also take up an 'insurance policy' by having a large standby army comprised mostly of NS men, ready for any eventuality. Another advantage Singapore has is that many countries have through the years set up firms, factories, HQs, NGOs, and other representative offices here. So any attack on Singapore will inevitably harm the interests of many countries, and these countries (especially the big brothers) won't stand idly by.
That’s true Zen, nation states embark on alliances and treaties as a form of collective security. The concept of regional power balance is an integral part of this arrangement. The British, and later the ANZUK military presence, have contributed to stability in our region by maintaining the power balance there. There are enough historical examples to show that conflicts do arise when the power balance in the region is disturbed. While we may have alliances and treaties, our National Servicemen and the regular army provide the essential internal security, which is critical for stability and confidence, important ingredients for encouraging investments in the island state.
Though forming alliance with strong countries is one of the many ways to safeguard a country territorial integrity, but joining non military groupings (such as ASEAN) is equally important. ASEAN is supposed to be a regional 'brotherly' organisation, in which Singapore and Brunei are the smaller ones. If Singapore and Brunei are being pushed around by bullies, will members of ASEAN remain silent like nothing has happened, not forgeting Singapore and Brunei have other links to APEC, commonwealth and the UN. Brunei being a muslim country has also a connection to big oil producing countries in the middle east. These are all survival tactics employed by small countries, but ultimately it is the deterrent strength of their armed forces that will command respect from potential 'bullies'.
My apologies. My sister's friend's name is Hui Choo, not Hui Chen. Zen - how come you did not spot the error?
Zen was too engrossed in political discourse on regional security and defence, to notice the oversight! Anyway his story on Hui Choo was most inspiring. My daughter read it and was also touched. I think you should write a complete story on Hui Choo for your younger readers. You are very lucky to have her as a friend. A most inspiring role model indeed!
Post a Comment